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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Over 60 But Still Rockin'

What happens to rockstars when they get old? - They just keep on rockin' !!

One thing all these people have in common (besides still being alive), is that they are all over 60 and 70 years old, and as they've moved on in life, the music has lived on in their blood. I think it goes to show that the musical talent of legends is ageless.

The biggest achievement of this article? - Reminding me of how old I'm getting !!




HALL OF FAME



61 ... James Newell Osterberg Jr, better known as Iggy Pop, was the lead singer of The Stooges. Earlier this year Pop appeared at Madonna's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and together with The Stooges he sang raucous versions of two of Madonna's hits, Burning Up and Ray of Light

62 ... Neil Young, referred to as "the Godfather of Grunge" - because of the influence he had on Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder - was instrumental in the entire grunge movement. In February 2008 Neil Young started the European leg of his latest tour with a concert in Belgium

62 ... Lemmy Kilmister was the founding member of the heavy metal band Motörhead. Lemmy's facial moles, mutton chops (sideburn-moustache combination), and gravelly voice, have made him an instantly recognisable cult figure. Motörhead won their first Grammy in 2005

63 ... Rod Stewart achieved six consecutive number one albums in the U.K during his five decade career. In June 2008, Stewart announced that his former band, The Faces, are discussing a reunion tour

63 ... John Fogerty, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival is still rocking round the world at 63 and recently kicked off an Australian tour in March this year complete with guest appearance by Keith Urban

63 ... Eric Clapton is one of the most successful musicians of our time, garnering an unprecedented three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (The Yardbirds, Cream, and solo)

64 ... Jimmy Page co-founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, as a member of The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. Page and John Paul Jones played alongside the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium earlier in the year

64 ... Keith Richards, pictured here in July 2007, was once asked what the strangest thing he'd ever snorted was. Richards replied "My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared ... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

64 ... Roger Waters is best known as the bass player, main songwriter, and lead vocalist of the English rock band Pink Floyd. Waters will continue his The Dark Side of the Moon Live tour in 2008 and recently performed at the hugely popular Coachella Music Festival in April

64 ... Joe Cocker started his musical career in the pubs of Sheffield in 1961. He has since released 31 albums, the most recently being Hymn for My Soul in 2007 and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon




65 ... the two-time Grammy-winning English rocker is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of The Rolling Stones. Jagger recently worked with Martin Scorsese to produce the feature film Shine A Light, a documentary film of the Rolling Stones

66 ... Ex-Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney continues to rock on after his very public divorce battle and was recently romantically linked to Kylie Minogue. The pair emphatically denied all rumours. McCartney is pictured here performing in July 2008 in a concert in Quebec

66 ... In 2006, Time magazine called Paul Simon one of the "100 people who shape our world." One half of Simon and Garfunkel - who split in 1971 - Simon recently performed during his acknowledgement ceremony by the Brooklyn Academy of Music in April 2008

67 ... During six decades of music, Cliff Richard holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its decades (1950s-2000s). Richard believes he is "the most radical rock star there has ever been," and continues to tour and perform

67 ... Bob Dylan is such a music legend, a blockbuster biopic, I'm Not There, has already been made about him. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan has played roughly 100 dates a year for the entirety of the 1990s and the 2000s, a much heavier schedule than for most performers who started out in the 1960s

67 ... As of May 2005, Neil Diamond had sold 120 million records worldwide. After an appearance on American Idol, Diamond's new album Home Before Dark was released and soon charted at number one by the Billboard Hot 200, amazingly marking the first ever number one album of Diamond's career

68 ... known for his overt sexuality, hits such as What's New Pussycat? and Sex Bomb made Tom Jones a household name. Showing no sign of his age, Jones recently collaborated on electro house track Stoned in Love which dominated the UK club charts

68 ... Ringo Starr, best known as the drummer for The Beatles, recently released a new album in 2008 entitled Liverpool 8. At it's highest, it hit #91 on the U.K charts

69 ... Kenny Rogers has charted more than 70 hit singles across various music genres and topped the country and pop album charts for more than 420 individual weeks in the United States alone. Rogers has tour dates booked well into 2009

69 ... There's no stopping Tina Turner, who is pictured here performing with Beyonce at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Turner's contributions to rock music have earned her the title "The Queen of Rock & Roll" and she is the most successful female rock artist of all time, selling more concert tickets than any other solo performer in history




72 ... Jerry Lee Lewis, the man responsible for Great Balls of Fire, showed he's still got it going on when he livened up crowds at a free Independence day concert earlier in the year, after being asked to perform the final act

71 ... Bill Wyman, bass guitarist for The Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993 has continued to tour and record with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. Following his 70th birthday in October 2006, he undertook another British tour and most recently appeared alongside a reunited Led Zeppelin at The O2 in London

73 ... Leonard Cohen recently rocked it out at the 2008 Glastonbury music festival and is currently working on a new album, expected to be released before the end of 2008. Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded

75 ... Willie Nelson has continued to tour, record, and perform well into his 70's, and this, combined with his voracious activities in the advocacy of cannabis have kept him a busy man. Nelson took out the 2008 Grammy for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals

75 ... 'Little' Richard, born Rev. Richard Wayne Penniman, recently made an appearance at the 50th Grammy Awards, performing Good Golly, Miss Molly. In June 2008, he also made a cameo appearance on The Young and the Restless

80 ... Fats Domino pictured here in 2007, first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949. Domino continues to perform to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina, during which his family home was also destroyed

81 ... Pictured here in February 2008 at the Golden Camera awards in Berlin, Chuck Berry is still kicking on. In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Finland, England, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain and will play at the 2008 Virgin Mobile Music Festival in Baltimore, Maryland in August

81 ... Tony Bennett pictured here in 2007, shortly after wedding long-time partner Susan Crow. Bennett made two surprise appearances in New York in July - appearing with his good friend Billy Joel to perform during Joel's sell out concerts in front of nearly 120,000 over the two nights. What a trooper!

82 ... The legendary B.B King, pictured here at his 80th bday in 2005, has played at least 15,000 performances during his career. The 82-year-old recently played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee. B.B King was third on the Rolling Stones "greatest 100 guitarists of all-time" list

93 ... At 93, Les Paul takes the cake for oldest rocker. Having pioneered the development of the solid-body electric guitar which "made the sound of rock and roll possible," Les continues to rock on, most recently performing at a Discovery World exhibition showcasing his legacy in June 2008

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree..
and the most sad thing about it, there are no real young new rockstars that could compete with those old rockers in any way...poor music business

Aussie Pete said...

Hey there 'AAM' - thanks for the comment. Just had a read of your blog... good work. I've seen your blog link on a couple of news/aggregator site previously, but hadn't checked it out until now. Cheers buddy!!