NEW YORK (Reuters) – Miley Cyrus, the pop star who caused a sensation with her raunchy performance at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, was named best artist of 2013 by the cable TV network on Tuesday. MTV said the singer dominated the music charts and the h... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – American country singer Garth Brooks, the top-selling recording artist of the last 20 years, on Monday said he would return to touring after more than a decade off the road. Brooks, 51, who has sold more than 125 million albums, said he... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – English singer Lily Allen rose back to the top of Britain’s singles chart on Sunday as competition for the coveted Christmas number one spot heated up. Allen’s version of “Somewhere only we know”, which features in a popular Christmas advert... More »
(Reuters) – Scottish singer Susan Boyle says she has a form of autism known as Asperger’s syndrome, a diagnosis she says came as a relief after years of believing she had brain damage. Boyle, 52, told the Observer newspaper in an interview published Saturday s... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – An American singer with no Arab heritage nearly took the top prize in the “Arabs Got Talent” television show this weekend, breaking into the top three alongside a Palestinian artist and a Syrian dance troupe. Jennifer Grout, a 23-year-old fr... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Jay Z led all artists with nine Grammy nominations on Friday, but newcomers Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis edged out industry heavyweights for nods in the top categories of the annual music awards. Jay Z picke... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – British boy band One Direction made chart history on Wednesday as its third album debuted at No. 1 on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, the only group to have its first three albums top the chart in opening week sales. The quin... More »
(Reuters) – A host of musicians headed by Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant on Tuesday night celebrated the life and work of Bert Jansch, the late Scottish guitarist who influenced generations of players from Neil Young to Johnny Marr with his stew of blues, ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Singer Beyonce was named the most-searched person in 2013 on Bing, the online search engine said on Monday, edging out 2012’s list-topper reality television star Kim Kardashian, who came in second. Beyonce, 32, topped the list in a year... More »
(Note: Strong language in the 13th paragraph) By Angus MacSwan LONDON (Reuters) – Bob Dylan played London’s Albert Hall this week for the first time since his fabled and tumultuous concerts there in 1966, his vitality and mystique intact five decades on since ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Eminem climbed back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday after ousting last week’s chart-topper Lady Gaga. Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” reclaimed the top spot on the weekly album chart with sales of 120,... More »
LOMPOUL, Senegal (Reuters) – Encircled by moon-lit sand dunes, desert blues band Tamikrest from Mali’s northern city of Kidal was the headline act at a Sahel music festival this weekend, held seemingly light years away from unrest in the group’s native country... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – They have recorded in America and frontman Alex Turner lives in Los Angeles and affects an Elvis look in their latest stage show, but the Arctic Monkeys remain a British rock-and-roll phenomenon. None of the four members – all from Sheffield... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Producers of a new version of the Oscar-winning musical “The Sound of Music,” set for U.S. television next week, knew it would be a sacrilege to try and re-make the beloved 1965 movie classic starring Julie Andrews. And American country si... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country-pop star Taylor Swift scored big at the American Music Awards on Sunday, taking home four wins including the night’s top prize for artist of the year, as some of pop music’s biggest names came together for the fan-voted awards c... More »
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Two U.S.-born Puerto Rican artists, Marc Anthony and Draco Rosa, and the Colombian singer Carlos Vives on Thursday won the top Latin Grammy music awards in a night that rewarded comebacks and long careers. Top-selling salsa artist Anthony... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles judge on Wednesday ordered R&B singer Chris Brown to complete a 90-day substance abuse and anger management program, capping a probation hearing that followed the Grammy winner’s assault charge in Washington, D.C., last mo... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lady Gaga’s third studio album, “ARTPOP,” debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday after three months of steady promotion behind singles “Applause” and “Do What U Want.” The album sold 258,000 copies in its fi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – American Patty Griffin brought her resonant, mournful, soulful voice to London on Sunday, singing “Meet me on the banks of the Ohio” just a stone’s throw from the Thames in a sign of country music’s growing footprint in Britain. The scene, s... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Singer Adam Levine, the frontman of the Grammy Award-winning rock group Maroon 5 and a judge on the hit NBC singing show “The Voice,” was named People magazine’s sexiest man alive, the magazine announced on Tuesday. The 34-year-old singer-... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop singer Kelly Clarkson is pregnant with her first child, the 31-year-old Grammy winner announced on Twitter on Tuesday. “I’m pregnant!!! Brandon and I are so excited! Best early Christmas present ever :),” Clarkson tweeted. Clarkson,... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The “Material Girl” still has it. Madonna easily surpassed singer Lady Gaga and veteran rockers Bon Jovi as the highest-paid musician in 2013, Forbes said on Tuesday. Madonna earned $125 million, most of which was from her hugely successfu... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Lady Gaga scored her third British number one album on Sunday with “ARTPOP”, knocking U.S. rapper Eminem off the top spot, the Official Charts Company said. Lady Gaga, known for her extravagant costumes and estimated to have earned $80 milli... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Jay Z said on Friday that he will go ahead with his clothing collaboration with upscale retail chain Barneys New York Inc, but will also join a council fighting racial profiling, as authorities investigate Barneys and other major... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Bob Dylan has swapped his guitar for a blowtorch for his latest artistic endeavor, welding massive iron gates from scrap metal that went on show in London on Thursday. The “Mood Swings” exhibition at the Halcyon Gallery in central London mar... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Former Beatle Paul McCartney said on Thursday he had written to President Vladimir Putin to enlist his help in securing the release of a group of Greenpeace activists detained in Russia. Twenty-eight activists and two others face seven years... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Eminem’s latest album debuted with the second-largest opening sales week this year, rocketing to the top of the weekly Billboard 200 music chart on Wednesday. “The Marshall Mathers LP 2,” Eminem’s eighth studio album and seventh ... More »
(Please note offensive language in Q&A) By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) – Beloved of David Bowie and a generation of influential UK and U.S. guitar bands, American alt-rock combo the Pixies have sold out across Europe as they tour with new music for the firs... More »
(Please note offensive language in Q&A) By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) – Beloved of David Bowie and a generation of influential UK and U.S. guitar bands, American alt-rock combo the Pixies have sold out across Europe as they tour with new music for the firs... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When the Yellow Dogs were still playing secret gigs in their native Iran, even the unruly hairstyles of the four 20-something members of the indie-rock band were enough to get them in trouble with the police. But on the streets of Williams... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – John Tavener, one of Britain’s most celebrated composers whose music was played at the funeral of Princess Diana, died at his home in southwest England on Tuesday at the age of 69, his publisher said. He was one of the few modern composers t... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Iranian rock musician who had been kicked out of his band in New York shot dead three people, including two members of an indie band who had fled Tehran, and wounded a fourth man before killing himself in Brooklyn, authorities said on M... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – On the eve of her fourth studio album’s release, pop diva Lady Gaga lived up to her reputation for doing things on a grand scale on Sunday as she donned what she called the world’s first flying dress. Gaga, known as much for her off-the-wa... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Katy Perry won the award for best female singer at the 2013 MTV EMA music awards on Sunday, pipping Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus to the post in MTV’s first award ceremony since the launch a week ago of the upstart YouTube Music Awards. But C... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Katy Perry won the award for best female singer at the 2013 MTV EMA music awards in Amsterdam on Sunday, pipping Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus to the post and collecting her third EMA prize in the process. With the three pop divas in contenti... More »
(Reuters) – Rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was arrested outside a South Carolina airport on Monday for driving with a suspended license and without a vehicle tag and insurance, according to the Spartanburg County Detention Center. Airport police ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rocker Lou Reed, the frontman of the 1960s band The Velvet Underground who died last week, left his estate to his wife and his sister, according to a will filled in a New York court. The performer, whose solo songs include “Walk on the Wil... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The first-ever YouTube Music Awards on Sunday, improvised with plenty of celebrity cameos thrown into the mix, saw awards going to rapper Eminem and hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The show made a clear bid for the quirky, a benefit... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Does the world really need another music video awards show? The answer is yes – at least according to YouTube. The online video-sharing site is rolling out its first YouTube Music Awards on Sunday, with a show that pairs established indust... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Family of late soul singer Marvin Gaye sued R&B recording artists Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement on Wednesday, accusing them of stealing from the Motown legend’s musical composition for the hit single “Blu... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop singer Katy Perry shot to the top of the weekly Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday with her latest album, “Prism,” although overall album sales for the week were the lowest since the publication began charting in 1991. “Prism,” ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Songwriter and singer James Blake won the 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize for best album on Wednesday for “Overgrown”, with the winner announced at the end of a star-packed concert and awards event in London. The album selected by a panel of ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Jonas Brothers pop-rock band, which formed in 2005 and soared to fame as members of Disney’s stable of teenage stars, has decided to call it quits for now, a band representative said on Tuesday. The decision by the New Jersey-raised br... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are to play their first ever concerts in South Africa, nearly 30 years after his guitarist Steven Van Zandt led a campaign by rock musicians in protest against apartheid. Shows are scheduled for Cape T... More »
(Note: Strong language in the eighth paragraph) By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – R&B singer Chris Brown pleaded not guilty on Monday to misdemeanor assault after a fight that broke a man’s nose on Sunday outside a Washington hotel, the latest legal run-in... More »
(Warning: Language in seventh paragraph may be offensive to some readers) By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – R&B singer Chris Brown pleaded not guilty on Monday to a charge of misdemeanor assault as a result of a fight on Sunday outside a Washington hotel, ... More »
INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – Country music star Jason Aldean’s tour bus struck and killed a pedestrian early on Monday in southern Indiana, according to local police. Sheriff Michael Morris said in a statement that Knox County Coroner Gordon Becher confirmed Alber... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lou Reed, the pioneering musician who fronted influential rock band The Velvet Underground and won mainstream acclaim with solo songs “Walk on the Wild Side” and “Perfect Day”, died on Sunday aged 71. Reed, whose band fused music and art i... More »
(Reuters) – Fleetwood Mac bass guitarist John McVie has been diagnosed with cancer and the rock group has canceled the Australian and New Zealand leg of its world tour so that he can undergo treatment, the band said on Sunday. The band, known for such 1970s hi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Rapper Chris Brown was arrested and charged with assault in Washington early on Sunday after getting into a fight with a man outside a hotel near the White House, police said. Brown was charged with felony assault at 4:25 a.m. (3.25 a.m.... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Music producer Quincy Jones sued Michael Jackson’s estate on Friday, seeking millions of dollars in royalties generated from some of the star’s biggest hits after the King of Pop’s death. Jones, who worked on Jackson’s three biggest sol... More »
(Reuters) – Rapper Kanye West popped the question to his reality star girlfriend Kim Kardashian at San Francisco’s Major League Baseball stadium he rented for her 33rd birthday. Grammy-winning West, 36, proposed to the star of the TV reality show “Keeping Up w... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Singer Katy Perry has shed her cotton-candy pop image and reveals a vulnerability and maturity on her new album “Prism,” which she said reflects changes in both her personal life and her music. “Prism,” released on Tuesday, is Perry’s four... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – In what may be the first use of vuvuzelas in opera, the blaring horns popularized by South African soccer featured in the premiere of Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer’s “The Red Heifer” about a murder blamed on Jews in northeastern Hungary... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – In what may be the first use of vuvuzelas in opera, the blaring horns popularized by South African soccer featured in the premiere of Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer’s “The Red Heifer” about a murder blamed on Jews in northeastern Hungary... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – American singer and actress Miley Cyrus became the first person to simultaneously notch up a number one single and a number one album in the British music chart this year, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday. Her latest track, “Wrecki... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Television musical comedy series “Glee” bid farewell on Thursday to Finn Hudson, the hunky, kind-hearted jock played by the late Cory Monteith, offering up songs, remembrances and plenty of tears while sidestepping the question of how h... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – American pop star Miley Cyrus has snubbed some prim motherly advice about her new bad girl image from Irish singer and sometime rebel Sinead O’Connor. The “We Can’t Stop” singer – who has ditched her squeaky clean Hannah Montana Disney image... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles jury cleared concert promoter AEG Live of liability on Wednesday in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Michael Jackson, in a trial that offered a glimpse into the private life and final days of the so-called... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former Disney star Miley Cyrus says she was out to shock and “make history” and is unapologetic for her raunchy performance at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. In a documentary, “Miley: The Movement,” airing on MTV on October 2, the 20-... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of late pop star Michael Jackson against his concert promoter is now in the hands of a jury, and the verdict could have far-reaching implications for how the entertainment industry does bus... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A jailed member of Russia’s Pussy Riot punk band said she was starting a hunger strike on Monday to protest against “slave labor” in her penal colony and said she had received a death threat from a senior prison official. Nadezhda Tolokonnik... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Singer-songwriter Carole King will be honored as the 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year for a career spanning nearly six decades and her charitable and philanthropic work at a tribute early next year, The Recording Academy, which hands out ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Australian country singer Keith Urban beat out Canadian The Weeknd in a tight race to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday. Urban’s latest album, “Fuse,” sold 98,000 copies in its first week according to figures from... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – At 66 years old, Elton John says he can make whatever kind of music he wants, regardless of commercial pressure, but he professes to love what young musicians are doing today. At a rare free concert in Los Angeles on Monday night, John ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Britney Spears, the pop star and former “X-Factor” judge, is heading to Las Vegas with a two-year residency deal to perform at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. The former child star, whose hits include “Baby One More Time” and “Toxi... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The lead singer in a heavy metal Christian rock band has been ordered by a California judge on Monday to stand trial for allegedly attempting to hire an undercover sheriff’s deputy to kill his estranged wife. Tim Lambesis, the 32-year-o... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop singer Pink has been named Billboard’s Woman of the Year after scoring her first ever No. 1 album this year, the music industry trade magazine said on Monday. Pink, 34, who emerged on the pop scene in 2000 as a self-styled antidote ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter has dusted off his guitar, practiced five hours a day and polished a repertoire for his first live-performance tour in nearly a decade. Hunter’s way with words has earned him a place in the American idiom... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British indie rock group Arctic Monkeys seized the top spot in the British albums chart on Sunday with “AM”, their fifth consecutive studio album to debut at number 1, sales figures showed. The Official Charts Company said the group, from Sh... More »
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – Keith Urban had made eight albums over the past two decades when he began recording his latest, “Fuse,” and the Australian country singer figured it was time to make some changes. “I just wanted to start in a place that was com... More »
(Reuters) – Singers Taylor Swift and newcomer Kacey Musgraves on Tuesday led the nominees for this year’s Country Music Association awards, one of the genre’s top prizes. Swift, 23, and Musgraves, 25, each scored six nominations, followed by husband-and-wife s... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – American singer Katy Perry has secured her fourth number one in the British singles chart with her latest release “Roar”, sales figures showed on Sunday. Already a number one hit in the United States and around the world, the song knocked “B... More »
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – A concert by renowned conductor Zubin Mehta in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where separatist groups are fighting New Delhi’s rule, was mired in controversy on Sunday, posing potential diplomatic embarrassment for Germany, whose ambass... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. rock band Cheap Trick has been around longer than many of the biggest U.S. corporations and now a lawsuit is making them sound more like bickering board members than one-time hit makers behind songs like “Surrender” and “I Want You to Want Me.... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold topped the British album chart for the first time with “Hail to the King”, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday. The band’s sixth studio album put an end to four weeks at number one for TV ta... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fergie, the singer of pop-rap group the Black Eyed Peas, has given birth to a boy in Los Angeles on Thursday, a representative for her actor-husband Josh Duhamel said. Axl Jack Duhamel weighed 7 lb and 10 ounces (3.5 kg), Duhamel spokes... More »
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – Sheryl Crow has spent the past seven years living the country life in country music’s capital with her country music friends, but the Grammy-winning rocker has only now come around to recording a country music album. “Feels Lik... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country singer Luke Bryan topped the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday for the second consecutive week, denying singer-songwriter John Mayer’s latest album the No. 1 spot in its first week. Bryan’s “Crash My Party” sold 159,000 cop... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Argentinian actress wife of Canadian Grammy-winning singer Michael Bublé gave birth to a boy on Tuesday, the singer said on Twitter. The first child together for the singer and Luisana Lopilato was born in Vancouver, British Columbi... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Justin Timberlake won big on Sunday at MTV’s annual Video Music Awards, taking home the top prize for video of the year for “Mirrors” and a special achievement honor, and also led a much-anticipated onstage reunion of the boy band ‘N Sync.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Grammy-winning singer Linda Ronstadt is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and says she can no longer “sing a note,” the group AARP said on Friday. In an interview with AARP to be published next week, Ronstadt, 67, said the Parkinson’s dia... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British boy band One Direction was greeted by more than 3,000 screaming fans on Tuesday for the London premiere of its new 3D documentary “This Is Us,” while music mogul and manager Simon Cowell addressed his impending fatherhood for the fir... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British boy band One Direction, one of the pop music industry’s biggest acts in the last two years, plan to show the world what they’re really like in a new 3D documentary that will premiere in London on Tuesday. The five singers told a news... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A four-concert festival in Canada has been canceled after its headliner, R&B singer Chris Brown, had to pull out for personal and health reasons, the festival’s promoter said on Monday. “After ongoing conversation and consultation with ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding hit the top of the British singles charts for the first time on Sunday with her song “Burn”, the Official Charts Company said. Goulding, 26, who performed at the wedding reception of the Duke and Duchess of C... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B singer Chris Brown had his probation reinstated by a judge in Los Angeles on Friday after the Grammy winner agreed to complete an additional 1,000 hours of community labor stemming from his 2009 sentence for assaulting singer Rihann... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The composers of the hit song “Blurred Lines” have preemptively sued the owners of songs by late soul singer Marvin Gaye and funk band Funkadelic, asking a California federal court to rule that the chart-topping track does not violate a... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A judge in Los Angeles on Thursday dismissed a hit-and-run charge against Chris Brown after the R&B singer and the other motorist resolved to have the case dropped, a court spokeswoman said, but Brown still might face jail time. The 24-... More »
HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England (Reuters) – The bucolic English riverside town of Henley-on-Thames is about to fill up with thousands of people in strange clothes: but not, this time, the boater and blazer brigade that bedecks its world-famous rowing regatta. These ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hugh Laurie, best known as the cantankerous doctor Gregory House from Fox TV series “House,” has carved out a new career path that has steered him away from acting and led him to music. The British actor released his second album “Didn’... More »
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – Country singer Luke Bryan’s latest album, “Crash My Party,” released on Tuesday and expected to land near the top of U.S. charts, is just his latest step in taking a quintessential American music genre to the rest of the world.... More »
CROPREDY, England (Reuters) – 10cc, the pop-rock band that produced hits such as “I’m Not In Love”, “Rubber Bullets” and “The Wall Street Shuffle” in the 1970s, is still bringing fans to their feet with its against-the-grain lyrics about the darker side of lif... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – American singer and actress Miley Cyrus notched up her first number one hit in the British singles chart on Sunday with “We Can’t Stop”, a new entry, the Official Charts Company said. Cyrus, the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, so... More »
(Reuters) – A judge in Atlanta on Friday denied the ex-wife of R&B singer Usher temporary primary custody of their two children after one of them was hospitalized following a swimming pool accident at Usher’s house. Fulton County Superior Court Judge John J. G... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rock group Kings of Leon are getting less serious with age, as the band prepares to bring “young and fun” new music on Friday to their fans across the world in a quirky collaboration with comedian Fred Armisen. Kings of Leon, formed by ... More »
NASHVILLE (Reuters) – “Cowboy” Jack Clement, who inspired pioneering rock’n’rollers and classic country musicians, sometimes while prancing around the music studio in his bathrobe and playing the ukulele, died on Thursday at his home in Nashville. He was 82. C... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B singer Robin Thicke landed his first No. 1 album on Wednesday as his latest record, “Blurred Lines,” topped the Billboard 200 album chart, led by the single of the same name that has become one of this summer’s biggest hits. Thicke’... More »
(Reuters) – Dereck Seltzer wasn’t happy when he learned that Green Day used his artwork without permission as a video backdrop at its concerts. But a federal appeals court on Wednesday said the popular rock band didn’t violate his rights. The decision by the 9... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy-winning jazz keyboardist and producer George Duke, best known as a pioneer of fusion jazz and for his collaborations with rock musician Frank Zappa, has died, his publicist said. He was 67. Duke, who died on Monday night in Los A... More »
