ABBA Makes their big announcement Thursday at 12:45pm right here via Youtube. New Music? New tour of avatars? Anyone speaking to each other? We’ll get the whole story all together. ABBA fans will go crazy. People who speak Hebrew will think we’re discussing their fathers. Should be fun!

In the meantime, the brilliant Steve Leeds, now a big deal at Sirius XM, told me about booking ABBA on their first American TV show in 1976. He was working at Atlantic Records where they’d been signed by Jerry Greenberg. All Steve could get them on originally was “Wonderama,” the beloved New York kids show hosted then by Bob McAllister. The rest is history.

Here’s the clip:

Lots of new music news in addition to the release of Sting’s single, “If It’s Love.”

Elton John has made a whole new album to go along with his hit single “Cold Heart” with Dua Lipa. “The Lockdown Sessions” is a collection of 16 songs, all Elton John collaborations, with some of the biggest, most exciting artists in the world today including: Brandi Carlile, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, Eddie Vedder, Gorillaz, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Rina Sawayama, SG Lewis, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Surfaces, Years & Years, Young Thug, and more.

Release date is October 22nd.

Elton says: “The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album. But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens. But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”

Tracklist:
Tracklist

1. Elton John & Dua Lipa – Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)

2. Elton John, Young Thug & Nicki Minaj – Always Love You

3. Surfaces feat. Elton John – Learn To Fly

4. Elton John & Charlie Puth – After All

5. Rina Sawayama & Elton John – Chosen Family

6. Gorillaz feat. Elton John & 6LACK – The Pink Phantom

7. Elton John & Years & Years – It’s a sin (global reach mix)

8. Miley Cyrus feat. WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo & Chad Smith – Nothing Else Matters

9. Elton John & SG Lewis – Orbit

10. Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Simple Things

11. Jimmie Allen & Elton John – Beauty In The Bones

12. Lil Nas X feat. Elton John – One Of Me

13. Elton John & Eddie Vedder – E-Ticket

14. Elton John & Stevie Wonder – Finish Line

15. Elton John & Stevie Nicks – Stolen Car

16. Glen Campbell & Elton John – I’m Not Gonna Miss You

Showbiz411.com had a great August, thanks to everyone who read and clicked and chimed in.

Now comes the fall season, and even if it’s still not what it’s supposed to be, we always start September with this song. One of the great pleasures of writing this site and meeting up with music pals is knowing Verdine White, Philip Bailey and Ralph Johnson of Earth Wind & Fire. There are no better people. Their music (all credit due to Verdine’s late great brother Maurice) is magic. How can you not love the group that gave us “Let’s Groove Tonight,” “Shining Star,” “Keep You Head to the Sky,” and the one song I know every sound in and word of, “That’s the Way of the World.” (I told Philip last week there’s a 10 state ban on me singing it in public!)

PS Maurice also wrote “Best of My Love” for the Emotions. When Mariah Carey stole it and called “Emotions,” Maurice told em: “I’ve heard of sampling, but they took the whole buffet!”

Do you remember, 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing
As we danced in the night
Remember
How the stars stole the night away, oh yeah
Hey, hey, hey
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day
Ba-du, ba-du, ba-du, ba-du
Ba-du, ba-du, ba-du, ba-du
Ba-du, ba-du, ba-du-da, yeah
My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you
Only blue talk and love
Remember
How we knew love was here to stay
Now December
Found the love we shared in September
Only blue talk and love
Remember
True love we share today

Hey, hey, hey
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day
There was a
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, golden dreams were shiny days
The bell was ringing, oh, oh
Our souls was singing
Do you remember, never a cloudy day, yow
There was a
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day
There was a
Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September
Ba-dee-ya, golden dreams were shiny days
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya, dee-ya
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: White Maurice / Willis Alta Sherral / Mc Kay Albert Phillip
September lyrics © Emi April Music Inc., Steel Chest Music, Irving Music Inc.

Kanye West’s “Donda” is a smash on streaming outlets.

On Spotify, “Donda” takes up the top 10 spots on the US Daily Top 50. Then the rest of the 17 tracks fill most of the slots between 11 and 30. Same thing on the Global Top 50.

On iTunes, “Donda” is number 1 but no one knows what the means yet. On the iTunes singles chart, there is so far little impact in the top 25. I thought “Remote Control” would be a hit because it’s catchy and short, but that track isn’t happening so far. “Jail” is lodged at number 25. Kanye’s fans so far don’t care if they “own” the album, they’re just listening to it.

Meantime, “Donda” has no logo or cover art. I told you weeks ago that Kanye appropriated a painting by Louise Bourgeoise, but didn’t get a license for it. The artist’s estate put an end to that. For a time, Kanye was using a picture of the real Donda, his late mother, as a child. But if Universal did what Kanye claims, and released the album without his permission, they had no cover art. A Def Jam press release just has the word “Donda” in large black type.

West’ inability to make final decisions caused other of his albums not to have cover art. “The Life of Pablo” was just type. I guess this ensures that he won’t have the same issues as Nirvana. In the future, no one can sue him for being on the cover! (That Nirvana lawsuit from the former baby on the cover of “In Utero” is the lamest thing ever.)

We’ll get an idea tomorrow how “Donda” is really doing. It was a surprise release, a surprise to no one, but still the actual moment was unknown. Next situation is how Kanye will deal with the Recording Academy and the Grammy Awards. If he can get his act together, this might be his year!