Search Results for: decade

The Grammy Awards return to New York for the first time in five years on Sunday, with songs influenced by the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on the city in the running for the music industry’s top annual prizes. Veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” and country singer Alan Jackson’s emotional “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” are both nominated for Song of the Year. Young singer and pianist Norah Jones with her mellow mix of jazz, blues and country song and album “Come Away With Me,” is among eight stars most frequently mentioned by music critics as… Read more »

Beatles fans received a double treat Tuesday with announcements of a new world tour by Paul McCartney and the release of a DVD of a 1994 jam session by McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. McCartney said he plans to include several Beatles songs in his first British tour in a decade, scheduling 22 songs from his Fab Four days for each two-and-a-half hour arena concert. Seven dates in April have been announced for the “Back in the World” tour, including stops in London and Manchester, northern England. McCartney then plans to tour France, Spain, Germany and Scandinavia. The world… Read more »

Phil Spector, the legendary record producer whose “wall of sound” helped change the sound of pop music in the 1960s, was arrested Monday for allegedly shooting a woman to death at his suburban mansion. Spector, 62, was seized at the castle-like estate around 5 a.m. after someone in the home called authorities. He was released shortly after 7 p.m. after posting $1 million bond, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Rich Pena. Attorney Robert Shapiro, whose clients have included O.J. Simpson, was representing Spector. “I don’t know answers to any of this,” Shapiro said by telephone from the Alhambra Police… Read more »

Hoping to shine in one of the music industry’s few bright spots, Dreamworks Records on Wednesday announced a joint venture with newly-formed Melee Entertainment to release music DVDs that go beyond the typical concert video genre. With music video DVDs selling at a fast clip and in sharp contrast to the recording industry’s protracted decline in CD sales, Dreamworks and Melee hope in part to cash in on the trend while also developing a roster of creative talent. Melee president Bryan Turner, former co-owner and chief executive of Priority Records, an urban-slanted label sold to EMI Group Plc in 1998… Read more »

From Bruce Springsteen’s breakthrough “Born to Run” to Led Zeppelin’s hit “Stairway to Heaven,” some of the biggest classic-rock titles of the 1970s were inducted on Friday into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The 1975 album that launched Springsteen as a superstar and the 1971 Zeppelin ballad that became one of the most heavily played tracks of the rock era were among 21 recordings to gain Hall of Fame status this year. The eight albums and 13 singles bring to 606 the number of titles recognized since 1973 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for their enduring… Read more »

Blamed by shareholders for AOL Time Warner’s sharp fall in fortunes, Steve Case said he will step down as chairman of the conglomerate he helped create – a marriage of old and new media first hailed as revolutionary but now struggling for a future. Case’s departure means the company’s leadership will be without any of the key architects of the blockbuster merger of America Online and Time Warner in 2001. The company said Sunday he would step down in May. In a brief statement, Case said he had concluded AOL Time Warner was better off without him as chairman. “Some… Read more »

After nearly 40 years of playing “Satisfaction,” aren’t the Rolling Stones a bit sick of it? Really, they aren’t. Keith Richards and Ron Wood say it’s a great song and it takes on a different meaning every time they play it. “Of course, there are nights where you want to throw the set list out the window,” Mick Jagger said. “But up to a point, people want to hear certain things. But you don’t want to just play those, you want to play other things. Richards and Jagger said they don’t think young people are giving up on rock. “No,… Read more »

Classic acts such as Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and Cher lured more people to concerts in 2002 and helped the industry make a record $2.1 billion in ticket sales, according to figures released Friday. This was the fourth straight year concert receipts reached record levels in America. There were $1.75 billion in sales in 2001, according to trade publication Pollstar, which tracks the concert industry. In 2001, ticket costs rose and sales declined, Pollstar said. Last year, increased ticket sales helped push concert receipts higher. “We had some very big marquee names out on tour this year,” said Pollstar’s… Read more »

‘NSYNC and Britney Spears took a distant back seat to dinosaur rockers Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and Cher this year when it came to concert ticket sales. As alarming as that might seem to Timberlake groupies, it probably has a lot more to do with the limited number of shows the young stars played than with any sort of pop backlash or classic rock revolution. Touring for the first time in almost a decade, McCartney netted $126.1 million, according to data from Billboard Boxscores. The former Beatle landed $98.8 million from U.S. shows and an additional $27.5 million from… Read more »

When Guns N’ Roses announced they were going on tour this fall after a nine-year hiatus, fans of the heavy metal band snapped up tickets. Axl Rose was back and there was talk of a new album. But the comeback has been no “Paradise City.” Rose, the mercurial frontman whose disappearing acts have long irritated fans, failed to show up for the opening show Nov. 7 in Vancouver, prompting thousands of ticket holders to riot outside the venue. The band was a no-show again last week in Philadelphia, and fans got unruly. By then it became apparent that the “Chinese… Read more »