Search Results for: atlantic

New York – Jerry Wexler is the classic record business guy. For more than three decades, Wexler, as co-owner of Atlantic Records and later senior VP at Warner Bros. Records, signed and worked with scores of vocalists and instrumentalists, and produced some of the greatest rock and soul records ever made. Now 86 and long retired, Wexler is still applauded as an insightful producer, crafty deal-maker and promoter, divining rod of hit songs and occasional writer of songs and liner notes. “He is one of my greatest heroes,” Sire Records founder Seymour Stein says. “Jerry is a consummate record man… Read more »

Los Angeles – Given such song titles as “Baby Hold on to Me,” “Can You Handle It,” “The G Spot” and “U Got That Love,” the general theme of Gerald Levert’s music is easy to divine. His brand of sensuous R&B has provided romantic sustenance to a devoted fan base ever since his 1991 solo debut, “Private Line.” But Levert takes an unexpected turn on his eighth solo outing, “Do I Speak for the World?” As the title implies, the Nov. 30 release finds the 38-year-old singer/songwriter/producer pursuing more socially conscious topics: patriotism, activism, religion and the future of mankind.… Read more »

New York, Ny – Punk superstars Simple Plan saw plenty of action as their new album Still Not Getting Any…soared to the top of the charts. The band’s sophomore album entered the Billboard Top 200 at #3 (trailing closely behind hard core rappers Jay Z/R. Kelly and Trick Daddy.) The album, with sales of 139,928, marks the band’s highest chart position to date and the highest rock debut this week. In addition to their monstrous success stateside, Still Not Getting Any…topped the chart in their native Canada at #2 and was the #3 top selling album in Japan. “Simple Plan… Read more »

Brandy is bidding adios to her longtime record label, Atlantic Records, her publicist said Monday. The news might have something to do with the “Top of the World” chantuese no longer being, well, on top of the world. Once a staple of MTV and urban radio, the 25-year-old R&B singer has recently been eclipsed by a new crop of teenage divas. Despite solid reviews and a huge promotional push from Atlantic this past summer for her fourth release on the label, Afrodisiac, the disc quickly disappeared from the upper echelons of Billboard ‘s pop charts after a number three debut… Read more »

Record labels have historically invested significant financial resources toward new acts’ touring efforts, whether it be $20,000 for a regional van trek or $200,000 for a national bus outing. But in today’s world of shrinking revenue and tight budgets, tour support funds – though almost always recoupable against album sales – are becoming harder to come by. “There’s not as much money at any level, whether it’s signing bonuses, (recording) albums, tour support or anything else,” says Tim DuBois, senior partner of Nashville-based record label Universal South, home of such ascts as Pat Green and Joe Nichols. “But even in… Read more »

Whisps of fake fog spilled from the stage and dissipated into a light breeze rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean as 7,000 satisfied fans shuffled toward Nathan’s Hot Dogs, the Wonder Wheel or the D-train. So ended the beginning of the end for Phish, who performed Thursday and Friday at Coney Island’s baseball stadium beside the sea, KeySpan Park. The shows launched the band’s farewell tour, which will culminate August 14 and 15 at a festival in Phish’s home state of Vermont. But fans didn’t let any sadness show at these gigs: Even when the sky opened up and drenched… Read more »

The unclassifiable rock band Coheed and Cambria has signed with Columbia Records, who, in conjunction with Equal Vision Records, will re-issue the group’s watershed album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, on Tuesday, June 29. One of the biggest indie band breakout stories of the year, Coheed and Cambria, already legendary for delivering incandescent live performances, will be among the headliners on this year’s Vans Warped Tour. Coheed and Cambria is: Claudio Sanchez (lead vocals, guitar), Michael Todd (bass, backing vocals), Travis Stever (lead guitar, backing vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, backing vocals). Officially christened Coheed and Cambria in 2001,… Read more »

Ray Charles, the Grammy-winning crooner who blended gospel and blues in such crowd-pleasers as “What’d I Say” and ballads like “Georgia on My Mind,” died Thursday, a spokesman said. He was 73. Charles died at his Beverly Hills home surrounded by family and friends, said spokesman Jerry Digney. Charles’ last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April 30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singer’s studios, built 40 years ago in central Los Angeles, as a historic landmark. Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, Charles spent his life shattering any notion of musical boundaries… Read more »

Australian rock band the Vines, who have gained a reputation for delivering erratic performances, have backed out of their planned support spot on Incubus’ summer North American tour, citing “mental and physical exhaustion.” The band was thrust into disarray following a recent performance for a Sydney radio station, when bassist Patrick Matthews walked out following the first song. A full show the next evening was promptly canceled. “The decision has been made to take a break to deal with the mental and physical exhaustion issues the band currently face(s),” the group said in a statement. “The Vines have not broken… Read more »

The newly private Warner Music Group, having significantly reduced its worldwide staff, is now turning its cost-cutting efforts toward its artists. As part of the integration of Atlantic and Elektra into one label, Warner Music Group’s new management team is looking at the artist roster with the goal of paring it “from 180 to below 100,” says WMG U.S. Recorded Music chairman/CEO Lyor Cohen. The company is attempting to get the roster down to a size that’s in proportion with the organization and respectful of the acts remaining on the roster, Cohen says. It’s unclear which specific artists might get… Read more »