Coke Canning Tab, Bassey’s Bad-Ass Comeback, Lansbury’s 95th & More!

Links to the past, with relevance today:

WSJ: Coca-Cola is pulling the Tab — the '70s-tastic, one-calorie diet soda will no longer exist by 2021.

PEOPLE: The Queen of England, 94, has posed for her first official portrait in a while — and people are dazzled.

GUARDIAN: Stevie Nicks, 72, says bluntly that had she not been able to choose an abortion in 1979, Fleetwood Mac would have ceased:

“If I had not had that abortion, I’m pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac. There’s just no way that I could have had a child then, working as hard as we worked constantly. And there were a lot of drugs, I was doing a lot of drugs… I would have had to walk away. And I knew that the music we were going to bring to the world was going to heal so many people’s hearts and make people so happy. And I thought: 'You know what? That’s really important. There’s not another band in the world that has two lead women singers, two lead women writers.' That was my world’s mission.”

SKY NEWS: Dame Shirley Bassey, 83, is celebrating 70 years in show biz by unveiling a new masked portrait of herself in a gold-sequined gown and, to cap off her recording career, by releasing what she deems her “grand finale,” an album of new material called I Owe It All to You. The album, her first of new (and some old) material in over five years, is out later in 2020 on Decca.

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In a new statement, Angela Lansbury — who hits 95 on October 16 — says: “What a fortunate life I’ve had the pleasure to be part of, doing the thing I most enjoy... acting and entertaining great audiences all over the world. I feel fortunate indeed to be able to celebrate my 95th birthday with my dearest family here in California. I am fortunate to be able to stay safe and my heart goes out to all those who are suffering or have lost loved ones.” In the main image, Lansbury is seen during her long run as Jessica Fletcher on "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1996). Next, in order, she is seen in: Her debut, "Gaslight" (1944; Oscar nomination) and "The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945; inset, second Oscar nomination) "Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946) "Samson and Delilah" (1949) "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962; third Oscar nomination) "Mame" (1966 on Broadway) "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971) "Gypsy" (1974 on Broadway) "Sweeney Todd" (1979 on Broadway) and "Death on the Nile" (1978; inset), "The Mirror Crack'd" (1980, left) & "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018, right) #angelalansbury #movies #tv #music #broadway #mame #sweeneytodd #murdershewrote #jessicafletcher #gaslight #tillthecloudsrollby #bedknobsandbroomsticks #gypsy #rosesturn #themanchuriancandidate #celebritybirthdays #oscarnominee #samsonanddelilah #thepictureofdoriangray #thenandnow #gr8erdays

A post shared by Gr8erDays (@gr8erdays) on Oct 15, 2020 at 3:28pm PDT

VARIETY: Catching up with the 77-year career of Dame Angela Lansbury, who is turning an incredible 95 years old today, and plans to celebrate at her California home, saying:

“What a fortunate life I’ve had the pleasure to be part of, doing the thing I most enjoy – acting and entertaining great audiences all over the world. I feel fortunate indeed to be able to celebrate my 95th birthday with my dearest family here in California. I am fortunate to be able to stay safe and my heart goes out to all those who are suffering or have lost loved ones.”

YOUTUBE: Elvira urges us not to cancel Halloween:

YOUTUBE: Welsh singer Catherine Anne Davies, working with Suede co-founder Bernard Butler, has released a lovely cover of Madonna's 1986 tune “Live to Tell”: