Joel Whitburn: Celebs Rumors

Chris Morris Music ReporterOlivia Newton-John, the top female pop vocalist of the 1970s who starred in movies including “Grease” and “Xanadu,” died Monday. She was 73.Her husband posted the news on her official Facebook page, writing:Chart historian Joel Whitburn ranked the warm-voiced Australia-bred singer as the No. 1 female soloist of the ‘70s.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticJoel Whitburn, whose books of research on the charts were a staple of the bookshelves of anyone who cared about the history or business of pop music for decades, died Tuesday at age 82.No cause of death was immediately given, although Whitburn was reported to have been in ill health for some time.The Wisconsin native’s company, Record Research, had been publishing books based on the Billboard charts going back to 1970, with a count of tomes that as of a little under a decade ago amounted to 122 books.Amid all the genre-specific books he published, Whitburn’s “flagship” book and top seller was “Top Pop Singles.” That book covered everything that was a hit from 1955 forward, with Whitburn throwing in three years worth of mid-’50s stats from a chart that predated the Hot 100’s beginning in 1958 because he “wanted to include that early rock ‘n’ roll history.” But he was never under the delusion that music started with Elvis Presley, as evidenced by his also having publishing a book titled “Pop Memories: 1890-1954.” His completism wasn’t limited to pure data: Whitburn’s home in Menomonee Falls, Wis.

Chris Morris Music ReporterLooking back on the life of Mickey Gilley, who died May 7 in Branson, Mo., at the age of 86, one must consider the musician and the country music era that he helped to define.The singer-pianist was a versatile stylist, an outstanding instrumentalist and one of country music’s most prolific hitmakers. He notched his first No. 1 country single, a version of George Morgan’s “Room Full of Roses,” in 1974 on Playboy Records.