A MILLION FOR CROWDED HOUSE

Rip It Up, Issue 211, 1 March 1995, Page 6

A MILLION FOR CROWDED HOUSE

On February 18, Neil Finn was presented with a commemorative plaque in recognition of the Crowded House song ‘Something So Strong’ receiving one million plays on US radio. The presentation, at Auckland’s Kermadec Restaurant, was attended by Rick Riccobono, the vice president of Broadcast Music Industry, America, Mike Chunn, the New Zealand General Manager of APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association), Crowded House’s manager Grant Thomas, and other industry guests. The band’s first single, ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’, has currently received over a million and a half plays on US radio.

Hole played an MTV Unplugged show in New York on February 21 ... D.O.A drummer Ken Jensen died in a house fire at his home in Vancouver, Canada on January 29 ... Rick Rubin has signed Donovan to his American Recordings label ... EMI Records and Dr Martens have joined forces to released and album called Unlaced, featuring tracks by Primal Scream, Blur and New Order amongst others ... The Clean have completed another album at Dunedin’s Fish St ... Surgery singer Sean McDonnel died on January 18 after lapsing into an asthma-induced coma ... Diana Ross will receive a special award at the Soul Train Awards in LA on March 13 ... J-Dee of Da Lench Mob was sentenced to 29 years behind bars by an LA court for murdering his girlfriend’s flatmate, he was convicted by an all-white jury. In New York rapper Tupac Shakur was sentenced to four and a half years for sexual assault. Snoop Doggy Dogg’s murder trial is now expected to take place in July ... Loves Ugly Children are to record their debut Flying Nun album at Fish St. studios with Tex Houston ... Offspring have announced plans to record a single with Courtney Love ... Rufus are expected to release a reunion album later in the year, with Chaka Khan contributing to several tracks ... Blur have written 40 new songs for their next album ... Wellington band Banshee Reel are releasing an album, Orchestrated Litany Of Lies, on Loaded Records this month, then go on to tour Canada in May ... Living Colour have split up ... the Specials have reformed without Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers ... Quincy Jones will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 67th annual Grammy Awards on March 27 ... Sepultura have returned to Roadrunner Records after spending a short time with major label, Epic ... Brett Anderson of Suede has recorded a duet in French for an AIDS charity album ... listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J voted ‘Davo’ as their preferred new name for Prince.