Singer for 60s band The Grass Roots dies in Fla. (AP)

EUSTIS, Fla. – Rob Grill, the lead singer of 1960s rock band The Grass Roots, has died near Orlando, an official with the medical examiner's office said Tuesday. He was 67.

Grill sang on such hits as "Midnight Confessions," "Temptation Eyes," and "Let's Live for Today." He died Monday at a hospice facility in Lake County, Fla., a suburb of Orlando, said Michael Hensley, director of the medical examiner's office.

A woman who answered the phone at Cornerstone Hospice confirmed Grill was a patient but wouldn't release further information, citing privacy concerns.

The Grass Roots were a Los Angeles-based band with roots in San Francisco's music scene. They formed in the mid-1960s and went through three incarnations, with band members leaving and others joining, before they recorded a series of hits. Grill joined in 1967 and the group disbanded in 1975. One of the members was Creed Bratton, who now plays the exceedingly eccentric Creed on the TV sitcom "The Office."

Grill released a solo album, Uprooted, in 1979.

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Grass Roots singer Rob Grill dies at age 67 (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rob Grill, the longtime lead singer for rock band The Grass Roots, has died at age 67 from complications of a stroke, his agent said on Tuesday.

Grill died on Monday at a hospice outside Orlando, Florida, with his wife, Nancy, at his side, said his agent Howie Silverman of Paradise Artists.

Grill joined The Grass Roots in 1967, soon after it was created by songwriters Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan, and soon scored a hit with the song "Let's Live for Today."

The band's other hits with Grill as lead singer included "Midnight Confessions" and "Temptation Eyes."

The Grass Roots has cycled through many band members over the years, but Grill was a constant force in the group as both a musician and songwriter.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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British royals put down roots in Ottawa (AFP)

OTTAWA (AFP) – Britain's royal stars Prince William and bride Catherine marked their first official trip abroad as newlyweds Saturday by planting a tree in Canada's capital symbolizing their everlasting "love and marriage."

In front of a small crowd of well-wishers -- a marked change from the throng of hundreds of thousands who celebrated Canada Day with the royals on Friday -- the couple strolled among commemorative maples, oaks and conifers that dot the grounds of Rideau Hall, the official residence of Canada's governor general.

To applause, they shovelled soil onto the base a Canadian hemlock planted to commemorate the couple's nine-day royal tour of the country.

In 1907, then-governor general Earl Grey planted the first tree in the arboretum, a young maple to mark the first official trip to Ottawa by Japan's Prince Fushimi.

In the century since, planting ceremonial trees has become a Canadian tradition symbolizing friendship and international cooperation.

"This tree (planted by William and Kate) will serve as an ongoing symbol of the love and marriage of their royal highnesses," officials said in a statement. The hemlock is known to live up to 800 years.

Afterwards the couple chatted with an ailing man whose last wish reportedly was to meet the royal pair, and received a few words of advice from a couple married for 50 years.

Kate, wearing a grey Kensington dress by Catherine Walker, and William also paused for a solemn moment at a tree planted in honor of his late mother Diana, who would have turned 50 on Friday.

The duke and duchess of Cambridge later attended a reception with veterans and war brides at the Canadian War Museum and unveiled a mural before heading to Montreal for the second leg of their cross-Canada tour.

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Roots plotting "orchestral" new album (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Billboard) – For the follow-up to the Roots' 2010 album, "How I Got Over," drummer ?uestlove says the veteran hip-hop band is planning a "concept album" with orchestral arrangements.

"This is going to be our first full-fledged narrative concept album," ?uestlove told Billboard.com at New York's Buddakan, where he and frontman Black Thought hosted an event Wednesday to promote two upcoming events in their hometown of Philadelphia: this Saturday's Roots Picnic festival, and Philly's Fourth of July Jam. "It's going to be a challenge to figure out how to get from point A to B -- or in this case, point B to point A," he hinted, "and have it seem natural."

Black Thought added that conceptually, the album will stem from the "same idea" as "How I Got Over," but "kind of flipped. Instead of from dark to light, it's an album that goes from light to dark," he explained.

Two song sketches have been composed thus far, ?uestlove said, and just this week the group had its first official meeting about the "unusual spelling" of the album's title, which they're keeping under wraps for now. "It's a one-word title that's spelled incorrectly ... what a way to tease you, right?" he laughed.

As for the sound of the album, ?uestlove said, "It's going to be heavy on sort of orchestral chamber music with harder beats in it," inspired by a recent collaborative performance that the drummer did in April for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.

"I did this project called the Philly-Paris Lockown, which was sort of a period of French music from Debussy to Satie and Stravinsky ... it was almost like the dawning of jazz in the early 1900s," he said of the performance, which also featured 18 classical musicians and French singer/songwriter Keren Ann.

While Black Thought said the Roots hope to have their new album out by this fall, he acknowledged that a 2012 release is more likely. "In a perfect world it would come out in November, but in this world that we live in, maybe January? Maybe February?" he laughed. "I don't know, but hopefully it's gonna be in a timely fashion."

In the meantime, the Roots have plenty to keep them busy.

The group lined up a genre-spanning list of acts for its fourth annual Roots Picnic, including Nas, Esperanza Spalding, Wiz Khalifa, Yelawolf, Mac Miller, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and more. ?uestlove is especially excited for his sister, Donn T, to make her debut on the festival's second stage, as well as Little Dragon, whom he calls an "extreme favorite of mine," and the Dismemberment Plan. "They set on fire when they reunited for the show, and I hope they put that same energetic performance on for us," he said.

"It's something we always wanted to do," Black Thought said of the Picnic, which is now in its fourth year. "Having been a part of so many festival tours like Lollapalooza and Smokin' Grooves -- with the Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill, and the whole genre mixing thing that used to go on back in the '90s and early '00s -- we always wanted to bring that element to Philly, to bring it home."

And although the Roots will be performing at Philly's 4th of July Jam for the third time, the MC added that they're particularly looking forward to this year's event because "it's our first time as the official curators." Among the acts they've picked to perform: Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael McDonald, Estelle and Sara Bareilles.

"It's become a festival now," he said. "It's super exciting."

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

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Austin returns to soul/R&B roots on new CD (AP)

By CHARLES J. GANS, Associated Press Charles J. Gans, Associated Press – Wed Jun 1, 12:41 pm ET

Patti Austin, "Sound Advice" (Shanachie)

Patti Austin has spent much of the past decade successfully recasting herself as a jazz singer, winning her first-ever Grammy for her 2007 CD, "Avant Gershwin." But her new CD, "Sound Advice" — mostly covers of tunes by Bob Dylan, Brenda Russell, the Jacksons and others — finds Austin returning to her soul, R&B and pop roots with an assist from producer-arranger Greg Phillinganes (Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Toto).

Austin is at her best on her gospel-inspired take on Des'ree's "You Gotta Be" that builds to a rousing call-and-response with the Fire Choir. She rocks out and adds some soul to the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want," engaging in spirited interplay with her backup vocalists, and on Bill Withers' "Lean on Me," she starts softly and ends with a soaring climax. The 62-year-old singer's still powerful vocals stand out even though some of the song choices are less inspiring — Paul McCartney's "Let `Em In" and Depeche Mode's ethereal "Enjoy the Silence."

Austin shows a more intimate, restrained side on several acoustic "unplugged" arrangements on which she's accompanied by pianist Shelly Berg, including a touching rendition of Don McLean's "Vincent" and an understated, reflective "My Way" without the Frank Sinatra swagger.

CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: Amid the covers, Austin's original gospel anthem, "By the Grace of God," adopted as a musical theme by The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, features a sparse arrangement with Berg's piano and a background choir that highlights her inspiring vocals sung with heartfelt conviction.

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