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Rolling Stones' Chuck Leavell: Band sounding 'better than ever' on 'Blue & Lonesome'...

NEW YORK –  The Rolling Stones' legendary piano player Chuck Leavell was as surprised as anyone when he heard his bandmates had, out of nowhere, cut a dozen blues covers over the course of a few days in a London studio.
"We were on tour in Latin America… and Keith pulled me aside, he said 'Man, you’ve got to come to my room and listen to this stuff that we cut.' So I listened, it was fantastic,” Leavell told FOX411. “He said, 'We gotta get you on it.' Mick came to me later and said, 'Chuck, sorry you weren’t there, we gotta get you on it.'"
So the band went about getting Leavell’s signature keyboards on "Blue & Lonesome," their first album in 11 years, released Friday.
"The producer Don Was and I went down to New Orleans and worked in this wonderful studio called The Parlor to get the authentic sounds that we needed for this record," Leavell said. "I played everything on a nice upright piano. And all the sounds, in addition to the upright, the guitar sounds, the drum sounds, they’re all going back to 'the day.'"
"Blue & Lonesome's" 12 tracks include covers of blues songs from Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, and Eddie Taylor. Eric Clapton, who just happened to be at the same studio at the time, lends his guitar on two tracks.

Leavell, 64, who has played on every Stones album since "Emotional Rescue," says the band is in peak form.
"The band sounds better than ever, and I'm not saying that just to say it. It's true," he said. "Everybody's on top of their game, and Mick is amazing. His voice is fantastic and it just keeps getting better and better."

Leavell is surprised as anyone that the band is still cooking, and that they sell out every single place in the world they play. He also says that for him at least, it almost never happened, as at one point, he was ready to hang up the rock star life.
“Back in ’81 my career was kind of floundering. I had been in the Allman Brothers band but that band had broken up,” Leavell said. “I had a band called Sea Level and it was successful, but that band had broken up, I was interested in forestry because my wife had inherited some land, and so I found myself with a little trio playing clubs and not really going anywhere.
“I came home one day and I talked to my wife, her name is Rose Lane, and I said ‘Rosie, I’m always going to play music but things really aren’t going that great right now, maybe I should just let it go and let’s focus on forestry and the land.’ And she listened very patiently, and at the end of all that she said ‘Well that’s interesting Chuck but guess what, the Rolling Stones called you today.’ I said ‘Honey, don’t joke with me now!’ But it was true!”
In joining the Rolling Stones, Leavell had to fill some pretty big shoes – following some the most famous keyboard players in rock and roll. But despite playing with the Stones almost as long as their original bass player Bill Wyman, Leavell never expected to be considered one of the full band members.
“It is definitely a British institution,” Leavell laughed. “And throughout the years and the career of the band there have been a lot of contributors. I mean look at the piano players: Ian Stewart, who was actually a founder of the band. The great Nicky Hopkins, who I did get to know and who was a lovely, lovely guy, one of the best piano players. Billy Preston worked with the Stones, as well as working with the Beatles. Jack Nitzsche. It has just been a nice line of contributors that are maybe not members of the band, but have made their mark, and I’d like to think I’ve been one of those.”

http://www.foxnews.com

Ronnie and Sally Wood's first date was Paul McCartney's wedding...

   

Ronnie Wood took his now-wife Sally to Sir Paul McCartney's wedding on their first date.
The Rolling Stones rocker became friends with the 38-year-old theatre producer in 2003, but their relationship didn't turn romantic until some time later, and the brunette beauty began to think differently about her pal when she accompanied him to the Beatles legend's nuptials with NANCY SHEVELL in 2011.
Sally recalled: ''There was this lovely family atmosphere and Ronnie and I had a real laugh. We danced and it was the first time I remember thinking of him in a completely different way.''
A few weeks later, the 69-year-old rocker wrote a letter to Sally about how deeply he felt for her, and on the advice of a friend, she agreed to give things a go and the pair will celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary next week.
And Sally - who has six-month-old twins Alice and Gracie with Ronnie - insists the 30-year age gap between them has never been a problem.
She said: ''You know what, I find it rude when people talk unkindly about it... Yes, he is older and I am younger, but I don't think about age when I think of Ronnie. He's always had this unbelievably positive, youthful energy about him, which I absolutely love.
''I also think there is a lot to be said for marrying an older man. He knows who he is, he knows what he wants. He makes me happy, we laugh and he's a great dad. He's so relaxed and incredibly creative.''
The 'Brown Sugar' rocker is a hands-on dad who is happy to change nappies and get up with the babies during the night.
Sally laughed: ''He says the babies keep his hours, so he's really happy to be up in the night with them.''
Sally and Ronnie - who has sons Jesse, 40, Tyrone, 33, and Jamie, 43, and daughter Leah, 38, from his previous marriages -
haven't ruled out having more kids in the future.
She said: ''I'm definitely not saying no. Before the twins were born, I didn't think any further than them. But they are such lovely, happy babies I think it would be incredible to do it again with the knowledge I now have.
''Our life is complete just as we are, but you never know what will happen.''

Contactmusic

18 December 1943 - (age 73)

Mick Jagger’s eighth child gets over-the-top celebrity baby name...

The name of Mick Jagger‘s new baby boy has been revealed.
The rocker’s daughter, Elizabeth, posted a snapshot that has since been deleted of the adorable newborn on Friday with the caption, “My beautiful baby brother Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger.”
Modal TriggerMick Jagger, 73, and his 29-year-old girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, welcomed the baby on Dec. 8 in New York.
Deveraux is the eighth child for Jagger.
The baby is reportedly named Basil after Jagger’s late father.
A source told The Post in September that the Rolling Stones frontman had mixed emotions about becoming a father again.
“Family is extremely important to him, and he is unhappy at the thought that when he should be teaching his kid to play catch, he’ll be 80 years old,” the source said.
Elizabeth is one of four children Jagger had with Jerry Hall. He also has children with Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger and Luciana Gimenez Morad.

pagesix.com

Rolling Stones Score Their First UK Number One Album In Over 20 Years...

The album racked up more than 106,000 combined sales to take the top spot, giving it the second-highest opening sales week for an album this year, behind David Bowie’s Blackstar, which sold 146,000 copies in its first week back in January.
According to the Official Charts Company, 99% of the album’s sales were either physical purchases or downloads, with 1% attributed to streams. The record has also now been certified gold.
 

In a statement the band said: “We are absolutely delighted with the success of Blue & Lonesome in the UK and around the world.”
Blue & Lonesome is The Stones 12th UK number one album and their first studio record to top the chart since Voodoo Lounge in 1994.
The band’s frontman Mick Jagger will have extra reason to celebrate this weekend, after just becoming a father for the eighth time.