Page updated on Novemember 30, 2016
All news is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves.
Have Joan Jett news to report? Email us at jettfc@aol.com, and please include the source of the information so it can be validated. T.J. Martell Founder Tony Martell Remembered by Ozzy Osbourne, JOAN JETT, Many Others from: billboard.comBy Billboard Staff
Tony Martell, a veteran label exec and founder of the T.J. Martell Foundation, which has raised more than $270 million for cancer and AIDS research, passed away Sunday at the age of 90. While he enjoyed a long and successful career -- most prominently at CBS Records and Sony Music, where he worked closely with Ozzy Osbourne, JOAN JETT, Electric Light Orchestra, The O'Jays and many others -- there's no question that his greatest work was with the Foundation, which was founded in 1975 after his son T.J. died at the age of 21, after a battle with leukemia.
The Foundation has become one of the most prominent and important charities in the music industry, and its annual ceremony is one of the year's major events. Tony was there on Oct. 18, just five weeks before his death, telling the audience that leukemia is no longer the number-one killer among young people, and speaking proudly about the Foundation's considerable role in that milestone.
Below, Tony is remembered by a few of his many of his friends and colleagues.
"It saddened me to hear of my friend Tony Martell's passing. Tony was the only record executive to believe in me when he signed me to Epic Records as a solo artist in 1980. He will be missed." -- Ozzy Osbourne
"Tony Martel was such a sweet man. Maybe he didn't belong in this business. When no one would take an artist or manager's call, Tony would always make time, and always did his best to help out talented people, no matter how down on their luck they were. He was so important, but never 'self-important.' He was one of the only major record company folks to believe in JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS. We loved him so.
"When I [Laguna] was young, Tony's son died. We started the T.J. Martell Foundation, starting with just the 2 of us, at ABC Dunhill. Most successful record moguls think they are more than they are -- but they aren't curing cancer. TONY WAS CURING CANCER!! He had mammoth success in music, but all that pales next to his accomplishments in making sure T.J. Martell did not die in vain. -- With love and respect, JOAN JETT and KENNY LAGUNA / JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
"I've known Tony Martell for 40 years and he's never once wavered from the cause of eradicating leukemia and cancer. He leaves a broad, deep footprint and a lot of friends behind." -- Charlie Daniels
"Tony was a real music man and had a great knowledge of the industry, and he really galvanized it in supporting the Foundation and its strategy to find cures for cancer. He didn't just have the support of Sony, the company he'd worked for -- he had the support of most music labels, majors and indies, because the foundation has given hundreds of millions of dollars for research. He was the lighting rod that brought it all together. Obviously losing his son was the spark that started the Foundation, but he took it to a level that was just incredible -- and it happened because of who he was.
"He had a lot of energy and was always willing to help people. I've had friends with cancer and he would willingly get on the phone with them and put them in touch with specialists. He was incredibly gracious with his time. [more] Debbie Harry, JOAN JETT, Walter Schreifels & more doing Stones tribute at Jesse Malin holiday show from: brooklynvegan.comBy Andrew Sacher
New York punk staple Jesse Malin will once again throw a holiday show in his hometown. It happens on December 10 at Bowery Ballroom with Tommy Stinson's Cowboys In The Campfire, Don DiLego and The Touristas, and Jesse's D Generation bandmate Richard Bacchus.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the lineup though is the just-added tribute to The Rolling Stones‘ Goats Head Soup, which will feature Jesse and Richard Bacchus with Blondie singer Debbie Harry, JOAN JETT, Joseph Arthur, Hollis Brown, post-hardcore legend Walter Schreifels (Quicksand, Gorilla Biscuits, etc), The Hold Steady's Tad Kubler, Diane Gentile, Holly Ramos, Mr. Pharmacist and more TBA.
Tickets are on sale now, and all proceeds will benefit the Natty B. "Positive Panther" Wheelchair Fund. (Natty B, who has tour managed for Jesse and also worked with Tommy Stinson, Martha Wainwright and others, was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2010 and struck with paralysis).
Jesse will also do Goats Head Soup with a different cast of guests in LA in January.
Happy Thanksgiving! Celebrate With JOAN JETT's Epic Performance From The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade! from: societyofrock.comBy Markos Papadatos
JOAN JETT Wows Parade Goers!
For as long as we can remember now, JOAN JETT has been crushing the competition and putting on clinics on a regular basis in terms of rock music. Whether it's her days as a guitarist for The RUNAWAYS or her days in her illustrious solo career, JOAN JETT has consistently proven just how awesome she is. Speaking of her solo career, ever since leaving The RUNAWAYS, JOAN JETT has pursued a undoubtably remarkable solo music career and has created some of the most timeless classics that we as classic rock fans all recognize and love. Not to mention how amazing her live performances are, which brings us to the video we have for you here. 35 Years Ago: JOAN JETT Hits the Big Time With 'I Love Rock 'n Roll' from: ultimateclassicrock.comBy Jeff Giles
JOAN JETT's solo career looked like it was destined to be a dud after the RUNAWAYS splintered -- but everything broke wide open with her second release, 1981's I Love Rock 'n Roll.
Released Nov. 18, 1981, Jett's sophomore solo LP found her at a dangerously low professional lull. In the wake of the RUNAWAYS' collapse, she and her manager, KENNY LAGUNA, found it virtually impossible to land a record deal; as Laguna later alleged, they received at least one rejection letter from every major in the industry. "I was looking at them totally astonished," he recalled. "Pointing to this garbage and that garbage and wanting to know why the f-- they were signing it."
Undaunted, Laguna funded and self-released Jett's 1980 solo debut, selling it directly to concertgoers at her gigs. Eventually, her music got the attention of former Casablanca Records impresario Neil Bogart, who picked up the distribution rights to the JOAN JETT record -- later reissued as Bad Reputation -- and brought Jett on board for her next release.
With Laguna and veteran producer Ritchie Cordell behind the boards, Jett set about distilling her influences in a broader, punchier, more radio-friendly way. With her new band the BLACKHEARTS alongside her and with Laguna as a frequent songwriting foil, she assembled a 10-track set balanced between originals and crowd-pleasing covers -- and suffused with the heavy glam-rock stomp that inspired Jett as a listener.
"I love the whole style of early 70s glitter music," she told Musician. "That whole style of music has very upfront drums, so it's danceable. The stories in the songs aren't really too hard to understand. Who wants to think for a million years what a song's about? I can't enjoy music if I have to sit there and figure it out. I like it to be simple. Nice little songs that people can understand and identify with."
That style was effectively summed up in the album's title track, a shout-along cover drawn from the short-lived London band Arrows that had been a mainstay in her concert sets for years. The type of song that's almost impossible to forget after the first time you hear it, "I Love Rock 'n Roll" should have been an immediate hit for the band when they released their own version -- but their loss was Jett's gain.
Dismissed by the industry mere months before its release, Jett found herself with a massive hit on her hands once "I Love Rock 'n Roll" shipped to radio. Released in late 1981, the song soared up the charts, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sending the album to No. 2. With a cover of the Tommy James hit "Crimson and Clover" poised for Top 10 success as the follow-up, Jett -- and Boardwalk -- had a certified smash on their hands, and Jett was suddenly off and running as a solo artist.
"We pressed up our own copies and sold them out of the trunk of our car wherever we played," she said of the first LP. "Now that we're huge with the second album, people like Clive Davis are saying 'How did we miss this!' But he rejected it himself, you know. We were rejected by every company you could name." [more] Review: JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS rock Capitol Theatre in Port Chester from: docnyc.netBy Kate Hoos | Photo by Simon Luethi
How do you best capture the narrative of a larger than life, over the top rock band -- a band known for members dropping their pants on live TV, trolling Motley Crue in the studio with naked pictures of men, and who once raffled off a one night stand with their drummer? If you're director Sarah Price, and if the band in question is L7, you tell the story through their own footage, photos, and music, with a generous peppering of interviews from rock luminaries like Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, JOAN JETT, and Shirley Manson of Garbage, among many others.
L7: Pretend We're Dead traces the band's push to be seen from their formation in the mid 1980s, thru the heyday of grunge in the 1990s, and to their decline and subsequent breakup in 2001. They were an all female band at a time when it was an anomaly, and they didn't sugar coat anything about themselves or the music. They did not play up sex appeal, says guitarist and vocalist Donita Sparks in the film, "If we were going to be looked at, we were thrashing." Singer and guitarist Suzy Gardner said that women shouldn't have to be sexy to be taken seriously, while bassist Jennifer Finch, who joined the band in 1987, said that attitude was more important than ability, and the band had plenty of that.
As L7 played to bigger and bigger crowds through the first half of the 90s their antics escalated too. Sparks pulled the infamous tampon toss at the 1992 Reading Festival, and the band sent faxes to festival organizers asking "who does L7 have to blow to get on Lollapalooza?" Wit and snark were a common theme throughout but the film made no joke of their raw force and hard hitting music. When director Price was asked in the Q&A afterwards why she wanted to take on this project when the band approached her she said, "I couldn't believe the power coming at me."
In true music-doc fashion, there is plenty of concert footage from the 90s, plus in-studio footage of L7 recording pinnacle albums like 1992's "Bricks Are Heavy" and 1994's dirtier sounding "Hungry For Stink." While these albums are fan favorites now, they did not chart well or earn the band a big payoff when they were released. "People assume you're raking in the cash if you're on the cover of Spin magazine," Gardner says in the film, "but unless you sell an insane amount of records, you're just a working stiff at best." [more] Review: JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS rock Capitol Theatre in Port Chester from: digitaljournal.comBy Markos Papadatos
Port Chester - Rock and Roll Hall of Famer JOAN JETT performed at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, as part of a benefit show.
This rock concert was a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Family Services of Westchester (FSW), a local charity, and it was preceded by performances from local talent. The rock queen headlined this event with her gifted band, The BLACKHEARTS.
Her set-list included her classic hits from The RUNAWAYS, as well as The BLACKHEARTS, with such smash singles as "Do You Wanna Touch Me," "TMI," and a distinct cover of "Crimson and Clover." She tipped her hat to "The Boss," Bruce Springsteen, by singing "Light of Day." Of course, no JOAN JETT show is complete with out the spitfire "Bad Reputation" and "I Hate Myself for Loving You." She got the crowd on their feet as she belted out her signature rock tune, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll."
The Verdict
Overall, JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS put on a top-notch rock show at the gorgeous Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. The Westchester audience knew that they were in the presence of rock empress. Their live show garnered an A rating. JOAN JETT & The Black Hearts | I Love Rock and Roll | Rock the Boat Cruise | 11-2-2016 from: YouTube.comBy Hester
On day 2 of the Rock the Boat cruise the boat harboured at Key West. At the end of the afternoon, JOAN JETT & The Black Hearts performed on the pool deck. Melissa Etheridge introduces the band, followed by one of the songs they played: I Love Rock And Roll. JOAN JETT played a benefit show at the Cap with George Porter Jr & more from: brooklynvegan.comBy SUZANNE ROTHBERG | Photo by Sitrib.com
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS played a benefit show just outside of NYC at Westchester's Capitol Theatre on Saturday (11/5). The benefit was for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Family Services of Westchester, and it had other guests including celebrity impersonator Christina Bianco, The Meters' George Porter Jr., and 13-year-old guitar prodigy Brandon "Taz" Niederauer.
As always, Joan played a hit-filled set with the likes of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," "Cherry Bomb," "I Hate Myself for Loving You," "Crimson and Clover," and many more. Concert review: JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS live at the Capitol Theatre from: us.blastingnews.comBy SUZANNE ROTHBERG | Photo by Sitrib.com
Big Brothers Big Sisters 'The Really Big Show' benefit
#Big Brothers Big Sisters Family Services of Westchester, a local charity organization hosted a variety benefit concert entitled, "The Really Big Show" live at the #Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY on November 5. #JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS were the headlining act, and the show also featured some local talent including a female celebrity impersonator and a 13-year-old prodigy guitarist from the Broadway smash musical, "School of Rock."
And while both of those performers were amazing the first half, I was rather disappointed because it was like watching an amateur talent show. I really didn’t care for it. The rest of the acts were really boring afterwards! I'm sorry to break the bad news, but I never sugar-coat, I tell it straight up like it is! After the 15-minute intermission, finally the show got underway and #JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS took the stage and the house was rocking big time! It was a real treat to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer finally roll into my hometown of Port Chester!
They still love rock and roll JOAN JETT, who got her start in the all-female rock band, The RUNAWAYS, is still on top of her game and her songs are still as fresh live as they are on the recordings. She played most of her hits including, "Cherry Bomb," "Do You Want To Touch Me?" the all-time greatest fan favorite, "I Love Rock and Roll" "I Hate Myself For Loving You" "TMI" (Too Much Information), "Crimson and Clover," "Everyday People," "Light of Day," and many other of her greatest hits of all-time! She didn’t disappoint. She has been honored for many awards, including a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 2014 Golden Gods Awards.
She still loves rock and roll and it showed in her performance! I hope she comes back to the #Capitol Theatre for a regular JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS show and not for a benefit! I did request an interview with her for this show, but it was last minute and it’s very unfortunate that this benefit show was very disorganized and unprofessional. As a courtesy, they should have offered me a meet and greet with JOAN JETT since they failed to land me the interview. Instead, all I got was a "stand and shoot" with the "Star Wars" characters! And while it was fun and made me feel like a celebrity, I really felt cheated and hope to get an interview with Joan the next time she plays in New York. She is very entertaining to watch. The audience was getting into the act too! Many were dancing in the isles and in their seats! She was the best part of the whole event!
Aside from the mediocre distractions of the first half talent show, I highly recommend a regular JOAN JETT concert when you get the opportunity, and don’t ever bother attending a benefit show. Even if JOAN JETT is involved with it. #Big Brothers Big Sisters JOAN JETT - Bad Reputation - Band Hero Expert Full Band from: Spectro's Rock Hero
Expert Full Band Chart of the song "Bad Reputation" of the band "JOAN JETT", album "Bad Reputation", on the game Band Hero, being played on Warriors of Rock, which came out on November 3rd, 2009.
This song was only available by exporting all of the songs from the game Band Hero, unfortunately you can't buy the export anymore, but if you bought it you can play it on the other game of the franchise, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Weekend: JOAN JETT, home show and more from: lohud.com by Michelle Almonte | Photo by: Phil Bailey/GoPensacola.com
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
Love Rock N' Roll? Don't miss a performance by JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are the headlining act at this year's Really Big Show, an annual charitable fundraiser and variety show that benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Family Services of Westchester. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $125 and $250, available on the theater's website, thecapitoltheatre.com. 149 Westchester Ave., Port Chester.
Tony Martell, a veteran label exec and founder of the T.J. Martell Foundation, which has raised more than $270 million for cancer and AIDS research, passed away Sunday at the age of 90. While he enjoyed a long and successful career -- most prominently at CBS Records and Sony Music, where he worked closely with Ozzy Osbourne, JOAN JETT, Electric Light Orchestra, The O'Jays and many others -- there's no question that his greatest work was with the Foundation, which was founded in 1975 after his son T.J. died at the age of 21, after a battle with leukemia.
New York punk staple Jesse Malin will once again throw a holiday show in his hometown. It happens on December 10 at Bowery Ballroom with Tommy Stinson's Cowboys In The Campfire, Don DiLego and The Touristas, and Jesse's D Generation bandmate Richard Bacchus.
Port Chester - Rock and Roll Hall of Famer JOAN JETT performed at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, as part of a benefit show.
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS played a benefit show just outside of NYC at Westchester's Capitol Theatre on Saturday (11/5). The benefit was for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Family Services of Westchester, and it had other guests including celebrity impersonator Christina Bianco, The Meters' George Porter Jr., and 13-year-old guitar prodigy Brandon "Taz" Niederauer.
Big Brothers Big Sisters 'The Really Big Show' benefit
#Big Brothers Big Sisters Family Services of Westchester, a local charity organization hosted a variety benefit concert entitled, "The Really Big Show" live at the #Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY on November 5. #JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS were the headlining act, and the show also featured some local talent including a female celebrity impersonator and a 13-year-old prodigy guitarist from the Broadway smash musical, "School of Rock."
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
Love Rock N' Roll? Don't miss a performance by JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are the headlining act at this year's Really Big Show, an annual charitable fundraiser and variety show that benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Family Services of Westchester. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $125 and $250, available on the theater's website, thecapitoltheatre.com. 149 Westchester Ave., Port Chester.