Rock ‘N Roll Hall Of Fame

Beatles, Detroit, Grammy, Motown, Pop, R&B, Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame, Soul, United States, Voice December 2, 2023

“I still love being a Temp”: The last original Temptation, Otis Williams, on more than 60 years in the Motown supergroup

Otis Williams looks back as the musical “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations” returns to Toronto. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Sixty-three years on, Otis Williams is still at the helm of one of the greatest Motown acts of all-time, The Temptations. Not only does the tenor and baritone vocalist continue to tour with the group into its seventh decade as its only original member, but…

Beach Boys, Beatles, Elton John, Grammy, Metallica, Nicki Minaj, Oscar, Pearl Jam, Piano, Pop, Rock, Rock 'N Roll, Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame, Songwriter, United Kingdom, Voice October 16, 2021

Elton John talks about the magic of collaboration and his new album The Lockdown Sessions

By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Sometimes no plans are the best plans.  According to British pop superstar Sir Elton John, his star-studded, upcoming 32nd studio album, The Lockdown Sessions,  out October 22, wouldn’t have happened without an invitation from Charlie Puth, the L.A.-based singer and songwriter of the hits “Marvin Gaye,” “Attention” and “How Long,” to write in his studio.  “I had no plans to make any music at all,…

Alberta, Arranger, Art Rock, Canada, Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, Experimental, Folk, Fusion, Grammy, Guitar, Herbie Hancock, Jazz, Joni Mitchell, JUNO, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Pop, Producer, Rock, Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame, Songwriter, Taylor Swift, Voice October 18, 2020

Before she went to New York and became famous, Joni Mitchell played the Half Beat in Yorkville

     Nick Krewen Special to the Star John McHugh remembers the time he accidentally became Joni Mitchell’s matchmaker. McHugh, who owned the Yorkville-era clubs The Penny Farthing and The Half Beat back in the ‘60s, recalls meeting “Joanna Anderson” when she came around to one of his venues around 1963-64. “It was at the Penny Farthing that (singer) Cathy Young brought this young lady in with her,” McHugh recalled recently…

Adult Contemporary, Arranger, Composer, Detroit, Funk, Grammy, Harp, Jazz, JUNO, Motown, Piano, Pop, Producer, R&B, Reggae, Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame, Songwriter, Spoken Word, Synthesizer, Technology, United States, Voice October 13, 2020

Stevie Wonder releases two songs at the same time in a bid ‘for the world to get better’

Nick Krewen Special to the Star Stevie Wonder has had his kidney transplant and is doing very well, thank you. In the first public acknowledgment that he had experienced the surgery since he announced his intention to undergo the knife last July, the Detroit-born Motown legend said during a virtual press conference from Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon that he was feeling  fine and in good post-surgery health.  “Let everybody know that…

Adult Contemporary, Blues, Canada, Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, Composer, Fusion, Grammy, Jazz, JUNO, New York, Pop, Rock, Rock 'N Roll Hall Of Fame, Songwriter, The Band, Toronto, United States, Voice April 8, 2020

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…