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Jimmy Scott, angel-voiced jazz singer, dies at 88

(Reuters) – Jimmy Scott, a jazz singer whose soulful, androgynous voice won him the admiration of the likes of Ray Charles and Lou Reed before he found a wider audience later in life, has died at age 88, his wife said on Saturday. Scott died in his sleep at ho... More »

Terry Gilliam gives Berlioz’s ‘Cellini’ a Python touch

LONDON (Reuters) – Anyone attending the premiere of Berlioz’s rarely seen opera “Benvenuto Cellini”, directed by Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam at the English National Opera, could be forgiven for thinking it was a preview for the Python reunion show in Ju... More »

Governors Ball aims to put New York on music festival map

NEW YORK (Reuters) – After gale-force winds and rain marred last year’s event, New York will host the fourth Governors Ball on Friday, which could be its answer to Lollapalooza and Coachella and the city’s most successful attempt yet to establish a homegrown m... More »

Placido Domingo moves goalposts on long opera career

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – As the World Cup nears, soccer fanatics will inevitably jink the conversation toward the beautiful game. That includes Placido Domingo, who explains why at 73 he can still get down on one knee to declare his love to the soprano. “I was ... More »

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler turns street musician in Helsinki

HELSINKI (Reuters) – American rock star Steven Tyler took over a street musician’s self-made instrument consisting of water-filled wine bottles to play in the streets of Helsinki on Saturday, performing Aerosmith’s 1973 hit “Dream On.” Tyler played a glass-bot... More »

Slasher attacks Japan pop girl group AKB48 at fan event

TOKYO (Reuters) – A man wielding a saw slashed and injured two members of Japanese female pop group AKB48, rated by Guinness as the world’s biggest such group, at a fan event in Japan, leaving the country stunned at the extremely rare violent crime. The group,... More »

Timberlake, Imagine Dragons top winners at Billboard Awards

(Reuters) – Justin Timberlake, hometown rockers Imagine Dragons and Robin Thicke were big winners at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday in Las Vegas where a computer-generated Michael Jackson danced and sang a newly released song. The annual televised awards... More »

Berlin exhibition tells story of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ years

BERLIN (Reuters) – David Bowie’s intensely productive Berlin period – when he made the iconic albums “Heroes” and “Low”, launched Iggy Pop’s solo career and kicked a drug habit – is the theme of a new show adapted from last year’s sold-out exhibition in London... More »

Punk group Blondie marks 40th anniversary with new album

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Four decades after their debut, the 1970s pioneering New York City new wave and punk group Blondie released their 10th studio album, “Ghosts of Download,” on Tuesday to mark the anniversary. “Ghosts of Download,” which features 13 new trac... More »

Austria’s Conchita Wurst wins Eurovision Song Contest

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst, popularly known as “the bearded lady,” won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with the James Bond-theme-like ballad “Rise Like a Phoenix”, before a global TV audience of about 180 million people i... More »

‘X Factor’ musical booted off stage at London’s West End

LONDON (Reuters) – “X Factor” guru Simon Cowell has become the latest big name in showbusiness to suffer an expensive pratfall in London’s West End with the announcement on Monday that the musical “I Can’t Sing!” which he co-produced will close after a six-wee... More »

Bearded Austrian drag queen to take on Eurovision

VIENNA (Reuters) – Drag queen Conchita Wurst will take to the European stage as Austria’s contender for Eurovision, the song contest that pits nation versus nation and launched the global careers of ABBA and Celine Dion, Wurst’s idol. Sporting high-heels, butt... More »

Malians who sang out against conflict get Songlines honors

LONDON (Reuters) – Malian ngoni player Bassekou Kouyate, whose album “Jama Ko” urged his countrymen to stand together just as Mali erupted in conflict, has won the Best Artist accolade in the annual awards for world music magazine Songlines. Tuareg band Tamikr... More »

Illness spoils ‘Royals’ singer Lorde’s Australian tour

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Ailing Grammy award-winning New Zealand singer Lorde has postponed her Australian tour this week after doctors advised she needed immediate rest and recuperation, her promoters said on Tuesday. Teenager Ella Yelich-O’Connor, who uses her sta... More »

Miley Cyrus cancels second concert after hospitalization

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Miley Cyrus has canceled a concert in St. Louis on Wednesday as she remains hospitalized from a “severe allergic reaction to antibiotics,” according to a statement issued from the pop star’s spokeswoman. Cyrus, 21, who is currently on t... More »

AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young takes leave due to illness

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young will take a break from the Australian hard rock group he founded because of ill health, the band said in a statement on Wednesday. The pioneering group dispelled speculation that they would disband after Yo... More »

‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ sweeps MTV Movie Awards

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Young adult favorite “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” was voted ‘movie of the year’ and scooped top acting honors at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, reflecting the irreverent ceremony’s appeal to young fans. The second installment of t... More »

Muse, Pharrell headline Coachella amid dust storm

INDIO, California (Reuters) – British rockers Muse and R&B singer Pharrell served up musical highlights at the Coachela Valley Music and Arts Festival on Saturday amid windy weather and cooler temperatures. Muse frontman Matt Bellamy delivered high-energy perf... More »

Outkast goes back to 1990s hip hop at Coachella reunion

INDIO, California (Reuters) – Hip hop duo Outkast reunited for the first time in eight years a the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday, and brought a taste of old school hip hop with them to the stage. Outkast, formed by Atlanta rappers Andre 30... More »

Nirvana, KISS among Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Grunge band Nirvana, flamboyant rockers KISS, country-rock singer Linda Ronstadt and chart-toppers Hall and Oates were among artists being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday, at a ceremony marked by expectations that ... More »

ABBA fetes 40 years since ‘Waterloo’: near Waterloo

LONDON (Reuters) – Within strolling distance of the rail station bearing the name of their first international hit, Swedish band ABBA celebrated 40 years of breathtaking success with a party at London’s Tate Modern museum to mark their groundbreaking song “Wat... More »

Album of unheard Michael Jackson songs to be released in May

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Eight previously unreleased songs by the late Michael Jackson will be part of a new album, “Xscape,” the singer’s estate and Sony Music Entertainment’s Epic Records said on Monday. The songs were unearthed from Jackson’s archive of reco... More »

A soulful Robert Cray tunes in to the sounds of his youth

LONDON (Reuters) – Veteran blues guitarist and singer Robert Cray has set off on a new U.S. and European tour with an album harking back to the early days of soul music, the kind that filled his ears as a youngster. “In My Soul” – a title that sums up what is ... More »

Album of discarded Johnny Cash songs comes out of vault

LONDON (Reuters) – Johnny Cash helped define American country music with hits such as “I Walk the Line” and “A Boy Named Sue”, but in the early 1980s he recorded an album of songs his record label refused to release and is only now seeing the light of day. “Ou... More »

Conductor Kent Nagano: The surfer wields a wicked baton

GENEVA (Reuters) – U.S. conductor Kent Nagano feels he lives in three worlds – his native California, his ancestral Japan and the Europe of the music he conducts. But his spirit is on a surfboard in the Pacific Ocean. Nagano, 62, is not alone among prominent m... More »

Ex-MP3tunes chief held liable in music copyright case

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The former chief executive of bankrupt online music storage firm MP3tunes was found liable Wednesday for infringing copyrights for sound recordings, compositions and cover art owned by record companies and music publishers once part of EMI... More »

Rolling Stones call off tour after L’Wren Scott death

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones called off their tour in Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday after lead singer Mick Jagger’s girlfriend L’Wren Scott was found dead of an apparent suicide in her Manhattan apartment. Scott, a 49-year-old fashion ... More »

Judge orders singer Chris Brown to stay in jail

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles judge on Monday ordered R&B singer Chris Brown to remain in jail at least until a probation violation hearing next month after the judge expressed concern about his ability to stay out of trouble. Brown, 24, was arrested l... More »

Global recording industry optimistic despite revenue fall

LONDON (Reuters) – Top executives of the global recorded music industry said on Tuesday they were optimistic about growth despite figures for 2013 showing an almost 4 percent annual decline in revenues to $15 billion, blamed largely on the Japanese market. The... More »

Bieber police video may be released, minus genitalia -judge

MIAMI (Reuters) – A judge on Tuesday ruled that video images of a partially-clad Justin Bieber while the pop singer was in police custody in Florida can be released, but only after blocking out his genitals. The video clips included Bieber providing a urine sa... More »

Renowned Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia dies at 66

MADRID (Reuters) – Paco de Lucia, the influential Spanish guitarist who vastly expanded the international audience for flamenco and merged it with other musical styles, died suddenly on Wednesday of a heart attack in Mexico. The 66-year-old virtuoso, as happy ... More »

Meet Nigeria’s Captain Rugged – a superhero who can dance

LONDON (Reuters) – A new superhero is fighting for freedom, justice and the Nigerian way in the mean streets of Lagos. And – oh, yes – he can dance too. Meet Captain Rugged, the creation of Nigerian musician Keziah Jones. He is the inspiration for Jones’s late... More »

Maria von Trapp of ‘Sound of Music’ fame dead at 99

(Reuters) – Maria von Trapp, a member of the Austrian family whose escape from Nazi Germany and subsequent musical career inspired the famed musical “The Sound of Music,” has died at the age of 99, according to newspapers quoting her brother. Von Trapp died Tu... More »

‘Beethoven of Japan’ says he can hear again

TOKYO (Reuters) – A composer known as the “Beethoven of Japan” said on Wednesday he had regained some of his hearing ability, a week after setting off a furor by admitting he had used a ghost writer for his popular symphonies and other music. Mamoru Samuragoch... More »

Israeli singer proves surprise hit in Yemen

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli singer has become an unlikely star in Yemen, an Arab country where his hit songs blare from cafes and taxis. Zion Golan’s parents were born in Yemen, but like other Israelis, he is banned from travelling to the conservative Mus... More »

Two men charged in Wisconsin theft of Stradivarius violin

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – Two Wisconsin men were charged Friday with stealing a rare Stradivarius violin worth millions of dollars from a concert violinist in late January, prosecutors said. The violin, which was made in 1715 and had an appraised value of $5 milli... More »

Bruno Mars gives high-wattage halftime act at Super Bowl

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) – Accompanied by a light show that featured 80,000 fans with illuminated hats, pop star Bruno Mars rocked the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday with a selection of his hits including “Treasure” and “Runaway Baby.” Dressed... More »

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Seattle lead Denver 22-0 at halftime of Super Bowl

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) – The Seattle Seahawks and their ferocious defense dominated a frazzled Denver Broncos team, shutting down the NFL’s leading offense to claim a 22-0 lead by intermission of the Super Bowl on Sunday. Seattle took charge imm... More »

Russian TV channel sees censorship after being taken off air

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian television station that made its name covering massive street protests against President Vladimir Putin has been taken off the air by three television providers in a move the channel’s chief said was censorship. Dozhd (TV Rain), an... More »

American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger dies at 94

(Reuters) – Pete Seeger, who helped create the modern American folk music movement and co-wrote some of its most enduring songs such as “If I Had a Hammer”, died on Monday at the age of 94, U.S. media reported. He was variously hailed in social and traditional... More »

Beatles, mass wedding attract big TV audience to Grammys

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Beatles, robots and a mass wedding drew 28.5 million viewers to the Grammy awards television broadcast on Sunday night, the show’s second-largest audience in two decades, CBS Corp’s broadcast network CBS said on Monday. French electroni... More »

At high-volume Grammys, a secret wedding was kept quiet

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took an idea, a casting service and dozens of people keeping a secret for organizers of music’s Grammy Awards to pull off one of Sunday’s biggest surprises at the annual ceremony. Thirty-three couples, some of whom were same-sex part... More »

French DJ duo Daft Punk, teenage Lorde take top Grammys

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two unconventional acts, French electronic music DJs Daft Punk and New Zealand teen Lorde, took home the top Grammy awards on Sunday in a night that rewarded robots and newcomers, and recognized marriage equality. In a first for the Gra... More »

Boy band, The Wanted, to take a break after tour

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Boy band, The Wanted, said on Wednesday they were taking a break and that their upcoming Word of Mouth Tour would be their last for a while. The group, whose members are British and Irish and whose hit singles include “I Found You,” “Chasi... More »

Bruce Springsteen grabs top spot in Britain’s album chart

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. singer Bruce Springsteen snatched top spot in Britain’s album chart on Sunday for the 10th time with “High Hopes”, pushing British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding’s “Halcyon” into second place, the Official Charts Company said. “High H... More »

Music takes on different guises at Sundance Film Festival

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Since the early days of film, music has gone hand in hand with movies, but a new crop of filmmakers is using music to explore existential themes of humanity that will be showcased at the annual Sundance Film Festival. “Whiplash,” a cont... More »

Pharrell reclaims UK charts top spot from Pitbull and Ke$ha

LONDON (Reuters) – Pharrell Williams and his song “Happy” reclaimed the number one spot in the British music singles chart on Sunday, knocking “Timber” by fellow Americans Pitbull and Ke$ha into second place, the Official Charts Company said. Happy sold over 1... More »

Bastille, Disclosure lead top UK music awards, Bowie returns

LONDON (Reuters) – Pop acts Bastille and Disclosure led the field for Britain’s top music awards on Thursday with four nominations each, while veteran singer David Bowie was up for two of the annual BRIT Awards in a list dominated by a newcomers. Alternative r... More »

Eurythmics to reunite for Beatles tribute concert

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – British pop duo Eurythmics will reunite in Los Angeles later this month for a performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show”, organizers said on Monday. The duo consisting of singer Ann... More »

Pitbull and Ke$ha top British music charts

LONDON (Reuters) – American musicians Ke$ha and Pitbull claimed the first British number one single of 2014 on Sunday, after their collaboration “Timber” racked up above-average sales for early January. The newly-released single sold 139,000 copies to knock “H... More »

Pharrell Williams seizes No.1 spot in UK singles chart

LONDON (Reuters) – American singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams seized top spot in Britain’s singles chart on Sunday with his track “Happy”, ousting talent show winner Sam Bailey after only a week at No.1. The song, which features in the soundtrack to “Despica... More »

Miley Cyrus says after Disney, it was time to be herself

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It is sex, drugs and pop music – and Miley Cyrus is fine with it that way now that the provocative singer has shed her innocent Disney star image along with most of her clothes. Cyrus, 21, who has grabbed headlines in the past year for ... More »

Make it a classical 2014 with new CD/DVD releases

LONDON (Reuters) – It’s probably too late now to order a classical music CD or DVD for Christmas, but why not take the New Year as a cue to freshen up your musical tastes? Here are some recent releases guaranteed to broaden your horizons. 1. So you think nobod... More »

Beyonce’s surprise release of new album excites fans

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. pop singer Beyonce surprised fans and critics with the release of her fifth solo studio album on Friday, which features 14 new songs and 17 videos and caused a stir on Twitter, capping a year in which the singer made a car... More »

Bruno Mars is Billboard’s 2013 Artist of the Year

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Singer Bruno Mars was named Billboard’s 2013 Artist of the Year by the industry trade magazine on Friday. Hawaiian-born Mars, 28, topped eight of Billboard’s year-end music chart lists, including the Hot 100 Artists, Mainstream Top 40 a... More »

Beyonce surprises fans with release of album

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. pop singer Beyonce surprised fans and critics with the release of her fifth solo studio album on Friday, which features 14 new songs and 17 videos and generated a frenzy on Twitter. The 32-year-old Grammy-winning performer said she wa... More »

Singer Beyonce surprises fans with unheralded album release

(Reuters) – Pop singer Beyonce surprised fans by releasing an unheralded self-titled fifth solo studio album on Friday featuring 14 new songs and 17 videos, her label Columbia Records, a division of Sony, said. “I see music… It’s more than just what I hear,” t... More »

Madonna ranks No. 1 as music’s top earning woman: Forbes

NEW YORK (Reuters) – With earnings of $125 million, pop singer Madonna is the highest-paid woman in music, easily surpassing Lady Gaga and country-pop singer Taylor Swift, Forbes said on Wednesday. Her income for the 12-month period used by the magazine also m... More »

Top Russian court orders review of Pussy Riot case

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian Supreme Court has ordered a review of the case against two women from punk band Pussy Riot, saying lower courts failed to provide full evidence of their guilt and overlooked mitigating factors in sentencing them to two years in p... More »