Hot on the heels of his big announcement that he is leaving SiriusXM satellite radio, Cousin Brucie Morrow revealed Tuesday that he will return to his roots hosting “Cousin Brucie’s Saturday Night Rock & Roll Party” on 770 WABC in New York. “It’s part of one of the most amazing moves I’ve ever made in
Music
A new book will explore the racial collision that led to a cultural, sociological and musical revolution in Memphis, Tenn. “Memphis Mayhem,” due out Oct. 6, traces the city’s evolution as a mecca for musicians, starting with early blues at the top of the 20th century to the integrated collectives that were Stax acts like
The Stax Music Academy isn’t participating in the debate about whether schools should open their classrooms and risk the further spreading of COVID-19. They’re going online, choosing to create solutions to the pandemic that broaden the Memphis academy’s offerings rather than curtail the usual curriculum. When the doors open Aug. 17 at the music school,
When he was making the video for the song “Slave,” off his just-released album “Help,” Duval Timothy rounded up a pair of unimaginable co-stars: Prince and Nipsey Hussle. No, the UK-based ambient-jazz musician didn’t resurrect the late “Purple Rain” icon, who died in 2016, or the late rapper, who died last year, in the form
August is traditionally a vibrant period for India’s music industry, with myriad music festivals announced from October through February and tour dates booked for international artists — all of which provides a crucial boost for the independent community operating outside the film arena. In the cautious months throughout the pandemic, none of this has been
A federal judge dismissed Genius Media Group’s lawsuit against Google and LyricFind alleging the companies ripped off song lyrics from Genius — ruling that Genius doesn’t have standing to sue them, since it doesn’t own the rights to the original lyrics. The Genius lawsuit, filed last December, had sought at least $50 million in damages
Freeman Vines may not be a well known name in the music world, but his work is finally being recognized. In September, the gorgeously illustrated book “Hanging Tree Guitars,” published by Bitter Southerner in conjunction with the non-profit Music Maker Relief Foundation, and named for guitars Vines carved using wood from a tree used in
If there’s one thing that can be said for Neil Young over the course of his nearly 60-year career, it’s that he stands behind his principles. He once spent hundreds of thousands of dollars recalling an album because he didn’t like the mix (which he’d earlier approved), and just last month he sued Donald Trump’s
Ray Parker Jr. is best known for writing, producing and performing the 1984 Grammy-winning No. 1 hit “Ghostbusters,” but by the time he turned “Who you gonna call?” and “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost” into national catchphrases, he had already logged more than a decade in the business. He was still a teenager when
The Weeknd, Roddy Ricch, Maluma and CNCO will join this year’s lineup for the 2020 Video Music Awards, set to air Aug. 30, MTV announced Tuesday. The four performers make up the second round of performers to be shared, following an earlier announcement that BTS, Doja Cat and J Balvin would take the stage. Ricch,
Back in 2015, songwriter, producer and artist Pharrell Williams had all the reasons in the world to be smiling. His infectious hit song “Happy” was the previous year’s top seller in the U.S., an international smash and soon to be a major Grammy moment. But backstage during the rehearsals that February at Staples Center, Williams
Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” spent an expected second week atop the album chart in the U.S. Its second frame saw 139,700 album units being added to its tally, following a first-week debut of 852,700. The two weeks combined put her total at just under a million album units. The only album debuting in the top 10
Blue Note Records has created a general manager position directly under president Don Was and promoted Justin Seltzer to manage the day-to-day operations of the storied jazz label in the new role. “Justin is a passionate advocate for jazz and is innovative in his approach to expanding the jazz audience in our ever-evolving industry,” said
ICM Partners have hired veteran music agent Simon Clarkson, who brings with him to the agency several clients including Skrillex (for Europe), Alison Wonderland (outside North and South America), Aluna George and San Holo. Clarkson, who will be based in Los Angeles, starts at the agency immediately and will head up its domestic Electronic Music
John Legend is a lover man, a family man, a soul man, an EGOT, a film and television producer, and — in a role that certainly has not escaped the attention of the president of the United States, or most anyone else — a political animal. That he does it all with conscience and consciousness
The 2021 NAMM Show, scheduled for the week of Jan. 18, 2021 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California, has canceled its in-person event and will take place online due to the continued spread of coronavirus, the organization announced on Monday. In place of the annual in-person event, organized by the National Association of
China’s leading online music firm Tencent Music Entertainment pointed to increased investment as the reason for a no better than flat performance in the first half of the year. Revenues for the April to June quarter were RMB6.93 billion ($981 million), an increase of 18% year-over-year, and up 14% to RMB13.2 billion for the first six
DJ iMarkKeyz, who famously remixed Cardi B’s coronavirus rant back in March, has taken on Ben Shapiro’s straight-faced lyric recitation of “WAP,” the NSFW (or even WFH) track by Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion, which dropped on Friday (Aug. 7). The Brooklyn-born and bred iMarkKeyz, whose real name is Brandon Davidson, is a local DJ
Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, CEO of SAL&CO and XO Records and manager of The Weeknd, Doja Cat and French Montana, among others, is helping raise money to aid victims of the Beirut explosion. Slaiby was born in Lebanon and immigrated to Canada as a teenager. He and his wife, Rima Fakih Slaiby, the first Arab-American Miss
Universal Music Group (UMG) announced Monday that it has signed multi-year direct licensing agreements in China with both Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) and its competitor NetEase Cloud Music, breaking the past precedent of signing exclusively with the former. The move signals a shake-up in the major labels’ approach to the Chinese market. Until now, UMG,
In playing at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Sunday night, the band Smash Mouth did not feel any need to avoid the elephant in the room, which would be the fears of outsiders — and apparently few in attendance — that the socially un-distanced gathering could be a breeding ground for a coronavirus “super-spreader event.” “F—
Composer Bobby Tahouri, who’s worked on some of the biggest games of the past decade (“Rise of the Tomb Raider” and “Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark” among them), will score the music for the new “Marvel’s Avengers” game. Tahouri crafted original music for the Avengers, creating an epic and sweeping score for the loved
Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” is officially a hit single again 39 years after its release, thanks to a pair of twins from Gary, Indiana whose spontaneous reaction to the unexpected drum break in Collins’ ballad has caused it to be possibly the most meme-d song of August 2020. “In the Air Tonight” currently
Sara Bareilles has been cast in a lead role of the upcoming Tina Fey-Robert Carlock produced Peacock comedy series “Girls5eva.” In the series, when a one-hit-wonder girl group from the 90’s gets sampled by a young rapper, its members reunite to give their pop star dreams one more shot. Bareilles will star as Dawn, a
Mr. Criminal sounds like the moniker of a lifelong man of crime, but these days, that’s firmly in the past for the Chicano rapper. A businessman for sure, Mr. Criminal’s current hustle is giving voice to his Latin community, showing that you can become something even if you come from nothing. In his case: an
Music streaming on Twitch is booming — and now a group of artists is challenging owner Amazon to pay its fair share. In a letter Monday addressed to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the nonprofit Artist Rights Alliance cited Bezos’ testimony during a House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing on July 29. The chief exec, who is the
DJ and production duo Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike are launching a music, gaming and lifestyle agency called The Smash Universe. The company will focus on content creators, gamers and lifestyle influencers, providing management and creative services and marketing concepts. The DJs, brothers Dimitri Thivaios and Michael Thivaios, are teaming in the venture with Miranda
If you want to see and hear Metallica with strings, the group’s latest collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony, the live album/documentary “S&M2,” will be released for home entertainment August 28. But if you want to experience Metallica with horns — car horns, that is — the band will be coming to drive-ins on August
Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind Korean pop sensation BTS, has moved a significant step closer to achieving a share listing. Regulator and stock market operator, Korea Exchange said Friday that it had given preliminary approval to BHE for an initial public offering or IPO. Having received BHE’s first application on May 28, Korea Exchange
Martin Birch, the British music producer whose credits include albums by Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Black Sabbath, has died. He was 71. News of his death was revealed by Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale on Twitter on Aug. 9. The cause of death is as yet unknown. It is with a very heavy heart