Music

Lil Pump, the rapper recently most famous for hitching his hip-hop wagon to the Trump train, has been banned from JetBlue Airlines after reportedly refusing to keep a mask on during a Sunday flight. A representative for JetBlue confirmed to USA Today that a passenger assumed to be the MAGA-boosting rapper “became verbally abusive with

2021 may be a few days away, but Aly & AJ just brought back the 2000s. The sister duo released a new version of their 2007 hit track “Potential Breakup Song” on Tuesday, spicing it up with new explicit lyrics. The originally clean song has undergone a revision, bringing the curse counter to two “fucks”

As this unprecedented year finally reaches its close and we look for the silver linings in nine months of lockdown, we think of time with family, time to recharge, time to think… and for some of us, quality time with another family member: music. Sure, there’s been no shortage of great television shows to binge-watch

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is the nation’s top song for the fourth week in a row, as it again tops the Rolling Stone songs chart. Nothing unexpected about that; what is unusual is how far down the chart you have to go to find a song that isn’t seasonal. To

Fresh from taking over family home entertainment centers for yet another holiday season with her vocal appearances in the “Frozen” films, Idina Menzel is un-animating herself with a new web show aimed at kids and parents, “Idina’s Treehouse,” which premiered Monday morning on her YouTube channel. [embedded content] Technically, the iPhone-shot series takes place in

Mexican ballad singer and composer Armando Manzanero died Monday morning in Mexico City, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced. Manzanero was 85. He was previously hospitalized as a result of coronavirus complications, and his manager Laura Blum told the Associated Press he died following difficulties with a kidney problem. Manzanero was best known for

The clock is winding down toward New Year’s Eve, and with most of the world ready to kick the most difficult year ever to the curb, the self-proclaimed “hottest band in the world” is ready to “KISS 2020 Goodbye” in grand fashion with a virtual concert live from Dubai. “We have never been known for

Veteran publicist Randy Alexander, founder and CEO of Randex Communications and a longtime presence on the Philadelphia and New Jersey music scene, died Sunday (Dec. 27) after a four-month battle with late-stage pancreatic cancer. He was 62. News of his passing was shared on a recently created GoFundMe page by fellow publicist and friend, Renee

One of 2020’s biggest deals in the historic Los Feliz neighborhood was the transfer of this lovely Mediterranean compound, which sold for exactly $7 million last month. Built in 1928, the house was restored and extensively upgraded by the sellers, filmmaker Guy Shelmerdine and his wife Ashley Jacobs. The estate’s new custodian is Andrew McClain

Tony Rice, one of the leading lights of bluegrass music since the 1970s, and a 2013 inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame, died suddenly on Christmas Day. He was 69. “It is with a heavy heart we say goodbye to one of the most iconic voices and musicians in bluegrass,” the

Sammy Hagar says he’s grateful he had the opportunity to speak with Eddie Van Halen one last time before the guitarist passed away earlier this year. Speaking to Variety from Big Sky, Montana, where he was launching Santo Reposado, the latest expression in his Santo Tequila line, Hagar says the distance between him and Van

She’s famously known for being all about that bass, but this holiday season Meghan Trainor is all about the bling. The Nantucket native has tossed out $6.6 million for a dizzyingly glitzy mansion in the upscale L.A. neighborhood of Encino, the same part of town where a host of other celebrity musicians — Gwen Stefani

Michael Alig, the New York City club promoter who in the early- to mid-1990s made a name for himself as the leader of the “Club Kids,” and was subsequently convicted of first-degree manslaughter for the 1996 death of Andre “Angel” Melendez — the inspiration for the 2003 film “Party Monster” starring Macauley Kulkin — has

“When I get a call saying, ‘Do you want to do a Western?,’ my answer is always yes,” says “News of the World” composer James Newton Howard. “I love Westerns.” Previous horse dramas for the eight-time Oscar nominee have included “Wyatt Earp” and “Hidalgo.” His collaboration with director Paul Greengrass was his first, and he

From celestial jazz to notions of great spirituality, the creative team behind Pixar’s “Soul” had the challenge of bringing abstract ideas about the unknown to life through animation. The film, which debuts on Disney Plus on Christmas Day, focuses on Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle school teacher who dreams of being a jazz

With their two Grammy nominations for the album “Saturn Return” and song “Cabin,” the Secret Sisters are representing not just for sibling duos but, implicitly, for the rare power of an all-female (or almost all-female) team. The project found sisters Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle again bringing on as producer no less a name than

When it came to the great boxed sets of the year, you never really had to work your way out of the P’s: the Tom Petty and Prince releases alone could have covered all your archival needs for 2020. Each artist’s estate opened up the vaults to celebrate a single classic album — “Wildflowers” in

John Fletcher, best known as Ecstasy from the pioneering rap group Whodini, has died, the group’s Grand Master Dee has confirmed. The cause of death was unclear at the time of this article’s publication; he was 56. Roots drummer Questlove was the first to break the news on Wednesday (Dec. 23) via a social-media post paying

Leslie West, the singer and guitarist for the hard rock band Mountain, whose fame was cemented by a performance at Woodstock, died Tuesday, according to his brother, Larry West Weinstein. He was 75. In a Facebook post on Sunday, West’s brother had alerted fans to the musician’s declining health, writing, “I am asking for all

Amid the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, actor, singer and activist Amber Riley learned to fully embrace the power of her voice. In the last year, Riley has released a self-titled EP, launched #unMUTEny as a movement to “end Black silence in the entertainment industry,” remixed “O Christmas Tree” into the carol “Oh

Reshet’s “The X Factor Israel” will return to screens across Israel next year with a brand new but familiar face on the judging panel: Simon Cowell. The veteran producer and reality TV judge will be joining the fourth season of the show, which last aired in Israel in January 2018. Cowell created the original version

For singer, actress, producer Rita Wilson, “Everybody Cries,” her Oscar contender for Best Original Song, felt like a tribute to the mothers and female relatives of soldiers who were on the front line. The soaring ballad, which was co-written by Wilson, director Rod Lurie, and Larry Groupé, comes with a tragic story behind it. As

Veteran rockers the Deftones have completed their “Adopt-a-Dot” fundraising campaign and made a donation of $52,500 to the University of California at Davis Children’s Hospital and $52,500 to “Crew Nation,” the global relief fund for live music crews who have been impacted by COVID-19. In a statement the group said, “With pride, today we’re making

R&B chanteuse Ella Mai burst onto the international music scene about three years ago with “Boo’d Up,” her social media-propelled smash that went top five and 5x platinum stateside. Since then, the 26-year-old protégé of top hitmaker Mustard has scored a Grammy for Best R&B Song and three trophies at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards.

T​he Save Our Stages Act — sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in the Senate, Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) in the House and championed by Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) with 230 bipartisan cosponsors in Congress — passed late Monday night as part of the government’s larger COVID-19 Relief Bill.

The Recording Academy has announced the honorees for its 2021 Special Merit Awards. The Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Lionel Hampton, Marilyn Horne, Salt-N-Pepa, Selena, and Talking Heads. Ed Cherney, Benny Golson and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds are Trustees Award honorees; and Daniel Weiss is the Technical Grammy Award recipient. The honorees will be recognized on the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on Jan.

Taylor Swift holds two out of the three top spots on this week’s Rolling Stone album chart, with the new “Evermore” entering at No. 1, followed at No. 3 by the resurgent, five-month-old “Folklore.” Kid Cudi squeezed in-between at No. 2 with his new “Man on the Moon III: The Chosen.” Jack Harlow was the

Since the Beatles split in 1970, seemingly every known scrap of their history has been scrutinized and curated for public consumption — every minute of studio tape, every radio broadcast, home and concert recording; every photo and interview and document and snippet of film footage — with one huge exception: the “Let It Be” film.

Sony Music Entertainment has announced the appointment of Andrew Davis to the role of Executive Vice President and Global Chief Human Resources Officer. Beginning in early January 2021 and based in New York, Davis will report to Rob Stringer, Chairman, Sony Music Group and Kevin Kelleher, Chief Operating Officer, Sony Music Entertainment. Davis will be

Aspiring songwriters shouldn’t jump into the industry, unless music is something you would die without, said longtime songwriter Diane Warren. “Music and writing songs is air to me.” Warren teased her upcoming album during Wednesday’s keynote conversation during the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Entertainment Industry Conference. While she cherishes her hit collaborations with artists like