Music

Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless and Bob McDill will be the Country Music Hall of Fame’s three 2023 inductees, it was announced in a news conference at the hall’s museum in Nashville Monday morning. Tucker will be inducted into the hall in the “Veterans Era Artist” category, while Loveless will get her entree in the “Modern

The wheels are not close to coming off the “Carpool Karaoke” franchise, as a series of new episodes was announced Monday morning for Apple TV+, featuring stars ranging from pop singer Avril Lavigne to TV star Sheryl Lee Ralph to current Broadway queen Lea Michele. The eight new “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” episodes will bow

During the opening monologue at Sunday night’s CMT Music Awards, broadcast from Austin on CBS, there was a comedic bit in which Kelsea Ballerini and Kane Brown exchanged anniversary presents to celebrate their cohosting of the show for the third consecutive time. Brown gave Ballerini a cowboy hat, and she reciprocated by giving him a

A couple of members of a fresh generation of country music — Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson — came away as the top victors at Sunday night’s CMT Music Awards, broadcast live from Austin for the first time. But the biggest winners may have been CMT and CBS, putting the three-hour telecast on the map

“American Idol” may be a platform for aspiring unknown singers to showcase their talent outside of their bedrooms, but some contestants may have an advantage over others: being born into famous families. Season 21 has already shown several so-called “Nepo Babies” — contestants with ties to the entertainment business — competing for the crown, including

Seymour Stein, whose Sire Records launched Madonna’s career and signed such early punk rock and new wave icons as the Ramones and Talking Heads, died Sunday morning in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, his daughter Mandy confirms to Variety. He was 80.  Though Stein’s imprint, which he co-founded in New York in 1966,

Ryuichi Sakamoto, the influential electronic music composer and member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra who won an Oscar for the score for “The Last Emperor” and composed the haunting score for “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,” died Tuesday of cancer at 71. A statement from his management company said, “He lived with music until the very

A roof collapse at the Apollo Theater in Belvidere, Ill. left at least one concertgoer dead and dozens more injured on Friday evening. The Apollo Theater was hosting “The United States of Terror” tour, headlined by four heavy metal bands — Crypta, Revocation, Skeletal Remains and Morbid Angel. After Crypta’s set, the venue made an

The Cure‘s Robert Smith continues his long-drawn-out battle against the many monetary hurdles of the ticketing world — this time, he’s taking on secondary resale websites. Just a few weeks ago, Smith was able to secure several refunds from Ticketmaster for fans looking to catch the British band on their forthcoming “Lost World” tour. Now,

Jean-Michel Basquiat was the quintessential New York City artist during his life and after his death. So the arrival of the exhibition Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure© at the Grand LA in the heart of downtown Los Angeles is a welcome one for those left-coasters who couldn’t catch the display at RXR’s Starrett-Lehigh Building in New

“What the Hell Happened to Blood Sweat & Tears?” is the question filmmaker John Scheinfeld (“Chasing ‘Trane,” “The U.S. vs. John Lennon”) asked the band’s co-founder and industry acolyte Bobby Colomby over lunch just two months before COVID. The story Colomby told him that day turned into a compelling documentary that serves as the perfect

If “Call Me If You Get Lost” was Tyler, the Creator’s Tour de France, then “The Estate Sale” must be his victory lap. Deluxe albums have become commonplace within hip-hop since Lil Uzi Vert’s release of “Eternal Atake (Deluxe) – LUV vs. The World 2” in 2020. Many artists have followed suit, tacking a few

A short film that actor-turned-director Kristen Stewart made with the group Boygenius got an official Hollywood sendoff Thursday night at the El Rey Theatre, with a film premiere that also doubled as a launch party for the indie-rock trio’s new album, “The Record.” In keeping with Boygenius’ matter-of-fact naming tendencies, the short is titled simply

Oscar Isaac and Gaby Moreno pay homage to their Guatemalan roots with a stripped-down rendition of the classic waltz anthem, “Luna de Xelajú.” The lead single off Moreno’s upcoming album arrived Friday alongside a music video directed by Diego Contreras (Fireland) which sees the two guitarists and singers performing the track in one take at

This op-ed is jointly signed by the advocacy organizations the Songwriters of North America (SONA), the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), and the Music Artists Coalition (MAC). If you love songwriters and hate the many ways songwriters are underpaid, paid slowly, or not paid at all, please read the following: There is between $700-$800 million

Three male suspects were arrested Thursday in connection with the alleged assault and robbery of rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine at a Florida gym last week, law-enforcement officials announced Thursday. The suspects – Rafael Medina, Jr., 43, Octavious Medina, 23, and Anthony Maldonado, 25 – were in custody, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet late Thursday.

Two years ago, Israeli singer-songwriter Hadar Sopher was in a long-distance relationship that went suddenly awry. “My girlfriend was supposed to catch a train to come for the weekend, and she called me and said, ‘Yo, I’m sorry, I’m not gonna go on the train,’” recalls Sopher of that fateful phone call. “She said, ‘We

The three women of Boygenius — Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker — have made alluding to their forebears a hallmark of their band. Witness the cover of their first EP in 2018, when they re-created the casual iconography of the debut album sleeve of a prior supergroup — Crosby, Stills & Nash —

The New York music scene is a bustling playground for the industry’s most eager power players. Ready to face the evolving landscape head-on, the executives featured in Variety’s larger New York Women’s Impact Report (see the full report here) are navigating everything from accelerating advances in technology to global takeovers. Here we highlight the achievements

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Lollapalooza may boast the most star-studded lineup out of all the music festivals slated for the rest of 2023. So if you haven’t snagged your tickets, you’ll want to act fast before they sell

Brian “Brizz” Gillis, one of the founders of the ’90s boy band LFO, died Wednesday, sources close to the singer confirmed to Variety. He was 47. LFO member Brad Fischetti was the first official source to comment on the death in an Instagram tribute post. “Every story is made up of chapters. Some develop naturally.

Universal Music Group announced on Wednesday that its Board of Directors has extended the contract of Lucian Grainge, the company’s chairman and CEO, until May 1, 2028. According to the announcement, the “extended and amended” agreement transitions Grainge from an all-cash compensation package to one that is a combination of equity and cash and includes an

Nearly two months after a Los Angeles jury found Tory Lanez guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet during an altercation in July 2020, the Canadian rapper has requested a new trial. Lanez’s legal team is now claiming that the judge assigned to the case “erroneously allowed” jurors to assess a September 2020

When Gabe Saporta aligned with Atlantic in 2007 via his band Cobra Starship’s deal with Fueled by Ramen/Decaydence, he’d already been through two other major-label systems and wasn’t overly optimistic things would be much different this time around. Much to his surprise, “Atlantic was unique in always letting us be our weird little selves,” helping

A candlelight vigil in Nashville Wednesday night drew hundreds to grieve the victims of the mass school shooting which claimed six lives earlier this week, with local residents Sheryl Crow and Margo Price among those offering performances as part of the public grieving. The event was relatively brief — only about half an hour —

BMG posted its strongest year of growth in 2022, with annual revenues of $911 million (up 30% over last year) and made more than $400 million worth of acquisitions in the booming catalog market, the company announced Thursday in its annual earnings report. The company’s annual operating EBITDA was up by more than 35% to

As expected, a new hard rock festival called Power Trip, from the founders of Coachella, has announced its lineup: Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Tool. It will take place at Coachella’s home base of the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif., Oct. 6-8. Basically all of the news that leaked

Amazon Music is paying tribute to hip-hop’s vast influence on music, culture, and society with “50 & Forever,” a program in celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, intended to honor the music’s legacy and champion the artists writing the next 50 years of its history. Created by Rotation — the hip-hop and R&B brand from Amazon

Nadya Tolokonnikova, the founder of the politically charged punk group Pussy Riot, has been named one of Russia’s most wanted criminal suspects. The news first appeared on the outlet Mediazona, an independent news site founded by the band to cover the country’s courts, law enforcement, and prison systems in an effort to combat Russia’s growing

Keith Reid, lyricist for the British group Procol Harum and co-writer of the iconic 1960s hit “Whiter Shade of Pale,” died on March 23 after a battle with cancer, according to a post on the band’s website. He was 76. Reid’s acclaim with Procol Harum — from its eponymously-titled 1967 debut album until 2003’s “The