Saturday 12am ET: Feature LP: Elton John – The One (1992)

The One is the twenty-third studio album by the English singer-songwriter Elton John, released on June 22, 1992. It was recorded at Studio Guillame Tell in Paris, produced by Chris Thomas and managed by John Reid. The album was dedicated to Vance Buck, and its cover artwork was designed by Gianni Versace.

The One spent three consecutive weeks at #2 without reaching #1 in the UK, being kept off the top spot by Lionel Richie’s Back to Front compilation. However, it was John’s biggest selling album in the US since 1975. The One was certified 2x platinum in the US by the RIAA.

Olle Romo collaborated with John and lyricist Bernie Taupin on one song, “Runaway Train”, on which Eric Clapton sings a duet with John. Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour makes an appearance playing guitar on “Understanding Women”. John’s long-standing drummer, Nigel Olsson and female backing vocalist Kiki Dee (who had duet with John on the hit song “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”) and longtime guitarist Davey Johnstone provided backing vocals on a few songs.

This was John’s first album project since his rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addictions and bulimia in 1990. This is the last studio album to feature his Roland RD-1000 digital piano. John started playing a Yamaha Disklavier piano shortly after.

“Simple Life” – 6:25
“The One” – 5:53
“Sweat It Out” – 6:38
“Runaway Train” – 5:23 (Duet with Eric Clapton)
“Whitewash County” – 5:30
“The North” – 5:15
“When a Woman Doesn’t Want You” – 4:56
“Emily” – 4:58
“On Dark Street” – 4:43
“Understanding Women” – 5:03
“The Last Song” – 3:21
“Suit of Wolves” – 5:37
“Fat Boys and Ugly Girls” – 4:13

Friday 4pm ET: Feature Artist – Aerosmith

Aerosmith is the best-selling American hard rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide, including over 70 million records in the United States alone. With 25 gold albums, 18 platinum albums, and 12 multi-platinum albums, they hold the record for the most total certifications by an American band and are tied for the most multi-platinum albums by an American band. The band has scored twenty-one Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and were included among both Rolling Stone’s and VH1’s lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time at number 57 and number 30 respectively. In 2013, the band’s principal songwriters, Tyler and Perry, were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2019, the band will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Friday 12pm ET: Feature Artist – Diana Ross

Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group The Supremes, who during the 1960s became Motown’s most successful act, and are the best-charting female group in US history, as well as one of the world’s best-selling girl groups of all time. The group released a record-setting twelve number one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100, including “Where Did Our Love Go”, “Baby Love”, “Come See About Me”, “Stop! In the Name of Love”, “You Can’t Hurry Love”, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, “Love Child”, and “Someday We’ll Be Together”.

Following her departure from the Supremes in 1970, Ross released her eponymous debut solo album that same year, featuring the No. 1 Pop hit “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. She later released the album Touch Me in the Morning in 1973; its title track was her second solo No. 1 hit. She continued a successful solo career through the 1970s, which included hit albums like Mahogany and Diana Ross and their No. 1 hit singles, “Theme from Mahogany” and “Love Hangover”, respectively. Her 1980 album Diana produced another No. 1 single, “Upside Down”, as well as the international hit “I’m Coming Out”. Her final single with Motown during her initial run with the company achieved her sixth and final US number one Pop hit, the duet “Endless Love” featuring Lionel Richie, whose solo career was launched with its success.

Ross has also ventured into acting, with a Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award–nominated performance in the film Lady Sings the Blues (1972); she recorded its soundtrack, which became a number one hit. She also starred in two other feature films, Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978), later acting in the television films Out of Darkness (1994), for which she also was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and Double Platinum (1999).

She is the only female artist to have number one singles as a solo artist; as the other half of a duet (Lionel Richie); as a member of a trio; and as an ensemble member (We are the World-USA for Africa). In 1976, Ross was named the “Female Entertainer of the Century” by Billboard magazine. In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared her the most successful female music artist in history, due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts, with a career total of 70 hit singles with her work with the Supremes and as a solo artist. She had a top 10 UK hit in every one of the last five decades, and sang lead on a top 75 hit single at least once every year from 1964 to 1996 in the UK, a period of 33 consecutive years and a record for any performer.

In 1988, Ross was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes, alongside Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. She was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Ross is also one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one as a solo artist and the other as a member of the Supremes. In Billboard magazine’s Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Artists chart, she ranked 16th as the lead singer of the Supremes and 26th as a solo artist. Diana Ross ranks among the Top 5 artists of the rock era (1955 to date) on the Billboard Hot 100 when combining her solo and Supremes’ hits.

Thursday 12pm ET: Feature Artist – Billy Stewart

William Larry Stewart II (March 24, 1937 – January 17, 1970) was an American rhythm and blues singer and pianist who was popular during the 1960s.

Stewart’s weight caused him several health problems, culminating in diabetes, a condition that may have contributed to him having a motorcycle accident in 1969.

He died in a broad-daylight car accident in January 1970, just two months prior to his 33rd birthday. The accident happened when the Ford Thunderbird that Stewart was driving approached a bridge across the Neuse River near Smithfield, North Carolina (presumably on Interstate 95). His car left the highway, ran along the median strip at a slight angle to the highway, struck the bridge abutment, and then plunged into the river, killing Stewart and his three passengers instantly. The other victims in the accident were members of Stewart’s band: Norman P. Rich, 39, of Washington D.C., William Cathey, 32 of Charlotte, N.C., and Rico Hightower, 22 of Newark, New Jersey. The four musicians were driving to a nightclub show in Columbia, South Carolina at the time of the wreck. The car had been purchased only 12 days before and had been driven only 1,400 miles before the accident occurred.

Stewart was buried in National Harmony Memorial Park in Landover, Maryland.

Thursday 12am ET: Feature LP: Elton John – Reg Strikes Back (1988)

Reg Strikes Back, released June 24, 1988, is the twenty-first studio album by Elton John. It was his self-proclaimed comeback album, and his own way of fighting back against bad press. The “Reg” in Reg Strikes Back refers to John’s birth name, Reginald Kenneth Dwight.

In the US the album was certified gold in August 1988 by the RIAA.

This was the last album that bassist Dee Murray (albeit without bass) appeared on prior to his death in 1992. Additionally, Nigel Olsson, the longtime drummer for John’s band, appears (sans drums) on backing vocals. The tracks “I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That” and “A Word in Spanish” peaked at No. 2 and No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. John brought back record producer Chris Thomas for the album. This is the first studio album to be recorded and released after John’s throat surgery the previous year. The album cover featured costumes from John’s collection that he decided to put up for auction.

“Town of Plenty” – 3:40
“A Word in Spanish” – 4:39
“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Part Two” – 4:12
“I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That” – 4:35
“Japanese Hands” – 4:40
“Goodbye Marlon Brando” – 3:30
“The Camera Never Lies” – 4:36
“Heavy Traffic” – 3:30
“Poor Cow” – 3:50
“Since God Invented Girls” – 4:54
“Rope Around a Fool” – 3:48
“I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That” (Shep Pettibone Mix) – 7:16
“I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That” (Just Elton and His Piano Mix) – 4:37
“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Part Two” (The Renaissance Mix) – 6:19

Wednesday 12am ET: Feature LP: Elton John – Leather Jackets (1986)

Leather Jackets, released October 15, 1986, is the twentieth studio album by Elton John. Recorded at Sol Studios in England and Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands, it was his first album not to have any top 40 singles in either the US or the UK since 1970’s Tumbleweed Connection, which had no singles released from it. It is also the poorest-charting album of his career.

“Leather Jackets” – 4:10
“Hoop of Fire” – 4:14
“Don’t Trust That Woman” – 4:58
“Go It Alone” – 4:26
“Gypsy Heart” – 4:46
“Slow Rivers” (Duet with Cliff Richard) – 3:06
“Heartache All Over the World” – 4:17
“Angeline” – 3:24
“Memory of Love” – 4:08
“Paris” – 3:58
“I Fall Apart” – 4:00

Tuesday 9pm ET: Feature Artist – Brett Eldredge

Brett Ryan Eldredge (born March 23, 1986) is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer, signed to Warner Music Group Nashville. The cousin of Terry Eldredge of The Grascals, Eldredge has had five No. 1 singles on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, three of which came from his debut studio album, Bring You Back: “Don’t Ya”, “Beat of the Music”, and “Mean to Me”.