Months after losing her husband to cancer, NeNe Leakes appears to have found a new boo.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum is dating businessman Nyonisela Sioh, who owns a couture suit company in Charlotte, North Carolina, sources tell TMZ. Sioh, who is originally from Liberia, was reportedly introduced to NeNe by Peter Thomas, the ex-husband of fellow RHOA alum Cynthia Bailey.
Although it’s unclear how long the pair have been dating, Sioh did make an appearance at NeNe’s surprise birthday party that her son threw for her in Atlanta. Several pictures from the party show the reality star standing next to her new beau, who’s rocking a gray full beard and lavender suit.
NeNe’s possible new romance comes more than three months after she lost her husband, Greg Leakes, to cancer. They were married for 20 years.
The Byrds‘ three surviving original members, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby and Chris Hillman, have come together to collaborate on a new deluxe photo book focusing on the influential band’s early years that will be published next year.
The 400-page tome, titled The Byrds: 1964-1967, features over 500 images taken by such lauded photographers as Henry Diltz, Jim Marshall, Linda McCartney and Barry Feinstein, as well as restored pics from the Columbia Records archives and from the personal archives of the group’s original manager.
The book also features commentary penned by McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman, who share their recollections about the group, which pioneered folk rock, psychedelic rock and country rock, as well as about their late band mates Gene Clark and Michael Clarke.
The Byrds: 1964-1967 is the first in-depth photo book about the group, and the book on which the surviving founding members have collaborated. The project also marks the first time that Roger, David and Chris have all worked together since recording a few new songs for The Byrds’ 1990 retrospective box set.
Four versions of the book will be published: a Standard Version, a Deluxe Limited Edition, a Super Deluxe Limited Edition, and a Super Deluxe Limited Edition that comes with a fine art print.
The Super Deluxe Limited Editions, which will be released in October 2022, can be pre-ordered now at ByrdsBook.com, and are the only configurations signed by all three surviving founding Byrds members. When copies of the Super Deluxe versions sell out, they will not be reprinted.
Those purchasing the Super Deluxe Limited Edition with a print will be able to choose one of three images — McGuinn photographed by Diltz in 1967, Crosby photographed by Marshall in 1965 or Hillman photographed by Feinstein in ’65.
Gov’t Mule, the group fronted by ex-Allman Brothers Band singer/guitarist Warren Haynes, recently released a new studio album titled Heavy Load Blues that’s the jam band’s first full project dedicated to the blues.
Haynes and company must have done something right, because the album currently is spending its third week at #1 on Billboard‘s Blues Albums chart.
Heavy Load Blues features a mix of covers of songs by blues legends like Howlin’ Wolf, Bobby Blue Bland, Elmore James and Junior Wells and original tunes Warren wrote that were inspired by some of his blues heroes.
Haynes tells ABC Audio that he’s been planning to make a blues album with Gov’t Mule for years, but kept putting it off because of his busy schedule, that is until the COVID-19 pandemic freed up some time for him.
“During the whole COVID lockdown thing, I wrote five or six blues songs…and I had also for several years been compiling a list of blues covers that eventually I would want to tackle,” Warren explains. “And I think the whole lockdown thing just forced that to the forefront…[I]t seemed like the right time to do this.”
Haynes says some of his goals for the record was to include songs by artists that Gov’t Mule hadn’t covered live before, to explore various blues subgenres, and to make the album sound like a vintage recording.
A deluxe version of Heavy Load Blues features several bonus tracks, including, interestingly, a heavy blues interpretation of the 1973 Elton John song “Have Mercy on the Criminal.”
Haynes notes, “[O]ur version is a little heavier and darker [than Elton’s], but it’s perfect that way. It’s a great song and a great story.”
Here’s the album’s full track list:
“Blues Before Sunrise”
“Hole in My Soul”
“Wake Up Dead”
“Love Is a Mean Old World”
“Snatch It Back and Hold It”/”Hold It Back”/”Snatch It Back and Hold It”
“Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City”
“(Brother Bill) Last Clean Shirt”
“Make It Rain”
“Heavy Load”
“Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home”
“If Heartaches Were Nickels”
“I Asked Her for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)”
“Black Horizon”
Deluxe Version — Bonus Tracks:
“Hiding Place”
“You Know My Love”
“Street Corner Talking”
“Have Mercy on the Criminal”
“Long Distance Call”
“Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home” (Extended Version)
“Need Your Love So Bad” (Live)
“Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” (Live) — with Hook Herrera
The latest holiday hit by Elizabeth Chan, dubbed “The Queen of Christmas” by The New Yorker, is “A Christmas Song.” It’s the first Christmas song she ever wrote, but she’s re-released it this year to celebrate her 10th anniversary of making Christmas music. It was inspired, she says, by Christmas music itself.
“My earliest memories of Christmas music is me and my sister just listening to the radio 24 hours a day, just being so excited to listen to Christmas music,” Elizabeth tells ABC Audio. “Because I really think, in my life, that’s what makes Christmases.”
The 10th anniversary version of “A Christmas Song” appears on Elizabeth’s new album, Greatest of These Days, which features her holiday hits and some new tracks — and she actually let her family pick the album’s first single.
“They chose ‘A Christmas Song.’ They literally voted for that,” she shares. “There’s always a part of me that’s like, ‘My first song? Really?’ But…I always knew that it was a special song.”
And speaking of family, Elizabeth’s four-year-old Noelle now gets that Mommy’s job is writing Christmas songs and singing them, but she doesn’t quite get the whole picture.
“She actually says to me, ‘Mommy, I just wrote a song. And tomorrow it’ll be on the radio!’ She thinks it’s that easy!!!” Elizabeth laughs. “But that’s the beauty [of it]. She has no limiting beliefs! That’s the same heart that I had when I said to my parents, ‘I love Christmas music. This is what I want to do.'”
“So for me to see it in my own children is both exhilarating…and mortifying at the same time!” she laughs.
To learn how Elizabeth became a full-time Christmas artist, check out her spoken-word album-slash-memoir, The Queen of Christmas, on iTunes.
Jimmy Eat World has released all three of the band’s Phoenix Sessions streaming concerts to watch for free on YouTube.
The virtual shows originally premiered earlier this year and included full album performances of “The Middle” outfit’s latest release, 2019’s Surviving, as well as 1999’s Clarity and 2004’s Futures.
“In a time seemingly more uncertain than now, we wanted to give something to you amazing people, while selfishly fulfilling our need to play music together,” Jimmy Eat World says. “We are eternally grateful for each and every one of you who helped make this happen by purchasing tickets and all the beautiful fans we met during those meet and greets.”
“Here’s to seeing you all IRL in 2022!” the band adds.
Audio recordings of the Phoenix Sessions streams were previously released on digital outlets in November.
As the featured artist on one of the biggest hits of the year, Lil Nas X‘s “Industry Baby,” Jack Harlow is riding a wave of success. He received two Grammy nominations for the song, attended the Met Gala, and now sits courtside with household names at basketball games.
However, the Louisville, Kentucky, native knows fame can be fleeting.
“I’m terrified to fall off and lose my spot or lose the ground I’ve covered, or not reach the potential that people see,” Harlow admits to Variety. “Every time I sit courtside at these games or go to the Met Gala or maybe the Grammys, what’s in my head is, ‘I’ve gotta be here next year.’ I don’t want this to be the last time.”
Meanwhile, the “Whats Poppin” rapper says that while he is focused on his creativity, he finds that as his popularity rises, music has become less important.
“Once you become actually famous, it’s only half about the music,” he says. “They’re just showing up to see you in the flesh, put you on their Snap, throw some panties at you, whether they know a single lyric or not.”
Harlow also wishes that, like Kendrick Lamar and Eminem, he had an alter ego to hide behind.
“Sometimes artists will assume characters for a verse or a feature — Kendrick does that, Em had it with Slim Shady, and sometimes in the studio my engineer will even encourage me to ‘get out of Jack Harlow,'” he says. “That’s something I’d have to work on intentionally, and maybe I will.”
In a deal that dwarfs even that of his idol Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen has sold his masters and music publishing to Sony for a whopping $500 million, sources tell Billboard. The publication says the deal may be the biggest payday yet for an individual musical body of work.
Springsteen’s album catalog has sold more than 65 million copies in the U.S. alone. That catalog includes such bestsellers as 1984’s Born in the U.S.A., which has sold 15 million copies, and 1980’s The River, which has sold five million copies.
Billboard estimates Springsteen’s album catalog generated about $15 million in 2020 alone, with his publishing catalog generating about $7.5 million a year.
The publication notes that years ago, Springsteen was granted ownership of his earlier albums as an incentive to re-sign with Columbia, the label for which he’s recorded his entire career.
Last year, Dylan made headlines when Universal Music Publishing Group purchased his catalog for between $375 million and $400 million.
Rush is releasing a collection of rare, never-before-seen photos from the Moving Pictures album cover shoot.
The images were taken by photographer Deborah Samuel, who also shot the covers for the Rush releases Permanent Waves, Exit…Stage Left and Signals. The pics are now being unearthed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Moving Pictures, and to raise money for the charity organization Grapes for Humanity and its efforts to provide sight-restoring surgeries and “eradicate preventable and curable blindness in low to middle income countries.”
“I clearly remember the day Deborah set up for this cover, and especially the interior series of the Moving Pictures photographs,” says guitarist Alex Lifeson.
“I was jumping around in the dark with a bright strobe flashing away, which was disorienting to say the least, but the results fit so well with the album concept, and I loved the final photos she produced,” Lifeson recalls. “I’m thrilled to revisit them and make the covers and these interior photos available in support of Grapes for Humanity.”
Singer/bassist Geddy Lee adds, “I’m very thankful to Deborah for generously making these rare photographs available to our fans, the proceeds of which will help bring sight to the sightless.”
Moving Pictures, Rush’s best-selling album, hit the big 4-0 this past February. The 1981 record produced the singles “Tom Sawyer” and “Limelight,” as well as the beloved instrumental “YYZ.” It’s been certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 5 million in the U.S.
BMG Rights Management (Europe) GmbH/Sony ATV Publishing/Demetri Jagger
Singer/songwriter Chris Jagger, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger‘s younger brother, has been hosting a podcast series for the Austin, Texas-based Hot Pie Media podcast network, and he’s revealed that his famous sibling will be joining him on multiple upcoming episodes of the show.
The Jagger brothers are still working out the details of their podcast collaboration, which, according to a press release, “[is] guaranteed to be one-of-kind, uniquely entertaining and the beginning of bigger things to come.”
Hot Pie Media tells ABC Audio that the episodes will feature “scripted portions, as well as allotted time for chatting,” adding, “In addition to [Chris and Mick] creating music beds for some of the content within the episodes, we will encourage them to also perform.”
“I look forward to my brother Mick being a part of my Hot Pie Media podcast series,” Chris says in a statement. “Mick joined me for a duet on my new album…so working together again on my podcast makes our collaboration another family affair!”
Hot Pie Media CEO Robert Walker adds, “Having the Jagger brothers working together on our network is a major milestone for our company. It’s also a very rare opportunity for the public to enjoy these two talented artists performing as a duo.”
Chris, who’s a partner in Hot Pie Media, has co-hosted and/or contributed to a number of podcasts and specials for the network. One of these saw him team up with Mick’s former romantic partner, supermodel Jerry Hall, for a program called Jerry’s Hall of Fame that featured Hall playing and discussing some of her favorite recordings.
Josh: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images; Billy: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Josh Groban has recorded at least one of Billy Joel‘s songs, but now, he’ll actually be playing the part of The Piano Man himself in a new original scripted series from Audible.
The series is called The Miranda Obsession, and it’s based on a true story that was documented in a 1999 Vanity Fair article of the same name. The audio-only series stars The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan as Miranda Grosvenor, the alias of a real-life Louisiana woman who charmed many famous men in the ’70s and ’80s, simply by talking to them on the telephone.
Born Whitney Walton, “Miranda” would call stars late at night, and was reportedly so alluring that the men she called would fall in love with her, just by hearing her voice. Among the people with whom Walton had phone relationships were Billy, Eric Clapton, Warren Beatty, Bob Dylan, Richard Gere, Peter Gabriel, Robert De Niro, Ted Kennedy, Johnny Carson and many more.
Billy was reportedly so entranced by Miranda that he considered writing a musical about her. Others bought her expensive gifts, and, according to Vanity Fair, two of her telephone pals — music producers Quincy Jones and Richard Perry — proposed to her. Walton died in 2016 at age 74.
In a statement, Brosnahan says, “I was completely captivated by the story of Miranda and her intimate relationships with some of Hollywood’s most powerful male players. Not only did she hold her own, but she curated a fantasy on the other end of the telephone and drew men into her design with words alone.”
In addition to Brosnahan and Josh, The Miranda Obsession series will feature Milo Ventimiglia as Richard Perry, and will premiere on Audible April 28, 2022.
