Music News & Notes

Blues Singer Fortune Dies

Chicago blues singer Jesse Fortune passed away Sunday at the age of 79. He was performing at Gene's Playmate Lounge in Chicago when he passed out on stage. Cause of death was attributed to coronary atherosclerosis.

Fortune worked with Otis Rush and Buddy Guy before getting his break with Willie Dixon. In early 1963, he signed with USA Records where he recorded his best known record, Too Many Cooks (later covered by Robert Cray).

Unfortunately, Fortune's dealings with USA left him with a bad taste for the business and he didn't record again until 1993's Fortune Tellin' Man. While he still played occasional music, he also was trained as a barber and owned his own shop on the city's west side.

================================

MJ Still Selling

Early figures are reporting that Michael Jackson's Number Ones will move around 60-61,000 copies this week, good for #1 again on the Catalog Album chart and #4 for all albums. That far outpaces last week's #1, Reba McEntire's Keep On Loving You, which falls to somewhere around #6 with 41 to 42,000 copies (down 56%).

================================

Wolfmother Record Jimi Hendrix Covers As Future B-Sides - Exclusive

Wolfmother have recorded a number of Jimi Hendrix covers that will be used as b-sides on forthcoming singles, Gigwise can reveal.

The Australian band tracked the songs, which include 'If 6 Was 9', at the late guitarist's Electric Lady studios in New York last month.

Frontman Andrew Stockdale told Gigwise that the group originally intended to use their studio time to record their own songs.

But they changed their mind after arriving at the legendary recording venue, which was built by Hendrix in 1970.

“We went into Electric Lady and for some reason as soon as I got in there I was like, Forget about playing the b-sides, lets just do Hendrix songs,” Stockdale told Gigwise.

“And we just played like eight Hendrix songs and just jammed.

When asked to describe Wolfmother's cover of 'If 6 Was 9', Stockdale said the group had recorded it in a “more heavy, really simple kind of way”.

“Not like a kind of floral Hendrix, Fender way. I just stripped it back into power chords,” he said.

Wolfmother also recorded acoustic versions of ‘Back Round’ and ‘Sundial’ - two songs from their forthcoming second album 'Cosmic Egg' - while in the studio.

Stockdale admitted that he felt inspired working at Electric Lady, which has been used over the years by artists such as The Rolling Stones and John Lennon.

“That’s like the ultimate kind of fan moment playing in Hendrix’s studio because I’m still like a total fan of rock and roll fan,” he said.

“It’s kind of like if you’re a real fan you end up becoming your own thing along the way.”

'Cosmic Egg' – the band's first album to feature new members bassist Ian Peres, guitarist Aidan Nemeth and drummer Dave Atkins – is released on October 12.