Music

The success of Korean superstars BTS has paved the way for multiple K-pop acts to try their chances in the U.S. — but few will be making their U.S. concert debut with as much panache as Blackpink. This and next weekend, the quartet will be the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella Valley Music

UPDATED: Gary Stewart, a veteran of Rhino Records and Apple Music and a widely known figure on the Los Angeles rock scene for more than 40 years, has died, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office confirmed to Variety. He was 62. The Santa Monica Police Department confirmed that he died by suicide. A Los Angeles

With 1971’s “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye proved that he could make and bake his own cake, and eat it, too… that he could trade his suave, lover-man pose and debonair devil-may-care attitude for lyrical activism and righteous indignation… and that he could take the smooth, soulful voice that made him a pop superstar and

“Score: The Podcast” is perhaps the most popular of the many film-music series in the audio marketplace. Helmed by Oscar-nominated composer Robert Kraft and Emmy-winning news producer Kenny Holmes interviewing the top composers in the field, it launches a second season on April 16. On deck are composers Bear McCreary (“Godzilla”), Justin Hurwitz (“La La

Offering closure after nearly two weeks of impromptu tributes across the city, murdered Los Angeles rapper and entrepreneur Ermias “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom was celebrated with a three-hour memorial service at Staples Center on Thursday, featuring tributes, performances and eulogies from family and famous friends in front of a massive crowd at the 20,000-capacity venue. The

Rickey Minor is an old hand at conducting music for live TV shows, having handled such chores on “American Idol,” the Grammys and the Emmys. This year, he scored his biggest gig yet: as music director of the Academy Awards. “It’s the biggest and most prestigious show for a reason,” he says. “It is the

Radiohead has taken to social media to respond to a Canadian coroner’s inquest into the death of the band’s drum technician, who was killed in a stage collapse prior to a scheduled performance in Toronto in 2012. “The inquest into the death of our friend and crew member,Scott Johnson, has now concluded,” the band’s statement

While there have been many tributes onstage at the Nipsey Hussle memorial service taking place at Los Angeles’ Staples Center today, there are many more within the event’s program. Tributes from Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, YG, the Game and athletes such as Russell Westbrook and James Harden are included in the program. Jay-Z wrote: “Renown[ed] late

April 11, 2019 1:01PM PT “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” on Broadway and “Motown 60” on TV head up the multi-media mining of the Motown catalog. Motown has almost certainly never had more ancillary projects happening at once in the realms of TV and theater than it does in 2019. Among the offshoots keeping the

April 11, 2019 11:29AM PT Barack Obama wrote a tribute to Nipsey Hussle that was read by hip-hop executive Karen Civil during the late rapper’s memorial service at Staples Center in Los Angeles today. The reading came after a moving performance by singer Marsha Ambrosius, who sang Mariah Carey’s “Fly Like a Bird.” Obama’s speech

Entertainment One has acquired U.K.-based independent music brand Audio Network, the two companies announced Thursday. The deal, worth $215 million, gives eOne full ownership of the independent music creator, publisher and licensor, which specializes in high-quality music for use in film, TV, advertising and digital media. Audio Network operates in nine countries: the U.S., U.K.,

Stevie Wonder, Marsha Ambrosius and Anthony Hamilton will sing at Nipsey Hussle’s memorial service at Staples Center today, according to the program handed out at the ceremony. Wonder wil perform “Rocket Love” from his 1980 album “Hotter Than July,” Ambrosius will perform “Fly Like a Bird” (it was unclear at press time which of the

For someone who already had a reputation as the hardest-working TV music producer in show business, Ken Ehrlich has lately taken it up a notch. Since last fall, on top of his usual Grammy Awards duties, he’s been at the helm for three other prime-time specials — an homage to Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special

A couple of disruptive women from across generations — along with the writer of “Evil Woman” — are due to get special honors at the 2019 ASCAP Pop Awards. ELO auteur Jeff Lynne and the three ongoing original members of Blondie are all set for career achievement trophies at the May ceremony, while Billie Eilish

As reported unofficially earlier this week, a 25.5-mile funeral procession will follow Nipsey Hussle’s memorial service at Los Angeles’ Staples Center today, running from downtown Los Angeles through Inglewood, South L.A. and Watts. Procession security will be provided by the Nation of Islam, and roads along the route will be closed to accommodate the vehicles,

Music fans have their own entry point to one of Motown’s many eras. For Ethiopia Habtemariam, a seasoned industry veteran who became president of the label in 2014, that experience came when she was growing up in Atlanta, where her immigrant parents played Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder around the house. But it’s also rooted

April 10, 2019 6:41PM PT Rapper Ja Rule and Irv Gotti are set to appear in WE tv’s “Growing Up Hip Hop NY,” a source confirmed to Variety. The reality series “Growing Up Hip Hop” debut in 2016, and followed the lives of the children of hip-hop legends. It led to the spinoff “Growing Up

AEG Presents and Frontier Touring, the leading concert promotion company in Australia and New Zealand, today jointly announced that the two companies have entered into a strategic joint venture to unify their operations throughout the two countries. The partnership combines Frontier Touring’s regional expertise with AEG Presents’ extensive resources and will continue to grow both

In the 1980s, Earl Thomas Conley was known as one of country music’s most reliable hitmakers, with an almost unbroken string of 18 singles that reached No. 1 in the format between 1981 and ’89. And in the 21st century, he was known for something else: being an all-time hero for Blake Shelton, frequently name-checked

Music impresario Tommy Mottola has sold his Greenwich, Conn., estate for $14.875 million. Mottola, who has worked with a who’s who of international superstars including Gloria Estefan, Diana Ross, Shakira, and Jennifer Lopez, not to mention his second wife, Mariah Carey, and his current wife of almost 20 years, mononymic Mexican actress and recording artist

April 10, 2019 3:46PM PT The Nipsey Hussle public memorial, which will be held at Los Angeles’ Staples Center tomorrow morning, will be livestreamed on BET starting at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. The live, commercial-free coveragewill be anchored by BET News’ Marc Lamont Hill who will be joined by entertainment journalist Gia Peppers. Tickets for the ceremony,

Gentleman and ladies, start your circling. Roughly 72 hours out from the beginning of weekend 1, the Coachella festival has released a full schedule for the Aug. 12-14 and 19-21 gatherings. Billie Eilish, the musical meme and bestselling artist of the moment, plays at the Outdoor Theatre Saturday at 9:35. That’ll create a crush, so

Sean “Diddy” Combs was recalling the moment when he first heard that a collusion action lawsuit was being filed in professional football over owners’ reaction to the knee-taking controversy. “Man, when I heard that Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid were suing the NFL, I was like, good luck!” said Combs, addressing the audience at Variety‘s

“SOS,” the first song from the forthcoming posthumous Avicii album, dropped today. The song, which features vocals from “Wake Me Up” singer Aloe Blacc and is quite distinctively an Avicii track, is the first to arrive from the album, which is called “Tim” and is due in June. Collaborators said was nearly finished at the

Ben Meiselas wasn’t just a central figure in the class-action cases against the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival — he’s also a star of both the Hulu and Netflix documentaries of the event. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Fyre Festival was advertised as a luxury event with gourmet chefs on a beautiful island where Migos, Blink-182 and

It plays like Mario Kart and it looks like … well, it looks like nothing you’ve probably played before. “Gensou Skydrift” is a classic kart racing game designed by some of the people who worked on Nintendo’s “Mario Kart Double Dash.” But instead of controlling Nintendo characters driving karts, players control a pair of young

While there are many notable attorneys in the world, it’s a safe bet that Ben Meiselas has had one of the most remarkable careers of any 33-year-old lawyer working today. As partner and head of the civil litigation department of Geragos & Geragos, he headed up two of the most high-profile legal cases in recent

April 10, 2019 7:34AM PT Grammy-winning musician The Weeknd has joined OverActive Media, the parent company behind the Overwatch League’s Toronto Defiant and Splyce. The partnership between The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, will make Tesfaye the first Toronto Defiant and Splyce global ambassador and an integral part of the esports brands in Canada and

The 2000 Grammy Awards will forever be remembered as the night Jennifer Lopez slinked her way down the red carpet in a heart-stopping, low-plunging, tropical-print green Versace dress. But for Kenny Meiselas and wife Beth Katz Meiselas, it was also the weekend then-couple Lopez and Sean “Diddy” Combs, aka Puff Daddy, played matchmaker to the

The Colosseum at Caesars Palace may have been referred to in the past as “the house that Celine built,” but as the venue’s original marquee artist steps away, that house is due for a major rebuilding. At the same time that Caesars’ decision to take over management of the facility from longtime operator AEG and bring