6RR Spotlight

Blues Legend BB King Dead At 89

Legendary blues artist B.B. King died at the age of 89 on Thursday night (May 14th), according to multiple media reports. King’s lawyer reported that King passed away in his sleep at his home in Las Vegas. He had long suffered from Type II diabetes and canceled a tour last October due to ill health. He never performed live again.

 

Known for classic songs like “The Thrill Is Gone,” King was a touring artist for more than 50 years averaging 275 shows a year. He also released more than 50 albums since the 1940s, was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame, won 15 Grammy Awards — including a Lifetime Achievement Award — and was the recipient of Kennedy Center Honors from President Bill Clinton in 1995.

 

Ranked Number Six on Rolling Stone’s 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, King influenced generations of blues and rock guitarists and was one of the biggest blues artists to cross over from regional success to mainstream and commercial fame within his own lifetime.

 

Born in Mississippi as Riley B. King on September 16, 1925, King worked in the cotton fields as an orphan before starting on the path that made him a living legend and a national treasure.

 

 

Eddie Vedder To Perform on Last Week Of Letterman

 

(hennemusic) Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder will appear as one of the final musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman. On Monday, May 18, Vedder will deliver a special music performance backed by Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra.

 

Vedder’s appearance comes in the final week of broadcasts by Letterman, who will deliver his farewell program on Wednesday, May 20 after more than three decades in late night.

 

The singer has performed on the series several times through the years, as both a solo artist and with Pearl Jam. His first appearance was in 1996, when he surprised the host by joining Shaffer and the band for a portion of Pearl Jam’s classic 1991 track, “Black.”

 

 

Duff McKagen: GN’R Didn’t Steal Sweet Child O’ Mine

 

Former Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has dismissed the accusation by Australian website Max TV that the 1987 Guns classic “Sweet Child O’Mine” was plagiarized from a 1981 song called “Unpublished Critics” by the Australian band Australian Crawl. Asked about a video comparing the two tracks, McKagan told Radio.com, “It is pretty stunning, but we didn’t steal it from them! I swear, I never heard that song until a couple of days ago.”

 

McKagan told us that these kinds of allegations are almost always impossible to both prove and deny: “Yes, it sounds like ‘Sweet Child,’ but no, we didn’t rip it off. You always fall into that — if it’s a three-chord song, you always check it. But I think it’s got to be, it’s like four bars or something like that. I don’t know if it fits that criteria, but how do you prove we didn’t rip it off?”

 

McKagan also told Radio.com that it was strange for the allegations to come out 28 years after “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was released.

 

 

All Star Jam At Chicago Cancer Benefit

Pete Townshend and Eddie Vedder’s benefit concert last night (May 14th) at Chicago’s Rosemont Theatre, featured once-in-a lifetime guest spots from Joe Walsh, Joan Jett, and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen. The 90-minute show, dubbed Celebrating The Who, raised money for the band’s patron charity Teen Cancer America, which provides programs and care for young people with cancer through the University of Chicago Medicine. Roger Daltrey, who did not sing so as to preserve his voice for tonight’s (May 15th) gig in Columbus, Ohio, introduced the show.

 

According to Internet reports and fan posts on TheWho.com, the show, which featured the Who’s touring band, opened with Townshend’s brother and Who guitarist Simon Townshend playing a solo mini-set, which included Vedder playing his solo song “Far Behind,” along with a ukelele version of the Who By Numbers classic, “Blue, Red, And Grey.” During course of the night, Vedder and Pete duetted on a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Corrina, Corrina,” the heartfelt “You Stand By Me” from the Who’s 2006 Endless Wire collection, and “Behind Blue Eyes.” Vedder also performed his Pearl Jam classic “Better Man.”