Rock ‘N Roll Hall Of Fame

On new album, David Clayton-Thomas says something

Nick Krewen Special to the Star At 78, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ most recognizable voice – Toronto resident David Clayton-Thomas – is still fighting for justice on his acclaimed new solo album, Say Somethin’. “Burwash,” the opening salvo of the two-time Grammy winner and Canadian Music Hall Of Fame member’s latest effort, describes his lengthy incarceration at Burwash Correctional Centre in Killarney, Ontario when he was 16 for what he…

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12-step cured him, music kept him going: James Taylor looks back as his 19th album comes out

Nick Krewen Special to The Star Not only has he seen fire and rain: legendary singer and songwriter James Taylor has also seen more than his fair share of pain. Despite selling more than 100 million albums in a 54-year career that has earned him worldwide adulation, five Grammy Awards, inductions into the Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Kennedy Center Honors…


Green Day’s drummer on the song that has changed the band and ‘opened the floodgates’

By Nick Krewen Special to the Star When California punk rock superstars Green Day finally reconvened to plan their first album since 2016’s Revolution Radio, only one decision plagued them. “Were we going to pick up where we left off or strip it all away and start from scratch?” drummer Tré Cool told the Star recently down the line from California, prior to the Monday release of Green Day’s 13th…


Remembering Neil Peart, whose jaw-dropping talent inspired a generation of musicians and wannabes

Nick Krewen Special to the Star January 11, 2020 He was closer to our hearts than we even realized. Make no mistake, the depth of anguish with which the music world  – especially Canadians – regards the unexpected passing of Neil Peart, 67,  on January 7 from glioblastoma, is immeasurable. Arguably the greatest and most influential drummer of his generation,  the Hamilton-born Peart – one third of progressive power trio…


‘Unknown band’ is opening for Cher in Toronto — but their leader is not worried

Nick Krewen Special to the Star April 18, 2019 Nile Rodgers is discovering during the Cher opening slot that Chic’s relative anonymity is working to his advantage. “We’re an unknown band opening for a big star,” he says over the line from New York. “We walk out onstage — most people don’t know who we are — but by the end of the show they go, ‘Jesus Christ, I know…