Search Results for: the wonder years

Los Angeles – Given such song titles as “Baby Hold on to Me,” “Can You Handle It,” “The G Spot” and “U Got That Love,” the general theme of Gerald Levert’s music is easy to divine. His brand of sensuous R&B has provided romantic sustenance to a devoted fan base ever since his 1991 solo debut, “Private Line.” But Levert takes an unexpected turn on his eighth solo outing, “Do I Speak for the World?” As the title implies, the Nov. 30 release finds the 38-year-old singer/songwriter/producer pursuing more socially conscious topics: patriotism, activism, religion and the future of mankind.… Read more »

New York – This year’s American Music Awards will feature stars such as Usher, Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani and Rod Stewart, but the most talked-about moment might come from the Beatles. The show plans to air a 2 1/2-minute tape from 1964 that was recently discovered. “We’ve got a wonderful old… tape that’s been lost for 40 years that nobody’s seen since it first aired featuring the Beatles singing ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand,’” producer Dick Clark told The Associated Press this week. “It was an English show that aired here that for some reason or… Read more »

Brandy is bidding adios to her longtime record label, Atlantic Records, her publicist said Monday. The news might have something to do with the “Top of the World” chantuese no longer being, well, on top of the world. Once a staple of MTV and urban radio, the 25-year-old R&B singer has recently been eclipsed by a new crop of teenage divas. Despite solid reviews and a huge promotional push from Atlantic this past summer for her fourth release on the label, Afrodisiac, the disc quickly disappeared from the upper echelons of Billboard ‘s pop charts after a number three debut… Read more »

After a 25-year absence from the #1 album spot, J Records artist Rod Stewart with his album Stardust… The Great American Songbook: Volume III enters the Billboard 200 Album chart at #1 on a first week Soundscan total of 240,043 copies sold. The Songbook albums are a musical and cultural phenomenon, and are now the biggest-selling ongoing series of new music recordings in history. This is also Rod Stewart’s first ever #1 debut on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Stardust is the follow-up to 2002’s It Had To Be You… The Great American Songbook (which spent 85 weeks on the… Read more »

Holding its festivities for the first time in the city of skin, Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards was sizzling, energetic and colorful – yet tame, by MTV standards. There were no wardrobe malfunctions (sorry TiVo). Britney didn’t kiss Madonna like last year – or anyone else, for that matter (neither were at the blowout affair). The most skin shown was from Usher, who preened in front of the camera barechested as simulated raindrops fell on his chiseled body during the opening performance. Even the Christina Aguilera was classy, dressed sexy yet demurely as she debuted a jazzy number, “Tilt Ya… Read more »

He’s coming around slowly, but Carl Newman is finally posing for more pictures. “I never like to get my photo taken,” he says while sipping what we would later discover to be the most expensive pints in Vancouver. “I’m never completely comfortable with being photographed. There was a feature on me in the New York Times Magazine a few weeks ago and on the second page of this two-page feature you just see my face. And I swear it’s like actual size. If not, then it had to be 80 per cent!” Newman is going to have to get used… Read more »

No one is really more surprised about this success than me,” says Isaac Brock, lead singer of indie-rocker heroes Modest Mouse, who, after a decade of struggles, disappointments and near-breakups, finally have a hit record. The group’s fourth album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, debuted at Number Nineteen on the Billboard Album Chart in April, is still hanging tough at Number Twenty-three this week and has sold more than 300,000 copies. Modest Mouse’s video, “Float On,” is an MTV buzz clip, and they were one of the first bands announced for this year’s Lollapalooza. “We’ve been such… Read more »

The diminutive funk rocker will take over five channels at once Wednesday, when MTV, MTV2, BET, VH1 and VH1 Classic simultaneously broadcast a 30-minute concert special taped live last week before an audience in New York. The concert features songs from Prince’s latest album, Musicology, plus some of his classic hits. “This historic broadcast, going out simultaneously over the five most influential music networks, is a tribute to the music and artistry of one of the most singular talents of our time,” said Columbia Records exec Will Botwin. “With a fast-paced combination of brilliant performances and compelling interviews, this show… Read more »

They used to be irreverent punks out for cheap thrills and even cheaper laughs, but now Blink-182 are a changed band. Their untitled new record is more experimental and multidimensional than 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, adding a variety of styles (electronic rock; jangly, melancholy pop; reflective alt-rock) to their foundation of bouncy beats and kinetic guitars. It’s also more lyrically developed, trading tales of adolescent relationships for more serious dilemmas of adulthood. As singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge sang in the band’s 1997 breakthrough hit “Dammit,” “I guess this is growing up.” Growing up has a lot to do… Read more »

For years, both onstage and on “The Osbournes,” we’ve witnessed legendary metal singer Ozzy Osbourne shake, stammer, stutter and shuffle around with a walk that grew increasingly hunched over and motor functions that only seemed to be getting worse. Speculation ran rampant. Were these maladies related to years of drug abuse dating back to the Black Sabbath days? Parkinson’s Disease? Muscular Dystrophy? The answer is, in fact, none of the above. Thanks to a Boston neurological specialist, Ozzy now knows the cause of the “shakes” that have plagued him for decades and with the help of a new medication, he’s… Read more »