Search Results for: dr dre

After 11 years of planning, backers of a National Music Center and Museum pledged Thursday to open the facility in the nation’s capital five years from now. “We will be having our grand opening in 2008,” said singer Nancy Sinatra. She has been working to build support for the project since her father, Frank Sinatra, died in 1998. He had enthusiastically backed it during the last years of his life. “The energetic, unstoppable Federal City Council has been working to make his dream of a national museum of American music a reality,” Sinatra told a news conference called to announce… Read more »

Bertelsmann AG and Sony Corp. announced a preliminary plan to merge their music businesses Thursday, setting the stage for a music company that would vie for world primacy with Universal Music Group. A merger of Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann’s BMG, if it comes to pass, would bring together the world’s No. 2 and No. 5 music companies as the industry struggles with losses blamed on music piracy. The new company, to be called Sony BMG, would be equally owned by Sony and Bertelsmann and run by Andrew Lack, chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, the… Read more »

Running on a bum right knee and after just two months of training, hip-hop entrepreneur Sean “P. Diddy” Combs completed the grueling New York City Marathon, raising $2 million for children – double what he had planned. “Never in my life have I ever experienced anything as crazy as this,” Combs said Sunday at a news conference. “It was a beautiful experience.” Combs’ official race time was 4:14:54. It was his first marathon. The producer-rapper said he had raised $2 million since announcing in September that he would run. The money will be divided among two children’s charities and New… Read more »

When the member of a band leaves the group, it’s almost comparable to a divorce. But what happens when the musician’s replacement is immediate? Would that be comparable to an affair? Well, this would seem to be the case forAlien Ant Farm whose guitarist Terry Corso quit due to “irreconcilable differences.” According to a statement on the band’s website, the band members planned the departure carefully so that no dates on their current U.S. tour with 311 would have to be missed. The band has almost immediately introduced a substitute guitarist, Victor Camacho, who played his first show with the… Read more »

Two years after its inception, Michael Jackson’s all-star charity single, “What More Can I Give,” is finally giving to someone. The song is now being offered as a paid download ($2 a pop) via the Web sites www.whatmorecanigive.com and www.musicforgiving.com. A portion of the proceeds from the download fee go to various children’s charities, including Oneness, Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, and the International Child Art Foundation, each of which support arts programs to eliminate racism, increase education and connect children throughout the world, respectively. Originally designed to benefit victims of September 11, the song attracted a celeb-filled roster, including Mariah… Read more »

Napster announced that the highly-anticipated Napster 2.0 music service went live to music fans across America today. The most well-known music brand in the world, Napster 2.0 offers consumers downloads for just 99 cents a song or $9.95 per album, CD burning, transfer to portable devices, decades of Billboard charts, shared playlists within the Napster community, exclusive and original content, interactive radio, music videos, and access to the world’s largest music store with more than half-a-million tracks and growing. “We have created the most exciting and comprehensive music experience in the world,” said Chris Gorog, Chairman and CEO of Roxio,… Read more »

These days Good Charlotte are on top of the world, but there was a time when Benji Madden felt like taking his own life. “I’ll be the first person to say I have the most amazing life of anyone I’ve ever met, but I did come to certain points of my life where I thought that [suicide] was an option,” Benji admitted recently, sitting next to his brother Joel inside the Sunset Marquis Hotel. His voice trailing off, he quietly acknowledged the role that music played in ultimately steering him away from such a tragic and horrible act. The Madden… Read more »

Despite displaying overwhelming confidence singing on stage, when it comes to putting out new musicSomething Corporate’s Andrew McMahon is a pretty nervous guy. Last week saw the release of his band’s sophomore full-length, North, and the singer/pianist admits that he’s already fretting about how the album will fare with the general public. “I’m scared as shit to release a new record,” he says. “I’m super insecure about the whole thing. I can’t sleep. I haven’t slept in months because I want it to do well. I want it to do better than the last album. It’s my dream that people… Read more »

The following is a statement from Eyeball Records: Murder By Death had their van broken into on Friday night while they slept in a Cleveland hotel room. They didn’t just have a few things stolen…they lost everything. The band takes great pride in their equipment, most of which has been hand picked with great care over the course of their entire lives. Among the equipment stolen was Sarah’s cello (probably worth more than your first car), All their guitars and amps, Matt’s prize collection of pedals, Alex’s entire drum set, Vince’s piano, etc. Everything. Murder By Death is not a… Read more »

He was once dubbed “the unhappiest man in the land.” His most renowned song was called “Miss Misery.” Nevertheless, Elliott Smithsounded disappointed that he was often asked, “Why are you so sad?” The singer-songwriter, whose fragile Beatles-tinged melodies elevated to him mythic status on the indie scene and brought him unlikely Oscar-nominated success, died Tuesday of an apparent suicide at his apartment in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles, officials said. He was 34. Smith’s publicist confirmed the death to reporters. His official Website (www.elliottsmith.com) went black Wednesday morning; only the words “goodbye elliott” were in the title bar.… Read more »