Music

In the future, when they talk about performers who did it all the way to the end, they may talk about Michael Nesmith, who died Friday of heart failure at 78. When he enthusiastically pushed to do a Monkees farewell tour this fall with his longtime compatriot Micky Dolenz, he probably had little idea that

Patti LuPone took her seat on the stage of the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre and readied herself, drenched in jewels and a flowing fur coat, for “The Ladies Who Lunch,” the famous Act II showstopper in “Company.” It was opening night, and Stephen Sondheim wasn’t in the audience. Over the past two weeks, what was

The late Michael Nesmith loved returning to the Monkees and the foursome’s hit catalog in recent years as a celebration of his friendship with Mickey Dolenz. But during his tenure with the Monkees in their NBC television days, Nesmith was the sole member vocal in his disgust with their label, Colgems’ employment of session musicians

“Let It Be” director Michael Lindsay-Hogg couldn’t be happier with Peter Jackson’s “Get Back,” the three-part, nearly eight-hour miniseries made up of outtakes from his original Beatles documentary, which arrived on Disney Plus two weeks ago to much fanfare. Now 81, living in Hudson, NY, with his wife and three dogs, and mostly painting, Lindsay-Hogg

Variety and Facebook have teamed up to launch a new video series that spotlights individuals from underrepresented communities who are driving change across the globe. The new series, titled “Up Next,” will ask well-known creators and talent from across TV, film and music about individuals they believe are “up next” for major recognition in the

“Let’s take it back to Day 1!” These were unexpected words from Kanye West, now legally re-named Ye, hosting a massive benefit concert Thursday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Where his most recent public spectacles have been wildly ambitious and sometimes confounding, and always focused hard on the newest work, this opening statement suggested

Michael Nesmith, who attained TV and pop stardom in the Monkees and later became a prophetic figure on the Los Angeles country-rock scene and then a multimedia entrepreneur, died Friday of natural causes. He was 78. Nesmith’s final show was less than a month ago, when he and the cohort who is now the Monkees’

Sandwiched between Dec. 9’s inaugural Juice WRLD Day in Chicago and the premiere on the 16th of HBO Max’s “Into the Abyss” documentary, the next chapter in Juice WRLD’s melancholy story unfurls mirthlessly, but melodically, with “Fighting Demons.” As far as a packed, posthumous promotional schedule goes, this December is further proof that it’s Juice’s

“This might have been the most challenging score I’ve ever had to write,” says composer Nicholas Britell of “Don’t Look Up,” the sci-fi social satire starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, now in theaters. Britell, a two-time Oscar nominee (“Moonlight,” “If Beale Street Could Talk”) and Emmy winner (“Succession”), pondered – “every day for over

Why was pioneering hip-hop photographer Ricky Powell important? This exclusive clip from the forthcoming Showtime documentary “The Individualist” — which premieres tonight (Dec. 10) at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime — will explain. In the mid-1980s, Run-D.M.C., the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J were the pioneers taking hip-hop into arenas and the top of the

Jack White has announced the first dates of his 2022 “Supply Chain Issues” tour, with shows in North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom. The Live Nation-produced tour — which includes White’s first headline shows in four years — will begin with two special “Fear of the Dawn” album release shows on April 8-9, 2022

If you’ve turned on an all-Christmas format and it sometimes seems like they stopped minting new holiday compositions some time well back into the previous century, that’s not quite true. ASCAP has the proof, in the form of a new chart calculating what the most popular Christmas songs are that have actually come out since

As we all keep our fingers crossed for a full return to things like music conferences, the South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) has announced a second round of showcasing artists invited to perform at the 36th annual event. After two years of virtual conferencing, the SXSW Music Festival is scheduled to take place March

The numbers are in on Harry Styles’ Love on Tour trek. Over 42 U.S. shows, some 720,000 tickets were sold, according to Live Nation, grossing just shy of $95 million. The outing also raised over $1 million for non-profit partners — nearly the same amount in half as many dates as his previous tour, in

When the 2022 Grammy nominations were announced late last month, many people were surprised to see ABBA’s first song in nearly 40 years, “I Still Have Faith in You,” as a nominee for Record of the Year. They shouldn’t have been: ABBA are one of the most popular, influential and successful groups in the history

Oscar winner Rachel Portman (“Emma”) served up a delightful score for “Julia,” the documentary about cooking personality Julia Child from “RBG” filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen. Curiously, the English composer had never seen Child’s public TV series “The French Chef” and, although she loves to cook, does not own Child’s classic book “Mastering the

It was round two of the semifinals on Season 7 of “American Idol,” and David Archuleta had just closed the Feb. 28, 2008, episode with John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The performance — a master class in immaculate pop vocal precision — earned the then-17-year-old wild screams from the tween and teen girls in the studio audience

With strict quarantine conditions largely over for most people, the time might have seemed right to get out of the house and go dancing in the streets. So why were so many music fans so inclined to leave the door closed — sorry, Silk Sonic — and stay in with our headphones on? Blame it

Ahead of the reveal of the 2021 Time magazine prestigious Person of the Year honor, happening Monday, December 13, the publication on Thursday has revealed that Olivia Rodrigo is its 2021 Entertainer of the Year and Simone Biles the 2021 Athlete of the Year. Rodrigo was featured on the cover of Variety’s Young Hollywood issue

Travis Scott spoke out for the first time about the Astroworld tragedy when Charlamagne tha God released a nearly hour long discussion on Dec. 9. The somber back and forth was dropped on Charlamagne’s YouTube channel. Scott was asked early on in the interview when he knew that there were fan injuries, and ultimately deaths,

Ed Sheeran is doing what could reasonably be considered a series of “underplay” shows this week, mostly for winners of radio contests, including appearances at New York’s Empire State Building and Irving Plaza. Before he headed east, the pop superstar got his very intimate mini-tour underway with a hour-long show for SiriusXM subscribers at the

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched “The Masked Singer” Season 6, Episode 12, “Group B Finale,” which aired December 9 on Fox. Singer Katharine McPhee and producer David Foster say “The Masked Singer” producers actually “undersold” how much fun they’d have as contestants on the hit Fox reality series. “We

Robbie Shakespeare, a record producer and acclaimed bassist of the Jamaican duo Sly and Robbie, has died. He was 68. It had been reported by The Jamaica Gleaner that the musician had recently undergone surgery related to his kidneys. He was living in a hospital in Florida before his death. News of Shakespeare’s death was also

Tom Holland is heading back into the dance studio to prepare for his role as Fred Astaire in an upcoming biopic about the legendary entertainer. “I’m going to dust off the old tap shoes and go back to Pineapple Dance Studios [in London] and start taking tap lessons,” he told Variety shortly after it was

One month ago, Britney Spears’ long-standing conservatorship was terminated, but the legal proceedings continue. On Wednesday, Spears’ attorney Mathew Rosengart appeared at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse on behalf of his famous client for the latest hearing in the case, as the singer continues to fight an uphill legal battle. Though the matters on the

The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande were the three most-played artists across radio formats in 2021, followed by Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo, according to a year-end report from Mediabase. Rounding out the top 10 radio artists in Mediabase’s ranking were Pop Smoke, Doja Cat, 24kGoldn, Ava Max and Drake. Although she was only

What happens when a band breaks up and then becomes TikTok famous? In the case of the Walters, they reunite and sign a record deal, seven years after the release of their now-hit song. Released in 2014, “I Love You So” helped boost the Walters to mild indie success. The Chicago bedroom pop darlings played

Republic Records has named Dave Rocco to the newly created role of chief creative officer, label founders Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman announced on Wedesday. According to the announcement, Rocco “will bring his creative vision, innovative thinking and strategic expertise to Republic and its world-class roster of artists.” “In many ways, Dave is an artist trapped in an executive’s body,” said Monte Lipman. “He’s an

All products and services featured by Variety are independently selected by Variety editors. However, Variety may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Following her chart-topping fourth album “30,” Adele will finally return to the stage. Rather than a traditional U.S.

Def Leppard and lead singer Joe Elliott, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and John Taylor, Living Colour, Rob Thomas, Gary Oldman and more are among the artists joining the second annual “A Bowie Celebration,” set for January 8, 2022, what would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday. The event, like last year’s inaugural live stream,