June 24, 2019 7:08PM PT Lady Gaga was all about pride during her SiriusXM show at Harlem’s Apollo Theater Monday night. In between songs, the “Born This Way” pop star gave a rousing speech about the importance of asking people’s pronouns and the necessity of gay pride. She also referenced transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson

June 24, 2019 5:18PM PT A Saturday night performance by Jason Aldean at the Country Stampede Festival in Topeka, Kansas was canceled due to a major lightning storm. According to local news, inclement weather troubled the three-day country music gathering. Rainstorms delayed the concert on multiple occasions, until eventually organizers called off Aldean’s headlining June

Dead & Company’s show Sunday at New York’s Citi Field was their 13th on the band’s current tour, but something was different about this night, which fans started to buzz about as the show went on. John Mayer was playing a unusual guitar — a light brown model that turned out to be Jerry Garcia’s

Nicki Minaj had her new manager, Irving Azoff, on the air for a guest interview on her Beats 1 talk show — and after she rescinded an obscene insult she’d lobbed Azoff’s way in less cordial times, she had one question for him: “So, Irving, do you think Travis Scott hates me?” Minaj had previously

The Chicago Police Department released new surveillance footage and files in regards to the Jussie Smollett hoax case on Monday, including one that shows the “Empire” actor shortly after the alleged attack. In one of the videos, police body-cam footage shows authorities entering Smollett’s Chicago apartment, led by his manager, Frank Gatson. Smollett is found

UPDATED: The boy band O-Town briefly rose to fame in 2000, with a star turn on MTV’s reality series “Making the Band.” But the reformed group has just one obstacle to its efforts to trademark its name: Motown Recordings. The label’s parent company, Universal Music Group, is trying to block the band from registering “O-Town”

June 24, 2019 10:58AM PT J Balvin and his longtime manager Rebeca León have “amicably” parted ways, reps for the singer and León confirmed to Variety. The news was first reported by Billboard. León — who also oversees the careers of fast-rising Spanish singer Rosalia as well as Colombian superstar Juanes, with whom she founded Lionfish Entertainment — began managing

Woodstock 50 has applied for a new site for its troubled anniversary music festival, which is scheduled to take place the weekend of Aug. 16-18 — although it will be much smaller than originally planned. Town of Vernon Supervisor Randy Watson told the Poughkeepsie Journal that festival organizers have applied for a permit to hold

Rihanna took the Microsoft Theater stage on June 23 to present Mary J. Blige with the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. Hailing the legendary singer for her style and sound, Rihanna also made mention of Blige’s history-making two Oscar nominations in the same year, for best actress and original song for “Mudbound.” Accepting the trophy, Blige

The 2019 edition of the BET Awards doubled as a celebration of late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was killed in March outside of his Marathon clothing store in Los Angeles. In honor of the man affectionately known as “Nip,” the carpet was colored blue. “The marathon continues” was a common refrain on the carpet (as

The 2019 BET Awards kicked off with a performance by Cardi B, who came into the night leading with 7 nominations and, not surprisingly, picked up the award for album of the year for her “Invasion of Privacy.” Other top nominees included Drake with 5, and Beyonce, Travis Scott and J. Cole, each with four.

On the Saturday evening of BET Weekend, Juice WRLD held an exclusive private dinner and celebration for his Best New Artist nomination at Sunday’s 2019 BET Awards. Presented by Audiomack and BMG, select friends and top executives from Interscope, BMG and GradeA Productions conjoined at BOA Steakhouse on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood to congratulate

Raconteurs fans who thought they heard a hint of the Beatles embedded within the group’s new album, “Help Us Stranger,” may have been more intuitive than they realized. There’s a more blatant homage to the Fab Four in the LP that was sent out to Third Man Vault subscribers, but it’s not in the grooves

Dave Bartholomew, a New Orleans music pioneer best known for his songs with R&B legend Fat Domino, has died. He was 100. Bartholomew, who co-wrote and produced such hits as “Ain’t That a Shame,” ″I’m Walkin’” and “Let the Four Winds Blow,” died Sunday in a New Orleans hospital, his eldest son Dave Bartholomew Jr.

There was no shortage of excellent music at the 2019 edition of Cannes Lion. The international gathering of creatives drew top music brands – among them: Spotify, Live Nation, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM/Pandora, VEVO and Universal Music Group – and a slew of well-known acts to stages across the Croissette, to villas above the city and onto

Who says nostalgia ain’t what it used to be? It’s back and better than ever, as they say, in Fruit Bats’ terrific eighth album, “Gold Past Life,” which, as the title would suggest, has a lot to say about the bittersweet pull of memories of simpler and easier times. Nearly every song is its own

After news broke that Elliot Roberts, the veteran manager who worked with Neil Young for more than 50 years, had passed away early Friday of undisclosed causes, it was just a matter of time before a tribute from his longtime friend and client (which hardly seems like the word) emerged. On Saturday afternoon, Young posted

With a massive stage, complete with a long catwalk, his to rule, Mick Jagger pranced, prowled, and grooved his way across it at the Rolling Stones’ “No Filter” tour opener at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Friday, as if to defy any concerns about his health and stamina. While the setup was not unusual for the

Like many women in the music industry, Alabama Shakes front-woman Brittany Howard was told consistently throughout her career that she didn’t have a shot at success due to her gender. But as the leading guitarist and vocalist in the iconic Alabama-based rock band — and with four Grammys to her name — Howard knows that

Attorneys representing Soundgarden, Hole, Steve Earle and the estates of Tupac and Tom Petty today filed a class-action lawsuit against Universal Music Group over the master recordings destroyed in a 2008 fire, the extent of which was revealed last week in a New York Times article. The lawsuit, obtained by Variety, seeks some “50% of

Elliot Roberts, who worked as Neil Young’s manager since 1967 in what may be the longest-lasting manager/client relationship in rock ‘n’ roll, has died at 76, Young’s publicist confirmed to Variety. No immediate cause of death was given. Roberts was also instrumental in the early career of Joni Mitchell, whom he managed until 1985. Roberts

June 21, 2019 3:38PM PT This Syrian-born, L.A.-based singer-songwriter truly comes into her own with her second full-length — a lush, low-key album that bears traces of Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Beck’s “Morning Phase.” That latter reference is no accident, as the album features three of the skinny bard’s longtime collaborators —

Despite Madonna’s high-profile stardom, the pop queen has decided to play smaller venues for her “Madame X” tour starting this fall, a decision she attributed to her desire to maintain intimacy with her fans. “I like the idea of staying in one place and people coming to me. I also like the idea of being

Vying for the heart of Howard Stern co-host Robin Quivers isn’t for the weak. So “American Idol” alum Jackie Tohn, who stars in the Netflix wrestling comedy “Glow,” threw herself into the ring, recruiting Stern song parody veteran Eli Bradon for a pair of parodies that had Stern and his SiriusXM listeners in stitches. Tohn’s

Out of all the awards shows Variety Music attends every year — and we hit a few — in many ways A2IM’s Libera Awards, which celebrate the tight-knit independent label sector, is the most fun. It’s got awards and performances and a host and people get dressed up and all that, but at the end

Seth Meyers has made no secret of his love for Rihanna. As the “Late Night” host told Jimmy Fallon in February, he’s “fully in love” with the pop star slash business mogul (he clarified that his wife is fine with it because “she’s also in love with Rihanna — it’s what we have in common”).

June 21, 2019 12:49PM PT Cardi B was indicted Friday in New York on felony charges from a Queens strip club fight last year. The rapper, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, faces two felony counts of attempted assault, according to the Associated Press. She had originally only been charged with misdemeanors and rejected a

When is a hit song more than just a bragging rights with royalties? For Ricky Reed, it was when creating the retro-funk banger “Juice” with Lizzo reminded him why he got into the music biz in the first place. “My proudest moment was at the end of the day we wrote the song — we

Composer Randy Newman is at the podium on 20th Century-Fox’s Newman Scoring Stage, named for his famous uncles Alfred, Lionel and Emil, all of whom conducted there for decades beginning in the 1930s. “Put an accent on bar 15, 16 and 17,” he tells his 102 musicians, “as overly dramatic as possible. And look like

Cardi B took home the award for Songwriter of the Year at Thursday evening’s 32nd annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, recognizing her as the artist who has written or co-written the greatest number of most-performed songs of the past year via hits like “Bartier Cardi,” “Ring,”