Search Results for: from first to last

Those surprised to hear the brothers Hanson had been co-writing with the likes of Matthew Sweet and ex- New Radical Gregg Alexander, may be downright shocked to hear they’ve expanded their collaboration roster to include legendary tunesmith Carole King. The Hansons – Isaac, Taylor and Zac – have just returned from mega-manager Miles Copeland’s annual “songwriting bootcamp” at Chateau de Marouatte in France where they penned and demoed two tracks, “Let You Go” and “One More Time” with King. While at Copeland’s chateau, the trio also co-wrote a number, “Never Love Again,” with the Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson and Donny… Read more »

Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes has begun work on a solo album in a San Francisco studio. He says that he and his bandmate, Daniel Jones, are not broken up, despite rumors to the contrary. “We’re on a hiatus,” he tells Billboard. “Daniel and I finished an 87-city tour and have sold 20 million albums in three or four years. It was a big run for us.” Hayes says his solo album, which is slated to come out on Columbia during the first quarter of 2002, affords him a chance “to grow, to learn… I’ve written 40 songs for the record.… Read more »

The Eminem/Everlast feud has expanded to include Eminem’s one-time friends Fred Durst and DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit. Eminem has some choice and predictably profane words for the pair on “Girls,” a track from the group D12’s forthcoming Devil’s Night. Eminem is apparently upset about a comment Lethal made in December during the Limp guys’ visit to “TRL.” Lethal, who was in House of Pain with Everlast but was also friends with Eminem, at first said of their beef, “They’re both men, they’ll work it out.” But he added that if the two were to take their differences outside the… 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 »

Alanis Morissette has returned to the jagged little sound that made her famous. The Canadian singer debuted eight new songs during a show Friday night, providing a generous preview of her next album, which is sitting in limbo while she fights a contract dispute with Maverick Records. Much of the new material harked back to the edgier pop-rock of Morissette’s 1995 smash, Jagged Little Pill, and steered away from the moody, Eastern-influenced sound of its follow-up, 1998’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Accordingly, the two-hour performance – the first of two consecutive nights at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre – was… Read more »

Singer A.J. McLean has launched the JNN Foundation, named for his alter ego “Johnny No-Name,” to focus on efforts to raise awareness, as well as funds, for the VH1 Save The Music Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The superstar singer made the announcement Thursday at Hard Rock Live in his hometown of Orlando, FL, and kicked off the Foundation’s initial funding with a $1 million personal donation. The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of education in America’s public schools by restoring music programs in cities across America, and raising… Read more »

Ike Turner may be one of the more influential figures in rock music. He created what many see as the first rock ‘n roll record, “Rocket 88”; his guitar licks on classic blues recordings are considered masterful; he helped launch the careers of Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf, and Otis Rush, among others; and he discovered one of the most dynamic female rock stars ever. But that is not the Ike Turner most people know, or think they know anyway. In the public mind, he remains the man who allegedly broke Tina Turner’s nose and abused her for years, until she… Read more »

Boston, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Patti Smith Group, the Talking Heads, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers head the 2002 class of newly eligible artists for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, sources close to the process revealed to allstar on Thursday (May 24). An artist has to have first recorded 25 years ago (1977) in order to be newly eligible. Others eligible for the first time are Will Ackerman, Blondie, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, Peabo Bryson, Burning Spear, John Cougar, Dwight Twilley Band, Firefall, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Amy Grant, Greg Kihn Band, Sammy Hagar, Richard… 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 »

Having spent the last few months on the road offering glimpses of their new album, Break the Cycle, “It’s Been Awhile” since Staind returned to their hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts. Which helps explain why the estimated crowd of more than 4,000 fans waiting hours in line for an autograph session Thursday at the Westfield Shoppingtown Mall in nearby Enfield, Connecticut, gave the subdued quartet a hero’s welcome. According to industry buzz, Staind’s second major-label album is perched to outsell last week’s Billboard 200 albums chart-topper, Tool’s Lateralus, by approximately 50,000 copies (see). A member of the band’s camp claimed to… Read more »