Music

My heart dropped on August 25 when I looked on Instagram and saw that John Fredericks, aka the musician John the Baptist, was leaving Manhattan. I was sure John and his wife Karly were either upstate- or west coast-bound — another loss for New York City after months of being ravaged by the scourge that

Bebe Rexha is celebrating her freedom. Not from a relationship necessarily (that’s complicated) or politically-speaking, but rather, she’s still glowing from a video shoot with Doja Cat that allowed her actual human contact and the chance to leave the house for the first time in months. Like practically every citizen of the world, COVID has

Jack White is stepping in as a last-minute replacement on this week’s “Saturday Night Live,” after the NBC show dismissed previously booked artist Morgan Wallen after he violated COVID-19 protocols. White, frontman of the White Stripes, will make his third solo appearance (and four overall) on “SNL” on Oct. 10, with host Bill Burr. “The

“It feels like New York is starting to come back,” says veteran live-music promoter and venue owner Peter Shapiro, speaking from his Manhattan office on a mid-September afternoon. “There’s a lot of activity on the street right now,” he says, glancing out his window. “People on the sidewalk, cars on the street, some buzz in

Record stores will not be dark on Black Friday this year — at least not the thousand-plus in the U.S. that have been participating in Record Store Day release events this fall and will do so again the day after Thanksgiving. It will mark the fourth month in a row for a Record Store Day

Tory Lanez was charged Thursday with assaulting a woman who is obviously Megan Thee Stallion, per information provided by the Los Angeles district attorney’s office. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 22 years and eight months in prison, according to the announcement. While Megan is not identified by name, all of the other details

Irish actor Ruairi O’Connor will play rock ‘n’ roll icon Buddy Holly in the biopic “Clear Lake” with a tentative production start date set for the spring. O’Connor, who stars as a young King Henry VIII in the Starz miniseries “The Spanish Princess,” was selected following a six-month search by the producers and casting directors

Megan Thee Stallion is giving away scholarships to women of color in any field of study. The artist shared the announcement via Twitter on Thursday morning. “2020 has brought so many obstacles, but we keep going,” the statement read. “Megan has partnered with Amazon Music’s rap rotation and will award two $10,000 scholarships to women

Tom DeGeorge, owner of Crowbar, a bar that stages live music in Tampa, Florida, closed in March as part of the pandemic shutdown. As coronavirus surged throughout the state, he was surprised to see a June 3 order from Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that establishments could reopen. Despite some misgivings, DeGeorge began planning a reopening

The Music Center in downtown L.A. has received its largest single contribution earmarked for programming in its history, $25 million, from A&M Records co-founder and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Jerry Moss and his wife, wellness expert Tina Moss. As a result of the donation, the Music Center will be renaming its outdoor

BMG has announced that it is eliminating a standard U.S. record-label deduction that serves to reduce the income of songwriters, composers and lyricists: The various discounts and caps contained in the “controlled composition” clause, which it estimates cost songwriters $14 million last year. BMG will voluntarily refrain from applying the reductions to any new record deals and

OutKast’s “Stankonia,” one of the defining albums of hip-hop, will have its 20th anniversary celebrated with previously unreleased remixes, streaming bundles and new vinyl and digital download editions, Sony Music Thursday. Originally released on Halloween 2000, the group’s fourth album will be coming out in multiple formats and with several attendant streaming bundles on Oct.

British soul singer Celeste has dropped the video for her new single “Hear My Voice,” via Interscope Records. The song was was co-written with Golden Globe-nominated composer Daniel Pemberton and is the focus track of the Netflix film “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network,”

On the heels of the $10 billion Save Our Stages act that aims to bring federal relief to independent venues across the U.S. comes #SaveLiveEventsNow, an initiative that looks beyond venues and aims to expand government relief for the more than 12 million live event workers across the United States who have been out of work since concerts, plays, comedy shows, and all other

Master P will be honored at the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards. The No Limit Records founder is set to receive the “I Am Hip Hop” Award at the October 27 event. The show will be co-hosted by the 85 South Show (Karlous Miller, DC Young Fly, and Chico Bean). “Hip Hop has something to

Alex Van Halen, cofounder with Eddie of the band that bears their names, posted a brief but heartfelt tribute to his younger brother on Thursday morning. Eddie, one of the most legendary musicians in rock history, died on Monday at the age of 65 after a long battle with cancer. “Hey Ed. Love you. See

Jay-Z and Meek Mill’s Reform Alliance announced today that it has bolstered its executive leadership team with the hiring of Janet Choi as Chief Content and Communications Officer. Choi joined Reform this week from the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, where she served as Deputy Commissioner and General Manager. Reform has

Foo Fighters, Miley Cyrus, Dave Matthews, the Roots, Brittany Howard, G-Eazy, Leon Bridges, YG, Finneas and Phoebe Bridgers are just some of the 35 acts who will perform at the #SOSFEST, a three-day virtual music festival to spread awareness of the $10 billion Save Our Stages Act currently before Congress, and raise funds for independent

Carlos Santana has joined the ranks of stoner icons like Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson and Wiz Khalifa with his own cannabis brand. Mirayo is a line of premium products in partnership with Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Left Coast Ventures, the company that also produces such brands as Marley Natural and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart’s Mind

A 77-track benefit album featuring Pearl Jam, David Byrne, Aimee Mann and many others raised more than $300,00 for voting-rights organizations on Friday, the only day it was available. The album, the second volume of the “Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy” series, was available as a download for $20.20 on Bandcamp

World conditions make this year’s Grammy voter choices in the visual-media categories somewhat harder to predict, in part because so many of us have been staying home watching television. So while some score nominees are likely to come from late-2019 releases — including Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar-winning “Joker,” along with fellow Oscar nominees John Williams’ “StarWars:

Jason Isbell, Kiiara, Jade Bird and many other artists will perform at Sound Mind Live, a virtual music festival in celebration of World Mental Health Day taking place on Thursday beginning at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT. The benefit concert will be hosted by Jordan Carlos and also feature performances from Smith & Myers,

In some respects, Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars and his bandmates were already prepared for the many creative pivots the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated. In the last three years pre-pandemic, the group has established what Mars describes as an “archiving system” from any in-person recording sessions for its 2017 album “Ti Amo” and forthcoming follow-up so

Will Diane Warren finally take home an Oscar for best original song? The 11-time nominee already has “Free” from Disney Plus’ “The One and Only” in contention, and the veteran songwriter is aiming to better her odds with another contender in the mix. From “The Life Ahead” starring Sophia Loren, “lo Si” (Seen) is the

Matthew West pulled off a sweep of the top two honors at the ASCAP Christian Music Awards, picking up both songwriter of the year and song of the year in kudos that were announced online Wednesday. Earning song of the year stripes was “Nobody,” a song West wrote and then had recorded by Casting Crowns,

Kalie Shorr, a country-pop singer-songwriter whose self-released debut album was one of the critical breakouts of 2019, has signed to Tmwrk Records, which will issue an expanded edition of that album, to be called “Open Book: Unabridged,” this fall. “Tmwrk fell in love with my album as-is. That meant so much to me,” Shorr tells

Music agents Jeffrey Hasson (pictured at right) and Matt Meyer have joined UTA.  Both arrive from Paradigm with Hasson based in Nashville and Meyer in Los Angeles. Hasson got his start at Monterey Peninsula Artists in 2005 and has worked with such artists as Young The Giant, Tori Kelly, Surfaces, Jamey Johnson, Dashboard Confessional, and

It’s weird when someone you love passes away. Yes, it’s also sad, traumatic, devastating, grief-laden, painful, agonizing, mind-numbing, and just all-around horrible. But when someone who has taken up a particular space in your life — your entire life — just POOF, disappears virtually overnight… Well, the world suddenly feels incredibly strange. It’s a little

Johnny Nash, the pop and reggae singer whose “I Can See Clearly Now” topped the charts in the U.S. and UK in 1972, died Tuesday. He was 80. His son, Johnny Nash Jr., confirmed the death to the Associated Press and said his father died of natural causes, at home in Houston. No specific cause

In the hours after Eddie Van Halen’s death from cancer on Tuesday, social media was filled with tributes from fans, musicians and many celebrities, showing the range of lives his music and spirit touched. But along with the announcement from his son, Wolfgang, perhaps the most touching was from Valerie Bertinelli, the actress and Van