Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon – better known as his alter ego Johnny Rotten – has lost his legal battle against bandmates Steve Jones, the group’s guitarist, and drummer Paul Cook over a contract setting out how the 1970s punk band agrees to license its music. The decision means that Jones and Cook can now
Music
“We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert,” the Central Park concert scheduled to be headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Patti Smith and others, originally was intended to celebrate all that is unique and glorious about the city that 8 million people call home. Unfortunately, on Saturday night, that also included the region’s typical late-summer downpours.
Before discussing country-rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson’s so-called final album, it’s best to clear up a few things. When most think of the last 20 years of Wanda Jackson’s career, and her return to secular music after a decade doing songs of praise, it is often more in consideration of the producers and collaborators who aided
Don Everly, who with his late younger sibling Phil established the template for close harmony vocalizing in the chart-topping duo the Everly Brothers, died Saturday at age 84 in Nashville. NO cause of death was immediately disclosed. The Los Angeles Times confirmed the death through a family spokesman, even as tributes were already accumulating on
UPDATED: “We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert,” the Clive Davis-programmed concert in Central Park, was called off just past its halfway point Saturday due to lightning strikes occurring within a 10-mile radius of the Great Lawn. Artists like Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Maluma, Patti Smith and the Killers had yet to appear at
A 46-year-old man attending a Dead & Company concert at Citi Field in New York City on Aug. 20 fell off of a balcony and died. The New York Police Department confirmed to Variety that first responders were called to the stadium at about 9:05 p.m on Friday night. The man was then transported in
Tom T. Hall, the singer-songwriter who brought new levels of pungent wit and narrative sensitivity to country music as one of the genre’s leading figures in the 1970s, died Friday at age 85. The long-retired Hall died at his home in Franklin, Tenn., his son Dean Hall told the Tennessean. Hall had decades ago been
Kendrick Lamar, rapper and Pulitzer Prize winner, doesn’t say much outside of his songs, but when he does, he makes it count. More than four years after the release of his most recent solo album, “Damn.,” and three years after the Lamar-helmed “Black Panther” soundtrack, he has finally given an update on his long-awaited next
The superstar country duo Florida Georgia Line has canceled its fall tour of amphitheaters and arenas, citing the ongoing COVID crisis as the reason. Refunds are being automatically processed to the original method of purchase for an outing that was to have begun at Cellairis Amphitheater in Atlanta Sept. 24. Florida Georgia Line becomes the
SiriusXM and TikTok launched TikTok Radio (located on channel 4) at noon ET on Friday (August 20), which seems to be a way for people who have satellite radio but can’t figure out TikTok to hear the top songs trending on the wildly popular platform. According to the announcement, the channel “will sound like a radio version of
A new lead singer is just about the most dramatic change a band can make — even if a main songwriter or instrumentalist leaves, the voice is usually the clearest link to what came before. Although George Clarke, cofounder and lead vocalist of long-running San Francisco avant-metal act Deafheaven, hasn’t gone anywhere, he’s changed up
Aaliyah — who died in a plane crash nearly 20 years ago, on August 25, 2001 — was one of the most popular and influential young R&B singers of her era. A former R. Kelly protégé who was briefly married to him at the age of 15 in a quickly annulled ceremony (a situation that
K-pop superstars BTS have canceled their planned Map of the Soul world tour, due to complications brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Our company has worked hard to resume preparations for the BTS Map of the Soul Tour, knowing that all fans have been waiting eagerly and long for the tour,” the band’s backer
Happiness is the new depression? You might think so from the sunnier, sexier dispositions of a few of the most celebrated young singers of late. Taylor Swift turned on a dime from the shadowy “Reputation” to the pastel-colored “Lover”; Billie Eilish, while not intending the title “Happier Than Ever” to be a unilateral statement, has
Britney Spears’ housekeeper has filed a battery complaint with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, alleging that the singer accosted her in a fight over a cell phone. The alleged incident took place on Monday at Spears’ home. Sheriffs deputies took a report and will present their findings to the district attorney’s office. Spears’ attorney, Mathew
An attorney for R. Kelly attempted to discredit one of the accusers leveling allegations of sexual abuse against the singer on Thursday, after she’d claimed he had slapped and choked her during what she described as their final sexual encounter more than 10 years ago. Jerhonda Johnson Pace, the first witness testifying for prosecutors in
Blues Traveler’s tour bus crashed on Thursday morning in Minnesota. Fortunately, the members of the band are safe and said to have sustained minor injuries. “This morning our tour bus went off the road and crossed the median,” the band announced on Facebook. “Thankfully we are all safe and have only sustained minor injuries. Our
Following moves by Stevie Nicks, Garth Brooks and others, Nine Inch Nails announced on Thursday that they have cancelled all concert appearances for 2021. The group was scheduled to begin a series of dates in September and November in Cleveland on September 21. “It is with great regret that we are cancelling all NIN appearances
The Academy of Country Music Awards show, long broadcast on CBS until a split this year is no longer looking for a network home. In 2022, the ACMs will bypass broadcast television altogether and be available exclusively as a livestream on Amazon Prime Video. The dramatic development in the ongoing game of musical chairs among
Without making light of the situation, the existential conundrum facing the concert industry — which was poised for an ambitious return this summer after 18 months of lockdown, only to see its plans upended by COVID variants and spikes — can be summarized in a tale of two Jasons. On one hand, there’s country singer Jason
Just weeks before their first-ever tour without drummer Charlie Watts kicks off, the Rolling Stones have announced the 40th anniversary, expanded deluxe editions of their classic 1981 album, “Tattoo You.” The newly remastered set, out on October 22, and available in a variety of formats, will be accompanied by nine previously unreleased studio tracks from
More than four years after the release of his blockbuster album “-,” Ed Sheeran has announced that his long-awaited fourth full-length album, called “=,” naturally enough, will be out on October 29. “‘=’ (Equals) is a really personal record and one that means a lot to me,” he said in the announcement. “My life changed
“Head Over Heels,” the Broadway production that put the song catalog of the Go-Go’s to use as the basis of a narrative musical-comedy, is finally reaching the band’s hometown of Los Angeles this fall, just in time to roughly coincide with the group getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.
Jerhonda Johnson Pace told a federal jury that she began having sex with R. Kelly shortly after she turned 16, as the singer’s racketeering trial got under way in Brooklyn on Wednesday. She said she had met the singer when she was just 14, outside a courthouse in Chicago where she had gone to support
Country superstar Garth Brooks, one of the few reliable stadium-fillers in the business, has canceled his remaining shows for 2021. The performer said refunds will be offered on the approximately 350,000 tickets that were sold for stadium gigs in five cities. Brooks had previously indicated that he was rethinking upcoming dates, in light of spiking
MTV’s initial round of performers for this year’s Video Music Awards show is a chart-topping fivesome consisting of Lil Nas X, Lorde, Olivia Rodrigo, Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello. Many more will be coming, of course, to fill out a three-hour slot on the way to the telecast going live Sept. 12 at 8
It’s been a long road for the company of “Hamilton” in Los Angeles — just eight hours before opening night back in March 2020, the show was shut down as fears swelled over a looming pandemic. Little did the cast know at the time, it would take 523 days for their production to finally reach
Kanye West will hold a third public listening session for his still-unreleased “Donda” album at the 60,000-plus-capacity Soldier Field stadium in his hometown of Chicago on Thursday, August 26 at 10 p.m. ET/ 9 p.m. CT/ 7 p.m. PT. Tickets go on sale Friday. If this third installment follows the structure of the first two,
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. Rihanna officially became a billionaire this month, making her the wealthiest musician in the world, as reported by
Downtown Music Holdings has announced that its founder and current CEO Justin Kalifowitz will take on a new position as executive chairman, with current COO Andrew Bergman assuming day-to-day responsibilities as the company’s CEO. The move will become effective on September 1. According to the announcement, Kalifowitz, who has served as CEO since establishing the