Renowned American composer Burt Bacharach has passed away at the age of 94. The author of songs such as “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” reportedly died of natural causes with his family by his side.
Bacharach began his career as a songwriter in the 1950’s and became Hollywood icon Marlene Dietrich’s pianist, which shot him to fame. The songwriter and pianist scored dozens of hits in his decades-long career, many of which he wrote together with Hal David (1921-2012). Bacharach and David met Dionne Warwick in 1961 and she had 39 of her hit singles penned by the musical duo. Bacharach also worked with big names like Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones and Elvis Costello. Many others covered his songs, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Frank Sinatra.
The legendary composer was a frequent guest at the White House, whether the president was Republican or Democrat. He scored 73 Top 40 hits in the United States and 52 in the United Kingdom over the decades. In total he composed more than 500 songs, won six Grammys and three Oscars.
“Riverside” was formed almost by accident when two of its members listened to the band “Marillion” on a car stereo back in 2001. The friends both played in heavy metal bands at the time but had a common interest for progressive rock. They decided to get together with another mutual friend, who owned a studio, to start experimenting with progressive rock.
‘Friend or Foe?‘ is Riverside’s new single from their latest album, ID.Identity, the band’s 8th studio album. Riverside’s Mariusz Duda commented:
“One of its strong points is the lyrics which talk about how we’re perceived by others, especially these days, when pretending to be someone you’re not on social media has become the norm. Can we still be ourselves or do we have to keep adapting to the requirements of new algorithms? Perhaps we’ve already lost our identities and we’re only waiting for instructions from a Siri or Alexa?“
‘Friend or Foe?‘ by “Riverside” is new this week on RadiJohan
This week in 1979 “Blondie” topped the singles chart in the UK with Heart of Glass. Featured on the band’s third studio album, Parallel Lines. The song was originally called ‘Once I Had a Love’ and was inspired by The Hues Corporation’s disco hit, Rock the Boat. A 12-inch single version of “Heart of Glass” was first released in December 1978. Some radio stations in the United States were reluctant to play the song because of the “pain in the ass” lyric, so an edited 7-inch single was released in January 1979. The original album version was released as a single in the UK where the BBC bleeped out the word “ass”. Lead singer Debbie Harry told The Guardian:
“At first, the song kept saying: ‘Once I had a love, it was a gas. Soon turned out, it was a pain in the ass.’ We couldn’t keep saying that, so we came up with: ‘Soon turned out, had a heart of glass.’ We kept one ‘pain in the ass’ in – and the BBC bleeped it out for radio.”
Heart of Glass was a mega hit around the world and, apart from topping the chart in the UK, also made number 1 in the USA, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland and West-Germany.
On the 7th of february 1985 New York’s Mayor “Edward I. Koch” proclaimed Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York the city’s official anthem, although it was never actually made official.
The song was written and performed by Liza Minnelli in the movie of the same name in 1977. In 1979 it was recorded by Sinatra for his album Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980), and became closely associated with him as one of his signature songs. It made the Top 40 in the US and some European Countries and reached Number 4 in Ireland and Number 2 in Canada.
New York, New York was Frank Sinatra’s last hit song.
“Those Damn Crows” are a Welsh rock band formed in 2014. Their 2018 debut album, Murder and the Motive, which had previously been released by the band in 2016 as a self-financed project, reached number 5 on the Official UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart. Their 2020 follow up, Point of No Return, reached number 14 on the UK album chart. Their latest album, Inhale/Exhale, is set for release worldwide on February 17th. The first single, This Time I’m ready, is out now. Frontman Shane Greenhall shares:
Gonna Be You is a song written by legendary songwriter Dianne Warren for the sports comedy movie 80 For Brady. Dolly Parton has teamed up with fellow megastars Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, Belinda Carlisle and Blondie’s Debbie Harry for the feel-good song about deep friendship. The movie is based on the true story of a group of friends who take a trip to the Super Bowl in 2017 to see their hero, NFL quarterback Tom Brady, play.
80 For Brady hits theaters in the USA today. Gonna be you, by Dolly and her friends, is new this week on RadiJohan.
“DMA’S” are an Australian Rock band formed in Sydney in 2012. They gained popularity in 2014 with their debut single “Delete” and for their self-titled EP. To date they’ve released three albums with the most recent, 2020’s The Glow, charting at number 4 in the UK, number 2 in Australia and topping the album chart in Scotland.
DMA’S next album, How Many Dreams?, is to be released on 31 March 2023. Their new single, Fading like a Picture, is new this week on RadiJohan.
“Krezip” is a Dutch band from “Tilburg” formed in 1997. They broke through, playing all original songs, at the nationally televised Pinkpop festival in 2000. The band has since had several successful albums and numerous hit singles in the Netherlands, as well as live success, playing at festivals in Belgium and Germany. In 2008 Krezip made headlines when they announced they would be breaking up in 2009. At that point, even though they had been active for 12 years, the band members’ average age was only 27.
On 28 January 2019, news broke that “Krezip” would return to the stage for Pinkpop 2019. That news was followed by a new single the following day and, later that year, a new album.
The band were planning to do only one reunion album accompanied by a short tour, however, the pandemic threw a spanner in the works. While Krezip waited to get back on stage, ideas for new music were born. Accordingly Krezip have announced another new album, called Any Day Now, is due to be released on 7 April 2023. Their brand new single, In The Water, is new this week on RadiJohan.