Alicia Keys, Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond — step aside. The next musical icon to turn their songs into a stage musical will be James Taylor.

Taylor’s songs will fuel “Fire & Rain,” a musical announced Monday, in development with a story by playwright and actor Tracy Letts and direction by Tony Award winner David Cromer.

“Fire and Rain” is one of Taylor’s most iconic songs, released in 1970 on his second album, “Sweet Baby James.” It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Taylor’s other hits include “You’ve Got a Friend” and “How Sweet It Is.”

No timeline was revealed on when “Fire & Rain” will be first staged.

Taylor has won six Grammys and is a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Halls of Fame. He is the first artist to have a Billboard Top 10 album in each of the past six decades.

Letts won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for writing “August: Osage County,” and his other plays include “Killer Joe,” “Superior Donuts” and “The Minutes.” Cromer has directed two of Letts’ works — “Bug” and “Man from Nebraska.”

Taylor joins a growing list of musical artists who have turned to the stage. Parton is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life for a musical that she hopes to land on Broadway in 2026.

Beard to undergo medical procedure: ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard is stepping away from the band’s Elevation tour to undergo a procedure related to his health.

Beard “has temporarily stepped away from the current tour to attend to a health issue requiring his attention in the near term,” the band’s management company posted Saturday on the platform X.

Longtime tech member, percussionist and drummer John Douglas will join ZZ Top members Billy F. Gibbons and Elwood Francis during the interim.

Douglas previously filled in for Beard in 2002 when Beard had an emergency appendectomy in Paris.

Youngbloods singer dies: Jesse Colin Young, whose vocals as frontman of folk rock band the Youngbloods gave voice to the 1960s counterculture, died Sunday at his home in Aiken, South Carolina.He was 83.

Young’s publicist, Michael Jensen, confirmed Monday that the musician died of a heart attack. Young had just penned his autobiography, was in the process of writing a children’s book and had finished working on a song for Future Youth Records, Jensen said.

The Youngbloods’ single “Get Together” reached No. 5 in 1969 after it was featured in a public service announcement by the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

The song’s hopeful message has endured through the decades. It was featured in the movie “Forrest Gump,” and on the TV show “The Simpsons.”

March 19 birthdays: Actor Renée Taylor is 92. Actor Ursula Andress is 89. Singer Ruth Pointer is 79. Actor Glenn Close is 78. Actor Bruce Willis is 70. Actor Mary Scheer is 62. Actor Connor Trinneer is 56. Rapper Bun B is 52. Drummer Zach Lind is 49. Actor Abby Brammell is 46. Actor Philip Bolden is 30.