Florence Welch

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Florence Welch Hosts 40th Anniversary Of David Bowie's "Heroes"

Florence + The Machine frontwoman hosts the BBC audio documentary featuring Brian Eno, Iggy Pop and Tony Visconti

GRAMMYs

Oct 10, 2017 - 1:08 pm

The late David Bowie left a lifetime of incredible music behind him when he passed in January 2016. Just one of his timeless contributions to music was 1977's Heroes album, released 40 years ago.

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In celebration of the 40th Anniversary, Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine hosted a BBC audio documentary that dives into the album's creation and influence. The piece features interviews with Bowie himself, as well as Brian Eno, Iggy Pop and Tony Visconti, who produced Heroes.

The audio documentary, "David Bowie's 'Heroes' 40th Anniversary" can be streamed on BBC.

Billy Corgan

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New Billy Corgan Album To Feature Bowie Tribute, James Iha Collab

GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter and former Smashing Pumpkins frontman reveals details behind his new solo album

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Sep 22, 2017 - 2:53 pm

William Patrick Corgan, aka Billy Corgan, seems to be at peace in his full given name. Corgan has a solo album on the way, Ogilala, set for release on Oct. 13, and while the album was produced by Rick Rubin and features a collaboration with former bandmate, guitarist James Iha, the project promises to be one of Corgan's most personal.

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According to a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Corgan was the only person to play on the album besides a string quartet and Iha, who appears on "The Processional." This marks the first time the two have recorded together since the 2000 Smashing Pumpkins album Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. Evidently, Corgan and Iha's reunion came from a very musical place.

"I sent him some [songs] and said to him, 'I feel like this is right up your alley' as far as the kind of music he likes to work on," Corgan said. "He picked out two songs, though one will likely be a B side."

The first single for Ogilala, "Aeronaut," was released last month, a piano-driven, string-laden indication of how personal his new album might be.

Corgan also revealed how one of his biggest inspirations, David Bowie, worked his way into the project. The first track on the LP, "Zowie," is a tribute to the late legend.

“It was written around the time that David had passed and I was thinking about him a lot," Corgan said, "I was lucky that I got to work with him a little bit. I was really struck by his passing. You almost have to take a step back and be like, ‘OK, that’s the end of a journey. What does it mean? How do we evaluate this artist now that there’s no more?’ It sort of closes the circle.”

William Patrick Corgan begins a tour in support of Ogilala on Oct. 14 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mick Ronson

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What Was Life Like Beside Bowie? New Doc On Guitarist Mick Ronson

Guitar great and David Bowie's early '70s musical partner is the subject of a new documentary out this fall

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Aug 31, 2017 - 5:52 pm

As of late, more and more compelling music documentaries have been unearthing the stories behind the eras and albums we love. This fall, glam-rock guitar great Mick Ronson's story gets its own rock doc.

Behind Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story follows Ronson's prolific career from his work with David Bowie as guitarist in the Spiders From Mars to his work with Lou Reed on his 1972 classic album, Transformer, and then with Bob Dylan as part of the Rolling Thunder Review live band in 1975–1976.

"I spent a little time with David [Bowie]," Queen drummer Roger Taylor says in the trailer, "and he used to say when I found Mick Ronson, I found my Jeff Beck."

Ronson's untimely death in 1993 at age 46 came far too soon, and Bowie said of his musical sideman, "If Mick had lived on, he would have become a major producer and arranger, and of course, he would have remained one of rock's great guitar players."

The film hits select theaters Sept. 1 and home video Oct. 27.

Maynard James Keenan

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Tool's Maynard James Keenan On Sustainable Living, Bowie, & Legacies

An inside look at the quietly but active life of the frontman of GRAMMY-winning bands Tool and A Perfect Circle

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Aug 31, 2017 - 12:01 pm

In a new video piece from Revolver, Tool and A Perfect Circle leader Maynard James Keenan provides a window into his sustainable lifestyle in rural Arizona and discusses winemaking, David Bowie, and his philosophy on legacies.

There is plenty of good news for fans as well. Keenan admits in the video, "I'm always writing. I'm working with Tool, Perfect Circle, Puscifer all the time, just slowly hedging our way through it all to present. If I was just doing those things, you start to run out of actual life experiences. All you're going to write about is the bus or a f***** up lawsuit, you just kind of lose your way, become disconnected. This is the reconnect."

That "reconnect" is the community Keenan is building and growing as a winemaker in Arizona. And while he is aware of the rich musical legacy he's created, he also understands the limits of a singular artist's influence when compared to the legacy a sustainable community of craftsman can cultivate. In this video, he uses the legacy of one of his heroes, David Bowie, as an example.

"As a legacy, I feel like some of the music we've done will live on its own," Keenan explains, "but I feel like, using Bowie as an example. Bowie passes away, people like up to freak out that he's gone and they're reverent about what he's done. In a way, that's done. He can't do any more. He's no longer here. There is a reverence to him… but that's kind of one direction. What we've done, or what we're setting up as a community here… there might be some founders of that movement, but if we are no longer here there are people that continue what we've started. So in a way, that's more of a legacy because you've actually established something that can continue 100, 200 years beyond you."

David Bowie

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Hear David Bowie's "Let's Dance" Demo, Featuring Nile Rodgers

Listen to the previously unreleased demo for the title track from Bowie's GRAMMY-nominated album

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Jan 8, 2018 - 1:11 pm

In honor of what would have been David Bowie's 71st birthday today, Parlophone has shared a previously unreleased demo recording of the late icon's 1983 hit "Let's Dance" featuring fellow GRAMMY winner Nile Rodgers.

According to Stereogum, the demo was recorded in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1982 with a pickup band that included Rodgers, Turkish-born guitarist Erdal Kizilcay, and an unidentified drummer and additional guitarist.

"I’ve been blessed with a wonderful career but my creative partnership with David Bowie ranks very very very high on the list of my most important and rewarding collaborations," said Rodgers of the newly surfaced recording. "This demo gives you, the fans, a bird’s eye view of the very start of it! I woke up on my first morning in Montreux with David peering over me. He had an acoustic guitar in his hands and exclaimed, “Nile, darling, I think this is a HIT!”

Rodgers and Bowie would enjoy great success together on the album Let's Dance, including hits "China Girl" and "Modern Love," both of which both climbed to No. 2 on the UK charts, as well as the title track heard in this newly unearthed demo. Per Bowie's suspicions, "Let's Dance" was indeed a hit – charting No. 1 in both the U.S. and U.K.

The LP was nominated for Album Of The Year for the 26th GRAMMY Awards, and Bowie also earned a nod for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male for "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)."

"This recording was the first indication of what we could do together as I took his “folk song” and arranged it into something that the entire world would soon be dancing to and seemingly has not stopped dancing to for the last 35 years!" Rodgers said, "It became the blueprint not only for 'Let’s Dance' the song but for the entire album as well."

As for the two unidentified musicians heard on the track, Rodgers had a message for them, as well as a birthday wish for his departed collaborator: "If you played 2nd guitar or drums let us know who you are! The time we spent mixing it just before Christmas was full of tears as it felt like David was in the room with us. Happy Birthday David, I love you and we all miss you."

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Florence Welch Hosts 40th Anniversary Of David Bowie's "Heroes"

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Hear David Bowie's "Let's Dance" Demo, Featuring Nile Rodgers