Fondly remembered this month...

From the bayou to Woodstock and back – the easygoing adventures of Bobby Charles. By John Mulvey.

In 1976, the revolutionary singer-songwriter LAURA NYRO returned from self-imposed exile. But her comeback confounded expectations, shifting away from the impassioned intimacies of her early albums to embrace more radical perspectives. Fifty years on, Nyro’s collaborators revisit her striking second act. “She was a hip American from the Bronx,” one friend and producer tells Rob Hughes. “But her soul was old.”

Here’s to the rock’n’rollers, among them musicians, songwriters producers, movers, shakers and others in the music industry who sadly left us in 2025. Thank you, and goodnight…

Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist and positive force Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield left us on November 20.

SEVENTY YEARS AGO NEXT MONTH, HEARTBREAK HOTEL WAS THE SONG THAT MADE ELVIS PRESLEY A STAR AND LIT A SPARK IN A GENERATION OF FUTURE HEROES. BUT ITS STRANGELY GLOOMY CONTENT FLAGGED A TRAGIC BACK STORY, WHILE ELVIS'S RECORDING DISMAYED THE LABEL THAT HAD RISKED BIG MONEY TO SIGN HIM. JIM IRVIN GETS A ROOM.