April 2, 2019 8:15AM PT Drake paid tribute to his friend Nipsey Hussle on Monday night at the first show of his seven-night residency at London’s O2 Arena. Hussle was murdered Sunday afternoon in front of his clothing store in South Los Angeles. “Somebody that provided for his people. Somebody that always treated you with respect when he saw you. Somebody
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Drake took a moment out from performing at a London show on his Assassination Vacation tour Monday night to give fans a first look at a teaser trailer for “Top Boy,” the upcoming Netflix series he is producing. The singer is exec-producing the show alongside business partner Adel “Future” Nur, and Maverick Carter and Jamal
April 2, 2019 6:48AM PT Nate Albert has joined Warner Bros. Records as Executive Vice President of A&R, based at the label’s Los Angeles headquarters, the company announced today. Albert, a founding member of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, has held senior A&R posts at Capitol Records and Republic Records, signing artists such as The Weeknd
Kacey Musgraves would like young people to follow their arrow wherever it goes, as her signature song says, and if she could provide just a little tailwind to help those arrows land in the bull’s-eye that is music, all the better. “Music education has long been an interest of mine,” says the country-pop star. “It
Back in the year 2000, Elvis Costello picked “The Best of Blondie” to be on his epic list of “500 Albums You Need.” Now he’s put the Debbie Harry-fronted band on an even shorter list of groups he needs to tour with. The two artists, both of whom have remained active since the late ’70s,
April 2, 2019 1:27AM PT Armando Vega Gil, bass player and co-founder of the Mexican rock band Botellita de Jerez, killed himself on Monday, after being accused of sexually abusing a minor. He was 64. The Reuters news agency reports that his body was found at his home in Mexico City by local authorities. A
UPDATED: The LAPD has asked the public to clear the area surrounding the impromptu memorial to slain rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot and killed Sunday afternoon outside his Hyde Park store, after multiple people were injured following a panic. “Reports of shots fired at the vigil do not appear to be accurate,” the LAPD
Thanks to a buzzy new movie on Netflix, metal band Mötley Crüe is once again making news, almost 40 years after they first hit the scene. “The Dirt,” which stars Daniel Webber, Douglas Booth, Colson Baker and Iwan Rheon as Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Mick Mars respectively, chronicles the formation of the
The year of Ariana Grande continues. Grande and her longtime collaborator Victoria Monét surprised fans with a track titled “Monopoly” on Monday. The bouncy pop single comes less than two months after Grande dropped her fifth studio album, “thank u, next” in February, giving fans even more music to obsess over. In the music video,
Patience, thy name is Mott the Hoople fandom. The ‘70s group’s devotees have had a longer time to wait for a reunion than most — especially in underserved America. It’s been 45 years since the Ian Hunter-led band went separate ways, and exactly that long since they played the United States at all, since a
April 1, 2019 4:01PM PT As fellow artists continue to mourn late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot dead at age 33 on Sunday, March 31, fans have erected a memorial outside his Marathon Clothing store in Los Angeles, where the shooting occurred. The impromptu marker is replete with candles, handmade signs, flowers, and kind
April 1, 2019 3:03PM PT Rapper Nipsey Hussle died of gunshot wounds to the head and torso, the L.A. County Coroner’s Office confirmed on Monday. Hussle was shot at 3:20 p.m. on Sunday outside Marathon Clothing, his store in the Hyde Park area of South Los Angeles. Police have not yet named a suspect in
April 1, 2019 1:59PM PT The Rolling Stones’ tour postponement, officially attributed last week to an unspecific health concern for Mick Jagger, is due to the need for heart surgery for the singer, according to multiple reports. Jagger, 75, is set to have heart valve replacement surgery Friday in New York City, with the expectation
The Recording Academy’s Board of Trustees last week met with and voted upon candidates to succeed outgoing chairman/president Neil Portnow — however, the vote was a silent ballot and few people will be informed of the result until a contract is signed, a source close to the situation tells Variety. No time frame was given
After more than two years of bitter litigation, a Pennsylvania judge has decided that he does not have the power to adjudicate a fight between the nation’s radio stations and Global Music Rights, an upstart licensing company founded by Irving Azoff. U.S. District Court Judge C. Darnell Jones II issued a ruling on Friday transferring
April 1, 2019 8:20AM PT Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Keith Richards were among the many people paying tribute to Shelley Lazar, the founder of SLO Ticketing who passed away Sunday after a battle with cancer. Lazar worked closely with many major artists — also including the Rolling Stones, Beyonce and Barbra Streisand— and was
Police are continuing to seek the killer of rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot outside his store in South Los Angeles in a burst of gunfire that injured two other people, officials told the Los Angeles Times. The Grammy-nominated rapper (legal name: Ermias Asghedom), whose business efforts in his native neighborhood made him a local
Maury Laws, who as musical director for Rankin-Bass productions supervised the scoring of such animated TV classics as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “The Hobbit,” died March 28 in Appleton, Wisc. He was 95. Laws’ greatest achievement in TV was arranging and conducting all of the music for the 1964 stop-motion animation
Friday was Martin Bandier’s last day as chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a company he built from being the fourth-largest publisher in the U.S. to by far the world’s biggest — one that has been No. 1 in every quarter for the past six years except one. Today, Jon Platt, former CEO of
Shelley Lazar, founder of SLO Ticketing and a pioneer of premium ticketing and VIP programs for artists including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and The Who, died Sunday morning after a battle with cancer, a rep for her company confirmed. She was 69. Affectionately known as “The Ticket Queen” — or “MFTQ,” as she was
UPDATED: Rapper Ermias Davidson Ashedom, better known by his stage name Nipsey Hussle, has died after being shot multiple times outside his store in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 33. According to the Los Angeles Times, Ashedom was shot multiple times and then transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced
Shelley Lazar, founder of SLO Ticketing and a pioneer of premium ticketing and VIP programs for artists including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and The Who, died Sunday morning after a battle with cancer, a rep for her company confirmed. She was 69. Affectionately known as “The Ticket Queen” — or “MFTQ,” as she was
March 31, 2019 1:55PM PT Kanye West boosted interest in the traditionally slower second weekend of Coachella by revealing that he will bring his gospel-inspired “Sunday Service” to the festival’s second weekend, with a performance slated for Easter Sunday, April 21, at 9 a.m. West made the announcement at today’s service, which was tweeted by the
You might hesitate to too narrowly pin down a demographic, but Maren Morris’ two sold-out shows at the Wiltern over the weekend — her first headlining gigs in L.A., soon to be followed by a summer Greek date — definitely had a predominant one: ‘90s babies, with or without the ‘80s Mercedeses mentioned in her
The 34th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony returned to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center Friday night to honor the class of 2019: Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, The Zombies, Roxy Music, The Cure, Radiohead and Janet Jackson. While there was no shortage of action onstage during the five-hour-long show — including duets Stevie Nicks
Even more than most awards shows, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finds itself boxed in by ceremony. Realistically, there’s only so much you can do with a template that rarely veers from performance / induction speech / acceptance speech: At best, you’ll have mind-blowing performances and touching speeches of genuine gratitude, grace and
March 30, 2019 7:42AM PT The Rolling Stones today announced the postponement of the North American leg of their “No Filter” tour, which had been scheduled to kick off in Miami on April 20. According to the announcement, Mick Jagger “has been advised by doctors that he cannot go on tour at this time as he needs medical
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor isn’t always a fan for awards ceremonies, but he made an exception for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Brooklyn tonight (March 29) where he introduced the Cure. Also inducted into the 2019 class were Stevie Nicks, Roxy Music, Def Leppard and the Zombies. During his speech,
March 29, 2019 7:50PM PT “I’m never gonna live that one down,” the singer joked backstage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Stevie Nicks enchanted fans at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction Ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn Friday night (March 29) with a set that included surprise appearances
It was no surprise that Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke didn’t show up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony tonight at Barclays Center. In January, told Variety, “We don’t really understand it [the Hall of Fame], as English people. … We don’t really know what to make of it.” Guitarist Jonny Greenwood