Year In Review - May & June

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MAY

• Tom Jones’ album “Surrounded By Time” topped the UK’s Official Albums Chart, making him the oldest artist to land a UK number one with new material. Tom, who was 80 years and 10 months, dethroned Bob Dylan for the record.
• During an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Ringo Starr revealed that The Beatles “Come Together” was his favorite Beatles song.
• Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith, the two surviving members of The Monkees, announced tour dates they were billing as a “Farewell Tour.”
• Bruce Springsteen was honored with the Woody Guthrie prize, which honors artists who speak out for the less fortunate.
• U2’s Bono and The Edge teamed with DJ Martin Garrix for a new song, “We Are The People We’,” for the European Championship Soccer finals.
• Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood was named ambassador to the addiction recovery charity Turn Up For Recovery, which was founded in 2019 by Eric Clapton’s wife Melia Clapton.
• New Orleans legend Aaron Neville announced he was retiring from touring.
• Paul McCartney was honored by the Royal Mail with 12 postage stamps, featuring photographs from the making of his solo albums and records with Wings.
• Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lloyd Price died in New York of complications from diabetes. He was 88.
• A long battle over who wrote the Everly Brothers’ song “Cathy’s Clown” ended when a judge ruled that Phil Everly’s heirs didn’t prove their claims in a timely manner, resulting in a judgment in Don’s favor, giving him 100% ownership of the song, barring Phil’s heirs from any money derived from the song.
• Elton John was honored with the Icon Award at the 2021 iHeartRadio Awards. Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Lil Nas X presented Elton with the honor.
• The 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class was announced, with this year’s class made up of Tina Turner, Foo Fighters, Carole King, The Go-Go's, Jay-Z and Todd Rundgren. In addition, LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads got in with the Musical Excellence Award, and Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton were named recipients of the Early Influence Award.
• Pervis Staples, who was a co-founding member of the legendary group the Staples Singers, died at the age of 85.
• Joan Baez was honored at the "Kennedy Center Honors" at a ceremony that was delayed from December 2020 due to COVID-19. 
• The Royal Mint announced The Who would be the fourth addition to its “Music Legends” series, which already honored Queen, Elton John, and David Bowie.
• Paul McCartney topped the “The Sunday Times’” annual Music Rich List, with a fortune of $1.16 billion. That number was an increase of about $28 mil from last year.
• Singer Bill Withers was memorialized with a new road named in his honor. His home state of West Virginia renamed Slab Fork Road, which runs Lester Highway to the Coalfields Expressway in Raleigh County, “Bill Withers Memorial Road.”
• John Davis, one of the real voices behind the 90s group Milli Vanilli, died after battling COVID-19. He was 66.
• A judge granted a dissolution of the marriage between Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Lockwood. The two were still sorting out child custody and visitation for their children, 12-year-old twins Harper Vivienne Ann and Finley Aaron Love. 

JUNE

• Singer B.J. Thomas passed away at the age of 78. He announced back in March that he diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
• The Who’s Pete Townshend said in an interview that he thinks he used to be pansexual. At one point in his life, the rocker thinks he’d have been open to hook up with pretty much anyone – regardless of their gender identity.
• Prince’s estate shared the previously unreleased track “Born 2 Die,” from Prince’s previously unreleased 2010 studio album “Welcome 2 America.”
• Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford said in a interview that he doubted the band will perform again.
• Sinead O’Connor took to social media to announce she was retiring after her next record comes out, although she changed her mind several times.
• Lindsey Buckingham and his wife Kristen Messner called it quits after 21 years of marriage. 
• The Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp announced its first-ever Women Only Rock Camp… featuring special guest mentors. Melissa Etheridge, Heart’s Nancy Wilson, The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine, and virtuoso guitarist Orianthi.
• Diana Ross dropped the new single, “”Thank You,” her first new single in 15 years.
• A 1992 hand-drawn self-portrait by Kurt Cobain sold at auction for just over $281,000.
• Roger Waters said he rejected a “huge amount of money” from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Apparently, the CEO wanted to use Pink Floyd’s song “Another Brick In The Wall Part II” to promote Facebook and Instagram… but Roger declined the offer.
• Eric Clapton opened up about his anti-COVID vaccine stance in a new interview with Oracle Films, who describe themselves as “a filmmaking team fighting for open debate and freedom of information.”
• The lineup for the iHeart Radio Festival was announced, which included Cheap Trick, and Journey.
• Queen guitarist Brian May launched a competition challenging fans to recreate a scene from the band’s history in 3D.
• Disney + announced Peter Jackson’s much-anticipated Beatles documentary “Get Back” would premiere over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
• In conjunction with the 50^th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s classic album “What’s Going On,” Gaye was honored with a street in Detroit named after him.
• The National Museum of African American Music held its Celebration of Legends Benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium, where they honored Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson and the Fisk Jubilee Singers with their Rhapsody & Rhythm Award.
• On 50^th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s classic album “Blue,” she dropped a surprise digital EP of outtakes from the album.
• Cher joined TikTok with a video in which she introduced herself as “the great and powerful Cher."
• Bruce Springsteen brought back his Broadway show “Springsteen on Broadway” to help Broadway reopen following closures due to the pandemic.
• Don McLean’s daughter, singer Jackie McLean, opened up about growing up with her dad, calling him both mentally and emotionally abusive (but not physically).
• Madonna made a surprise appearance at the Pride x Boom Party at New York’s Standard Hotel's Boom Boom Room, performing two songs, “Hung Up” and “I Don’t Search I Find.”
• Elvis Costello shut down folks on the Internet who were accusing Olivia Rodrigo of plagiarizing his 1978 hit “Pump It Up,” noting “This is fine by me...It's how rock & roll works."
• John Lawton, former lead singer of the British rock band Uriah Heep, passed away at the age of 74.