HOLLYWOOD—Everyone from around the world will travel to New York City to enjoy “Christmas in Rockefeller Center.” This year marks the 82nd annual tree-lighting celebration that took place on December 3 on NBC. The celebration featured performances by Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Idina Menzel, Trisha Yearwood and Cyndi Lauper, among others.
The music business is truly profitable, according to a recent story in Billboard, that honor goes to Madonna, whose net worth is an estimated $800 million. Paul McCartney ranked in second place with his net worth valued at $600 million. Let’s keep in mind that McCartney’s divorce to Heather Mills cost him an estimated $48.6 million in 2008.
With that being said, his relentless touring schedule, apparently earned his money back over the last several years. Sir Paul, will continue to tour and the money continues to flow in. In four more years, McCartney will begin to regain the rights to the Beatles back catalog, which he lost in 1985 when he was outbid by Michael Jackson. However, the 1976 US Copyright Act allows McCartney to reclaim back any songs written before 1978 after 56 years. Back in 2005, Michael Jackson sold Sony 50 percent of the rights to the Beatles songs for $95 million. Dr. Dre comes in next with $650 million, mostly because of Beats. Diddy follows Dr.Dre with $640 million and Celine Dion makes it into the top five with a net worth of $630 million.
When you think of the Beatles, you can’t help think of John Lennon. Hard to believe that 34 years ago on December 8, 1980, the world froze in horror and disbelief. Reality took a while to set in because everyone thought it was a misunderstanding-a simple error in the news media. Back in the day, there wasn’t instant-news-flash on the internet! Everyone felt outraged, deprived, cheated. We felt betrayed. John Lennon was taken away from us, so senselessly.
We couldn’t imagine the perplexion that the family was enduring. We felt the pain of his loss and every year thus forth. Lennon was more than the image portrayed in the media, he was a family man, cat lover. He once owned six at a time. He wanted to change the world, make a difference in the world and he did with his music. He will love forever in our hearts. One of the classic Lennon’s Christmas songs is “So This is Christmas,” which you will hear during this holiday season at parties. He was bigger than life itself, John Lennon was like a good best friend. I was one of those lucky people that remembered seeing John, decades ago, when he sang a duet with Elton John. We didn’t have iPhones or Androids to take pics and instantly put them on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat or Facebook. like today. We just have our memories. My mouth opened wide and jaw dropped when I saw him walk on stage at Madison Square Garden, it was truly a wonderful, full of surprise night.
Over the years (while amassing the most impressive statistics for record, associated literature with all that) the Beatles known as The Fab Four, as they became known changed. Into their fame years, Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman, upsetting millions of teenagers. Lennon however, went the opposite way, divorcing Cynthia Powell Lennon and then took up with artist Yoko Ono.
In just a couple of days, the 2015 Grammy nominations will be out. A lot of hype on Bruce Springsteen’s “High Hopes,” which maybe a contender for Grammy gold. The rock icon’s January release “High Hopes,” was ranked No. 2 on Rolling Stone’s “Best 50 Albums of 2014” list.
Rose’s Scoop: Comedian and actor Russell Brand, 39, has threatened to take legal action over a report containing claims about his housing arrangements. He has been campaigning over the rising costs of homes in the UK, according to published reports. It’s official: Burt Reynolds is broke. The 60-year-old actor who was once king of the American box-office filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on December 1, in Florida, claiming more than $10 million in debts.