Latest news with #1960s
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Rick Derringer obituary
As a member of the American band the McCoys, the guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer Rick Derringer, who has died aged 77, scored a US No 1 hit with the 1965 single Hang on Sloopy, which also made it to No 5 in the UK. Later he went on to record and perform with some of the most famous names in the music industry over a career spanning six decades. Hang on Sloopy, with Derringer on vocals, was not the McCoys' own song; written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns, it had first been recorded the year before by the Los Angeles soul vocal group Vibrations, and had largely gone unnoticed, although it quickly became a favourite of US garage rock bands of the era. The McCoys' version made the song popular across the world, and they went on to have a another Top 10 hit in the US with a cover of Fever, written by Eddie Cooley and John Davenport, and a Top 40 interpretation of Come on, Let's Go, written by Ritchie Valens. However, two subsequent psychedelic albums failed to build on the popularity of those singles, and when the group disbanded in 1969, Derringer joined the blues guitarist Johnny Winter to play on Johnny Winter And (1970) and Live Winter And (1971). He also recorded with Johnny's younger brother, Edgar Winter, producing the hit singles Frankenstein (1973) and Free Ride (1973), among others. That work gained him a strong reputation as a guitarist and producer, and he subsequently worked with Alice Cooper and Todd Rundgren, played slide guitar on the Steely Dan single Show Biz Kids (1973), and a guitar solo on the song Chain Lightning, on their Katy Lied album (1975). He also worked with Bonnie Tyler, Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf, and in 1986 Cyndi Lauper called on him to provide guitar work for two tracks on her album True Colors. Another powerhouse vocalist, Barbra Streisand, featured him as lead guitar player on her single Left in the Dark (1984), and he played on Air Supply's Making Love Out of Nothing at All (1983) as well as Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart (1983). In addition he toured three times with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr band, and played in a performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York with Paul McCartney to celebrate Starr's 70th birthday in 2010. Derringer was born Richard Zehringer in Celina in Ohio, the son of John, a railway worker, and his wife, Janice (nee Thornburg), and grew up in Fort Recovery, Ohio. His family moved to Union City, Indiana, when he was in his early teens, and it was there that he began his music career in 1962, forming Rick and the Raiders with his brother Randy on drums and Dennis Kelly on bass. With expansion and personnel changes, they eventually became the McCoys, and following the success of Hang On Sloopy, Derringer also changed his name – in order, he said, to make it easier to pronounce and remember. Derringer's first solo album, All American Boy (1973), featured his composition Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo, which has become a classic of rock radio. The track was released as a single that peaked at No 23 on the US charts, and is featured on the soundtracks of Richard Linklater's movie Dazed and Confused (1993) and in season four of the Netflix series Stranger Things (2022). Subsequent solo albums were not commercially successful, but the list of artists that Derringer worked with in the 80s read like a Who's Who of popular recording acts of the era. Two of his more left-field collaborations came as producer of the first six albums for the comedy musician Weird Al Yankovic and of two albums of music in conjunction with the World Wrestling Federation, The Wrestling Album (1985) and Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II (1987), both featuring the theme music of various wrestlers. His song Real American was the theme for the tag team US Express and subsequently for Hulk Hogan, and in 2011 President Barack Obama used that tune as walk-on music at the White House correspondents' dinner while his birth certificate was displayed on a video screen; an irony given that Derringer was a Donald Trump supporter. With his third wife, Jenda Hall, Derringer later recorded four Christian-themed albums. Two earlier marriages, to the journalist Liz Agriss and then to the singer and percussionist Dyan Buckelew, ended in divorce. He is survived by Jenda and a daughter, Mallory, from his second marriage. Richard Dean Derringer (Zehringer), musician, born 5 August 1947; died 26 May 2025
Daily Mail
a day ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Disgraced footy great has a big win after being accused of child sex offences
Barry Cable has secured a legal win in his high-profile child sex abuse case, with a judge ruling the former AFL champion will face a judge-alone trial. The decision was handed down by District Court Judge John Staude in Perth after Cable's legal team argued he would not receive a fair hearing in front of a jury due to widespread media coverage. The 81-year-old, once considered one of the greatest footballers in Australian history, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of indecently dealing with a girl under 13 and two counts of carnal knowledge of a child under 13. The charges relate to a single alleged victim and date back nearly 60 years to the late 1960s in Perth. Cable's legal team, led by barrister Tom Percy KC, said the public nature of the allegations and media scrutiny would make it impossible to find an impartial jury. The judge agreed to the request for a judge-alone trial, which is now set to begin on March 10, 2026. Cable sat in the dock during Thursday's hearing as his sons, Shane and Barry Junior, watched from the public gallery. Judge Staude is yet to rule on a separate application from the prosecution to allow testimony from additional witnesses as propensity evidence. Prosecutor Kim Jennings is seeking to introduce statements from three women who allege they were also abused by Cable in separate incidents in the 1960s and 1980s. Those allegations are not the subject of any criminal charges but form part of the State's argument that Cable had a tendency to engage in such behaviour. Jennings told the court that the alleged victim in the current criminal trial was a 'vulnerable' child of about nine years old, allegedly abused in Cable's Perth home while no one else was present. The other witnesses allege they were indecently assaulted in a spa by Cable in Melbourne while others were nearby, during the early 1980s. One of the claims to be considered for inclusion comes from a woman who previously brought a successful civil case against Cable. In that matter, the court found her allegations - that Cable touched her 'under the water' when she was aged 12 - were substantially true on the balance of probabilities. Percy argued there was no strong connection between the different allegations and said 'you can't just say he had a generalised interest in young girls and had a tendency to act on it.' He said the claims from Melbourne were 'completely different' from the Perth allegations and should not be considered in the same context. 'There is no 'aha' moment,' Percy said. 'When you look at what is said to have happened in Melbourne, it was completely different. There's really no similarity at all.' Despite that, Jennings maintained that the cases shared 'striking similarities' in terms of the ages of the alleged victims, the environments, and Cable's alleged behaviour patterns. A ruling on whether this evidence will be admitted is expected in the coming weeks. Cable was charged in May 2024 after a long investigation. The offences are alleged to have occurred when he was in his mid-20s and at the height of his playing career, having just won WAFL premierships in 1967 and 1968. Since the allegations became public, Cable has been stripped of his AFL Legend and Hall of Fame honours. North Melbourne removed him from their club's Hall of Fame, and he was also cut from the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. The upcoming trial is expected to last up to 10 days. The prosecution has flagged five potential witnesses, though the list is still being finalised. The former football great has denied all allegations. He did not speak during the recent hearing but has previously stated that he intends to fight all charges.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
As ‘Pretty Little Baby' Goes Viral, Connie Francis Is Joining TikTok
Sixty-four years ago, Connie Francis recorded 'Pretty Little Baby' as one of dozens of songs in a marathon recording session that yielded three albums within two weeks. It did not, at the time, feel like a song that had the makings of a hit, so it landed on the B-side of the 1962 single 'I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter' that was released in Britain. Since then, it was more or less overlooked. Then came TikTok and its canny ability to resurrect decades-old songs for a new generation. Over the last few weeks, 'Pretty Little Baby' has been trending on the social media app — it has been featured as the sound in more than 600,000 TikTok posts and soared to top spots in Spotify's Viral 50 global and U.S. lists — bolstered by celebrities and influencers, like Nara Smith, Kylie Jenner, and Kim Kardashian and her daughter North, who have posted videos of themselves lip-syncing to it. The ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog used the song for a clip on TikTok in which she said Ms. Francis had long been her favorite singer. And the Broadway actress Gracie Lawrence, who is currently playing Ms. Francis in 'Just in Time' — a play about Bobby Darin, Ms. Francis's onetime romantic partner — also posted a video of herself lip-syncing to it, in her 1960s costume and hair. The song's current popularity is an unexpected twist to Ms. Francis's long and illustrious career. In 1960, she became the first female singer to top the Billboard Hot 100 and, by the time she was 26 years old, she had sold 42 million records and had two more singles top the Billboard charts. But this particular song, which she recorded in seven different languages, remained so obscure that Ms. Francis, 87, told People magazine that she had forgotten ever recording it. Amid the frenzy of the unexpected attention, Ms. Francis is trying to figure out how to turn this sudden attention into opportunities for herself. She and her publicist, Ron Roberts, enlisted Mr. Roberts's son to help them set up a TikTok account for her and, in a phone interview on Thursday, she said she had been mulling the idea of emerging from retirement to do some kind of show in the next few months. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Geek Tyrant
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
New THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Images Feature Galactus, Silver Surfer, and The Fantastic Four — GeekTyrant
Marvel has just dropped some new images for The Fantastic Four: First Steps thanks to Empire Magazine with a couple of striking new covers for its June issue, and they're loaded with character reveals. One cover spotlights Marvel's First Family with Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm—posing heroically with Silver Surfer soaring behind them. The second, a stylized piece from artist @_doaly, goes full cosmic, giving us a surreal new look at both the Silver Surfer and the looming presence of Galactus. I'm excited that Galactus is officially coming to the MCU, and that he's being played by the thunder-voiced Ralph Ineson. I'm excited to see how his story will play out over the course of the film As for Silver Surfer, she's portrayed by Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal, a femal version of the iconic Herald of Galactus that fans have mixed feeling about. Set in a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is being described as a bold stylistic shift for the MCU. 'Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel's First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing—as they face their most daunting challenge yet.' Directed by Matt Shakman ( WandaVision ), the film stars Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrachas The Thing. Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne also appear in the film in undisclosed roles. Michael Giacchino is scoring the film, so expect the soundtrack to match the retro-future vibe. The film marks the start of Phase Six and hits theaters July 25, 2025.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Barry Fantoni obituary
It was the freezing winter of 1963 and snow was lying thick on the ground in London when Barry Fantoni, who has died aged 85 of a heart attack, came to fame by unveiling the Duke of Edinburgh in his underpants at the Woodstock gallery. The near lifesize image of Prince Philip in his smalls, surrounded by a kilt, a polo stick and items of naval uniform, in the style of a child's cut-out doll, caused a sensation after the show was reviewed by the art critic of the Daily Express. Within a week the entire collection of Baz's first one-man show had been sold to an American art dealer. The portrait, an early example of pop art, caught the eye of Richard Ingrams, one of the founders of Private Eye magazine, and opened the door for Baz's 47-year career at the satirical title, during which time he featured in all but 31 of the 1,278 issues. He was a cartoonist, illustrator and member of the jokes team, notably inventing – with Ingrams – the character of EJ Thribb, the magazine's teenage poet-in-residence. During the 60s, he was a face of swinging London – Paul McCartney, Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, Marianne Faithfull and Ralph Steadman would hang out at his home and studio in Clapham, south London. In 1966 he became the host of A Whole Scene Going, a BBC show intended to rival ITV's Ready Steady Go! (for which Baz had designed the set) and Melody Maker named him Top Male TV Celebrity that year. He had his own fanclub. Baz's instinctive understanding of popular culture as a working-class Londoner brought a new relevance to Private Eye, whose founders had met at public school. But he was sensitive to how he was seen and angrily denounced an early history of the magazine for portraying him as a 'Jewish sex-maniac and a half-wit' for highlighting his amorous pursuit of women at the office. By contrast, he never spared the subjects of his cartoons and always aimed to 'wound or mock' the 'miserably corrupt establishment' that were his primary targets. Cartooning was not what he wished to be remembered for, however. 'If I could be honest I would put it at the bottom of the list,' he said when I interviewed him in 2009 and we became friends. He could discuss almost any subject and usually find a joke in it. Away from the Eye, Fantoni worked as a poet, a professional jazz player, a playwright, a painter, a gumshoe detective novelist and a reader of Chinese horoscopes. Poetry was his great passion. 'It is the key feature of my life, more than anything else, more than plays, more than the musicals, more than my jazz, more than Private Eye, more than painting, more than everything. It's the bedrock of my life.' He adopted the persona of Thribb for public poetry readings alongside Roger McGough, whom he had known since playing sax with McGough's band the Scaffold in 1967. Always opening with 'So farewell then' and usually including the line 'That was your catchphrase', Thribb's obituary poems could also be designed to wound or mock, Baz said. 'That's the thing about the catchphrase … that's what really sums you up and you weren't anything more than that.' For a time his own catchphrase was Little Man in a Little Box, the title of the pop song that Davies wrote for him, which he recorded in 1966 and would perform as a support act to the Spencer Davis Group. It was a reference to the age of television – ('You can turn me on, you can switch me off') – but it would be good Thribb material, following Baz's burial in Turin's monumental cemetery. He could find humour in death. It amused him that his mother had 'wryly noted' the irony in his father's death, also from a heart attack, while watching This Is Your Life. Baz was born in Epping, Essex, to where his mother had been evacuated from Stepney, east London, during the second world war. His Italian father, Peter (born Paolo) Fantoni, was an artist, and his Jewish mother, Sarah (known as Maxi, nee Deverell) was a musician, of French and Dutch extraction. Baz grew up in south London and painted landscapes from the roof of the family flat on Brixton Hill. He attended Archbishop Temple school before joining Camberwell School of Art on a scholarship before his 15th birthday. At 18 he was expelled for multiple misdemeanours, including depicting the staff naked in the style of Toulouse-Lautrec. While travelling in France, he contracted tuberculosis. Admitted to hospital on his return to London, he watched fellow patients dying on his ward. That experience, he later explained, was where his work drive came from. He resumed his education at the Slade School of Fine Art and then came the exhibition that brought him to the attention of Ingrams. He went on to have a further six solo exhibitions (including Caricatures by Barry Fantoni at the National Portrait Gallery in 2007) and five joint exhibitions with his father, and took part in 11 group shows. The Eye's fortnightly publishing rhythm allowed him multiple careers. From the mid-1960s he taught at Croydon College of Art, alongside Bridget Riley. He was a diary cartoonist (1983-90) and art critic (1973-77) for the Times, and his caricatures were a fixture in the Listener for 20 years (1968-88). He put on plays in Paris and London. But for Baz there was never enough time. On leaving the Eye in 2010, he told colleagues there was 'still so much else I've got left to do'. Depechism, an art movement which he founded in 2012 after moving to Calais, was emblematic of his need to produce work quickly. The Depechist 'manifesto' decreed that each painting must be completed within a time limit set by the length of the canvas. It seemed like an idea suited to the digital age, but Baz was making a protest, he said, against the 'Saatchiism and Serotaism' of the 'empty' arts establishment, from which he felt alienated. In the same year he published Harry Lipkin PI, a slick novel about 'the world's oldest private detective'. It was set in Miami, even though the author (who did not fly) had never visited the city. Baz married Tessa Reidy in 1972. They had separated by the time he met Katie Dominy, an art and design journalist and editor, who became his partner in 1996 and who survives him. In search of his Italian roots, in 2016 Baz moved with Katie to a riverside flat in Turin, where he produced two memoirs, A Whole Scene Going On (2019) and Breasts As Apples (2023), more pictures, short plays and a collection of brief poems, Poems You May Have Missed (2021), mimicking the style of famous poets. The Italian obsession with ice-cream and national tendency to talk noisily were things he complained of, often loudly and in public. In 2022 he spent months in hospital, critically ill with heart problems, but somehow he came back to life and returned to his projects. 'I have a huge pile of work ahead,' he told me in an email last month. However, in the time-honoured phrasing of Private Eye editors: 'That's enough Barry – Ed.' Barry Ernest Fantoni, artist and writer, born 28 February 1940; died 20 May 2025
