Folk rock legend Bob Dylan is releasing the 35th studio album in his 50-year recording career on Sept. 11, Columbia Records announced Tuesday.
In a statement, the label said “Tempest” — produced by “Jack Frost,” an alias that Mr. Dylan has used in the past — will feature 10 “new and original Bob Dylan songs.”.
Its release coincides with the 50th anniversary of Mr. Dylan’s eponymous debut album, also on Columbia Records, which featured a number of American folk standards as well as two original compositions.
Mr. Dylan, 71, has released four studio albums since 1997, most recently “Together Through Life” in 2009. He is on tour in France. Earlier this year, the singer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, at the White House.
’Nemo’ director Stanton signs on for sequel
Andrew Stanton is heading back to animation, signing on to direct a sequel to Pixar’s “Finding Nemo,” the 2003 modern classic he co-directed.
Victoria Strouse, who wrote “The Apostles of Infinite Love,” is writing the script. A 2016 release date is being eyed.
Mr. Stanton, who won acclaim for directing Pixar’s “Wall-E,” stumbled earlier this year with his first live-action effort, the box-office flop “John Carter.”
Stars pay tribute to Deep Purple’s Jon Lord
A host of stars paid tribute Tuesday to musician Jon Lord, the co-founder of legendary British rock band Deep Purple who died Monday at age 71.
The former keyboardist and co-author of the band’s most famous hit, “Smoke on the Water,” was surrounded by family when he died at a London clinic after battling pancreatic cancer since August.
Mr. Lord, who also played for the band Whitesnake, co-founded Deep Purple in 1968 and wrote many of its best-known songs before retiring from the group in 2002.
Members of the band were among a string of musicians who took to Twitter to pay their respects after news of Mr. Lord’s death. A comment posted by the band said: “God bless you Mr Jon Lord. Hasta siempre (long live) maestro Jon Lord.”
Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash wrote: “Sad day in rock’n’roll. Jon Lord has passed on. One of the biggest, baddest, heaviest sounds in heavy metal. One of a kind. RIP.”
A statement from his family on Mr. Lord’s website said he passed “from Darkness to Light” and was “surrounded by his loving family” when he died.
Tributes poured in from other musicians. Former Rage Against the Machine star Tom Morello wrote: “RIP the great Jon Lord, Deep Purple’s cornerstone/keyboardist. So many great great songs and that incredible SOUND of his! Thankyou.”
Jazz musician Jamie Cullum described the musician as “a hero of the keys,” while British actor Ewan McGregor tweeted: “Jon played with my great friend Tony Ashton. They’ll be jamming upstairs now!”
Kitty Wells, first female country star, dies at 92
Singer Kitty Wells, whose hits such as “Making Believe” and “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” made her the first female superstar of country music, died Monday. She was 92.
The singer’s family said she died peacefully at home after complications from a stroke.
Her solo recording career lasted from 1952 to the late 1970s and she made concert tours from the late 1930s until 2000. That year, she announced she was quitting the road, although she performed occasionally in Nashville and elsewhere afterward.
Her “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” in 1952 was the first No. 1 hit by a female soloist on the country music charts and dashed the notion that women couldn’t be headliners. Billboard magazine had been charting country singles for about eight years at that time.
She recorded approximately 50 albums, had 25 Top 10 country hits and went around the world several times. From 1953 to 1968, various polls listed Miss Wells as the No. 1 female country singer. Tammy Wynette finally dethroned her.
In 1976, she was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame and 10 years later received the Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music. In 1991, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences — the group that presents the Grammy Awards.
Among her hits were “The Things I Might Have Been,” “Release Me,” “Amigo’s Guitar,” “Heartbreak USA,” “Left to Right” and a version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”
“I never really thought about being a pioneer,” she said in an Associated Press interview in 2008. “I loved doing what I was doing.”
• Compiled from Web and wire reports
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