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BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'There were days where I felt I could never leave': Intimate images of 'the real Hotel California'
The legendary Record Plant Studios was where the most iconic rock stars of the 1970s gathered, immersing themselves in the decadent atmosphere. Now a new book offers a glimpse inside – and argues that The Eagles' time there inspired the US band's most famous song. In 1974, seeking more creative autonomy and a punchier rock sound, The Eagles parted company with their London-based producer, and headed back to their hometown of Los Angeles, California, where Record Plant Studios, founded by legendary audio engineer Gary Kellgren and shrewd businessman Chris Stone, offered a radical alternative. Here – immersed in the studios' relaxed set-up, where every aspect of the rock-star lifestyle was serviced, from hotel suites to hot tubs − they recorded their hit album Hotel California. Warning: This article contains mentions of drug use. Even when The Eagles took their partying into the studio, the managers did not mind. As Stone remarks in a revealing new book, published by Thames & Hudson: "The longer we kept them there, the more money we made." With musicians finding it so hard, once checked in, to tear themselves away, it was little wonder that within a year of the title track's release, there were whisperings that the Record Plant was the "real" Hotel California. Buzz Me In – Inside the Record Plant Studios, by veteran music journalists Martin Porter and David "Mr Bonzai" Goggin, tells the story of one of the US's most successful recording studios during its most decadent years; from its beginnings (in 1968) in New York – where Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland was made – to its wild Californian incarnations in LA and Sausalito, recording rock legends such as Fleetwood Mac, The Who and The Eagles. Buzz Me In, named after the password used to gain entry to the LA studio, invites the public into a rock 'n' roll world that few have seen. Accompanied by a playlist of the studios' seminal recordings, it draws on Stone's memoirs and archives, behind-the-scenes images, and more than 100 interviews with the artists, producers and studio staff who helped shape Record Plant's success. In the 1970s, Porter and Goggin got closer than most to the secret world behind the studio's doors. "It took me many years to realise that it was a pretty special time," Porter tells the BBC. Forty years on, one figure who had survived this frenzied period stood out: Chris Stone, who is pictured in the book in front of the bubble-written logo designed by Kellgren. "Chris Stone was very prominent in the business and told great stories," says Porter, who was convinced that Stone's memories of the Record Plant's wildest decade were a book in the making. Yet Stone kept knocking him back, insisting: "The story dies with me, Porter." But in the last two years of his life (he died in 2016), he relented, uniting Porter with Goggin, his close friend and publicist, to help steer the endeavour. A blueprint exported worldwide Record Plant was special. "The major artists, that's where they wanted to go," Goggin tells the BBC. It led the race for the latest technology ("more tracks, bigger speakers…") and "created an environment that was unlike the traditional, [more clinical] recording studios". It also gave artists more freedom from the record labels, creating a blueprint for a new way of working that was later exported worldwide. The wizard driving this new direction was Kellgren. He was "fun", "creative" and "innovative", says Porter. "He knew how to work the console, make great sounds, but he also knew how to create a party, and a space where artists wanted to make music and hang out and spend time." More like this:• The album that sent shockwaves through the 00s• The 'untold story' of the ultimate 70s rock band• Why Oasis defined the spirit of 90s Britain When, in 1969, the duo opened a sister studio in LA (and another in Sausalito in 1972), they supercharged the original concept, creating a sort of rock hotel, with group Jacuzzis, mirror-ceilinged bedrooms, bedrooms with nicknames including "S&M", and, in keeping with the era, a variety of illicit drugs intended to keep these paying guests holed up as long as they could. "Mirrors were embedded in the consoles, and the assistants were instructed to make sure there was a clean blade and a straw there every morning," says Porter. Unsurprisingly, Record Plant was a magnet for the wildest rockers, including The Who's hot-tempered drummer Keith Moon, who is pictured in the book in 1976 against the tie-dyed sound-absorbing screens of Record Plant's LA studio. During one frustrating vocal session, he smashed a light bulb in the ceiling each time he missed a note, eventually plunging the studio into darkness. While Stone supplied the business acumen, Kellgren was its creative force: a capricious character who spent most of the 1970s high on drugs, and died tragically young in 1977. He was the brains behind the weighty brick invitations to the LA studio opening, sent to rock royalty far and wide, causing chaos at the post office. On the opening night, the silk-screen-printed invitations were handed to a tuxedoed builder who cemented them together, creating an eye-catching wall of fame. Parallels with Hotel California Working alongside producer Bill Szymczyk, The Eagles would spend an intense nine months at Record Plant LA honing their Hotel California album, whose title song spoke of a place where you could "check out any time you like", but could "never leave". John Lennon was a case in point, encamping at the studio for the best part of five years, enjoying the opportunity to jam with Mick Jagger, or have Elton John play on a new record. It was at Record Plant LA that he spent his infamous "lost weekend" phase, and, in 1980, he signed an autograph for the receptionist at Record Plant New York just minutes before he was fatally shot. Record Plant and its legendary parties drew numerous stars into its vortex, gave them everything they wanted, and held them in its thrall. In Buzz Me In, Ken Caillat, who produced Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album, describes the band's experience at the Sausalito studio as "druggy" and "claustrophobic". In a poignant echo of that famous lyric, he remarks: "There were days where I felt I could never leave." Record Plant had no qualms about catering to every predilection in its quest to sell studio time. On the days Hendrix was expected at the New York studio, a bowl of freshly rolled joints would be placed on the mixing desk. At Sausalito, a tank of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) was installed by Sly Stone's bed; in the LA studio's canteen, The Eagles' Glenn Frey ran up a $50,000 (£37,000) gambling debt playing pinball. Even clean-living Stevie Wonder "was eating up $175 an hour for Studio C [LA] while he was just playing air hockey". The culture of the place was communicated before you even stepped inside. In the studio parking lot, Kellgren would station his purple Rolls-Royce with the licence plate GREED next to his silver Mercedes-Benz, DEDUCT. The album Hotel California went platinum in December 1976, and the eerie six-and-a-half-minute title song – with its beguiling mix of rock, country and Latin influences, including a flamenco-style guitar intro – topped the US charts the following May. The parallels between the lyrics and the studio were obvious to Kellgren. "My God, they're writing about Record Plant!" he exclaimed to producer Jimmy Robinson. The "warm smell of colitas rising up through the air" recalled the marijuana smoke that filled the studios, for example; while the "lovely face" on reception could be attributed to Rose Mann, who would direct visitors down a long open-air hallway into a labyrinth of corridors suggested in the song's opening verse. Her "Tiffany-twisted" mind may have been inspired by the Tiffany-glass ceiling of the control room at Sausalito, or perhaps the 125 stained-glass windows at "The Castle", a Hollywood mansion off Sunset Boulevard purchased by Record Plant in 1975, where Kellgren had hoped to create a rock palace, and whose spires bear some resemblance to the Beverly Hills Hotel featured on the album cover. Some Record Plant employees were convinced that the night manager Michael Gately, who buzzed everyone in, was the "night man" in the song; his "master's chambers" denoted the echo chambers just along the hall from Studio C; the studio's walled car park was the "courtyard", where staff liked to party. And might the "spirit" of "1969" hark back to the studio's star-studded opening? Rumours circulated that the Record Plant was the real Hotel California, encouraged by Kellgren, who saw that the myth-making was good for business and, says Goggin, "certainly didn't try to stop it". The evidence was persuasive. "Pink champagne on ice" might simply be code for Record Plant's extravagances, but the "mirrors on the ceiling" were more literal. There was a mirror over the vocal booth in Studio C, in every back hotel room, and – most significantly – over the king-sized bed of the nautical-themed Boat Room, a space frequented by The Eagles that had a hideaway concealed beneath a panel under the bed where Kellgren would spy on the recording sessions below. The Eagles, however, batted away such speculation. "It's a song about the dark underbelly of the American Dream, and about excess in America, which was something we knew about," Don Henley told Gayle King in a 2007 interview for CBS. "There are so many similarities," Porter tells the BBC. "A lot of the lyrics, a lot of the vibe at the time, was inspired by the place where they wrote the song." The question is put to Chris Stone in the book. "Was the Record Plant the real Hotel California?" His reply: "We were anything our customers wanted us to be." Buzz Me In – Inside the Record Plant Studios by Martin Porter and David Goggin is published by Thames & Hudson. -- For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
🚨Official: Richard Ríos joins Benfica as new signing
The Colombian midfielder was announced by The Eagles after a huge step at Palmeiras. Richard signed a 5-year contract with Benfica and the transfer was closed for around 27 million the rumor for the Colombian national team doesn't end here. Apparently, the Brazilian team would be thinking of Nelson Deossa to replace him, while Ríos takes the big leap in his career. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Stevie Wonder: 'I'll keep playing as long as I breathe'
At the age of 75, Stevie Wonder is still going strong. His latest UK tour, which wrapped up earlier this month received rapturous reviews, with critics calling the star "fresh and on form" for "a riotously joyful celebration" of his while contemporaries like Billy Joel and The Eagles are reducing their musical commitments, Wonder says he will never consider retiring."For as long as you breathe, for as long as your heart beats, there's more for you to do," the Motown legend told the BBC's Sidetracked podcast. "I'm not gonna stop the gift that keeps pouring through my body. "I love doing what I'm doing. An artist never stops drawing. As long as you can imagine is as long as you are going to be creative."The star also confirmed he was still working on a new album, titled Through The Eyes Of Wonder, which he first discussed in project has previously been described as a performance piece that will reflect his experience as a blind would be his first studio album since 2005's A Time To Love; extending a recording career that started in 1962, when he was just 11 years old. Wonder spoke to Sidetracked presenter Annie Macmanus, the day before he headlined the BST festival in London's Hyde Park - playing a two-and-a-half hour set that encompassed his biggest hits, from Superstition and Isn't She Lovely to You Are The Sunshine Of My Life and I of the set was drawn from the 1970s purple patch when he won the Grammy Award for best album three times in a row, for Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs In The Key Of told Macmanus that he never tired of revisiting those records."Songs are like children, they're with you forever," he said. "They are statement from the spirit within you. "And singing those songs is like me taking another breath." America 'going backwards' Earlier this month, during a concert in Cardiff, the musician addressed a long-standing conspiracy theory that he is not actually blind."You know there have been rumours about me seeing and all that?" he told the audience, "But seriously, you know the truth.""Truth is, shortly after my birth, I became blind," he told his disability a gift, Wonder continued: "Now, that was a blessing because it's allowed me to see the world in the vision of truth, of sight." In his Sidetracked interview, the singer talked about the importance of using music to spread positivity and speak truth to his life, he has been a vocal civil rights campaigner, and played a key role in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr recognised as a national holiday in the who campaigned for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year's US presidential election, told Macmanus that America was currently beleaguered by "people trying to go backwards"."It's not gonna go down like that," he insisted. "I think that if you look back in history, there's always been a point when people wake up."And I think that, for those who think it is gonna go down like that, remember that God is watching you."You can listen to Stevie Wonder's full interview on the Sidetracked podcast on BBC Sounds.
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Voices soar like Eagles across cathedral
The show more than equalled the venue. Mix the stunning theatre of St Paul's Cathedral with the smooth harmonies of a classic American band, and it promises a sweet night out. The Rock Tenors — Steve Jones, Luke Butson, Greg MacLeod, James Adams and Ben Hayward — delivered, lapping up The Eagles catalogue for the whole 90-odd minutes they were on stage. They hit almost every note and mixed the vocals among the five, who possess voices to fill the arena. The Eagles managed to create that sort of folksy/pop sound with a real catchy beat. They also could play a decent rock piece. Many bands and singers have done it, but they had stunning success with it. Their greatest hits albums are among the best-selling of all time. So the Rock Tenors had the material and did not waste the chance. Helped by the St Paul's Cathedral Choir and a talented backing band, it made for an enjoyable night. Straight from the first number, Witchy Woman, it was a fantastic sound at the cathedral. The five men in their smart jackets nailed it. Lyin' Eyes and New Kid in Town are The Eagles at their best and the crowd lapped them up as the Rock Tenors rose to the standard of the songs. An a cappella performance of Seven Bridges Road was a chance to display some voice muscle from the group and they showed their vocal range. Guitarist Joseph Balfe showed his skills with a delightful solo before he started the song which is forever linked with The Eagles — Hotel California.
Daily Mirror
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Coldplay world tour making them biggest touring act of 2025 so far
The Coldplay world tour making them biggest touring act of 2025 so far, beating the likes of Shakira and Beyonce Coldplay are the biggest live entertainers on the planet so far this year having taken home a whopping £100m from concerts. Chris Martin's forty something Devon founded rock act has wiped the floor with other touring acts in 2025 being crowned as the biggest earners of 2025's Worldwide Tour - taking £100,868,947.68 Latina pop queen Shakira, 48, is 15 percent off Coldplay's figures (in second place) with the planet's biggest rapper Kendrick Lamar, 37, taking home 30 percent less than the Paradise rock act. Music analytics giant Pollstar has served up the tour revenues for the year, which prove the English band remains as popular as ever - even making over TWICE as much as Beyonce. They earned almost £5m per show (£4,803,637.29) from 21 nights playing to 1,205,449 fans on their current leg of The Music of the Spheres World Tour. Coldplay cemented their reputation as a band for the masses by selling tickets at an average price of less than £85 a pop (£83.65). They are well ahead of any other UK and Ireland acts as even the biggest names like Paul McCartney have only played short tours whereas they are on a monster stadium tour which earns them a fortune. By the end of the year Oasis will be up with Coldplay in terms of huge earnings. The Oasis Live 25 tour is expected to gross over £400 million from various revenue streams, including ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandise, and more. Reports suggest Liam and Noel will bank over £50 million each from the 25 date tour. Shakira came in second at £85m, followed by Kendrick Lamar and SZA £73.91m, The Eagles £68.82, SEVENTEEN (£68.45), Trans-Siberian Orchestra £50.55M), Tyler, The Creator (,£49.5m, Dead & Company (£45.6m) , j-hope (£44.19m), and Beyoncé( £44.04m). Pollstar compiled the figures for the 2025 Mid-Year Top 100 Worldwide Top Touring Artists from shows between November14, 2024 to May 14, 2025. US acts dominated the first half of live show business events globally on the top 100 list. And after many years of over 40s dominating the biggest earning charts, younger talents and boy and girl bands are now making waves on the live front. Most legacy acts, like The Grateful Dead and The Eagles, earn more from each ticket often well over £200 a seat. After Coldplay it was an 82-year-old music icon showing the youngsters how to earn big - at number 29 in the global chart. Ex Beatle Macca was the next highest earning UK and Ireland act having generated £23,238,897.86 in revenue from just nine shows to nearly a quarter of a million fans. The average ticket price is less than a £100 for the Liverpudlian genius to deliver often three hour sets of iconic hits. Eighties metal act Iron Maiden made over £20m from 10 gigs to 387,180 fans, who only paid an average of 52 quid. Pop princess Due Lipa continues to ride high with her catchy pop hits coining in over £15m from 11 areas nights on her Radical Optimism Tour (£15,440,757.07). Hot on her heels was 2024's Gen Z darling Charli XCX - originator of the Brat Summer movement - who bolstered her bank account by £13,829,123.46 over 11 gigs. Irish act The Script showed their appeal remains strong taking home almost £14m from 38 gigs at a fee of less than fifty quid. Over sixties Brit soul act Simply Red walked off with £10m from nine gigs, while Rod Stewart was close behind with £9.2m. Geordie rocker Sam Fender, 31 wowed at 19 gigs taking in nearly £9m. Pollstar noted in their report: ' The Mid-Year Worldwide Touring Artists chart highlights a healthy live market, with its top three tours each grossing over $100 million well before the busiest concert season. 'Additionally, average revenue per show jumped 24.9% to $1,713,557, and per-show ticket sales rose 32.1% to 14,229. However, these average revenue increases were mitigated by a 5.5% drop in average ticket prices from $127.38 in 2024 to $120.43 this year, likely reflecting 2025's uneven economic conditions marred by trade wars, a volatile stock market, shaky consumer confidence, inflation, and mixed employment reports.' Pollstar, 'The Voice of Live,' is the premier trade publication dedicated to covering the worldwide concert industry. Pollstar data is the leading resource for the touring industry encompassing box office numbers, event listings, and contact directories. Pollstar produces a monthly magazine, weekly and daily e-newsletters, and produces the world 's largest gathering of live music industry professionals. Although The Music Of Spheres tour is the second biggest tour ever over the whole of it's duration over multiple years, Coldplay is still miles away from £1.74bn of from the Taylor Swift Eras Tour. 1. Coldplay £100,868,947.68 2. Sir Paul McCartney £23,238,897.86 3,Iron Maiden £20,128,162.89 4. Due Lipa £15,440,757.07 5. Charli XCX £13,829,123.46 6, The Script 13811671.93 7. Simply Red £10,020,513.81 8. Rod Stewart £9,232,168.07 9. Sam Fender £8,791,028.37 10. Sting with Billy Joel £6025264.22 TOP WORLDWIDE ACTS EARNINGS FROM FIRST HALF OF 2025 1. Coldplay £100,9m 2. Shakira £85m 3. Kendrick Lamar and SZA £73.91m 4. The Eagles £68.82 5. SEVENTEEN £68.45m 6. Trans-Siberian Orchestra £50.55m 7. ,Tyler, The Creator £49.5m 8. Dead & Company £45.6m 9. j-hope £44.19m 10. Beyoncé £44.04m
