David Byrne has signed with ICM Partners for representation in all categories, the company announced Thursday. Byrne has released ten solo albums and is the creative force behind the successful Broadway and HBO Max hit “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” which garnered him a Tony Award, six Emmy nominations and two Emmy wins, plus two Grammy Award nominations, and
Music
Lionel Richie has been named as the recipient of this year’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the Library of Congress announced Thursday, with an all-star tribute concert set to be filmed in March and aired on PBS in May. “In so many ways, this national honor was made for Lionel Richie, whose music has entertained
Singer-rapper-songwriter Tai Verdes has signed a global publishing deal with Kobalt, the company announced Thursday. The agreement includes publishing administration, including global synch and creative services for all of Verdes’ catalog and future songs. Verdes, who was working at a Los Angeles Verizon Wireless store when his TikTok videos began to take off, has racked
Ronnie Spector may have been the quintessential 1960s poster girl, what with her Wall of Sound-posing, mascara-wearing, beehive-donning glory, but the singer — who died on Wednesday of cancer at age 78 — had an even more recognizable voice. Spector’s quavering vibrato and streetwise romanticism defined the sound of a decade, and traveled far beyond.
Ronnie Spector, whose hard-edged yet tremulous voice soared on the Ronettes’ girl-group hits of the early ‘60s, died on Wednesday of cancer. She was 78. “Our beloved earth angel, Ronnie, peacefully left this world today after a brief battle with cancer. She was with family and in the arms of her husband, Jonathan,” reads a
Roddy Ricch has pulled out of his scheduled musical-guest slot on the season premiere of ‘Saturday Night Live” this weekend and been replaced by the Jack Antonoff-led band Bleachers, according to an announcement from NBC. A rep for the rapper confirmed that the change is due to Covid exposure on his team. The announcement came
Harry Styles will join headliners Billie Eilish and Kanye West at the Coachella festival, sources confirm to Variety. Swedish House Mafia are also expected to perform, although it is unclear whether or not they are headliners. The official announcement and full lineup is expected to be released later on Wednesday. This will be the’ first
Adele has released a new music video for her song “Oh My God” off of her 2021 hit album “30.” The video premiered on Wednesday morning. Adele offered a teaser for the black-and-white, dance-heavy music video through Instagram on Tuesday afternoon. The new music video shows multiple Adele, accompanied by dancers and others, in a
Variety has promoted Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, President and Group Publisher, to the newly created post of Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. She will retain the duties of Group Publisher. As CEO of Variety, Sobrino-Stearns will oversee both the editorial and business units of the venerable entertainment news brand. She is responsible for setting Variety‘s strategic agenda and
In the face of the many challenges faced by the music industry and the world in 2021, Universal Music Group had a remarkably successful year, building on its status as the world’s largest music company and pulling off a wildly successful IPO in September. Rather than his usual year-end message to staff, chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge
Primary Wave Music announced deals on Wednesday that see the company striking partnerships and acquiring stakes in the catalogs of two artists whose music was all over U.S. radio in the 1970s, Bad Company and Free singer-songwriter Paul Rodgers as well as the band America. The moves continue the company’s campaign of acquiring and popularizing
A suspect in the November shooting death of rapper Young Dolph in Memphis was captured Thursday afternoon in Indiana, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. The suspect, Justin Johnson, had been named as a person of interest Jan. 5 and a reward had been offered at that time for information leading to his arrest. Johnson
Overnight success has been a long time coming for Muni Long. The artist formerly known as Priscilla Renea landed a major label record deal with Capitol in the late ‘00s due to viral success on YouTube. Pigeonholed and misunderstood, her artist project didn’t take off, but she soon established herself as one of the industry’s
One week before the release of her memoir, Jamie Lynn Spears is sitting down for her first interview following the termination of her sister Britney Spears’ conservatorship. “Um, I love my sister,” an emotional Spears says while wiping her tears in a teaser for the televised interview, which will air Wednesday on “Good Morning America.”
The Oscars’ original song shortlist — 15 tunes that will vie for the final five nomination slots come Feb. 8 — may be the most star-studded in Academy history. Is the Motion Picture Academy’s music branch smitten by such A-list names, or did 2021 just happen to be a particularly strong year for well-known recording
The legendary Scottish singer Lulu has had a career that’s spanned six decades and is still, as she says, “smashing it onstage,” but she is still most associated with a song and a film that she made when she was a teenager: the 1967 Sidney Poitier-starring classic “To Sir, With Love.” The film depicted Poitier
Two tribute concerts for Jerry Moss set to go down at L.A.’s Music Center Feb. 11-12 have been postponed indefinitely, due to the omicron surge, it was announced Tuesday. The shows honoring Moss were to have featured a musical performance by his one-time partner in A&M Records, jazz man Herb Alpert, as well as turns
One of the surprises on the Oscar music shortlist was Daniel Hart’s score for “The Green Knight,” which is awash with medieval musical touches appropriate for a 15th-century tale of King Arthur’s court. The Los Angeles-based Hart, a violinist who was once a member of St. Vincent’s band, has scored all of David Lowery’s films,
Foo Fighters record an album in a haunted mansion in the trailer for the band’s horror-comedy film “Studio 666,” premiering in theaters on Feb. 25. As the band writes and records new music, frontman Dave Grohl finds himself possessed by supernatural forces that threaten the completion of the album and the lives of the band.
Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello are urging action from the U.S. government to address the dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where more than 23 million people are facing what the United Nations calls “acute food insecurity” and near famine-level conditions. The veteran rock artists have joined fellow musicians Grouplove, Black Rebel
Elvis Costello is saying that fans may have heard “Oliver’s Army,” one of his biggest hits, in concert for the last time. He’s “done singing it,” rather than continuing to censor or alter the original lyrics, as he had when he’d performed the song on tour as recently as two years ago. Costello has said
The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival has announced the lineup for this year’s edition of the camping festival, taking place June 16-19, 2022 on the Bonnaroo Farm, located just 60 miles southeast of Nashville in Manchester, Tenn. The festival — which was canceled last year not due to the pandemic but due to flooding — will
Arjun Pulijal has been promoted to president of Capitol Music Group, chair & CEO Michelle Jubelirer announced on Tuesday. In his elevated role, Pulijal will work closely with Jubelirer in leading the company and planning its direction and growth. He will directly oversee all areas of artist development, including creative, marketing and operations. Pulijal is
Paul Kulak likes to say that singer-songwriters are his only vice. It’s more like an all-consuming passion. In 1999 he created, and has since invested his whole life in, Kulak’s Woodshed, a North Hollywood video recording studio and live performance space. The Laurel Canyon Boulevard storefront has hosted thousands of artists, ranging from the famous
Keyshia Cole — singer-songwriter, actress and television producer — has signed a global deal with CAA in all areas, the company announced Tuesday. Her 2005 debut album, “The Way It Is,” sold more than 1.6 million copies and spawned the singles “I Changed My Mind,” “I Should Have Cheated,” and “Love.” Her second and third albums, “Just Like
Merlin, the digital-rights licensing partner for independent music companies, has announced its newly elected board of directors. The board, which is elected from and by Merlin’s members, includes representatives from twelve different countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, and will service the organizations tens of thousands of member labels as it strikes
Kanye West dropped a new music video for his track “Heaven and Hell” on Tuesday evening. The production is only his latest music video that draws from his 2021 album “Donda.” In addition to becoming available to watch online, footage from the music video made a debut on ESPN during a commercial break of Tuesday
Classical music lovers may be disappointed, but the BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley, Calif. has tried to come up with something for just about everyone else for its May 2022 edition, with the four headliners — Metallica, Pink, Luke Combs and Twenty-One Pilots — representing the spheres of metal, pop, country and alternative rock, respectively.
On Monday, Clay Aiken — best known for coming in second on Season 2 of “American Idol” — announced that he was running for the House of Representatives in North Carolina’s 6th congressional district as a Democrat. Aiken is hoping to replace Rep. David Price, who represented the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina — also
Post Malone co-manager Dre London took a dig at the artist’s label, Republic Records, and parent company Universal Music Group (UMG) for holding up an already-completed album. Responding to fans’ persistent messages via social media inquiring as to when Post Malone’s fourth studio album will drop, London posted on Instagram: “Album has been done!! We