The official story goes like this: On the last night of Jim Morrison’s life, the rocker went to a movie in Paris, listened to records, fell ill and died of heart failure in his bathtub at the age of 27. But rumors have always swirled around the death of The Doors frontman and, 36 years later, a former Paris nightclub manager is telling a different story. In a new book, Sam Bernett says that Morrison died in a toilet stall of his club after what he believes was a heroin overdose. He writes of his shock on finding Morrison’s body:… Read more »
Before the tour van and the record deal, before the girls begging for autographs, they were middle school mall rats who made a terrible racket practicing in their parents’ homes.
Season 3, Episode 11. Originally aired May 10, 2007. Special French Only Episode. Tell Pete Wentz happy birthday on June 5. It’s also the birthday of some guy in Simple Plan… Music by Vulgaires Machins, Dumas, Accrophone, Jean Leloup.
Among the legions of acts booked for this year’s South by Southwest Music and Media Conference and Festival March 14-18 in Austin, here are 10 that people will be talking about. THE PIPETTES Sure, the Pipettes revel in the ’60s girl group sounds of the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las. And yes, they even conjure up cool memories of British sister-in-song, the beehived Mari Wilson, who covered similar musical ground in the ’80s. Still, the trio, who hail from the British seaside town of Brighton, manage to make songs like “Pull Shapes,” “Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me” and “Dirty Mind”… Read more »
When Avril Lavigne released album No. 2 in 2004, the spunky teen pop star announced to the world that she was growing up. Gone were the baggy pants and skater-chick image that first earned Lavigne the media-christened nickname of “the anti-Britney.” On that year’s “Under My Skin,” punky anthems like “Sk8er Boi” were replaced largely with grammatically correct, midtempo teen-angst rockers. The album was released a few months shy of Lavigne’s 20th birthday, and the black-and-white Goth imagery made it clear that Lavigne was dealing with some intense late-teen issues. Today, Lavigne is done with all that. On April 17,… Read more »
The Australian singer Kylie Minogue and her boyfriend of four years have announced their separation. Minogue recently resumed performing after treatment for breast cancer diagnosed in 2005. In November, the 38-year-old singer told Elle magazine that her boyfriend, Olivier Martinez, had been an “incredible” support during her illness. She and Martinez, a 41-year-old French actor who was in “Before Night Falls” and the recently released “Blood and Chocolate,” confirmed the split in a statement late Friday. “They have made it clear that the decision to go their separate ways was mutual and amicable,” the statement said, adding that the pair… Read more »
Independent record labels behind artists like The White Stripes, Deep Purple and Arctic Monkeys announced a global deal Saturday to pool access to their catalogs, seeking to grab a bigger share of online music sales from the major record companies. Indies and their trade groups from more than a dozen countries signed up to Merlin, a nonprofit licensing agency that will cut deals on their behalf with download sites under the terms of the agreement unveiled at Midem, a music industry gathering in the French Riviera town of Cannes. Smaller record companies with just a handful of successful artists fear… Read more »
LOS ANGELES – Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris resents that MTV and other cable music channels built multibillion-dollar businesses around videos given away by record companies anxious to promote their artists. So when he saw his own grandson watching 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” video on Yahoo, it got him asking: “How much are we getting paid for that?” The answer – nothing – led Morris to pull all of Universal’s videos from the giant Web portal until it agreed to a licensing deal in 2005. He wrangled similar arrangements from Time Warner Inc.’s AOL and other Internet portals… Read more »
With the decade fast approaching it’s musical climax, 2006 proved to be a big winner for an industry hit by piracy. The live music scene proved to be the biggest release for most acts, with top grossing tours for some of the world’s biggest bands, and an explosion in music festivals across the globe. Firstly, let’s recap on albums were still waiting on from last year; OutKast’s first studio album since 2004’s “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (which was one of the year’s biggest releases) is rumoured now for the spring, and Guns N’ Roses failed to deliver on their promise of… Read more »
Berlin – German media group Bertelsmann AG said Thursday its profit rose sharply in 2004 thanks to strong performances by its television, music and media services businesses and lower writeoffs due to changed accounting rules. Earnings rose to 1.03 billion euros ($1.28 billion) from 154 million euros in 2003, while revenue rose 1.2 percent to 17.02 billion euros ($21.17). A company statement did not include fourth-quarter figures. The Guetersloh-based company credited a good showing by subsidiary RTL, Europe’s largest television broadcaster, which boosted earnings to 668 million euros ($831 million) from 503 million euros, helped by the company’s acquisition of… Read more »
