Entertainment News:
Stax's past influences future musicians in Memphis
MEMPHIS, Te nn. (AP) — One by one the teenage singers practice the opening lines to "Boogie Wonderland," a disco-funk hit from an era before they were born, as dancers work on hip-swinging moves that require perfect choreography.e d13377585ea2c831a6dba3058d274balt;/p>
Singer Kat Edmonson gets creative with financing her music
By Jeremy Gaunt LONDON (Reuters) - If Kat Edmonson ever becomes a household name, she can put it down not just to her talent as a jazz singer, but to some decidedly modern financing as well. The 29-year-old Texan, an old-school chanteuse with a contemporary lilt, has funded production of her second album via a community workshop and through crowd-sourcing, essentially getting the people who like her to pay for it. The album, "Way Down Low", has now been picked up by Sony which is "launching" the singer outside the United States as an up-and-comer in a more traditional manner. ...
Why YouTube cover sensation Sam Tsui turned down record labels for his debut album
By Lucas Shaw NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Michael Jackson landed Sam Tsui on Oprah, but now Tsui must rely on someone else's music - his own. A 24-year-old Pennsylvania native, Tsui blossomed into one of the most popular cover artists on YouTube while at Yale, covering everyone from Jackson to Britney Spears to Adele. His channel amassed more than 500,000 subscribers with the help of childhood friend and producer Kurt Schneider, who helped deliver Tsui's covers and mash-ups to millions of fans. ...
Country, soul singers battle in all-female 'American Idol' finale
By Patricia Reaney (Reuters) - Soul singer Candice Glover vied with country crooner Kree Harrison on Wednesday in an all-female finale of "American Idol" to become the first woman to win the TV singing competition since 2007. In a finale that judge Randy Jackson described as "so close," Glover, the 23-year-old former travel agent from St. Helena, South Carolina, brought the judges and the audience to their feet after belting out Tom Jones' "I Who Have Nothing." "You are such a powerhouse singer," judge Keith Urban said. "The song is like a planet exploding. ...
Singer Bob Dylan made honorary member of U.S. arts academy
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Singer Bob Dylan was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, joining the ranks of leading writers, composers and artists in the prestigious 115-year-old group. Henry Cobb, the president of the academy, said honorary members are people of great distinction in the creative arts. ...
Google launches streaming music service ahead of Apple
By Alexei Oreskovic and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc launched a music service on Wednesday that allows users to listen to unlimited songs for $9.99 a month, challenging smaller companies like Pandora and Spotify in the market for streaming music. With its new service, announced at its annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Google has adopted the streaming music business model ahead of rival Apple Inc, which pioneered online music purchases with iTunes. ...
Boston Symphony names Latvian conductor to succeed James Levine
BOSTON (Reuters) - The Boston Symphony Orchestra has hired Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons to succeed James Levine, an iconic American conductor known for his wild hair and dramatic manner, who left in 2011 due to health problems, it said on Thursday. Nelsons will be the leading U.S. symphony's youngest conductor in more than a century when he begins the 2013-14 season as "music director designate." He will assume the full title of music director for the 2014-15 season. ...
Lady Antebellum trumps 'Gatsby' soundtrack for Billboard No.1
By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country group Lady Antebellum scored its third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, staving off competition from Jay-Z's soundtrack for "The Great Gatsby" film. "Golden," the fourth studio album from the Nashville trio, sold more than 167,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, securing the top position on the weekly Billboard chart, which measures album sales across both digital and physical formats. ...
Aretha Franklin cancels two concerts over health issues
(Reuters) - Soul singer Aretha Franklin has pulled out of two upcoming performances because of health issues, the two concert venues said on Monday. Franklin, 71, canceled a May 20 concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a May 26 solo performance at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. "It was canceled for medical reasons," Foxwoods spokeswoman Dale Wolbrink said, declining to say what health issues caused the "Queen of Soul" to pull out of the May 26 show. ...
Director James Cameron to broadcast 3D 'Swan Lake' live from Russia
LONDON (Reuters) - "Avatar" director James Cameron and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev will beam the world's first live 3D ballet broadcast to 50 countries from Russia's Mariinsky theatre in June. Cinema audiences across Europe, the United States, South America, Asia, Australia and elsewhere will be able to watch Ekaterina Kondaurova dance the role of Odette/Odile in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" at the 19th century opera house on June 6, production company Omniverse Vision said in a statement. ...
