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The 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back could not have come at a better time for Leo Sayer. The singer-songwriter often crossed paths with the group as a young performer in London, managed by singer Adam Faith. Sayer's relationship with Faith went sour when Sayer discovered he'd been ripped off of millions of dollars. Faith died in 2003.

Most people know “Shake a Tail Feather” from the 1980 film The Blues Brothers; Ray Charles performed it as a crowd danced outside Ray’s Music Exchange. The song was the creation of singer, writer and producer and Andre Williams, an underrated R&B pioneer who co-wrote “Shake a Tail Feather” with Otha Hayes and Verlie Rice.

July and August were part of a turbulent 1974 for John Lennon. In the midst of an 18-month separation from Yoko Ono, a period Lennon called his Lost Weekend, he was living in New York City with May Pang and recording the Walls and Bridges album at Record Plant East.

Fans of classic rock radio are never far from hearing a song Jim Messina had a hand in creating. Messina, a singer, guitarist and songwriter in three celebrated bands, has also worked as an engineer and producer with some of rock’s biggest stars.

Ann Wilson, the singer-songwriter who, with sister Nancy Wilson, burst on the scene in Heart, will release her latest solo album, Fierce Bliss, on April 29. Fierce Bliss is a collection of 11 originals and classics by the Eurythmics and Robin Trower. It is sure to be one of the best new rock albums of 2022.

Every Major League Baseball team will start its 2022 season on Thursday or Friday this week. For John Fogerty, the annual return of baseball also marked a career comeback. In the mid-1980s, Fogerty found himself at a creative dead end. His most productive period had been from 1968–1972, when he and his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, charted nine Top 10 singles.

Bobby Rydell was rarely off the record charts in the early 1960s. The teen idol had 34 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 that included “Wild One,” “Swingin’ School” and “Forget Him.” Rydell, 79, died April 5. The cause of death was pneumonia.

“Twist and Shout” became one of the Beatles’ big hits when it was released in March 1964 at the outset of Beatlemania. The song was a cover of the Top 20 hit two years earlier by the Isley Brothers.

Van Morrison Pays Tribute to His Musical Influences. In early 1972, Van Morrison went into San Francisco’s Pacific High Studios to record a song his band had performed only once before the session. It would appear on Saint Dominic’s Preview, Morrison’s sixth studio LP. The album comes roaring out of the gate with the tune: “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile).”

One of the sweetest ballads recorded by the Turtles was the 1968 hit “You Showed Me.” The track was part of The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, a concept album on which the group poked fun at musical genres by pretending to be different bands for each track. “Nature’s Children” was the “band” that contributed “You Showed Me.”

Johnny Otis earned the title Godfather of Rhythm and Blues through decades of work as a record producer, bandleader, DJ, talent scout, label owner and TV host. Otis is best remembered for his 1958 Top 10 hit, “Willie and the Hand Jive.”

The Rolling Stones’ 1986 hit “Harlem Shuffle” was first recorded by Bob & Earl, an R&B duo whose version rose to number 44 on the charts in 1963. The song’s roots are not uptown in New York City; instead, the dance was born 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles.

Janis Joplin at opening of Fillmore EastFrank Mastropolo. On March 8, 1968, Fillmore East opened its doors with the first of two shows featuring rockers Big Brother & the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, folk singer Tim Buckley and blues guitarist Albert King.

For Jim Peterik, trying to win back his girlfriend led him to write one of the biggest hits of the jazz rock era. Peterik was the guitarist and lead singer of the Ides of March. Peterik wrote "Vehicle," the 1970 monster hit famous for its powerful horns and soulful sound. Peterik says that the song's inspiration came from his attempt to impress his girlfriend, Karen.

After leaving the Beatles, George Harrison had an impressive solo career before his untimely death in 2001 at age 58. Harrison notched five Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Of the five, only one was not original to Harrison: “Got My Mind Set on You.”

The Band was made up of talented multi-instrumentalists and vocalists: four Canadians, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel, and Levon Helm from Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. Its members met in Canada as part of Ronnie Hawkins’ band, the Hawks.

And What Drives Him to Want to 'Wreak Havoc and Mayhem'. It has been more than 18 years since Jethro Tull released a new studio album. The wait ended January 28, 2022 with the release of The Zealot Gene. Songwriter, vocalist and flutist Ian Anderson explained in a press release that his interpretation of Biblical tales contributed to his lyrics.

When the Doors released their self-titled debut in 1967, it was a revelation. Vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger produced a unique mix of rock, blues and jazz that became one of the soundtracks of the Summer of Love. Morrison died in France in 1971, Manzarek in 2013.

Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty abhorred the recording industry. His first success as a member of Stealers Wheel, 1972’s “Stuck in the Middle With You,” was a parody of Bob Dylan’s style that poked fun at an industry cocktail party.

As concert venues reopen, vocalist Ann Wilson will begin to tour in February 2022 armed with a new band and material produced during the pandemic. Fans will also enjoy Wilson’s selections from the copious catalog of Heart, the band she fronts with her sister, singer and guitarist Nancy Wilson. Heart dominated the charts in the 1970s and ’80s with hits like “Magic Man,” “Crazy on You,” “Barracuda,” and “What About Love.”