Search Results for: billy joel

Forget J-Lo’s naval and Eminem’s foul mouth. The 44th annual Grammy Awards Wednesday had weightier issues to contend with as artists and performers sought to soothe the nation with humor and song after a year of turmoil within the music industry and in the United States. From heightened security, to performers’ songs and to host Jon Stewart’s jokes, the devastating attacks on America of Sept. 11 hovered in the background of the music industry’s most glamorous night. When Stewart came onstage at the Staples Center, he walked through a dummy metal detector, which gonged off and sent huge security guards… Read more »

As a pop star protest against “indentured servitude” by penny pinching record companies grew to near-deafening decibel levels on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s Grammy Awards, the music industry roared back. Led by Don Henley and Sheryl Crow, the Recording Artists Coalition has been demanding changes to a California law that ties musicians longer to contracts than in other industries. Their efforts reached a crescendo Tuesday night with four Los Angeles protest concerts featuring such stars as the Eagles, Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks, Crow, No Doubt, The Offspring, The Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, Beck, and Eddie Vedder. But music labels, production… Read more »

The Eagles, Billy Joel, No Doubt, the Dixie Chicks, Eddie Vedder and others are playing a series of benefit concerts the night before Wednesday’s Grammy Awards for a unique cause: each other. The four Los Angeles concerts Tuesday, to benefit the Recording Artists Coalition, represent a shot across the bow of the recording industry from the people whose work it markets. The artists are demanding new relations with record labels, including fairer contracts and more oversight of accounting practices. “It’s time that the artistic community grows up,” said singer Don Henley, who urged artists not to ignore the business of… Read more »

Pop stars, led by Courtney Love and Don Henley, have been talking to members of the California state legislature about probing music industry accounting practices, lawmakers and artists said this week. Henley, frontman for veteran rock band the Eagles, has been leading a group of recording artists lobbying for repeal of a loophole in state labor law they claim gives record companies unfair commercial control over performers’ careers. More recently, Democratic members of both the California Assembly and Senate have spoken to Henley and his supporters about launching a legislative probe into the broader issues of record company accounting practices,… Read more »

Elton John has signed on to perform at the NBA’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia next month. John will first play “Philadelphia Freedom” as the 2002 All-Stars take the floor at the First Union Center as part of specially choreographed introductions before tip-off. He will then return at the game’s halftime to play two songs-his latest single, “This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore,” and 1983’s “I’m Still Standing.” The NBA All-Star Game will air live on NBC in the U.S. and CTV in Canada starting at 5 p.m. ET on February 10. It will air in a total of 210 countries… Read more »

Beck, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, and Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness have been added to an already impressive list of top-shelf acts that will perform in Los Angeles on February 26 to help raise funds for the Recording Artists Coalition (RAC). However, LAUNCH has learned that Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, and Rob Zombie are no longer participating in the potentially historic night of music. Beck, Vedder, and Ness will co-headline a show at the Wiltern Theater. Playing elsewhere on the same night, for the same cause, will be the Eagles, Billy Joel, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Nicks at the… Read more »

A California state senator on Monday launched a legislative assault against the music industry on behalf of recording stars like Courtney Love and Don Henley who have been crusading to free artists from record company control. California State Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) Monday introduced the bill to repeal an amendment won by the music industry in 1987 that keeps recording artists tied to personal contracts longer than talent in other industries like film and television. In announcing the bill at the Future of Music conference in Washington, D.C., Murray said the artist community should take its cue from the… Read more »

The rock band U2 had the second biggest tour ever during a year in which concert industry business was off but ticket prices continued to rise, an industry trade publication said Thursday. The top 100 concert tours sold 34.4 million tickets in 2001, down about 7 percent from 37.1 million the year before, according to an analysis by Pollstar magazine. U2, coming off one of its strongest albums, sold out arenas across the country with a well-received back-to-basics show. They even added dates after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The band’s $109.7 million in estimated ticket sales is second only… Read more »

When it came to the year-end concert-grossing chart, there was no way U2 were gonna get left behind. The band’s Elevation Tour ranked as the top money- maker of 2001, bringing in $143 million, according to a report by Amusement Business. The band’s earnings eclipsed those of its competitors, largely because U2 played a whopping 113 arena concerts across the globe. ‘NSYNC and Backstreet Boys took the #2 and #3 slots on the list with strikingly similar earnings – $90.2 million for ‘NSYNC, $89.8 million for Backstreet Boys. Interestingly, ‘NSYNC played less than half the number of gigs as Backstreet,… Read more »

After three months of heartfelt September 11 benefits, lots of musicians, including Ozzy Osbourne, No Doubt, Korn, Weezer and Elton John, are starting to focus once again on their own financial concerns. A bunch of successful musicians from a variety of genres have united to organize four simultaneous benefit concerts for the Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), a group that seeks to create more equitable standards for recording musicians. Billed the Concerts for Artists Rights, the four shows will take place in the greater Los Angeles and Orange County, California, areas on February 26, the night before the 44th annual Grammy… Read more »