Tyler dropped the Zeppelin bombshell on Howard Stern's show early Tuesday morning, while making the media rounds in NYC to promote American Idol's launch Wednesday night.

Rafferty passed away at his Dorest, UK home peacefully early Tuesday morning, with his daughter Martha by his side.

The classic rock artist revealed he was fighting the disease in October, when he vowed to win the battle, saying: "The cancer is treatable and I'll be walking out of this hospital in three to four weeks. I'll be able to go on the road and continue my rock'n'roll life in due time. I'll be back with you soon."

Dio died of cancer in May last year after a six-month battle against the disease. But Butler says the frontman had stage-four stomach cancer by the time it was discovered � and it was already too late for him.

Frontman Alex Turner and the band are hoping the put out the record in late spring of this year. The album, as yet untitled, will be the Sheffield foursome's follow-up to 2009's Humbug, which was a co-production between Ford and Josh Homme. Ford also worked on the Monkeys' second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, as well as Klaxons' Myths of the Near Future and Florence and the Machine's Lungs.

Daltrey sought out the care of Dr. Steven Zeitels, Director of the Mass General Voice Center and professor at Harvard Medical School. Zeitels had previously treated such high-profile patients as Steven Tyler and Julie Andrews.

"When he came in, said Zeitels, "there were changes that were the typical ones we would see, but then there were other changes on his vocal chords � evidence of pre-cancerous dysplasia. It could have been cancer."

Kirshner discovered Bobby Darin in the '50s and began Aldon Music with Al Nevins, creating a veritable songwriting factory in the Brill Building in New York City. Kirshner's writers included Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.

"I tore a ligament in my left hand last year, playing basketball at Chuck E. Cheese, which is like a pizza place for kids," he said. "I injured my back a few years ago, that's been acting up. The last show in Australia, I bent over to pack my bags and I tore a little bit of my back again."

The AP reports a surgical team at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix performed the procedure Monday.

All members of the band's original lineup are taking part, including Jones, Don Letts, Greg Roberts, Leo "E-Zee-Kill" Williams and Dan Donovan.

Rolling Stone.com reports that the performer was playing "Lovely Cruise" during his encore in Sydney when he fell into a gap between the stage and the crowd.

The White Stripes would like to announce that today, February 2nd, 2011, Their band has officially ended and will make no further new recordings or perform live.

The event was already running 90 minutes late by the time the waiting crowd were told to go home. Hundreds of angry gigglers began throwing bottles, breaking windows and setting fire to beer tents.

The thrash giants decided to leave axeman Jeff Hanneman at home to recover from flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis, because they'd already cancelled dozens of shows during 2009 and 2010 due to Araya's back problems.

Thin Lizzy bandmate Scott Gorham has said he wasn't informed about the Brighton funeral, but he'll visit Moore's grave in the near future.

Duff then went on to explain further. "Here's the deal: Because of Twitter and other web sites over the last, whatever, eight years, especially in the last [couple of years], you can't say anything; it's instant. And somebody will tweet something and then people will read it, and then, all of a sudden, we're talking about this. So I understand it, I've been part of it."

The Aussie giants are set to release a live DVD in the coming weeks, but asides from that Johnson's looking forward to taking the rest of the year off and indulging his hobby of driving classic cars at race meetings.

The blaze broke out in Shirley's Cave establishment, where he's worked with the likes of Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Journey. The producer says: "I opened up this morning to thick, acrid smoke and a sideboard aflame. Miraculously there were no guitars lost, no masters affected and the studio is smelly but otherwise okay.

According to Music-news.com, Daltrey doesn't think he'll be performing for much longer: "I've probably got two or three years left to do that kind of music and I want to make the most of it, because again I've been given a gift, use it, use it or lose it, so I'm going to do Tommy at the Albert Hall.

BW&BK reports that Ulrich said that the band bypassed the Presidio recording on their last studio album and have no desire to "wade through" it for their current project.

Mustaine goes on to say that he feels responsible for keeping apart the bands in the Big Four (who also include Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax). "I think a lot of it was contingent on me, because [in the '80s and '90s] I was going through a lot of personal stuff that really put an unnecessary wall between all of us," he said. "A lot of it has been publicized, a lot of it wasn't. Most of it was the much heralded and worn stories of drugs and alcoholism."

Stewart and Nicks will sing together during the shows on their upcoming tour. Nicks may be used to plenty of rehearsals, but not the more "ad hoc" Stewart, who told Rolling Stone, "In the Faces, we never rehearsed. I always like there to be the element of risk in any show. When things go wrong, I love it. We'll have to meet in the middle."

Starr was arrested three weeks ago by Utah police after a van he was travelling in was stopped for a traffic violation. The driver was found to have a suspended licence and Starr, who was seen popping pills as officers approached, was led off in handcuffs.

The Metal Den recently stated Paul was potentially interested in a memorial show, quoting a source who said: "If it does happen, it will be for only one show." But now band manager Kimberly Zide-Davis has shot down all the talk, stating: "There is never going to be a Pantera reunion show.

Whibley's illness has forced the group to cancel or postpone an indefinite number of shows. A statement on Sum 41's website reads: "We regret to inform everyone that we have had to cancel a few shows due to Deryck Whibley being hospitalized with severe pneumonia. Deryck is currently being treated in a Sydney hospital. Doctors are doing their best to beat the pneumonia and Deryck will remain in Sydney until he has recovered. As soon as Deryck is out of the hospital, the band will return back to the stage performing their Screaming Bloody Murder world tour with the usual high energy kick ass shows."

"For their upcoming shows in 2011, Slipknot has asked Donnie Steele to fill in for Paul Gray on bass. Donnie, as some may recall, was the original guitar player in Slipknot and had actually reconnected with Paul in recent years. Said the band on their decision,

He'll spend at least four and a half months behind bars before being eligible for conditional bail.

Issues arose when the heckler started pushing and abusing fellow concert-goers leading McKenney to kick the man in the upper chest, knocking him to the side of the stage.

At the conclusion of the band's performance of a new song, Scars Align, McKenney had enough asking the fan: "Do you even like us or are you just trying to f*** with us."

The two other Jackson and Mercury songs are "Victory" and "Must Be More to Life Than This." No release date has been set, but Queen's Roger Taylor has said they will definitely be available soon.

The Sub Pop label is releasing a double-disc expanded version of Sebadoh's 1994 album Bakesale in June, and Barlow will also reunite with former Dinosaur Jr. bandmate Mascis for a series of shows to play 1998's Dinosaur record, Bug. "We'll do that for a month, and then I'm going to continue to do Sebadoh after that. Then at the end of the year, there's talk of getting back together and starting to piece together a new Dinosaur record," Barlow told Rolling Stone.

Terra reports the incident happened during the first song of the band's set at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Opening with "Satellite 15...The Final Frontier," Maiden's lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, noticed the barrier separating the fans from the stage broke and the crowd had rushed forward towards the members of the group.

Evans was AC/DC's bass player through the band's early years with Bon Scott, from the first album up to, and including, 1977's "Let There Be Rock."

Taylor York, the band's remaining guitarist, tweeted recently: ""Good afternoon (or whatever time of day it is wherever you may be). Day number 2 of recording. Super stoked. Sounding good! Yeahyeahyeahyeah."

"[Nathan and Caleb Followill] have notoriously gone at each other over the years," he said. "They've had knockout � I mean broken shoulders, pulled hair, trying to stab each other. Those two are like twins almost. They're so close but they're too close, if that makes sense."

Downing was part of the classic Priest line-up and combined with fellow axeman Glenn Tipton to create the band's legendary twin guitar attack. Downing's departure was announced in a statement released today (April 20) via the bands official website "Having thought long and hard about how to proceed, Rob, Glenn, Ian and Scott unanimously agreed that they should go ahead with the tour and not let the fans down all around the world.

The band's website announced the news: "We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly."

As previous reported by Gibson.com, the album is helmed by pianist Ben Waters, with all proceeds going to the British Heart Foundation. Jools Holland and Polly Harvey also reportedly play on the album, which is produced by Glyn Johns. The five Stones did not, however, physically get together in the studio for the track: each layed down their parts in separate studios around the world.

Gray, who would have celebrated his 39th birthday this week, was found dead in an Iowa hotel room last May following an accidental overdose. And his wife Brenna, who was pregnant at the time, says she'd saved him from death once in the past � but couldn't manage it a second time.

Michaels tells the Birmingham News that his eye problem began after fans accidentally hit him with a glass during an impromptu nightclub appearance in Panama City, Fla., during spring break.

According to Black-Sabbath.com, "Out of My Mind"/"Holy Water" will be available in the States on CD single on June 27. Proceeds will be donated to help rebuild a music school in Gyumri, Armenia.

"Out of My Mind" features a who's who of metal giants, including singer Ian Gillan (Deep Purple), guitarists Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) and Mikko "Linde" Lindstr�m (HIM), bassist Jason Newsted (Metallica, Voivod), drummer Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) and keyboardist Jon Lord (Deep Purple). As such, it is a reunion of sorts on multiple fronts. Gillan fronted Black Sabbath for the Born Again album in the early '80s. Gillan is also reunited with founding Deep Purple member Jon Lord, who retired from the band in 2002. "Holy Water" also features Gillan and Iommi, though with a different supporting cast.

The Boston giants' recent history is littered with near disaster. In 2009 Tyler fell off stage while under the influence of drugs, breaking his shoulder and forcing the band to cancel their tour with ZZ Top. Months later he announced he wanted to concentrate on his solo career, and his bandmates set about finding a replacement.

"I hear the rumors," Waters says. "I think it's beginning to look now as if he'll do one gig, he'll do "Comfortably Numb" at one gig. It's a big secret when. Live 8 was the big one when Rick [Wright] was still alive � it was very moving."

Amy Lee and company will begin recording their third album on April 11, according to Blabbermouth, with Foo Fighters producer Nick Raskulinecz at the helm. Most recently, Raskulinecz recorded with Rush on the Canadian power trio's upcoming Clockwork Angels album.

TMZ reports that, according to court documents filed last week in Clark County, Nevada, Neil committed a crime by, "forcing his way into the Shimmer lounge [at the Las Vegas Hilton] while a performance was occurring" and poked three people with his right index finger, each time stating the words, "f**k you."