Country artists love to talk about getting out of their comfort zone. But for many who have had a taste of mainstream success, especially on don’t-rock-the-boat country radio, it usually means nothing more revolutionary than changing their shirt. Beginning back in 2012 with “Don’t Ya,” Brett Eldredge amassed a string …
Read More »The Naked Cowboy Won't Let COVID-19 Derail His 20-Year Career
It used to take Robert Burck (a.k.a. the Naked Cowboy) an hour and a half to get from his home in Queens to Times Square, where he has been performing in his skivvies for 20 years. In the age of COVID-19 and social-distancing, he can clock into work, metaphorically, in …
Read More »'Sergio' Review: Portrait of a U.N. Peacemaker as Real-Life Superhero
If a movie about geopolitics centered around the true story of “Sergio” Vieira de Mello, a United Nations diplomat from Brazil, doesn’t strike you as must-viewing during a pandemic, you couldn’t be more wrong. What better time to celebrate a man who put human rights above politics as usual? Sergio, …
Read More »Flashback: Paul McCartney Sings 'Let It Be' With David Bowie, Pete Townshend at Live Aid
It was 50 years ago this month that Paul McCartney told the world that the Beatles had broken up. “Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family,” he wrote in a “self-interview” that accompanied the release of his debut …
Read More »What the Music Business Can Learn from Disney+'s Subscriber Success
By and large, major music companies will be thankful not to be Disney right now. The “Happiest Place on Earth” has had fair reason for glumness of late, due to the economic turmoil evinced by, you guessed it, the knock-on effects of COVID-19. Disney’s annual revenue in fiscal 2019 stood …
Read More »Paul McCartney's Handwritten 'Hey Jude' Lyrics Sell for $910,000 at Beatles Auction
Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics for “Hey Jude,” used in the studio when the Beatles recorded the 1968 classic, sold for $910,000 at auction Friday. The lyric sheet, which McCartney used during the July 1968 recording session at London’s Trident Studios and then gifted to a studio engineer, had a pre-auction …
Read More »Iggy Pop Preps 7-CD 'The Bowie Years' Box Set
Iggy Pop’s fruitful collaboration with David Bowie in Berlin, Germany — resulting in the Stooges singer’s acclaimed 1977 solo albums The Idiot and Lust for Life — will be the focus of an upcoming 7-CD box set. The Bowie Years features The Idiot and Lust for Life and the 1978 …
Read More »Alice Cooper, DMC, Megadeth Members Lead Grammy Music Ed Fundraiser
A cadre of music’s heaviest hitters will lead the Grammy Music Education Coalition’s nine-hour fundraising telethon, dubbed Oh Say Can You Stream, on Saturday. Alice Cooper, DMC and host Megadeth‘s David Ellefson will all make appearances during the broadcast, which will take place at 4 p.m. ET on several online …
Read More »Charlotte Figi, Poster Child for Medicinal Benefits of CBD, Dead at 13
Charlotte Figi — the young girl who became a leading symbol for the medical benefits of cannabis and CBD after it helped treat her rare form of epilepsy — died Wednesday. She was 13. Figi’s death was confirmed in a message posted on her mother Paige’s Facebook page by a …
Read More »Hal Willner, Music Producer and Longtime 'SNL' Music Supervisor, Dead at 64
Hal Willner — the respected producer who worked with Lou Reed and Marianne Faithfull, was a long-time Saturday Night Live staffer and compiled a series of offbeat and creative all-star tribute albums — died Tuesday at the age of 64. A rep for Willner confirmed the producer’s death to Rolling …
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