Classic Pop Icons

Michael Jackson’s brother Tito and sister Rebbie will be touring the UK next March with a tribute show titled “A Jackson Named Michael: Remembering A Legend.” Deniece Williams will also perform on the show, which was put together with the help of family friend David Gest.

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The New Releases page has been updated to include music CD, DVD and Blu-ray releases for September.

After a fairly ordinary month in August, there are a large number of quality releases this month. Highlights include:

• Beatles “1” album reissue using the 2009 remasters – 13 Sep (US/CA)/5 Sep (UK)
• “Queen: Live At Wembley 25th anniversary” DVD and the latest Queen remasters in standard and deluxe formats (to save space, only deluxe editions are listed in the diary) – 13 Sep (US/CA)/5 Sep (UK)*
• deluxe box set of Jimi Hendrix’s “Wonderland” and other Hendrix CD/DVD reissues – 13 Sep (US/CA)/12 Sep (UK)
• Ed Sullivan Motown DVDs featuring various artists/the Supremes/the Temptations – 13 Sep (US/CA)
• the “Superheavy” collaboration between Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, Damian Marley, and A. R. Rahman – 20 Sep (US/CA)/19 Sep (UK)
• “Elvis Presley – Young Man With the Big Beat” 5-CD box, including an unreleased live show – 27 Sep (US/CA)/26 Sep (UK)
• first releases in the Pink Floyd remasters campaign, including deluxe and super deluxe sets for “Dark Side of the Moon,” and a 16-CD “Discovery” box set – 27 Sep (US/CA)/26 Sep (UK)
• “Johnny Cash: Bootleg Vol 3 – Live Around the World”, which features many previously unheard live performances recorded between 1956 and 1979 – 27 Sep (US)/11 Oct (CA)/10 Oct (UK).

There are also new albums from The Bangles, Lindsey Buckingham and Chris Rhea; box sets from Sting and Madness; the Monkees on DVD; and much more.

You can browse the music CD, DVD and Blu-ray releases for previous months in the New Releases archive.

Marvin Gaye’s superb recording of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” is Song of the Week on Classic Pop Icons. “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” was released on single on October 30, 1968, backed with “You’re What’s Happening (in the World Today).” It had already appeared on Gaye’s ninth solo album “In the Groove.”

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Just as we are absorbing the news of Jerry Leiber’s sad death, reports come in that Nick Ashford of Motown group and songwriting team Ashford & Simpson passed away today in New York. The 70-year-old had been suffering from throat cancer.

Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who married in 1974, had successful careers as both songwriters and performers. After a brief spell writing for the Scepter/Wand label in the mid-1960s, during which they penned hits for the likes of Ray Charles, the Shirelles and Maxine Brown, the pair joined Motown in 1966 where they wrote a string of classic songs for artists such as Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”), Gladys Knight and The Pips (“Didn’t You Know You’d Have to Cry Sometime”), Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (“Who’s Gonna Take the Blame”), the Supremes (“Some Things You Never Get Used To”), the Marvelettes (“Destination:Anywhere”) and many more.

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