Search Results for: atlantic

Sam Phillips demurs when it’s suggested that rock ‘n’ roll was invented at his Sun Records label during the 1950s. But he does acknowledge there was a whole lotta shakin’ going on in Memphis thanks to the music he created there with the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and others. “I do know this – it changed the world and it opened up a lot of doors,” Phillips said in a recent interview. “I’m happy we were able to contribute, at least in my opinion, to what music has done and is… Read more »

The tension is palpable at Universal Studios as USA Networks CEO Barry Diller considers merging his media empire with the studio’s Vivendi Universal parent. “All we know for sure is that Barry Diller is going to be a helluva lot richer a week from now,” said one senior studio executive who was about to attend the Universal Christmas Party. Vivendi Universal, seeking an elusive U.S. distribution outlet for its array of television and film assets, said on Tuesday it was in talks to buy the entertainment assets of USA, which is about 40%-owned by the French company. Whatever Diller does,… Read more »

Recipients of the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and Trustees Awards were announced today by Michael Greene, President/CEO of the Recording Academy. Pianist and band leader Count Basie and recording artists Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Al Green, and Joni Mitchell will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards. Engineer/producer Tom Dowd and original rock disc jockey Alan Freed will be honored with Trustees Awards. Formal acknowledgment of the awards will be made in conjunction with the 44th Annual GRAMMY ® Awards ceremony, which willbe held at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The show will be a prime-time television special on… Read more »

As troubled as her All for You tour may have been, Janet Jackson has decided to take it back out on the road. The singer will perform 10 dates across the U.S. in January and February, culminating with a Hawaii show on February 17 to be broadcast live on HBO. The first All for You trek seemed plagued by problems from the moment it began – or the moment it was supposed to begin. Opening night was postponed because an important part of her stage equipment didn’t arrive at the venue on time. Later, dates were canceled after Jackson needed… Read more »

You’d think that after spending half the year sweltering under masks and heavy jumpsuits, the members of Slipknot would use their time off to cool down. The wild Iowans aren’t exactly known to be sedentary creatures, however. Not only are a few of the guys working on side projects and solo endeavors, but the nine-headed hydra of hard are also on their way to becoming industry moguls. Maggot Recordings, which takes its name from the term of endearment classifying the band’s fans, has signed its first act, Downthesun. The sextet is led by two vocalists, one of whom, Satone Stevens,… Read more »

A one-of-a-kind Gibson electric guitar, made especially for Lava/Atlantic recording artist Kid Rock, is missing and presumed stolen. The guitar, a new Gibson SG model custom-painted in a “stars and stripes” motif, was discovered missing by customs inspectors overseas, where Kid Rock arrived this week on his way to an undisclosed location to perform for U.S. servicemen and women as part of an MTV/USO holiday television special.            The guitar was last seen at Kid Rock’s Michigan studio, where it was packed in a large case with a number of other guitars and then transported to… Read more »

George Harrison’s landmark album “All Things Must Pass” is flying off the shelves and up the charts on a wave of nostalgia after his death from cancer last week. “There has been a very significant sales rise since Friday. If this continues it will move into the top 40 of the album charts,” Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for leading British record retailer HMV, told Reuters Monday. The album, featuring the mystical “My Sweet Lord” – the first No. 1 single by a solo Beatle – was first released in late 1970 but was digitally remastered and re-released earlier this year before… Read more »

Five artistic legends sat alongside President Bush in Washington’s top theater on Sunday night, and were starry-eyed themselves as political and Hollywood heavyweights paid tribute to their glittering careers. Actress Julie Andrews, pianist Van Cliburn, music maestro Quincy Jones, actor Jack Nicholson and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti received the Kennedy Center Honors for their contributions to American culture. “The recipients for 2001 make quite a collection…. As one newspaper put it in the headline, this year’s honorees can carry a tune and then there’s Jack,” Bush told them at a White House reception before the gala. “Perhaps it’s a nice… Read more »

The music industry finally received the holiday gift it had been hoping for this week, as the album charts got a formidable one-two punch from alt-rock superstars Creed and the perennially popular “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilation series. “Weathered” (Wind-Up), Creed’s follow-up to the platinum blockbuster “Human Clay,” sold nearly 900,000 copies its first time out, according to SoundScan data for the week ended Nov. 27. Those numbers made “Weathered” the biggest bow since ‘N Sync’s “Celebrity” shifted 1.9 million out of the gate last summer. Nipping at Creed’s heels was the eighth installment of the “Now” series… Read more »

For certain punks, there was no Bad Religion from 1996 through 2001. During that dark period, co-songwriter Brett Gurewitz split the seminal act he co-created with his pals in high school. He was disenchanted with the band’s major-label deal (at Atlantic), overwhelmed by the sudden hugeness of Epitaph – the label he founded to release Bad Religion records and eventually home to Rancid and the Offspring – and increasingly strung out on smack. The band would release two albums in his absence, both guided solely by the vision of Gurewitz’s estranged collaborator, Greg Graffin. Both records – 1996’s Gray Race… Read more »