The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll wants to make Broadway part of her kingdom. “Tina,” a new musical based on the life and career of Tina Turner, will debut in New York City in the fall of 2019. A number of elements still have to come together, including casting, performance dates, and a decision on
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Riz Ahmed has more than just the release of “Venom” to celebrate this week. Earlier today, the actor-rapper dropped his latest single, the politically charged “Mogambo.” “We’re living in crazy times, a lot of people feeling unseen, unheard, unwanted, and really — the track is saying, a lot of people might not want us here,
In 1968, the Rolling Stones were at the proverbial crossroads. They were one of the world’s two greatest rock bands, but the preceding months would have decimated a less tenacious group of individuals. Three Stones — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones — had been arrested on drug charges and narrowly avoided long prison
St. Vincent fans in Los Angeles got to attend an album preview show Tuesday night… they just didn’t know it until immediately after the show was over. The singer performed a piano-and-voice only set with pianist Thomas Bartlett, consisting mostly of stripped-down arrangements of songs from last year’s “Masseduction” album. She didn’t talk about a
Geoff Emerick, the Beatles chief recording engineer who worked on some of the band’s most seminal albums, has died according to his manager William Zabaleta. He was 72 and believed to have suffered a heart attack. Said Zabaleta in a statement to Variety: “Today at around 2’o’clock, I was making my way back from Arizona to
A man was charged Tuesday with allegedly targeting and burglarizing celebrity homes, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. Tyress Williams, 19, of Los Angeles faces four felony counts of first-degree residential burglary, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors say the defendant burglarized four residences: singer Tota Matthieu’s (commonly known as M. Pokora) home on Aug.
October 2, 2018 12:16PM PT A feud is born. On Oct. 5, two films will premiere: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” and Tom Hardy’s “Venom.” Despite the fact that “A Star Is Born” has already drummed up significant hype, garnering a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and awards buzz, Gaga’s fan
October 2, 2018 12:15PM PT The late rapper gets the celebration he deserves, on Halloween. In life, Pittsburgh-born rapper and producer Mac Miller long faced struggles with drugs and the loneliness of isolation that comes with those problems. Since his September 7 death at age 26, the hip-hop community that loved and respected him and
When Bob Dylan’s management team first approached playwright Conor McPherson to create a theater piece using Dylan’s songs, the Irish playwright didn’t exactly leap at the chance. “My first reaction is that it was kind of a bad idea,” McPherson said on the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety‘s theater podcast. But then, as he was taking
October 2, 2018 9:10AM PT Brandy Contreras has been promoted to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations for Caroline, company president Jacqueline Saturn announced today. Caroline is the independent distribution and label services division of Capitol Music Group. According to the announcement, in her new role Contreras is charged with
Neda Azarfar has resigned as VP of marketing communications, of the Recording Academy, and will serve as a consultant until the end of the year, the organization confirmed. She tells Variety that she aims to pursue a career in philanthropic work, which was a significant focus of her four years at the Academy. “I’m grateful to
October 2, 2018 6:29AM PT Other performers on the show include Cardi B, Halsey, Khalid, Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood and Post Malone. Taylor Swift will open the 2018 American Music Awards, the singer announced Tuesday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” In her first awards show performance in almost three years, Swift will sing “I Did
Katy Perry is adding another award to her trophy case. The pop star will be honored by amfAR at its annual Los Angeles gala on Oct. 18 with a Courage Award, along with Toms founder Blake Mycoskie. The two are being recognized for their “profound commitment to the fight against AIDS, as well as countless other humanitarian causes.”
October 2, 2018 6:00AM PT For Variety’s latest issue, we asked Michelle Williams to write a tribute to Cardi B, one of 50 people to make our New Power of New York list. Here’s why Cardi B, the breakout rapper and songwriter, represents a new generation of movers and shakers that capture the best of
Sara Bareilles is going to write New York City a love song — figuratively speaking, at least. “When people say, ‘You seem so East Coast,’ I was always like” — she lowers her voice to a whisper — “‘Thank you.’” It appears that while you can take the girl out of California, you can also
As it does in many places, money runs uphill in the tony New York suburb of Montclair, New Jersey. And as our car ascends the mountain that inspired the town’s name, the houses and yards get bigger, the streets more tree-lined, until we’re deposited in front of an imposing beige mansion. On the sprawling front
Trailing clouds of glory from runs at London’s Old Vic and on the West End, Conor McPherson’s Depression-era treatment of classic Bob Dylan material vividly transforms individual songs into an extended cohesive narrative about America adrift in hard times. In this production now playing at Off Broadway’s Public Theater, songs like “Slow Train” and “Duquesne Whistle”
If you love Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith and Betty Carter and you live in the 2010s, you have a pretty clear choice about what to do with your buying choices: keep picking up reissues of Vaughan, Fitzgerald, Holliday, Smith and Carter. Hold on and check that, though — we now have
October 1, 2018 2:58PM PT She’s credited with shaping campaigns for The Weeknd and Post Malone. Marleny Dominguez-Reyes has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Marketing at Republic Records, the label’s Executive Vice President and General Manager Jim Roppo announced today. She is credited with shaping innovative 360-degree marketing campaigns for Republic artists The Weeknd
It looks like fans of Kanye West will have one more reason to get up early on Black Friday. Kim Kardashian West tweeted that her husband’s latest project, “Yandhi,” will drop on Nov. 23, almost a month after its initial release date Sept. 29. This will be West’s third album this year, following “Ye” and
Ray Andersen, who moonlights as popular children’s entertainer Mr. Ray, was born into a love of music, having grown up in the iconic Pleasant Valley Way home immortalized in the Monkees’ 1967 hit “Pleasant Valley Sunday” by previous owners, and award-winning songwriters, Carole King and Gerry Goffin. No wonder his 13-year-old daughter also caught the
Pat Magnarella Management today announced it has relaunched as GRNDVW (pronounced “groundview”) and expanded to offer record label and publishing services through partnerships with The Orchard and Big Deal Music. Veteran music managers Pat Magnarella and Graham Martin will serve as co-presidents of the company’s new label and publishing branches, and continue to manage artists
October 1, 2018 10:19AM PT Nearly a year after his hiring was officially announced, Aaron Bay-Schuck has taken the helm as CEO and co-chairman of Warner Bros. Records. He was previously president of A&R at Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records and had been riding out the remainder of his contract with that label. His appointment with COO/co-chairman Tom
October 1, 2018 8:13AM PT Sigur Ros drummer Orri Páll Dýrason has left the band in the wake of sexual-assault allegations against him, according to a post on the band’s Facebook page. Meagan Boyd, a Los Angeles musician who records as Yin Shadowz, recently wrote an Instagram post accusing the drummer of sexually assaulting her while she
UPDATED: Cardi B surrendered to police in New York on Monday morning and received a summons in connection with a fight at a New York strip club, according to the Associated Press. She was charged with two misdemeanors, assault and reckless endangerment, had a mug shot taken and was fingerprinted, according to TMZ. Sources told TMZ
Twenty One Pilots, The Killers, Muse, Weezer, Rise Against, Bishop Briggs and The Revivalists will headline iHeartRadio’s second annual ALTer Ego concert, the company announced today. The show will take place at the Forum in Los Angeles on Jan. 19, 2019. “This will be one of the strongest alternative performance lineups to ever appear on one stage,” said Tom Poleman, Chief Programming Officer
Attendees of Asbury Park’s inaugural Sea. Hear. Now. Festival were treated to a surprise guest during Social Distortion’s set Sunday night (Sept. 30) — none other than local legend Bruce Springsteen. Social D singer Mike Ness set the mood by introducing that a guest would join the group to “sing a song or two.” “Do
Thank heaven Norah Jones ditched jazz… and thank the stars she came back. Not that she ever entirely went away, or probably cares about our genre distinctions much anyway, but her sold-out show at L.A.’s Theatre at Ace Hotel this week felt like a sort of homecoming, making good live on what she’d delivered on
UPDATED: Although a falling security fence received the initial blame, a different culprit has been officially identified as the source of the startling sound that created panic at Saturday’s seventh annual Global Citizen Festival in Central Park. The event nearly turned into a catastrophe when attendees, thinking that gunshots were fired at 7:35 p.m., stampeded away
September 30, 2018 8:55AM PT Otis Rush, a legendary Chicago blues guitarist whose work influenced the likes of Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton, has died. He was 84. Rush’s manager Rick Bates confirmed his death to the Associated Press. He said it was as a result of complications from a 2003 stroke. Rush, who began