How many rock stars have been knighted? (Updated December 2022)

The first rock stars to be honored by the Queen

In 1965 Beatles became the first rock stars to receive royal honors. They received MBEs in 1965. The first rock star to receive the highest honor of being knighted was Cliff Richard.   So how many British rock stars have actually been knighted.?  Eleven rock stars can rightfully be called Sir. Included among the 'Sir's' are Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Tom Jones   Sir Elton John, Sir Rod Stewart, Sir George Ivan Morrison (Van Morrison), Sir Ray Davies, Sir Richard Starkey, Sir Barry Gibb and now Sir Brian May. Being knighted is the highest honor, but many people (most years as many as a 1000 people) receive lesser honors each year, so a good number of famous rock and pop stars now have been honored by the realm.

Prince Charles knights Barry Gibb (AP)

As we stated above, the Beatles were given the lesser honor of MBEs in 1965, but   John Lennon and George Harrison had the misfortune of dying before anybody could get round to knighting them. Lennon famously gave back his MBE in 1969 with a note saying, “Your majesty, I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against, "Cold Turkey" slipping down the charts. With love, John Lennon.”
 George Harrison was offered a promotion from MBE to CBE, but declined because, he would have preferred a knighthood (perhaps so he could be on par with Paul McCartney). Ringo Starr was only knighted in 2018.   Oddly enough, the late Sir George Martin, the Beatles producer was actually knighted before Ringo.

Jimmy Page was given an OBE for helping Brazilian children

Back to our story....
There is a Sir Mick Jagger, but no Sir Keith Richards.  Oddly, Bill Wyman has received honors but not Charlie Watt, Ronnie Wood or Mick Taylor.  Keith made fun of Jagger for accepting the knighthood.

What about Bono and Bob Geldof who are sometimes called "Sir"?  These men are   Irishman have received honorary knighthoods for their charity work. Bono was given his honor in 2007. 

Bob Geldof received his honor back in 1986. Geldof is entitled to use the post-nominal letters "KBE" but, as he is not a citizen of a Commonwealth realm, he is precluded from using the title "Sir". Regardless, the nickname "Sir Bob" has stuck, and media reports continue to refer to him as "Sir Bob Geldof".

Many   of the other notable figures of the British rock scene have been given lesser honors then the highest honor of knighthood.  The lesser honors are CBE's, LVO's, MBE's etc, but these folks were not given the honorific of "Sir". These lesser honors allow the recipients to put the type of honors they were given as initials  after their name, but no Sir or Dame before it.  

Among those who have received lesser honors are:

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Dave Gilmour, (but not Roger Walters), Roger Taylor (but not John Deacon or Freddie Mercury), Roger Daltrey (but not Pete Townshend), Eric Clapton (CBE), the late Robin and Maurice Gibb, Albert Hammond, Peter Asher, the late Gerry Marsden, Joan Armatrading, Annie Lennox, Mark Knopfler, Graham Nash (OBE), Marty Wilde (MBE). Rod Stewart, Phil Collins (who is an LVO), Adele, Kate Bush (CBE), and Gordon "Sting" Sumner, Damon Albarn of Blur (OBE), Tim and Neil Finn, Justin Hayward (OBE) Jools Holland of Squeeze (OBE) -though Jools is more famous for his TV work. Folk rock legends Ashley MBE) and Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention, Maddy Prior MBE, Martin Carthy MBE, and Shirley Collins MBE.  Recently, Ed Sheeran received an MBE. Bernie Taupin was given honors on the 2022 list.

David Bowie actually declined honors, as have Paul Weller, and Hank Marvin of the Shadows. 

Who else hasn't been given honours?  Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Beck, Elvis Costello, Robbie Williams, Keith Richard, Peter Gabriel, Pete Townshend, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Charlie Watts, Steve Winwood, Roger Waters, Peter Noone (of Herman's Hermits) and John Paul Jones are among the most noted rich stars who haven't been honored for services to the realm. As far as I know, no British punk star or new waver has been honored. Also, no American rock performers have received honors since they are not eligible for British honours.

Among the dead rock British rock stars who were never given honors are George Michael, Freddie Mercury Brian Jones, Keith Moon, Nick Drake, John Entwistle, John Bonham, and Sandy Denny.

What about Popular Music and Musical theater types?
Lionel Bart, Cameron McIntosh, Andrew Lloyd Webber (he's a Lord!)  and Tim Rice have been knighted. You can call them "Sir". Elaine Paige has been honored as well.

There have been female stars from the rock era who been honored.  In 2019, Olivia Newton-John was made a dame and given an OBE. The late Dusty Springfield was given an OBE, and as we noted above Joan Armatrading, Kate Bush, Pauline Black, Annie Lennox and   Adele have been given lesser honors than a Dame-ship. Two Spice Girls-Victoria Beckham and  Mel Brown have also been given honors.

Pop singers Shirley Bassey! and Julie Andrews were made Dames many years ago.

What about other countries honors?
Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Anka, and Joni Mitchell have received the Order of Canada.
Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder are among the many people who awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Reggae stars Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff have received the Jamaican order of merit.

Why are rock stars given honors?    Many reasons are given, certainly it's true that groups like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles all have done wonders for the British economy. Many of the people knighted have been artistically important.  Doing charity work helps too, but clearly being a wonderful person is not a requirement, or many rock stars would not have been honored. Also surprisingly, being a tax exile seems to have not kept stars from being honored.

Published December 2017, updated every year by J.C.Bernhardt.
Also at Felpin's Pond
Can you write hit song after age 50?

Meghan Trainor- Notable Songs that were not hits.

Meghan Trainor broke out on the pop scene in 2014 with her catchy and original mega hit, "All About the Bass".   The problem with hitting it so big with your first hit-is everything else is going to be anti-climactic, and some artists become one (or two hit wonders). Nevertheless, she managed to have genuine US top 40 hits with six other songs after "Bass". (Lips Are Moving, Dear Future Husband", "Like I'm Going to Lose You", "Marvin Gaye", "No"' and "Me Too"). But the hits dried up between 2016, and 2022.  In 2022, Meghan finally had something of a hit with "Made You Look" but the song still has underperformed in the USA.  Her lyrical and musical style can be a little too clever, and her soulful sassy voice can be little overwrought. "No" and "Me Too" are examples of how some of her songs can be a bit annoying lyrically. Unlike, other stars she does not seem to have given into the urge to let others basically write songs for her, so as to get more hits.  (She does work with other songwriters-but with the exception of her Christmas album she has written or co-written every solo song she has recorded. So here all the twelve "failed" singles that one hears from time to time on the radio and in supermarkets, they were not hits, but good enough to get some limited airplay.

Fifth Harmony (featuring Meghan Trainor)-"Brave Honest Beautiful".  IT was released in early 2015. Meghan co wrote the song and co-produced.

"Better When I'm Dancing"

This song was written with Thaddeus Dixon for The Peanuts Movie Soundtrack and released in October 2015. 

"Better"-Meghan Trainor featuring Yo Gotti

This third single from Meghan's second album (Thank You) was a modest hit on radio airplay charts in Fall 2016 but did not make the US top 100 are chart in other countries. 

"No Excuses" -Meghan Trainor

No Excuses, a very listenable song with some great hooks.  It was the lead single of her third album (Treat Myself) but only reached #46. It was released in March 2018.

"Let You Be Right"-Meghan Trainor

Intended for her third album, this another partly failed single released in May 2018, right after "No Excuses".  It did not show up on the album when it came out.  The two failed singles may have played a part in the decision to hold back the album. 

"Can't Dance"-Meghan Trainor

Released at the same Time "Let You Right". Though a video was filmed for it-it was no released.  This song sounds a little more producer driven, and is more dance oriented then some of other material.  It was not a hit-and was not featured on an album or EP.

"More Than Friends" -Jason Mraz with Meghan Trainor

Another ballad, duet similar to "Love You Like I am Going to Lose You".  Trainor was one of the four co-writers on the song.  It was on Jason's album, "Know". It was released as a single in October 2018 and charted only on the adult top 40.

"All The Ways"-Meghan Trainor

Another Meghan solo single from the sessions for third album. It as bonus track on the Target version of that album, and as one of the songs on the "Love Train" EP.   It was released in February 2019. and once again failed to make the regular Billboard Hot 100 or other nation's charts. 

"Just Got Paid"  by Sigala, Ella Eyre, and Meghan Trainor that features French Montana.

An 2018 song by Sigala, Ella Eyre, and Meghan Trainor that features French Montana. It was a hit in the UK and a few other territories. It did not make the Top 100 in the USA. The song is featured on Sigala's debut album.

Kaskade  and Meghan Trainor-"With You"

A single released in June 2019 by Kaskade  and Meghan Trainor. It was not a Billboard top 100 hit but was modest hit on the dance and adult top 40 charts. It has not shown up on an album.

Meghan Trainor-"I'm a Lady"

Her song from the Smurf's movie--Lost Village. It came out in Early 2017. Meghan cowrote the song with Martin Renea.

"Wave" -Meghan Trainor

"Wave" was an uncharacteristically ambitious song with a massive chorus.   This song was released in late 2019 three months before the Treat Myself album finally came out and was the first track on that album. It did not chart on any of the  Billboard's single's charts.

"Run Like the River" was another soundtrack song, but a very solid one.  It was released in August 2019. Another song written during the endless third album sessions.  

Meghan Trainor (featuring Nicki Minaj) -"Nice To Meet You".

Released as third single for "Treat Myself album. It came out concurrently with the album. In January 2020. It only reached #89 in the USA.

Originally posted February 2022.

Falling in love with the music of Kate Bush

There are just a few musical artists where I remember where I was when I first heard them.   I was in College Park, Maryland in late 1981 in a record store called Xon, when I first heard the voice of Kate Bush.   In the background, was playing a very high-pitched female voice, it turned out to be Kate Bush performing live in 1979.   I think the record store owner said that the live recording that    was playing not was not easily available, so instead   that day, I bought her first studio album, the Kick Inside (pictured on left). I listened to that first album constantly on a pathetic record player in my dorm room at the University of Maryland. I am amazed my roommates didn't kill me. 

The most famous song from the album is Kate's take on the novel, "Wuthering Heights". The most high-pitched female voice imaginable somehow managed to enthrall the UK and other territories. But, Kate Bush, was already in the process of being ignored in America. Until the mid 1980's, Kate remained totally commercially unsuccessful in the USA. Capitol/EMI did not even release her second and third albums.  But she continued to have considerable success in other markets and was a genuine superstar in her home country.   Eventually though, the quality of her music finally was too much for US critics and the US public to ignore and she finally began to chart in the USA.   Below is "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" from her Kick Inside album.

I spent most of 1982 enthralled with Kate.  I bought imported versions of her second
album, Lionheart and her third album, Never for Ever.  I collected imported versions of the UK singles. Most of the singles had intriguing non-album B-sides.  Pretty much everything she recorded at this point was fairly good, and breathtakingly original.  She was also maturing, her 1980's work-her lead vocals were a little more normal than what is found on the Kick Inside.  But the backing vocals often used the Kate's signature higher registers to great effect.  

A Kate Bush B-side-"Lord of the Reedy River" 

What amazed me about Kate Bush was her musical vocabulary.   The array of musical color found in the songs, was achieved by unusual instrumentation, choirs of Kate's voice, and stunning piano work. The lyrics were all fascinating in their subject matter.  

What also impressed was Kate ran the entire show. The songs were written, sung, and produced by her. She played all the keyboards.   (Kate did have some regular sideman -notably Del Palmer, who was her husband for a while).  Even now, I can't think of too many musical artists who    have the amazing musical pallet she has, and can do it all. Only Paul McCartney comes to mind.  

My love for her work probably peaked with the daring 1982 album, The Dreaming which was the first album of hers released after I had discovered her.  The title cut attempts to capture the sounds of aboriginal music, the first single, from the album, "Sat in your Lap" was written by Kate using percussion not a piano.  There is the first of her Irish music epics, "Night of the Swallow", probably my favorite Kate song.  One of the songs reminded me aurally of the muted other worldly sound of dreams, another song seemed to capture the sound of glass.    This is my favorite Kate Bush album.

Her next album did not come till three years later in 1985. This was the first of a series of a long waits between Kate Bush albums.   The next album turned out to be Hounds of Love an album that many regard as her masterpiece.  Like The Dreaming. Kate mastered creating sound textures for these songs. But this album was more accessible, less eccentric.   The first side of the album was a series of pop singles.  The second side,  a long suite about a woman who drowned.  This time Kate applied just enough commercial gloss to create a true break through single with "Running Up That Hill" which features perhaps her most memorable use of the Fairlight Synthesizer.   It became her first and only hit in the United States. My favorite song  from the Hounds of Love album was the uplifting "Cloudbusting" which was accompanied by a story video starring Donald Sutherland (see below)    Around this time Kate also duetted on Peter Gabriel's song, "Don't Give up", which also got worldwide airplay. Peter Gabriel was like Kate-a truly original English musical artist.

Kate did not return with a new album till 1989, when the  The Sensual World  album came out.  This album was Kate at her most mature-and perhaps most  personal.   The women described in some of the songs actually could be Kate.  (Normally in most of her work she assumed a persona). The best-known song from the album, is the brilliant "This Women's Work", a song that still can bring tears to the eyes. It was well known, because it appeared in the Kevin Bacon movie, "She's Having My Baby".  (See below)

Kate's later work of the 1990's and the 2000's  meant less to me. I grew impatient with the long waits between albums, the lack of  concerts (I have never seen her in concert), and the limited   number of  compilations of her work on CD and DVD.   But for a time she was very important to me.   I am very happy that she gotten new exposure from the Netflix show, Stranger Things. Few musical artists are more deserving. 

The Hazelnuts -an Israeli vocal group.

The Hazelnuts in their most recent lineup.

 Tonight, I heard just one line of a sung as a lead-in a Wayfair furniture commercial. Quickly, tried to figure what the song was .  It turned out the song was called "Tempted" and was performed by  a Israeli vocal trio called the Hazelnuts". Although it sounded like vintage music it was in fact a totally new song.  I love it when ad people dig up musical gems for commercials.

 This vocal trio  has been around since 2013. though often as a part time concern. Apparently,  their studio recordings have not released on a major label.  But there did turn out to be  wide variety of material by the group, including lots of jazz vocals, some songs in Hebrew and even covers of David Bowie, Tom Waits  and Beyonce, but most of the material was vocal trios performances in the 1930' and 1940's style of the Andrew Sisters and the Boswell sisters. 

The group seemed to be quite talented, and honestly, I was surprised I had trouble finding information on their recordings at least initially. The reality is that there are really quite a lot of musically talented people out there -and often their  musically talent is not rewarded with stardom.  It's not clear if the group is still a going concern, because the members have been doing other musical stuff concurrently  with the group. 

 The group's two steadfast members have been Shira Carmel (wears glasses) and  Yifeat Ziv (has short hair).  The third member has changed a number of times.  So in the videos of the group at various times you will see first Talya Amzaleg, then  Sapir Rosenblatt,  and now  Anat Moshkovski as the  third vocalist.   Usually the group had some pretty effective mostly male musicians backing them.  All the members of the group had some impressive resumes of other activity in their lives.  So here is a sampler  of  performances 

Here is the aforementioned  song "Tempted". It was written by Shira Carmel (she also sing lead) It was  released on a EP in  2020.

Below: "It's the Girl"  with Talya Amazag (on the right). The performance is from 2014

A  great 2015  performance with Marshdondurma instrumental band .This song features  Sapir Rosenblatt (the singer on the left) as the third singer.

A nicely shot 2015 video of "It Don't Mean a Thing" with Sapir is below. 

Below: This  2017 performance  features Anat Moshkovski as the third member. It is a cover of Edith Piaf song, called "Padam Padam".

More articles about the group:

Jerusalem Post article

https://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/jerusalems-hazelnuts-appear-here/

Also on Felpin's Pond 

Vocal trio-Rock, Paper, Scissors

Retconning Star Trek in Star Trek:Strange New Worlds

The premiere of Star Trek:Strange New Worlds got me thinking about the occasional retroactive revisions that have occurred in the Star Trek universe.  

Chapel and M'Benga

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has a whole slew of them of retcons as do many of the recent Star Trek shows. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , is a new (2022) series about the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike's Enterprise. The character of Pike is very old one. 

Pike and his Enterprise was first portrayed in the very first pilot for the original Star Trek TV show that was filmed   in late 1964.  Most of the material from pilot was reused in "The Menagerie" the only two-part episode from the original Star Trek series broadcast in 1967.  In the early 2000's, the Pike character was portrayed in the Kelvin line Star Trek movies.  Pike was brought back also in Star Trek - "Discovery" and Pike was portrayed over the course of multiple second season episodes which led the franchise bosses to give Pike his own show.  

"The Cage" and "The Menagerie" had been necessary limited due to time constraints as to how much information they gave about Pike and his crew.  In the Cage, Pike is a burnt out, but still quite competent, he is said to have come from the American west, enjoys horses, and is wildly respected. He is shown to be brave, and has short dark hair, with a touch of gray and striking eyes.

Most of this was retained in Anson Mount's portrayal. Mount's mild physical resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter essentially made him believable from the get-go.   Pike in the new Trek, appears to have more of a sense of humor, and is more friendly to the crew.   But Mount sells this revision very well.   The Cage story line of the trip to Taos 4 is not only retained but was  actually portrayed on Discovery.  So, no major retconning there.

The second major character retained from the Cage is Number One, the second in command of the Pike's Enterprise. She was originally portrayed by Majel Barrett, and her character was a daring attempt by Gene Roddenberry to place a woman in an important non-traditional role (for the time) in a TV series.  In 1964, it was rare for women to be in charge of men, especially on a ship.  But Roddenberry wanted to portray a future where many things had changed. in 1964, Number One is portrayed as serious, very smart almost computer like character, who favors a long dark 1940's style haircut and wears pants.  Although we do not know for sure-we assume she is from Earth. 

On the new Trek, Rebecca Romjin like Mount sells her version of this old  character from the beginning, using the dark hair as the calling card, Her Number One  is a also a serious, very smart second in command, who it is clear Pike relies on greatly.   On new trek, Number One is given a full name and it explained that she is not from Earth.  Many joked that Chapel and Number One should have been portrayed by the same actress just like they were on the original show.  The only real problem is that her character is not given a meaty enough role-despite Romjign being the second billed member of the cast. 

The third character retained from The Cage is the Vulcan science officer, Mr. Spock, who is perhaps the best loved character, in the whole Star Trek franchise.   Spock has appeared in numerous Star Trek movies and TV shows so seemingly that would make it  hard to retcon his well-defined character too much.  However, the makers of Discovery and Strange New Worlds have tried. As we meet Spoc on Discovery, we soon discover he has a sister, whom we  never heard about before ,that he  once wore a beard, and that he became out of sorts for while.  By the time, we see him on Strange New Worlds, he is closer to the Leonard Nimoy portrayal of the rule. Actor Ethan Peck  made an effort to instill some of Nimoy's  vocal timbre, the physical mannerisms, even the raised eyebrow.  The writers do however, give him a somewhat questionable rewriting of his relationship with his betrothed T'Pring, and suggest  a lot  more familiarity with Nurse Chapel then 1960's series ever showed. However, again the show carries  it off.

Dr, Boyce (Phillip Boyce), Lt. Tyler (Peter Duryea),  Yeoman Colt (Laurel Goodwin) and the remaining original crew members  shown in  The Cage pilot are not portrayed, and for purposes of the show, appear to be serving elsewhere or retired from the service, This disappointed me, and does not necessarily make sense, considering how Mount's Captain appears to be an exemplary officer to serve under (though of course, the crew could have rotated out by their superiors to serve on ships.)   Instead on Strange New Worlds we find four crew members that were found Kirk's enterprise. This is where things get problematic. 

I was surprised to see Nurse Chapel, Uhura and Dr. M'Benga portrayed on Pike's Enterprise ten years before Pike's return to Kirk's Enterprise on the Menegerie.  All seem like they really shouldn't be there. Uhura is perhaps too young-and they had to go to the lengths of putting her on the ship as a cadet.   However, the initial portrayal her  on Strange New World's did capture some of her later portrayed characteristics, her competence, and her sass, as well as the fact that she is from Africa. Of course, nobody can capture Nichelle Nichols unique elegance and class in the role. 

Nurse Chapel (also portrayed by Majel Barret) was the least interesting character in the original Star Trek. She basically had two story lines.  Her attempts to relocate her husband, Roger Cory, and her crush on Mr. Spock. It's not clear how Strange New Worlds is going to retcons these inconvenient story lines.   The Nurse Chapel portrayed in Strange New Worlds is ironically perhaps the show's best written character -played with humor and spunk by Jess Bush. However, I don't see much resemblance between the two versions of Chapel. 

Dr. M'Benga was played in two episodes of the original Star Trek by Booker Bradshaw.  The actor who played him on the original show was in his twenties,  In the original show -M'Benga  is  seemingly portrayed as just as just an African American staff doctor who interned in the Vulcan Ward, there is no suggestion that he used to be a much older bearded doctor from Kenya who was actually was the CMO of the Enterprise.  So that was clearly retconned. 

In other roles we find a transporter chief   Kyle, who was portrayed in the original show as Caucasian from England.  In Strange New Worlds he is a younger Asian character.   There is even a Lt. Mitchell, on the bridge.  However, she does not have the same first name as Gary Mitchell who appeared as first officer on the second pilot. Kirk's brother's George Samuel Kirk is actually given a recurring role.  In the original series  we only saw him after he had died-but the one thing we note about that portrayal-that he had a moustache is retained. 

In the first episode of Strange New Worlds  the character of Robert April, has returned to the Star Trek universe.  April, we have been told both unofficially and officially was the "first" captain of the Pike's Enterprise. On Strange New Worlds he has been promoted to admiral.  In the original animated show version of Star Trek, April was portrayed as a white guy, but on Strange New Worlds he is a black guy.  Not really that important, but typical of the changes that have been made.   But to be fair, some things are kept the same.  The uniform colors, the basic design of the bridge, and there are even communicators and tricorders.

The final retcon occurred in the last episode. James Kirk is brought back.  This new version of Kirk lacks the energy, charm  and charisma of other portrayals  but they don't change the basic of Kirk's character.

 

Many Star Trek fans have great affection for the original pilot, as well as the character of Chris  Pike, and so it wonderful to finally see the character given his own show,