Search Results for: atlantic

Aretha Franklin is usually the headliner, but the Queen of Soul has agreed to a guest appearance on a live recording by Detroit-born saxophonist James Carter. Franklin’s participation is expected to give the recording a pop-culture glitter that could introduce Detroit jazz to a broader audience. “It’s an homage to what happens live when I’m in Detroit,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “I want to let folks know this is where I come from and that there’s still the jazz spirit here.” Carter, 32, said Wednesday he had not yet ironed out details with Franklin, but the singer had… Read more »

Thanks to the thumping, Britney-like hit “I Wanna Be Bad,” Willa Ford has made the transition from one of the most hated figures in pop music to one of its fastest rising stars. A child prodigy as a singer, the 20-year-old Ford – whose real name is Amanda Williford – first claimed fame as the girlfriend of Backstreet Boys cutie Nick Carter. For that she was vilified by jealous fans, who spread rumors about her mistreating Carter physically and emotionally. At one point before their breakup last October, there were more nearly four dozen anti-Willa chat groups operating on Yahoo!… Read more »

R. Kelly has tapped new R&B stars Sunshine Anderson and Syleena Johnson for a summer theater tour that kicks off July 1 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The singer’s “Fiesta” remix featuring Jay-Z is #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart. The original version appears on Kelly’s TP-2.com, which came out in November. On June 12 the singer will release TP-2.com – The Videos, a collection of music videos, interviews and other footage. Fellow Chicagoan Johnson’s “I Am Your Woman,” from her debut Chapter 1: Love, Pain & Forgiveness, was penned and produced by Kelly. Anderson’s “Heard It… Read more »

Two words of advice to struggling musicians who can’t get a record contract: Don’t bother. Or rather, take a page from the book of Uncle Kracker, the 26-year-old pop singer whose debut record hit the top 10 on U.S. album charts even though he calls himself “probably the least ambitious person you’ll meet.” Many budding rock stars dream of great power and wealth in the music business. Uncle Kracker – real name Matt Shafer – dreams of a life changing tires, fishing and gardening. For the time being, though, he is playing a bemused accidental rock star and is on… Read more »

The entertainment industry forged ahead in its quest to squash alleged piracy on the Web on Thursday as major music companies and several divisions of AOL Time Warner Inc filed copyright infringement suits against file-sharing service Aimster. Both of the suits launched against Aimster on Thursday were filed in a Manhattan federal court, with one being lodged on behalf of major record labels such as Vivendi Universal’s Universal Music, Sony Music, EMI Group Plc and Bertelsmann AG’s BMG. Recording industry sources said another lawsuit was filed against Launch Media Inc targeting the company’s Launchcast service for copyright violations. Officials from… Read more »

Ticketmaster, the world’s leading ticketing and access company, is teaming with multi-platinum Lava/Atlantic recording group Sugar Ray to offer fans two easy and convenient ways to access advanced tickets to their upcoming US summer tour. More than half of the ticket inventory, in all price ranges will be available through two online presales beginning Tuesday, May 22. The remainder of the inventory will be sold through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines, retail ticket centers and via ticketmaster.com during general on sale dates in each market. The return of Sugar Ray with their fourth Lava/Atlantic album, simply entitled “SUGAR RAY,” is one of… Read more »

Douglas Adams, the cult author who wrote “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” has died suddenly at the age of 49. Adams died of a heart attack on Friday at his home in Santa Barbara, California, his personal assistant Sophie Astin said. “It was a very sudden and unexpected death,” Astin told Reuters. Adams’ science fiction saga, about a group of galactic travelers who survive the demolition of earth to build a space by-pass, began life as a 1978 BBC Radio series. It was turned into best-selling novels, a TV series, record album, computer game and adapted for stage.… Read more »

Kid Rock has filed a lawsuit against a man who claims the Detroit rap rocker signed a contract with him in 1989, agreeing to split the proceeds of all future record album sales. Kid Rock, 30, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, filed suit against Alvin Williams in U.S. District Court this month, claiming that a purported Feb. 10, 1989, contract is a fraud. “This is completely bogus,” said William Horton, Kid Rock’s Troy-based attorney. “Where were they for 12 years?” Kid Rock grew up in Romeo, Mich., and worked as a disc jockey in the Detroit area before starting… Read more »

No Doubt are writing songs at a fever pitch for their next CD. The album, which the band hopes to release in October, will feature collaborations with Prince, Dr. Dre, the Neptunes, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, and Sly and Robbie. “We’ve never written with other people,” Gwen Stefani says. “We wanted to get in a room and see what kind of cultural collisions happened. I want this record to be short, simple, fun and danceable.” Building on an existing track produced by Dr. Dre, the band wrote “Wicked Day” spontaneously in the studio. Another song – the Dave Stewart-produced “Underneath It… Read more »

After five albums for Atlantic, Bad Religion is returning to Epitaph Records, the label owned by Brett Gurewitz, a founding member of the 21-year-old punk band. Gurewitz has also rejoined the band in a writing capacity, according to a source. Bad Religion recorded its first seven studio albums for Epitaph before signing to Atlantic in 1993; Gurewitz left the L.A.-based act in 1994 to focus on Epitaph, which was enjoying its first mainstream success with the Offspring’s “Smash.” The group is writing and recording material for its next album, but no release date has yet been targeted. Bad Religion recently… Read more »