VVN Music

Top Selling Single by a Veteran Artist The following are the top albums by veteran artists (recording for twenty years or more) on this week's Billboard charts.  Actual chart position is in parenthesis: Music to Be Murdered By  -  Eminem  (#15) Greatest Hits  -  Queen  (#27) Rumours  -  Fleetwood Mac  (#36) Diamonds  - Elton John (#48) Chronicles: The 20 Greatest Hits  - Creedence Clearwater Revival  (#57) Journey's Greatest Hits  - Journey  (#60) Curtain Call: The Hits  - Eminem  (#61) Thriller  - Michael Jackson (#66) Legend  - Bob Marley & the Wailers  (#71) Back in Black  - AC/DC  (#72) The top 10 charting singles by veteran artists: Happy Anywhere  -  Blake Shelton  and  Gwen Stefani  (#32) What's Poppin'  - Jack Harlow Featuring DaBaby, Tory Lanez &  Lil Wayne  (#34) Beers and Sunshine  - Darius Rucker  (#64) Happy Does  - Kenny Chesney  (#69) Girl Like Me  - Black Eyed Peas x Shakira (#87) One Too Many  - Keith Urban  Duet With P!nk  (#89)

Gary Numan's "Intruder" Gary Numan has released the title track from his upcoming album Intruder  (out May 21).  Numan has said his new album will examine  “climate change from the planet’s point of view" with the title track representing an " earth angry and hostile, and more than willing to fight back.” Intruder  will be Numan's 19th studio album. 

2021 is the Album's 30th Aniiversary The Black Crowes Present: Shake Your Money Maker, the multi-platinum debut by the seminal rock n' roll band The Black Crowes, is being re-released in multi-formats sets on February 26, 2021, through UMe/American Recordings. Band founders, brothers Chris and Rich Robinson, with original producer George Drakoulias, oversaw the creation of the re-release. Most exciting are the 4LP and 3CD Super Deluxe versions, which includes the original album, remastered; 3 never-before-heard studio recordings; 2 unreleased demos from the band's early incarnation as Mr. Crowe's Garden; B-sides; a spectacular, high-energy 14-song unreleased concert recorded in their hometown of Atlanta, GA in December 1990; reproductions of an early Mr. Crowe's Garden show flyer, setlist and tour laminate; a 4" Crowes patch; and a 20-page book with liner notes by David Fricke. One of the

Lost Recordings by Pre-AC/DC Bon Scott Adelaide music promoter and historian Victor Marshall has been heralded as the 'Indiana Jones' of Australian Music after uncovering the 'holy grail' of lost recordings, Hamish Henry's vault of now historical Australian recordings, including lost Fraternity tracks featuring AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott. Marshall has worked alongside the surviving members of Fraternity and their manager Hamish Henry to put together the band's remastered complete recordings. Fraternity's original albums (Livestock and Flaming Galah) and singles have been remastered from Hamish Henry's original tapes along with an entire album of new unheard songs featuring the then future lead singer of AC/DC, Bon Scott. The new album is called 'Second Chance', named after its title track. The box set will be released by Cherry Red Records world wide on January 22nd 2021. Space Lab 9 will also be releasing each album in a special edition limited

Here are the top new albums by veteran artists released on January 8, 2021:

John Fogerty's ode to 2017 to 2020 John Fogerty has released his first new song in almost three years with Weeping in the Promised Land . The song reflects on the last four years of the American experience including numerous issues that brought on protests around the country. 

The Jerry Garcia Music Arts label will release a new album titled "Front Street Outtakes" on January 5. The album tracks are composed of studio outtakes from a 1994 recording session featuring Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and Sanjay Mishra, an Indian American guitarist-composer. The collaboration showcases a new direction the ever-creative Garcia was beginning to explore on his musical journey. The unreleased recordings on "Front Street Outtakes" represent one of Garcia's last full album recording projects completed at the Grateful Dead's iconic Club Front Studios. The recordings originate from unedited material used in the creation of the 1995 album "Blue Incantation." As with all of Sanjay Mishra's work, the music on the album has a multicultural and eclectic appeal. It merges Eastern and Western influences, combining Mishra's brilliantly Indian-inspired guitar textures with Garcia's masterful musical fluidity. A charitable compo

B ill Champlin formed the Sons of Champlin in 1965 and spent eighteen years as a member of Chicago (1981 to 2009), singing or sharing lead on such songs as Hard Habit to Break and Look Away .  Champlin has just released his new single, Reason to Believe .  Champlin said  "Hey everyone, this is Bill Champlin. I just wanted to letcha' know that my new album Livin' For Love has got a new home. Bob Winegard, at Imagen Records, loved the music and we've decided to work together on the Digital Release of the new album. We're both hard at work coming up with ways for people to know that it'll be available in the usual places: Spotify, I-tunes, etc etc. Bob has Steve Nathan working on opening up my visibility factor. I'm very happy that Bob's team is "Taking the bull by the horns" and working on getting this record heard. Imagen has great world wide distribution in place and I'm sure it's gonna' be a good thing. My wife Tamara and I will b

Eminem Has the Only Top 10 Veteran Album The following are the top albums by veteran artists (recording for twenty years or more) on this week's Billboard charts.  Actual chart position is in parenthesis: Music to Be Murdered By  -  Eminem  (#10) Christmas  -  Michael Buble  (#12) The Christmas Song  -  Nat King Cole  (#17) Merry Christmas  -  Mariah Carey  (#20) A Charlie Brown Christmas  -  Vince Guaraldi Trio  (#24) A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector  - Various Artists (#27) The Best of Bing Crosby: 20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection  -  Bing Crosby  (#32) McCartney III  -  Paul McCartney  (#37) Greatest Hits  - Queen  (#40) Rumours  - Fleetwood Mac  (#45) The top 10 charting singles by veteran artists: All I Want For Christmas is You  -  Mariah Carey  (#9) Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree  -  Brenda Lee  (#12) Jingle Bell Rock  -  Bobby Helms  (#15) A Holly Jolly Christmas  -  Burl Ives  (#17) It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year -  Andy William

Loretta Lynn has announced that she will release her next album, Still Woman Enough , on March 19.  It is her fiftieth studio album.  “I am just so thankful to have some of my friends join me on my new album. We girl singers gotta stick together. It’s amazing how much has happened in the fifty years since [Lynn’s signature song] ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ first came out and I’m extremely grateful to be given a part to play in the history of American music.” Among the guests on the album are Margo Price, Tanya Tucker, Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire.  The album was   “mainly recorded at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with producers Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash” and is “centered around Loretta’s original compositions – from new songs like ‘Still Woman Enough’… through fresh interpretations of classics including ‘I’m a Honky Tonk Girl.'” Track List: Still Woman Enough (feat. Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood) Another Bridge To Burn Honky Tonk Girl Don’t F

Gerry Marsden, the lead singer of Gerry & the Pacemakers, died earlier today (January 3, 2021) after suffering a heart infection.   Born in Liverpool, he formed Gerry & the Pacemakers in 1959.  They later became the second group signed by Brian Epstein and had their first U.K. number 1 with How Do You Do It?  in mid-1963.  They didn't break in the U.S. until the next year where they had five top twenty hits.   How Do You Do It? (1963 / #9 U.S. / #1 U.K.) Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying? (1964 / #4 U.S. / #6 U.K.) Ferry Cross the Mercy (1964 / #6 U.S. / #8 U.K.) I Like It (1963 / #17 U.S. / #1 U.K.) You'll Never Walk Alone (1963 / #48 U.S. / #1 U.K.) I'm the One (1964 / #82 U.S. / #2 U.K.) I'll Be There (1964 / #14 U.S. / #15 U.K.) It's Gonna Be Alright (1964 / #23 U.S. / #24 U.K.) Girl on a Swing (1966 / #28 U.S.) La La La (1955 / #90 U.S. / #29 U.K.)

Out Friday, January 8 Barry Gibbs' new album, Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1 , is out this Friday (January 8). Included are duets with Jason Isbell, Keith Urban, Brandi Carlile, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Sheryl Crow, Olivia Newton-John and this one with Dolly Parton:

Geoff Stevens (1934 - 2020) British songwriter and producer Geoff Stephens died on December 24 at the age of 86.  While not a household name, he wrote songs that became major hits on both sides of the Atlantic throughout the sixties and seventies.  Here are his ten biggest.  1. Winchester Cathedral - New Vaudeville Band (1966 / #1)  2. There's a Kind of Hush - Herman's Hermits (1967 / #4) / The Carpenters (1976 / #12) 3. Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast - Wayne Newton (1972 / #4) 4. Smile a Little Smile For Me - The Flying Machine (1969 / #5) 5. Doctor's Orders - Carol Douglas (1974 / #11) 6. Daughter of Darkness - Tom Jones (1970 / #13) 7. The Crying Game - Boy George (1992 / #15) 8. Silver Lady - David Soul (1977 / #52) 9. Sorry Suzanne - Hollies (1969 / #56) 10. It's Like We Never Said Goodbye - Crystal Gayle (1980 / #63)

Tony Rice (1951 - 2020) Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom (b. 1979) Lou Dennis - Warner Brothers Executive  Hugh X. Lewis (b. 1930) Claude Bolling (b. 1930) Geoff Stevens - Songwriter, Producer (b. 1934) Phyllis McGuire of the McGuire Sisters (b. 1931) MF Doom (b. 1971) Alto Reed of Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band - Colon cancer (b. 1948) Tony Rice (b. 1951) Salvatore DiNapoli of the Chimes - COVID-19 Leslie West of Mountain - Cardiac arrest (b. 1945) John "Ecstasy" Fletcher of Whodini (b. 1964) Chad Stuart of Chad & Jeremy - Complications of pneumonia (b. 1941) K.T. Oslin - Parkinson's Disease/COVID-19 (b. 1942) Pele Alsing of Roxette (b. 1960) Clay Anthony of Junkyard - Car Accident Carl Mann (b. 1942) Charley Pride  - COVID-19 (b. 1934) Jason Slater of Third Eye Blind  - Liver Failure (b. 1971) Kenny Jeremiah of the Soul Survivors Denise Ferri of the Delicates Hal Ketchum  - Dementia (b. 1953) Tony Hooper of the Strawbs (b. 1943) Bruce Swedien ,

On the Sales Chart, McCartney's First #1 in 31 Years Veteran artists have set numerous marks on this week's Billboard Hot 100 & Billboard 200: A Charlie Brown Christmas  is in the top ten LPs for the first time.  Nine holiday songs are in the Hot 100 top ten, all by veteran artists, a record.  Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You  is the first record ever to hit number 1 in three different years.  Brenda Lee, Bobby Helms and Burl Ives' records tie their highest spot ever.  Andy Williams' It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year  achieves a new high at number 5.  Jose Feliciano's Felice Navidad sets a new high in its second ever week in the top ten, moving 10 to 6.  Dean Martin's Let It Snow  hits the top ten for the first time and becomes the fourth of his career. Wham's Last Christmas  moves to the top ten for the first time as does Chuck Berry's Run Rudolph Run , giving him only his third Hot 100 hit (he had a few top tens before

John Ford Coley's "Long Way Home" With his Texan charm, John Ford Coley shows how it's done on his new double CD, "Long Way Home," produced by The Fourth Way World. Coley is most revered as half of the duo "England" Dan Seals and John Ford Coley. Together, they earned a wall of multi-platinum hits and gold records. On the Israel CD, the Sea of Galilee concert presents pristine renditions of hits, including " Long Way Home ," " It's Sad To Belong ," and " What's Forever For ," and compelling new compositions. He rocks hard with " Cottonmouth Grove " and gets the crowd singing his latest anthem, " Should've Never Left Texas ." John has a warm spot for Israel and visits often. Coley dedicated " Soldier In The Rain ," a tribute Coley wrote for Vietnam vets, to Israel. In perfect Hebrew, John serenaded the crowd with " HaTikva " ("The Hope"), Israel's natio

Out February 5 In 1968, Dusty Springfield was already an international superstar with 15 hits under her belt for the Philips label when she decided it was time for a change. What followed was one of the most legendary and momentous label moves in pop music history: Dusty decamped to Atlantic Records, where, under the tutelage of Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin, she recorded one of the greatest albums of all time, Dusty in Memphis, and scored such indelible hits as “Son-of-a Preacher Man” and “The Windmills of Your Mind” before moving on to Philly soul (“A Brand New Me). We at Real Gone Music have closely examined this crucial period in Dusty’s career over the years, with three previous releases. But there remains one facet of her Atlantic period which has remained largely untouched: her singles. The Complete Atlantic Singles1968-1971 presents the A and B-sides of all dozen singles she recorded for the label in their original mono single mixes, only eight of which have previousl

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Winner The Recording Academy ®  has announced the honorees for its 2021 Special Merit Awards. The Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are  Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Lionel Hampton, Marilyn Horne, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena,  and  Talking Heads .  Ed Cherney, Benny Golson  and  Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds  are Trustees Award honorees; and  Daniel Weiss  is the Technical GRAMMY ®  Award recipient. The honorees will be recognized on the  63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards ®  on Jan. 31, 2021. Given the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, more details about the special award presentation event will be announced at a later date.   "As we welcome the new class of Special Merit Award honorees, it gives us a chance to reward and recognize the influence they've had in the music community regardless of genre," said Harvey Mason jr., Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy. "As a music creator and music lover, I am gratef