Music

Lionel Richie is that rare artist who, when his music comes on at a family cookout, he’ll have your mama, your grandma and your TikTok-lovin’ niece all dancin’ on the ceiling (assuming there’s a ceiling to your cookout). He’s a force in entertainment and, though he’s 73 years young, Richie won’t or “Can’t Slow Down”

After arriving late to the launch party for actress Sheryl Lee Ralph’s 2001 Jamaican Film and Music Festival, I nervously stepped out of the elevator and into one of those fancy New York parties, hoping to see someone I recognized. And I did: In front of me was Harry Belafonte, flashing his dazzling, movie-star smile.

Let’s get this out of the way — Judas Priest being only the third proper heavy metal band to be inducted into the Rock Hall is crazy, right? Black Sabbath gave birth to my music, and rightfully, was the first metal band inducted into the Rock Hall. But Judas Priest took metal and made it

Flashback to 1980: Ten-year-old Storme was sponging any and all music he could get his ears on. He was the perfect sucker for the Columbia Record and Tape Club: “Take 11 albums for a penny! Then get a 12th for free!” Yeah, then pay monthly for overpriced albums ad infinitum! One time, an album arrived,

“We were perfect,” Duran Duran’s John Taylor told me in 2013, “and very few bands come out of the bag perfectly formed. A lot of other bands — and I hesitate to say U2, Radiohead — it took them three albums to find their thing.”  Taylor wasn’t bragging. Okay, he probably was. However, then the

“In this mansion, I’m Macaulay Culkin,” Drake declares a few minutes into “Her Loss,” his collaborative album with 21 Savage. The reference is instructive. Culkin, the definitive child star of the 1990s, specialized in playing the part of “child whose house is large,” allowing a generation of kids to live vicariously as he foiled burglars

A quarter century after the French quartet Phoenix formed, it hardly seems likely that they’d make the most fresh-sounding album since the one that lit up the alt-rock charts in 2009, “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” — but they’ve done it with “Alpha Zulu.” It’s not a reinvention nor even particularly different from their previous efforts —

In the late 1970s, Alfred Matthew Yankovic, known by his moniker Weird Al, emerged onto the music scene as a master of song parodies on radio’s “Dr. Demento Show” — and his legacy continues to reverberate worldwide. With such massive hits as “Eat It,” a riff on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” and “My Bologna,” a

What defines the actions of an innovator? To Anitta, the Brazillian singer honored for her musical contributions at the WSJ Magazine 2022 Innovator Awards, it’s the freedom of “not being afraid.” “It’s when you’re not really thinking about other people, and what they’re gonna say if you’re gonna fail or not,” Anitta told Variety on

Harry Styles’ Nov. 4 concert at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles has been postponed to Sunday, Nov. 6, due to “band illness.” The venue announced the date change on Instagram, citing “an abundance of caution.” All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the rescheduled date, and no other dates on Styles’ “Love on

Drake is no stranger to stirring up conversation around his lyrics. After the release of “Her Loss,” a collaboration album with 21 Savage, the rapper raised eyebrows with bars that seemingly reference Megan Thee Stallion and her alleged assault by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez. In 2020, Lanez allegedly shot Megan in the feet after she

Taylor Swift announced Friday morning that she is adding eight extra concerts to the U.S. leg of her 2023 “Eras Tour,” on top of the 27 that had previously been unveiled at the beginning of the week. In all eight cases, the new gig are additions in cities that were previously on the schedule. In

Universal Music Group today announced a voter engagement initiative for the November 2022 U.S. elections spearheaded by its Universal Music All Together Now Foundation and its Task Force for Meaningful Change. The initiative features new and updated installments of the “Use Your Voice” voter registration and education program, as well as the “Pull Up to

Drake and 21 Savage have released their joint album, “Her Loss,” following a week-long delay due to Drake’s longtime producer Noah “40” Shebib coming down with COVID while mixing and mastering the 16-track LP. The album only has one feature, with Travis Scott guesting on “Pussy & Millions.” At first listen, album highlights include “Circo

New York City’s historic Beacon Theater, with its stunning interiors and magnificent chandelier, is a long way from the punk clubs where Irish rockers U2 cut their teeth in the late ’70s. But the group’s lead singer, Bono, was able to conjure the band’s early days in vibrant detail with just tables, chairs, monitors displaying

Allen Grubman is one of music’s renowned dealmakers. On Nov. 5, the chief partner in the entertainment law firm of Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks will be the last of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s original founders to be inducted into the institution he helped launch with none other than Ahmet Ertegun, Jann

Sylvia Robinson (1935-2011) has deservedly been called “the mother of hip-hop” for her efforts in co-founding and running Sugar Hill Records. But even as impressive an honorific as that can’t begin to encapsulate a wide-ranging career that predated the dawn of rap and unfolded over a remarkable half-century in music. Like her fellow 2022 Ahmet

As it has projected for many months, Live Nation racked up the biggest summer numbers in its history for the third quarter of 2022, on track to a record year. According to its earnings report released today, revenue for the quarter was $6.2 Billion, up 63% (over 2019, the last relatively normal year), adjusted operating

Composer Sarah Schachner has stepped away from scoring “Modern Warfare II” citing “challenges in the working dynamic with the game’s audio director.” The game’s director of sound design is Stephen Miller, though Schachner didn’t name him or anyone specific in her post. “Over the past couple of months the working dynamic with the audio director

After the enormous success of director Alek Keshishian’s Madonna feature documentary “Truth or Dare,” it seems obvious that the two would have reunited for a sequel. “I don’t think that’s in the cards,” Keshishian told me Wednesday night at the AFI Fest world premiere of his new doc, “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me.” “She

It’s hard to imagine where music would be today without Salt-N-Pepa. Since forming in 1985, the group pioneered a pop-leaning hip-hop sound with such hits as “Push It,” “Shoop,” “Let’s Talk About Sex” and“Whatta Man,” leading the way for generations of female MCs who would follow. The members of Salt-N-Pepa, originally a trio comprising Salt,

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel have jointly announced a string of three co-headlining shows, marking the first time the two share a stage, happening in spring 2023. The pair will hit SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on March 10; AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 8; and the

Johnny Depp will appear in Rihanna’s upcoming “Savage X Fenty Vol. 4” fashion show, Variety has confirmed, making him the first male celebrity to have a featured “star” moment in one of Rihanna’s shows. His brief cameo follows in the vein of other celeb moments, like Cindy Crawford’s appearance in the 2021 Savage X Fenty

The music business is filled with polymaths, but it’s safe to say that none have had as many separate successful careers as Jimmy Iovine. The Brooklyn native started out as a recording engineer, evolved into a producer; then co-founded Interscope Records and became a powerhouse label executive. He then co-founded Beats by Dre headphones and

CMT and CBS announced Wednesday night that “The CMT Music Awards” will be moving away from its traditional base in Nashville to Austin for 2023, with the broadcast taking place from that city’s Moody Center next April 2. The news means that the CMA Awards telecast (which is about to air on ABC Nov. 9)

Selena Gomez opened up about her mental health struggles in more detail than ever before as part of her new Rolling Stone cover story. The singer and “Only Murders in the Building” star confirmed that she has entered four different treatment facilities since her early 20s. She also spent a few years contemplating suicide, although

Hybe, the South Korean company behind BTS, enjoyed a 31% increase in quarterly revenue for the three months to September, but suffered an 8% fall in operating profits Its top line revenue reached KRW446 billion ($314 million). Operating profits were reported as KRW60.6 billion ($43 million). Promotions with direct involvement of artists—albums sales, concerts, advertisements,

Imagine Dragons and The Strokes will headline the inaugural edition of music festival Lollapalooza India. Global acts performing during the event also include American classic rock band Greta Van Fleet, electronic dance music’s Diplo and Zhu, Indo-Canadian Punjabi music and rap-star AP Dhillon, and dream-pop artists Cigarettes After Sex. The lineup also features a mix

Emmy Rose, Loretta Lynn’s 23-year-old granddaughter, doesn’t necessarily think of herself as a member of a royal family. But, standing backstage at this week’s live broadcast of the memorial concert and tribute for her grandmother, she establishes exactly what “Mee-maw’s” path and ultimate destination were. “She saw herself as just a coal miners’ daughter, and

A $20 million copyright-infringement case filed by a Mississippi songwriter against Mariah Carey her songwriting partner on the 1994 holiday classic and recurring chart-topper “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has been dropped. Andy Stone initially filed the lawsuit against Carey and her co-writer Walter Afanasieff in June but pulled his claim against Carey