Search Results for: dr dre

Prince will make his next album, The Rainbow Children, exclusively available for download by members of his NPG Music Club on October 17th. The album is the follow-up to 1999’s Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, Prince’s Arista debut after his unhappy run with Warner Bros. Prince showcased some of the new material this past Spring when he released the first song, “The Work – Pt. 1,” on Napster for download. On June 11th he launched his Prince: A Celebration birthday bash, a weeklong, guest-filled extravaganza that offered some fans the opportunity to hear some of the new tunes live, as… Read more »

In addition to appearing in the Tim Allen and Rene Russo film Big Trouble, Heavy D has accepted an offer from P. Diddy to head the big and tall division of the music and fashion mogul’s Sean Jean clothing line. Heavy D will oversee designing, marketing strategies, and commercial campaigns. “I’ve always been a guy that liked to dress,” Heavy D told LAUNCH. “Puff has always been impressed with my style of dress as a big person. So he offered me a consultant [position] at first, and that went well. He was like, ‘Yo, do you want to come run… Read more »

No Doubt began as a good-time ska-party band, full of California sunshine. But in the last few years, that’s been obscured by smog: bruised egos within the band, gloomy lyrics and weak record sales for last year’s Return of Saturn. The bad times are all gone on their upcoming album, Rock Steady, reports singer Gwen Stefani. “We’re not taking ourselves so seriously,” she says. “It’s like, get over it. We’re a fucking band and we’re really lucky to be doing what we do.” Rock Steady, out December 18th, is a sweet pop confection, made with arrays of keyboards, a dance-floor… Read more »

J Records today announced the promotion of Mike Bergin to senior director of national promotion. Bergin started at J Records last year on the promotion team led by Richard Palmese as northeast regional director. For his new position, he is now based on the West Coast. Richard Palmese, EVP of promotion at J Records said, “Mike has distinguished himself as a leader and promotion professional. His commitment to our artists and their music is outstanding. I congratulate him and look forward to working closely with him on the national stage.” Mike Bergin said, ” I’m proud to be a part… Read more »

Bassist Jason Newsted toured, recorded and partied with Metallica 24-7 for some 13 years. After quitting the band in February, at least partly because of a ban on side projects, he suddenly found the flexibility to work on multiple projects with different artists. Newsted, 38, is producing an album by punk-metal behemoth Speedealer and anticipating the major-label debut of his trio EchoBrain. Toward the end of the year, he’ll begin producing New York noise-metal band Dragpipe before entering the studio with Voivod to play bass on the band’s allegedly final album. And if he has time, he’ll play drums with… Read more »

MusicNet, Pressplay working out kinks in technology, licensing – now they need paying users. Although the major labels have been making strides in their efforts to deliver music to listeners’ desktops while collecting money for themselves and their artists, the road ahead is still littered with questions, and the labels’ long-promised services still are not a reality. When will music fans see them? When they do, will they be willing to pay for something they now can get for free? Can the industry shoot down all the new hotshot – and free – file-trading services? And whatever happened to Napster,… Read more »

No Doubt might as well change their name to No Rules for their upcoming album. Rock Steady, due December 18, is a scattered collection of pop, rock, rap and reggae songs produced by everyone from Prince to Dr. Dre. Singer Gwen Stefani, all smiles talking about her band’s fifth album during the video shoot for the all-star “What’s Going On” remake, explained how her band of brothers returned from Saturn with an urge to do something different. “After 14 years of being a band, you build all these rules up,” Stefani said, adjusting her shiny No Doubt belt buckle. “That’s… Read more »

Ass-smacking enthusiast Wes Scantlin and his Puddle of Mudd bandmates will launch a monthlong headlining tour October 18 in Atlanta, but they’ll also take time to pay back some of the radio stations spinning their hit “Control.” Prior to the tour’s launch, Puddle of Mudd will play WAVF-FM’s Wavefest in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday with 311, the Long Beach Dub Allstars and others. WFXH-FM’s Fustercluck, with Sevendust, Pete Yorn and others in Savannah, Georgia, and WCHZ-FM’s Rockfest, featuring Sevendust, Days of the New and others in Augusta, Georgia, have also been worked into their itinerary. St. Louis band Mesh… Read more »

Federal Judge Marilyn Hall Patel Wednesday deferred a decision on a request by recording giants for a summary judgement in their long-running copyright infringement suit against song-swap service Napster. “She took it under consideration and Napster threw a lot of issues on the wall. Patel was interested in a few of them, but at the end of the day, there is no question that liability is going to be found and damages will be assessed,” said Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents music companies. Issues which came under… Read more »

Staind is getting ready to release a DVD, which will feature music videos, an acoustic session, and backstage interviews with the band. The still-untitled collection is tentatively scheduled for a November 20 release. The DVD is scheduled to contain the videos for “Mudshovel” and “Fade,” as well as the band’s entire MTV Unplugged broadcast plus two additional songs that didn’t make the show, “Pressure” and “Suffer.” Earlier this year Staind’s acoustic side drew attention, when Aaron Lewis’ version of “Outside,” with special guest Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, appeared on the Family Values ’99 album, and eventually topped Billboard’s Modern Rock… Read more »