A star in her own right Linda Gail Lewis might have always been overshadowed by her pioneering brother, but those who happened to watch The Killer’s 85th birthday bash could see it was not the clearly ailing Jerry Lee who shone on screen – it was his younger sibling. Linda Gail played a few of his numbers for a long time on a stage; however, she took her brother’s classics to a studio – the legendary Sun Studios – only after the veteran’s passing to release the results on June 2nd.
It’s been more than two years that the great Lee Kerslake left our world. An inimitable drummer and incomparable character, he would always be associated with URIAH HEEP whose rhythm machine Lee used to drive between 1972 and 1979 and from 1981 to 2007, yet there’s much more to his story, as Kerslake was behind the kit of two first albums by Ozzy Osbourne and, thus, influenced the entire flow of hard rock. His life just had to become a subject of a documentary one day – and, eventually, the film is out now.
Despite quite a few platters which MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT released over the decades, it’s their cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” that defined this band for many a follower. Of course, Iain Matthews didn’t play at Yasgur’s farm, yet his being on the other side of the Atlantic in August 1969 doesn’t prevent the veteran and his band from releasing “The Woodstock Album” today, on April 21st.
Next year, Mohammed Abdullah also known as John Alder yet famous as Twink will turn 80 years young, and the closer to this date the more momentum the legendary artist gains, delivering album after album ever since his return to recording activities a decade ago. 2023 will see the veteran issue not one but two platters: one a covers-based collaboration and the other a continuation of his long-running psychedelic trip.
A proud member of the clan that gave the world THE NEVILLE BROTHERS, Ivan Neville has cut a nice career for himself as multi-instrumentalist who doesn’t have to draw on such familial associations. The 63-year-old’s résumé includes concert stints with the greatest artists – like Bernard Purdie and Keith Richards – and studio work with a lot of famous collectives, THE ROLLING STONES among them, plus the membership in SPIN DOCTORS and the leadership in DUMPSTAPHUNK. All these leave not a lot of time for Ivan’s endeavors under his own name, yet April 21st is the day when Neville’s first solo album in almost two decades is out.
