Search Results for: Stevie Wonder

On Sunday, dozens of the world’s best-known entertainers gathered on the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” 45 years ago to offer an exuberant welcome to President-elect Barack Obama. U2 provided one of several emotional highs of the day, performing their tribute to King, “Pride (In the Name of Love),” during which Bono declared, “On Tuesday that dream comes to pass!” Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Beyoncé and Garth Brooks were among the A-list performers who helped set the joyful, optimistic tone at the concert, officially called “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural… Read more »

Television networks paid more than $5 million for exclusive rights to show events surrounding President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, including Sunday’s Lincoln Memorial concert and the Neighborhood Ball where Beyonce will serenade the new first couple.Nearly half the money, $2.5 million, will be paid by HBO. The cable network is showing Sunday’s concert – featuring U2, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and others – live and will repeat it that night. Obama’s inaugural committee said the Walt Disney Co. is paying $2 million to show Tuesday’s Neighborhood Ball on ABC and for a kids’ concert Monday on The Disney Channel. MTV is… Read more »

It’s been more than a year since Quincy Jones was tapped to serve as a culture and art consultant for the 2008 summer Olympic games in Beijing. But instead of artistic planning, he’s been focused on human rights. “I don’t pretend to be a politician,” the music impresario and longtime humanitarian told Jones, 75, has met with the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations and was scheduled to address a group of Chinese-American business and cultural leaders in Los Angeles Saturday to discuss his position on China’s role in the Darfur crisis. China has faced protests from various human-rights groups… Read more »

Barack Obama says his two daughters are fans of Hannah Montana and Beyonce, but think anything to do with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton is “yuck.” The Democratic presidential contender told celebrity magazine Us Weekly that his daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6, got to meet Beyonce backstage at a concert and “they just love her to death.” “They’re pretty down on Britney and Paris and all of that. They think that’s very `yuck,’” he said. As for his wife, Michelle, Obama said she has a star crush on Stevie Wonder. “I’ve been teasing her because Stevie fell off the… Read more »

Drummer Buddy Miles, who played with Jimi Hendrix in his short-lived group, Band of Gypsys, died at his home in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, his publicist said. Miles, who was 60, suffered from congestive heart failure, Duane Lee said on Wednesday. He did not know the official cause of death. With his bombastic style, the former teen prodigy helped develop such musical forms as funk metal and acid jazz thanks to his work with such guitarists as John McLaughlin, Mike Bloomfield and Carlos Santana. In 1967, he and Bloomfield co-founded Electric Flag, whose rock-brass sound influenced Chicago and Blood, Sweat… Read more »

Timbaland’s next musical collaboration might be a lullaby. The rapper-producer and fiancée Monique Idlett welcomed a baby girl a few days ago, People reported Tuesday. “They’re both really happy together,” a source told the magazine. “They’ve known each other for years.” Timbaland, whose real name is Tim Mosley, has hit the studio with a mind-boggling number of artists ranging from Dr. Dre to Duran Duran to Björk, but the visionary who helped bring “SexyBack” with Justin Timberlake hasn’t had much to say as far as his nonprofessional partnerships go. Although apparently he doesn’t mind taking a little business home with… Read more »

Amazon today launched a public beta of “Amazon MP3”, a new digital music download store with a huge selection of a la carte DRM-free MP3 music downloads. Amazon MP3 has over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels. Every song and album on Amazon MP3 is available exclusively in the MP3 format without DRM software. This means that Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, including PCs, Macs, iPods, Zunes, Zens, iPhones, RAZRs and BlackBerrys; organize their music using any music management application such… Read more »

31 minutes ago Avril Lavigne’s soundtrack pit stop “Keep Holding On” from “Eragon” — top 10 at adult top 40 and top 20 at mainstream top 40 — shows the softer side of the artist . . . and basically a lady-in-waiting before reigniting her full-on persona via third full-length “The Best Damn Thing,” due April 17. Its launch single, the signature pop-punk anthem “Girlfriend,” spits beats per minute like a chainsaw, as Lavigne fires off, “Hey! Hey! You! You!/I don’t like your girlfriend/I think you need a new one/Hey! Hey! You! You!/I could be your girlfriend.” Although she has… Read more »

LOS ANGELES – In the weeks leading up to the 49th Grammy Awards, many miles of verbiage were unspooled by slick-suited TV pundits and somewhat bitter music journalists to dissect, predict and pick apart music’s biggest night. But as the awards themselves actually unfolded, live from the Staples Center, it was the moments in which very little – if anything at all – was said that carried the most weight. Whether it was the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines simply – and somewhat fittingly – quoting “The Simpsons” in a kiss-off to the group’s many critics; Chris Brown’s footstep-perfect rendition of… Read more »

The Police came one step closer to confirming a reunion tour on Tuesday (January 30) when it was announced that the trio will kick off the February 11 Grammy Awards telecast. The group, led by Sting, has reportedly been rehearsing for a summer tour, and their opening slot at the 49th annual awards show seems to confirm that the announcement of the full-fledged reunion is on. As recently as last week, a spokesperson for the band – which also includes drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers – would not confirm the tour. The trio, which won five Grammys in… Read more »