Music

October 2, 2019 10:41AM PT Netflix’s first big swing at airing a reality competition show weekly should pay off. Streaming networks, for all their creative upsides, have trouble staying timely. Releasing worthy shows every week makes it hard for many to stay in the spotlight for too long, and anything remotely centered on the news

October 2, 2019 10:20AM PT Michael Stipe will release his first solo single since R.E.M.’s 2011 split this weekend, he announced on his website. The song, which he’s been playing at concerts in recent months, is called “Your Capricious Soul” and will be released on his website, MichaelStipe.com, with the 77-cent download price to benefit

When you ask Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig for a short list of favorite haunts in his native New York City, he’s at a loss for a few moments. He may be the leader of arguably the most celebrated New York band of the decade, but the creator of the recent “Father of the Bride” album

As a college student, Aaron Tveit camped outside the stage door of his favorite Broadway musicals like any other fan. When he saw 2002’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” he stuck around with the crowds to ask Sutton Foster for an autograph. “And I remember being struck that all these people were going crazy for her,” Tveit

October 2, 2019 7:55AM PT The Library of Congress has set Garth Brooks as a 2020 recipient of its Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, to be awarded at an all-star tribute concert in Washington D.C.  in March 2020 for airing on PBS later in the spring. The award goes to venerable enough musicians that Brooks,

Thom Yorke is one of the last world-famous musicians one might expect to be interviewed on a late-night talk show, but then again, Stephen Colbert is no ordinary late-night talk show host. Radiohead appeared in an entire episode of his show a few years back, and Yorke returned Tuesday night for a chat with Colbert

Mathew Knowles, father and former manager of Beyonce and Solange, revealed that he was recently diagnosed with breast cancer in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” that aired Wednesday. He underwent treatment over the summer. Knowles, 67, told host Michael Strahan, “I’m doing really good, Michael. I had my surgery the last week of

Miley Cyrus’ covers of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, Camila Cabello’s performances of brand new  singles “Liar” and “Shameless,” and several surprise collaborations were just a few highlights from the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival, which will air as a two-night television special on the CW tonight (Oct. 1) and tomorrow (Oct. 2) from 8 to

After nearly two years on and off the market at increasingly lower prices, pop star Gwen Stefani has finally sold her boldly decorated Beverly Hills mansion for $21.65 million. The recorded sale price is a huge amount by any standard, but it’s also a notable amount below the final asking price of not quite $25

Back in the early ‘70s, Eric Clapton and Marvin Gaye fulfilled very different functions in the rock and soul pantheon — a twain to be enjoyed, and never exactly to meet. It only took four and a half decades or so for Gary Clark Jr. to come along and be the guy who can be

October 1, 2019 12:45PM PT As part of his interview with Gayle King for an episode of “CBS This Morning” that aired this morning, Lil Nas X returned to the studio where he recorded his global smash single “Old Town Road.”    The 20-year-old rapper, born Montero Lamar Hill, took Gayle King to the Atlanta

Ariel Rechtshaid is best known in tastemaking music circles as a go-to writer/producer for Adele, Usher, Haim, Charli XCX and Vampire Weekend, whose 2013 album “Modern Vampires of the City” helped net him a 2014 Grammy nod for producer of the year (he also executive produced this year’s No. 1 follow-up, “Father Of The Bride”). In

Back in early August, TMZ revealed that pop music crooner-turned-budding actor Nick Jonas quietly sold his chic Los Angeles home in a totally off-market deal, barely a year after famously purchasing the property shortly prior to his engagement and subsequent nuptials to Indian actress Priyanka Chopra. Records show Jonas originally paid $6.5 million and flipped the house

October 1, 2019 10:04AM PT Dave Keuning, seven-time Grammy-nominated songwriter and lead guitarist for the Killers, has a contemporized Cape Cod residence in the celeb-favored foothills above L.A.’s affluent Los Feliz neighborhood on the block at $5.5 million; it first popped up for sale at $5.9 million. Listed with Boni Bryant and Joe Reichling of

In Nashville, Busbee was considered one of the good guys. That may go without saying for a lot of writer-producers in a town where being a bad guy isn’t really allowed, but there was a special affection for the personability, diversity and sensitivity that Busbee brought to both the records he worked on and the

October 1, 2019 9:47AM PT Legendary headbanger Dave Mustaine, the original guitarist for Metallica and, since the mid-1980s, lead vocalist and guitarist for the influential thrash metal band Megadeth, has his somewhat surprisingly genteel equestrian estate in Franklin, Tenn., up for sale at a hair under $2.5 million. The fiftysomething heavy metal icon, who announced

The Prince Estate, which assumed management of the artist’s Paisley Park production complex effective today, has announced new developments in the company’s organizational structure and operations. Alan Seiffert is Paisley Park’s new Executive Director, effective today, the estate has also engaged two entertainment-development companies, MR-ProFun and Mycotoo, to enhance the overall experience for guests touring

Concord announced that it has acquired independent rock, metal, emo and hardcore punk music company Victory Records and Another Victory Publishing from Chicago-based founder and CEO Tony Brummel. The acquisition includes approximately 4,500 master recordings and 3,500 compositions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Billboard estimated it to be in the $30 million

October 1, 2019 6:55AM PT Republic Records has promoted Beau Benton to Senior Vice President of Media, it was announced today by EVP of Media & Artist Relations Joseph Carozza. In this new position, Benton will continue to spearhead campaigns for artists such as Florence + The Machine, James Blake, Kid Cudi, Post Malone, and The Weeknd in addition to rising artists including Chelsea Cutler, Evie Irie, Jeremy Zucker, Lil Tecca and Yung Gravy.

For Variety’s latest issue, we asked Lorene Scafaria to write a tribute to Jennifer Lopez, one of 50 people to make our New Power of New York list. For the full list, click here. I met Jennifer Lopez in the kitchen of her house in Los Angeles almost three years ago. I bought an outfit

October 1, 2019 4:55AM PT RCA Records has partnered with Sony Interactive Entertainment to release “Death Stranding: Timefall (Original Music from the World of Death Stranding)” on Nov. 7, the company announced today. The album includes songs inspired by the upcoming Hideo Kojima-helmed video game from Major Lazer x Khalid, Chvrches, Bring Me the Horizon, Au/Ra x Alan Walker,

Ariana Grande has scored seven nominations for the 2019 MTV EMAs, putting her at the head of a strongly performing field that also includes Shawn Mendes, Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish, each of whom received six nods. Latin American singer J Balvin garnered five nominations, and Lizzo and Taylor Swift both received four. Grande

The centerpiece of Scott Ora’s cluttered San Fernando Valley apartment is the 1939 Oscar his step-grandfather, the late lyricist Leo Robin, was presented for co-writing “Thanks for the Memory.” Sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the film “The Big Broadcast of 1938,” the trophy sits proudly on the piano where Robin worked on

Jessye Norman, a heralded soprano opera singer who won four Grammy Awards and the National Medal of Arts, has died at the age of 74, according to a statement from a representative for her family. Norman died in New York Monday morning from septic shock and multi-organ failure secondary to complications of a spinal cord

The Bay Area edition of Rolling Loud, arguably the country’s biggest hip-hop music festival, took place this past weekend, offering a hyped — and packed — gathering across three stages at the Oakland Coliseum grounds. The third Rolling Loud to take place in the Bay Area, this year’s festival saw a star-studded lineup — Future,

Katie Vinten, former co-head of A&R at Warner Chappell Music Publishing, today announced the formation of Black Diamond Artist Management. The company’s initial roster will include Grammy-nominated songwriter Justin Tranter (Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons, Bebe Rexha, Selena Gomez, Jonas Brothers), along with Zach Skelton (Jonas Brothers, Lil Nas X), Boy Matthews (Gallant, Hayden James) and

Colombian reggaeton titan J Balvin burst into the mainstream in 2017 with his global smash “Mi Gente,” guested with Beyonce at her Coachella “Homecoming” performance last year and also appeared alongside Cardi B on her summer hit “I Like It.” And although his 2017 “Energia” tour was a spectacle on its own, few people were

Lil Nas X, who rose from obscurity to global stardom in weeks thanks to his genre-smashing hit “Old Town Road,” spoke with Gayle King in an episode of “CBS This Morning” that will air Tuesday. In a preview circulated today, the rapper talked about his decision to come out as a gay man earlier this

Fox is looking to stay in the music drama business. Variety has learned that the broadcaster is developing a one-hour drama series set in the world of country music. The untitled project has received a script commitment with a penalty attached. Inspired by the Romanoff dynasty, the series is described as a multi-generational musical drama

On a warm fall evening at the sprawling Holmby Hills home of top music business attorney Gary Stiffelman and wife Carmen, an overflow crowd gathered to express its collective commitment to creative freedom and to battling the prevailing propaganda of the Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement against Israel. The occasion was the Creative Community for