Frederick Thomas, best known as his rap alias Fred the Godson, has died from coronavirus-related complication. He was 35. The Bronx rapper revealed his diagnosis on April 6 via social media, sharing a picture of himself on a ventilator in the hospital. His wife, LeeAnn Jemmott, told Brooklyn’s News 12 on April 8 that Thomas
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The Rolling Stones have released a new single, “Living in a Ghost Town,” with a decidedly lockdown-influenced theme, even though the band said primary sessions for the track went down last year before it was completed from remote locations in recent weeks. “So the Stones were in the studio recording some new material before the
BuzzAngle, the analytics company that has impacted the music business in recent years with daily and weekly charts and other public and private data, is being relaunched as Alpha Data, with a refreshed website and upgrades to its services to the industry. BuzzAngle has perhaps been best known in the last year for the Rolling
The very first image a listener encounters in the titular opening track of X’s new album “Alphabetland” is a quintessential one: a sidewalk being torn up and covered with freshly poured pavement to obscure an old lover’s initials. That metaphorical perfection ushers in an album that was long in the making, but which finds the
Pearl Jam had planned to release its “Gigaton Visual Experience” – a special audio-visual event around their new album — in theaters just before the album’s March 27 release, but the coronavirus pandemic obviously put that plan on hold. Instead, the group announced today that the “Gigaton Visual Experience” will be available in home theaters starting Friday —
The Guild of Music Supervisors is continuing its weekly panel series with a program aimed at exploring the relationship between showrunners and producers and music supervisors. Scheduled for April 23 and moderated by Variety Artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, the discussion will feature Jason Katims, the producer and writer best known for “Friday Night Lights” and
When nutritionist Lisa Roth found herself looking for the perfect gift for a friend’s baby shower back in the mid-2000s, she never figured on starting a musical movement for the toddler set and their parents. But the lightbulb flicked on and “Rockabye Baby!” was born. The series turns the greatest music catalogs from every genre
Even in a pandemic, Hipgnosis Songs continues its acquisition spree of major music-publishing catalogs. The company, which was founded just two years ago, has bought up catalogs by hitmakers ranging from Timbaland and the Chainsmokers to Jack Antonoff and Jeff Bhasker — and the latest is 70% of seven-time Grammy-and-Oscar-winning songwriter, artist and producer Mark Ronson.
A host of New Jersey’s most celebrated musical talents — including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Charlie Puth, Halsey, SZA and Fountains of Wayne, plus one adopted son from New York, Tony Bennett — came together Wednesday for “Jersey 4 Jersey,” a benefit webcast to raise funds to fight the medical, social and economic impact
Derek Jones, the guitarist for post-hardcore rock band Falling in Reverse, has died at 35. The cause of death is currently unknown. Jones’ bandmate and Falling in Reverse vocalist Ronnie Radke announced Jones’ death via Instagram on Tuesday, posting a series of photos in memoriam. “I’ll never forget when you picked me up from jail
Ed Helms’ musical side pursuits have been well-known for years, if perhaps just slightly shy of being well-known enough to have him commonly hyphenated as “actor-banjoist Ed Helms.” But the shutdown of Hollywood production has allowed him more time now to devote to what he considers his “passion project,” the Bluegrass Situation, an organization focused
Lady Gaga has revealed the tracklist for her forthcoming-but-delayed “Chromatica” album — which includes collaborations with Ariana Grande, Elton John and Blackpink — just a few hours after Target (presumably accidentally) listed it on its website. The album was originally scheduled for an April 10 release, so who knows why it appeared today. (She revealed
A Whitney Houston biopic, titled “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” is in development from “The Photograph” director Stella Meghie. The Whitney Houston Estate, Primary Wave, music producer Clive Davis and Anthony McCarten are producing the film about the iconic songwriter-performer, who died in 2012 at the age of 48. McCarten, whose credits include “The Two
Marianne Faithfull was discharged from a London hospital Wednesday, three weeks after the 73-year-old singer tested positive for coronavirus. “We are really happy to say that Marianne has been discharged from hospital today, 22 days after being admitted suffering from the symptoms of Covid-19. She will continue to recuperate in London,” a rep said in a statement.
Spotify, the world’s largest audio streaming service, has ceased reporting market-level (i.e. regional) data for U.S. streams to Nielsen Music/ MRC Data, the company that tracks sales, streams and radio airplay for the music industry and powers Billboard’s charts. The change will not reduce Spotify’s impact on Billboard’s charts, which monitor national activity, but it
Carmela Wallace, mother of late rapper Juice WRLD, announced on Wednesday that she has created the Live Free 999 Fund, a charitable organization which aims to help young people struggling with their mental health. In honor of Juice WLRD, whose real name was Jarad Higgins, Live Free 999 will focus on normalizing the conversation around
Like most of us, Richard Marx found the first 10 days of quarantine and lockdown perplexing — and so his “#SocialDistancing” web series, where he talks with guests about politics, music and life, happened mostly by accident. “I was doing so much because it was occupying my brain,” the “Right Here Waiting” and “Hazard” singer
Liz Tigelaar, showrunner of “Little Fires Everywhere,” has been a fan of Ingrid Michaelson’s for years, and even used the singer/songwriter’s “Hate You” in Hulu series’ pilot. Songs by female musicians, including Alanis Morissette, Lauryn Hill and Annie Lennox, feature prominently in the series, and when it came to this season’s finale, Tigelaar says she
Pharrell Williams announced today that he will be hand-picking undiscovered artists for a Soundcloud compilation that will benefit Sweet Relief and Help Musicians charities. The compilation, called “SoundCloud Presents: i am OTHER, Volume 1,” will feature music genres, styles and sounds from across the global SoundCloud community, according to the announcement. SoundCloud has seen a 50% increase
YouTube Music will host The Beatles’ animated “Yellow Submarine” film singalong in a special live-streaming event, available free worldwide. The event will take place this Saturday, April 25, at 9 a.m. PDT/12 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. BST via YouTube Premieres on The Beatles’ YouTube channel (available at this link). The restored film’s singalong version includes lyrics
Syndicated iHeartRadio personality Elvis Duran will host an all-star roster of performers on Friday evening. Under the banner Elvis Duran’s Stay At Home Ball, some 50 acts are scheduled to participate via performances and appearances. Among them: Kesha, Charlie Puth, Lewis Capaldi, Alec Benjamin, Thomas Rhett, Jojo, Alessia Cara, Austin Mahone, Shinedown and Train. Also
Life Is Beautiful, the annual three-day music and arts festival in downtown Las Vegas, announced Tuesday that it will not be taking place this year. The festival was scheduled to take place Sept. 18-20, but a performance lineup had not yet been announced and passes had not gone on sale. Last year, the diverse artist
Following the production of “Pose” being halted because of the coronavirus crisis, Variety is catching up with Billy Porter. The Emmy winner will be live on Tuesday with Variety’s Marc Malkin to talk about his quarantine fashion challenge, playing the Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella” and much more. Watch the interview with Porter today at 4
Musicals “Soft Power” and “The Wrong Man” top the list of legit productions nominated for the 65th annual Drama Desk Awards. This year’s awards eligibility period began in late May 2019 with the start of the traditional Broadway season and ended on March 11, the week before legit stages in New York City shuttered quickly
A fortress-like residence sited directly above L.A.’s Sunset Strip and the iconic Chateau Marmont hotel has come up for sale, asking $5.9 million. Built in 2009 by adventurous architecture firm Space International, the swoopy and futuristic-looking contemporary structure has three bedrooms in about 2,900 square feet of living space. In the decade since its completion,
Dixie Chicks fans had waited 14 years for a followup album from the superstar trio. What’s another… well, actually, it’s uncertain how much longer it’ll be, since the impending release of “Gaslighter” has been put off with no postponement date yet announced. A statement from the group’s reps said that “their highly anticipated fifth studio
Just three days after the “One World: Together at Home” online concert aired, a 79-song, four-hour-long album of the event is available from Global Citizen and Universal Music Group on the streaming services Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and Tidal. The album features Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Elton
With over half a million people watching including, apparently, Michelle Obama and every music industry dignitary imaginable — artist, producer, songwriter and executive alike — Monday’s rescheduled Teddy Riley-Babyface battle was the most epic “Verzuz” challenge to date. A ’90’s R&B superfest, musically speaking, it was the Tyson vs. Holyfield of battles. The concept, dreamed
UPDATED: Classic past performances by Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Green Day, Cardi B, Ed Sheeran, Janelle Monáe, Twenty One Pilots, Lil Uzi Vert, David Guetta, and many more will be part of the massive three-day PlayOn virtual festival this weekend, supporting the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO), powered by the UN
Apple has expanded the reach of its Apple Music platform to an additional 52 countries as part of the biggest geographical expansion of its services in almost a decade. Apple is also making App Store, game subscription service Apple Arcade, Apple Podcasts and iCloud available in 20 more countries. The expansion is the largest since