Search Results for: between you & me

John Houston, the father of singer Whitney Houston and a theatrical manager since the early days of rhythm and blues, died Sunday after a long battle with diabetes and heart disease. He was 82. Houston died at a New York hospital, family spokeswoman Nancy Seltzer said Monday. She said Houston’s health had been deteriorating for several years. Well before his daughter’s rise to fame, Houston managed the career of her mother and his ex-wife, Cissy Houston. She sang with The Sweet Inspirations, a backing vocal group to artists including Aretha Franklin. Relations between Houston and his daughter, who has acknowledged… Read more »

Could 2003 be the year that EMI finally finds a mate? Frenzied gossip among executives at this year’s Midem music industry conference on the French Riviera would suggest so. As a new group of suitors eyes the EMI dowry, which includes the Beatles back catalog, bets among the glitterati at Cannes are that the world’s third biggest music company will pair up with one of its old flames: BMG or Warner Music. Yet some still hold out hope for a more dramatic swoop by private equity houses led by an industry guru – cash-rich Clive Calder being one contender after… Read more »

Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik is still enjoying a Top Ten hit with his song “I’m Still Here (Jim’s Theme)” from the Disney animated film Treasure Planet. The singer-guitarist says the side project song has caused no rift of any kind between himself and the other band members. “I pretty much do what I want in my band and without my band,” Rzeznik said. “I just wanted to go out and play with some different musicians. I mean, we’ve been together for 16 years, it’s like I wanted to get out of the house for a couple of days,… Read more »

Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough’s third annual Lupus Cruise to benefit his Dorough Lupus Foundation sets sail from Miami on Sunday (December 15) for a seven-day adventure aboard the Carnival Victory. Dorough, his sister Pollyanna, and the rest of his family will be on board as the Victory visits ports in the Eastern Caribbean, including San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas. The Dorough Lupus Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization founded by Dorough and his family shortly after his sister Caroline Cochran died from the disease in 1998. Dorough explained to LAUNCH, “I unfortunately lost one of my sisters, Caroline… Read more »

“The Osbournes” becomes a reality show in the bleakest sense this season, as Ozzy and the kids cope with matriarch Sharon Osbourne’s colon cancer. Yet as the second batch of episodes begins Tuesday, MTV also is trying to maintain the wackiness that made the series the network’s biggest hit. The heavy-metal rocker, his wife and two of their three children are very different people than they were when they opened their home to us a year ago – and opened the floodgates to a slew of copycats. They still spew plenty of profanities for the censors to bleep out. And… Read more »

More than a decade after the height of the Seattle rock explosion, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains are long gone and Mudhoney have become a cult band. Pearl Jam are the last man standing. And despite their best efforts to maintain a low profile, their Riot Act debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling more than 165,000 copies. No one could be more surprised than guitarist Mike McCready. “I’m amazed that people are even still wanting to listen to us,” he said. “With all the other music out there and the shifting times, I’m surprised that… Read more »

The Blasters’ singer and guitarist Phil Alvin speaks like the band plays: short, fast and furious. “My father was very upset when I quit school,” he said, trying at breakneck speed to make his words catch up with his thoughts. “He took the neck of my guitar and screwed it to the dustpan. Then he scooped the dog crap with it, and left it in the garage. Every time I turned on the light on, I’d have to walk past it.” But Phil ignored his father’s exhortations, and with the help of his younger brother Dave, formed one of the… Read more »

Eminem says that many Hollywood producers have wanted to hitch their wagons to his star by casting him in a feature film ever since he exploded onto the music charts with 1999’s The Slim Shady LP. However, the rapper-turned-actor was determined to make his big-screen debut in a film that he thought he should make, and not just appear in a film because he could. Enter 8 Mile. When Eminem read screenwriter Scott Silver’s script for the movie, which is loosely based on Eminem’s life, the recording artist knew he’d found the perfect script and the perfect film for him,… Read more »

Legendary rock ‘n roll band The Rolling Stones will be featured in a new NBA Entertainment-produced television spot as part of the NBA’s “Love it Live” campaign. The 30-second spot debuts tomorrow – NBA opening night – during the doubleheader on TNT, which begins at 7:30 pm ET with the Philadelphia 76ers taking on the Orlando Magic, followed by the San Antonio Spurs at the Los Angeles Lakers at 10:30 pm ET. The Stones’ “Love it Live” ad, which will continue to air through the 2002-03 NBA season, features footage of the band performing their hit single “Don’t Stop” from… Read more »

Any band that continues playing while one of its members bleeds profusely has gotta be punk rock, regardless of how poppy its harmony-filled songs are. Montreal’s Simple Plan did just that during a recent show in Detroit when a member of the crowd expressed his love by flinging a bottle of water at drummer Chuck Comeau’s head. “I stopped playing for a minute and took a towel to wipe my face, and it was just covered in blood,” Comeau recalled. “But we had two songs left, so I kept going. Every break I would just stop and pull out the… Read more »