Lil Peep’s mother, Liza Womack, has sued the late rapper’s managers for negligence, breach of contract and wrongful death, according to court documents; the news was first reported by the New York Times. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday and obtained by Variety, says the rapper, who died of a drug overdose in November of 2017,
Music
A.R. Rahman, Oscar-, BAFTA- and Grammy-winning composer of “Slumdog Millionaire,” will world premiere “99 Songs,” his debut as screenwriter and producer, at the Busan International Film Festival on Wednesday. The film, directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy (TV’s “The Dewarists”), will play as part of the festival’s Open Cinema strand. The screening will be preceded by a
Mariah Carey isn’t someone who rushes anything. So when it comes to a photo shoot, an afternoon naturally stretches into an evening, which turns into a late-night event. At 10 p.m. — after a marathon of costume changes and notes on lighting (one of Carey’s many areas of expertise) — she’s finally ready to sit
October 8, 2019 8:05AM PT The duties of former Los Angeles Opera general director Placido Domingo will be absorbed by company’s president and CEO, the company’s board of directors announced Monday. Domingo last week resigned as general director, a job he held since 2003, saying his ability to continue at the opera was compromised by
October 8, 2019 6:26AM PT As expected, the Eagles’ recent string of Las Vegas dates, in which they played their 1976 classic “Hotel California” album in its entirety, were a dry run for a tour next year: The group will bring the show across North America in the spring, performing the album along with many
Years before creating the persona of Awkwafina that would launch her to stardom, a fifth-grade Nora Lum had to decide which instrument to learn in school. “I wanted to play the drums but then like 15 other people wanted to, so I was like, ‘OK, what’s the next loudest instrument?’” she says, laughing. “The trumpet
Mariah Carey is writing her memoirs, which she promises will be packed with revelations. “Born to a black father and white mother,” she says, recounting the story of her life. “Lived in basically very humble beginnings. Came out of it. Ups and downs, and this and that. And public humiliation and going through the wringer.
Children have been the focus of Chaka Khan’s charitable endeavors for years; music has been her life’s calling. So it’s no surprise that the legendary singer found a way to combine the two with her support for Little Kids Rock. Founded in 2002, the New Jersey-based nonprofit provides instruments and materials for music-based curricula for
Nick Jonas is joining “The Voice” for the show’s upcoming 18th season this spring. He joins returning coaches Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Blake Shelton as well as host Carson Daly on the NBC music competition series. “I’m so excited to be a part of ‘The Voice’ family,” said Jonas. “It’s such an awesome group
Here’s the story of a rock star obsessed with the Bradys. No kidding. Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 got to live out a childhood fantasy when he attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly revealed Brady Bunch house on HGTV’s “A Very Brady Renovation.” John 5, who has collaborated with a diverse array of
Patrick Carney of the Black Keys has rarely been one to hold his tongue, when it comes to matters of the music business, and rock’s most garrulous gadfly did not disappoint when the duo appeared on an episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast that is going viral in industry circles. The three-hour-plus interview allowed him plenty
Studio musicians, who begin negotiations on a new contract with producers today, are seeking something they have never had: residual payments for programs made specifically for streaming platforms. American Federation of Musicians (AFM) officials gained support from fellow show-business unions SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America at a rally attended by about 100 this
The Guild of Music Supervisors has partnered with Mondo.NYC for the second year. An incubator confab for the music and tech industries that includes a multi-venue festival showcasing emerging artists from around the world, Mondo.NYC is scheduled for Oct. 15 – 18 at the Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn. The final day, Oct. 18, billed as
The Rihanna legacy is now being adapted into a visual autobiography, simply called “Rihanna,” that follows the singer/entrepreneur’s life in photos from her childhood in Barbados to the present. At around 500 pages, the book will contain more than 1,000 photos, many that have never been published before, along with a poster and other inserts,
Young M.A has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with Reservoir. The deal encompasses global rights to the rapper’s catalog including the hit single “OOOUUU.” M.A has logged over a billion streams to date and her music has been used in campaigns for such brands as Hoogle Pixel 2, Adidas, MetroPCS, FashionNova and Beats By Dre.
Industry veteran Bill Burrs has been hired by The Syndicate, the boutique entertainment marketing agency founded in 1998 by partners Jon Landman, Tracey Zucatti and Chris Elles. The longtime promotion executive, who most recently joined Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles in launching 300 Entertainment, will be the company’s senior vice president of Artist Development and
Jeff Silberman, a longtime music industry trade reporter who spent the last 12 years as West Coast news editor for Joel Denver’s All Access Music Group, died Sunday morning, Oct. 7, in Los Angeles following complications from congestive heart failure, which put him in a coma from which he never recovered. He was 66. The
October 7, 2019 9:22AM PT The story of Tekashi 6ix9ine is a bizarre one: the Brooklyn rapper allegedly affiliated himself with a gang for street credibility, and then found himself extorted and kidnapped by them, is now in prison for his involvement with their crimes, and cooperated with police to convict them. Curtis “50 Cent”
The Reform Alliance announced today that it has tapped entertainment and social justice executive Bob Pilon to serve as the organization’s President and Chief Growth Officer. Pilon previously served as the Chief Development & Partnerships Officer at ONE, the international advocacy and campaigning organization co-founded by U2 singer and activist Bono. In that role, he
October 7, 2019 6:15AM PT Morrison Hotel Gallery today announced its new contemporary photography collection in collaboration with CondéNast. Curated by photographer Timothy White and Condé Nast Corporate Photography Director Ivan Shaw, this collection features work from master photographers including Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, John Rawlings, and Bert Stern. The photos presented to Variety date
The American Cancer Society is teaming up with celebrity ambassadors this month to encourage their families, friends, fans and followers alike to “Get #YOUnited” in the fight against breast cancer by purchasing celebrity designed merchandise and giving donations. With this new campaign, ACS has engaged pop-culture figures to become ambassadors in championing this fight, including DJ Khaled, French Montana, Jhene
Although it’s only been a year since the release of her debut album — 2018’s “Expectations,” which brought her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist — Bebe Rexha has invested nearly $2.1 million into what appears to be her very first home, a sultry and sophisticated Mediterranean-style villa tucked into the eastern Hollywood Hills,
It’s a new dawn for Tanya Tucker, who, while most of the world wasn’t looking, went from being a teen country superstar who sounded 13-going-on-60 to, you know, actually being 60. Tucker is now getting the kind of career reappraisal she’s been due ever since she grew into that voice, which now, as then, rings
When Ginger Baker died Sunday at the age of 80 after years of ill health, the rock era lost its first real superstar drummer. Mind you, Baker would’ve absolutely hated having his name tied to anything rock — in death and he did in life — despite having made his notoriety, initially, with the genre’s
October 6, 2019 9:03AM PT While Taylor Swift went full-on pop for her performances on ‘GMA’ and at Amazon’s Prime Day concert earlier this year, she took a different approach for her fifth appearance “Saturday Night Live.” For her opening song, the already sparse title track of her latest album, “Lover,” the singer performed entirely
Drummer Ginger Baker, who became rock’s first superstar percussionist as a member of the wildly popular ‘60s British power trio Cream, died Sunday in England. He was 80. His Facebook and Twitter pages posted the news, saying “We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully in hospital this morning.” We are
October 5, 2019 10:21AM PT On the one-year anniversary Saturday of the release of the soundtrack for “A Star Is Born,” Lady Gaga was presented with a plaque honoring the album’s sales milestones — with double-platinum status in the U.S. and more than 6 million copies sold globally, according to Interscope. The plaque presentation celebrated
Politics and music are not such strange bedfellows in the Internet era, and this past week proved no exception. The latest band to get dragged into the nexus was Canada’s Nickelback, who found their 2005 hit “Photograph” used in a meme which was tweeted by Donald Trump on Wednesday. Of all the laws the president
The only thing more exhilarating and exhausting than HBO’s stunning summer drama “Euphoria” was its soundtrack. Wound through the sparkly noir soap opera of teens in a love-hate relationship with drugs, sex and themselves was this equally torrid and twilight-y musical tone — an undulating, wall-to-wall set of songs and score crowding around Sam Levinson’s vision
With Diahann Carroll’s death having been announced Friday, and with Judy Garland mania in as full a swing as it’s likely to ever be in the 21st century, due to the biopic “Judy” having just landed in theaters, there could be no better moment in history — at least since 1964 — to take a