Halestorm has released a new acoustic session recorded for “Coffee Notes,” a new music series from the company Death Wish Coffee.
The video features Lzzy Hale and guitarist Joe Hottinger performing unplugged renditions of Halestorm’s new single “Back from the Dead” and their classic tune “I Miss the Misery.” Additionally, Hale sings a solo piano version of “I Will Always Love You,” originally written by Dolly Parton and made huge by Whitney Houston.
“We’re thrilled to release Coffee Notes featuring the amazing band Halestorm to kick off our 10-year brand anniversary as this is exactly the kind of artist-celebrated content that we want to offer our devoted Death Wish Coffee fans,” says Death Wish Coffee CEO Mike Pilkington.
“Halestorm is the perfect collaboration for Coffee Notes to celebrate our rockstar anniversary with real rockstars,” Pilkington adds. “We are proud to give our customers this exclusive experience and the chance to win a signed guitar as a thank you to their undying loyalty.”
You can watch the session now via DeathWishCoffee.com, where you can also enter to win a Gibson guitar signed by Hale and Hottinger.
Michael Ray’s move towards the ‘90s-era country music that first inspired him is paying off, as his latest single, “Whiskey and Rain,” has officially become his fourth number-one hit.
As the singer takes his victory lap for his latest chart victory, he’s especially excited to be celebrating success with a song so true to his artistic identity.
“The journey of this song has just been an incredible one to be on,” Michael recounts. “If you’re a fan of mine and you know who I am as an artist — and it was shaped by ‘90s and early 2000s country music — and I feel like this song really reflects a lot of those influences.”
Specifically, the song takes cues from hitmaker Gary Allan, especially his 1998 release, It Would Be You. The title track off that album was a Top 10 hit for Gary, and as a whole, the project launched a fandom in Michael that helped kick off his journey to country music stardom.
“I remember hearing ‘It Would Be You’ for the first time and it just spoke to me. As a kid, I just bought every Gary Allan record and learned all the covers I could,” the singer explains, adding that that influence is alive and well in his music today.
“There’s a lot you can hear of his influence on ‘Whiskey and Rain’ and throughout this EP project, this Higher Education project. So, big fan of Gary’s,” Michael says.
Art inspired by musicians that have recorded for Interscope Records, including U2 and No Doubt, will be displayed at an upcoming exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the label.
Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined, which opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on January 30, features over 50 original works by visual artists relating to particular albums or songs from the Interscope catalog.
The U2-themed art was based on the band’s 2000 hit “Beautiful Day,” and was created by John Currin. Two No Doubt songs from the band’s 1995 breakthrough album Tragic Kingdom served as inspiration for two separate pieces of art that will be featured in the exhibit — “Just a Girl” by Julie Curtiss and “Spiderwebs” by Lucy Bull.
Among the many other acts whose music inspired artwork for the exhibit are musicians including Dr. Dre, Billie Eilish, No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Tupac, Nine Inch Nails, Olivia Rodrigo, Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Eve and Helmet.
“Interscope’s original mission was to find the most profound artists, empower their creativity and watch what happens,” says the label’s co-founder, Jimmy Iovine. “For the 30th, we wanted to continue that vision by assembling the most admired visual artists and empower them with that same creative license to honor the musical artists we have worked with over three decades.”
The exhibition will be on display through February 13. For more info, visit LACMA.org.
Art inspired by musicians including Nine Inch Nails and U2 will be displayed at an upcoming new exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of Interscope Records.
Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined features over 50 original works by visual artists relating to a particular album or song from the Interscope catalog. Other musicians featured include Machine Gun Kelly, Billie Eilish and No Doubt.
“Interscope’s original mission was to find the most profound artists, empower their creativity and watch what happens,” says the label’s co-founder, Jimmy Iovine. “For the 30th, we wanted to continue that vision by assembling the most admired visual artists and empower them with that same creative license to honor the musical artists we have worked with over three decades.”
The exhibition will be on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from January 30 to February 13. For more info, visit LACMA.org.
Five years ago today, the video that would become YouTube’s most-viewed music video of all time hit the streaming platform. Today, it stands at 7.7 billion views. What is it? None other than “Despacito.”
The Luis Fonsi/Daddy Yankee single was originally released January 12, and the video, uploaded the day after, featured the two performing in Puerto Rico and showing off the island’s beauty. It racked up a billion views in 97 days, becoming, at the time, the second-fastest video on the site to reach that milestone.
Then, starting in August of 2017 through February of 2019, it became the first music video on YouTube to surpass three, four, five and six billion views. In November of 2020, it hit the seven-billion mark and officially became the most-viewed video on the site.
Ironically, the video for “Despacito” doesn’t feature Justin Bieber, whose addition to the song in April of 2017 via a remix helped it top the Billboard Hot 100.
“Despacito” eventually spent 16 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, tying the record for the longest-running number one ever on that chart, which had been set in 1996 by “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.
That record was eventually broken by Lil Nas X‘s “Old Town Road, which spent 19 weeks on top in 2019 and still holds the title.
Speaking of titles, Pinkfong‘s “Baby Shark” has since become the first video on YouTube to hit 10 billion views, but reps for YouTube confirm to ABC Audio that “Despacito” is still considered the most-viewed music video of all time on the platform.
Taylor Swift ended 2021 as one of the top-selling artists in the country and a new report shows just how tremendous her year was.
Billboardreports that one in every 50 albums sold in the U.S. over the past year belonged to the “Shake It Off” singer. The outlet reports that she sold a whopping 2.4 million albums last year, nearly a million more than the amount Adele sold. In all, the British singer saw 1.6 million copies of her albums fly off the shelf in 2021. When it came to digital sales, Taylor’s albums accounted for 1.35 percent of all downloads while Adele’s accounted for 1.07 percent of total digital album sales.
Taylor also sold 1.1 million vinyl copies of her albums while her CD sales amounted to 898,000.
BTS was the only other artist to move over a million albums last year after fans snapped up 1.1 million copies of their studio works. But, in the race for who sold the most songs, that honor goes to the K-pop sensations who sold 2.95 million singles. No other music act managed to sell over one million songs, with second place Dua Lipa finishing out the year with 954,000 sold.
Rosa Lee Hawkins, an original member of the New Orleans R&B vocal trio The Dixie Cups, died Tuesday at a hospital in Tampa, Florida, NOLA.com reports. She was 76.
Rosa’s older sister and fellow original Dixie Cups singer Barbara Hawkins revealed that she died from internal bleeding and other complications after undergoing a surgical procedure last week.
The Dixie Cups are best known for their chart-topping 1964 smash “Chapel of Love,” as well as for their hit 1965 rendition of “Iko Iko,” which was based on a traditional Mardi Gras Indian chant.
The group also had top-40 hits in 1964 with “People Say” and “You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked at Me.”
The Dixie Cups’ third original member, Joan Marie Johnson — a cousin of the Hawkins sisters — left the group in 1966 and passed away in 2016.
Rosa Lee and Barbara Hawkins continued to perform as The Dixie Cups with various third members. The most recent lineup also featured their childhood friend Athelgra Neville, a sister of the famed New Orleans sibling group The Neville Brothers.
“The most important thing to Rosa, after her son and me and her grandchildren and nieces and nephews, was singing,” Barbara told NOLA.com. “She was very happy when she was onstage. Her whole attitude and demeanor were different because she was doing something she loved.”
The Dixie Cups hadn’t performed live since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they had been scheduled to take part in the 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Barbara says she and Athelgra still plan to perform in her honor.
“[Rosa] had said, ‘I’ll probably go before you, but please don’t stop singing,'” noted Barbara. “I love her like I still love my mom…I will always love her.”
After two men were arrested earlier this week in connection with the murder of Young Dolph, a third suspect was taken into custody Wednesday.
Shundale Barnett, 27, has been charged with being an after-the-fact accessory to first-degree murder, according to HipHopDX.com.
U.S. Marshall Tyreece Miller said that after a $15,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest, over 500 tips were received, taking the investigation to Indianapolis, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Hampton, Virginia.
As previously reported, Justin Johnson, 23, was captured on Tuesday afternoon, nearly a week after law enforcement announced that he was wanted by police in connection with a number of alleged charges, including first-degree murder, criminal attempted first-degree murder and property theft.
A second suspect, Cornelius Smith, 32, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of the Memphis rapper, said Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich.
Smith was also indicted on additional charges of attempted first-degree murder, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, employment of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony and property theft. Young Dolph’s brother, who was with the rapper when he was killed, is the victim in the attempted murder count.
Young Dolph, whose given name was Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was shot and killed in Memphis on November 17 while visiting Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, a bakery in South Memphis that the rapper was known to frequent. He was 36.
A variety of famous music stars, including The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards, The Beach Boys‘ Brian Wilson and Billy Joel, have paid homage to legendary Ronettes singer Ronnie Spector, who died Wednesday of cancer at age 78.
Richards, who was a longtime friend of Ronnie’s and had a brief romance with her during the 1960s, wrote on his social media pages, “This is so sad. Ronnie was a very dear friend and she leaves a huge gap. How I’m going to miss that infectious laugh and that great voice! My deepest condolences to her family and loved ones.”
Wilson was a huge fan of The Ronettes’ 1963 hit “Be My Baby,” which inspired him to write “Don’t Worry Baby.” He presented “Don’t Worry Baby” to Ronettes producer Phil Spector for the group to record, but Phil turned it down, and it went on to become a hit for The Beach Boys in 1964.
Paying homage to Ronnie, Brian wrote on Twitter, “I loved her voice so much and she was a very special person and a dear friend. This just breaks my heart. Ronnie’s music and spirit will live forever.”
Accompanying the post is a YouTube video featuring footage of Ronnie visiting Brian backstage at a 2002 New York City concert. In the clip, she gushes at how much she loved “Don’t Worry Baby” and serenades a swooning Wilson.
Joel, whose classic song “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” was covered by Ronnie and Bruce Springsteen‘s E Street Band in 1977, writes, “The great Ronnie Spector has died. So many faces in and out of my life…We mourn her passing.”
In addition, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan posted a video of him performing an acoustic version of the Ronettes hit “Baby, I Love You.”
Here are some other tributes to Ronnie from various well-known artists:
Joan Jett: “Our dear friend Ronnie Spector, has passed. She was the sweetest person you could ever know. And her mark on rock and roll is indelible.”
The Beach Boys’ Al Jardine: “So sad to hear about Ronnie.”
“Little Steven” Van Zandt: “RIP Ronnie Spector. It was an honor to Produce her and encourage her to get back on stage where she remained for the next 45 years. Her record with the E Street Band helped sustain us at a very precarious time…Condolences to her husband and family.
Southside Johnny: “She was definitely one of the high points of my teenage years, one of the high points of my touring life. When she came on stage with The Jukes the crowd went crazy. And, I got to play castanets! Who could ask for more. Rest in a groove, Ronnie.”
The Bangles‘ Susanna Hoffs: “Peace and Love, Ronnie Spector.”
Darlene Love: “I’m in total shock! Did not see this one coming. Please give me time to process my thoughts to give Ronnie the proper tribute she deserves. She and I shared so much together.”
Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine: “this totally blows. f*** cancer. RIP the legend Ronnie Spector. Thank you for the music, for being so freaking cool.”
The Pointer Sisters: “Condolences to family & friends of #RonnieSpector RIP”
Jimmy Webb: Sad to hear that #RonnieSpector left us today. #TheRonettes and Roni were a main part of the soundtrack of the early 60’s & ‘Be My Baby’ was certainly a signature song. Ronnie’s vocals rang out with her beautiful clear voice across the radio waves. Rest in power, Roni.”
Luke Bryan premiered the music video for his current single, “Up,” today, giving his mid-tempo ode to small-town life an equally sentimental visual treatment.
The clip — which premiered exclusively on Facebook — starts with Luke sitting in a barn after sundown, watching old home movies on a projector.
As memories flood the barn, a collection of people watching along with Luke begins to grow. We see families smiling together and folks of all ages following along with the videos, ultimately heading outside to release lit-up paper lanterns into the night sky.
There’s a bittersweet real-life story behind the shoot: The home movies Luke’s watching are personal ones, and director Shaun Silva captured the singer’s reaction to seeing them for the first time. Among the videos are Luke holding his kids, fishing with his dad and hunting with his sons. One snippet is a closeup shot of Luke’s brother, Chris, who died in a car accident at age 26.
“When I saw the footage of my boys with both their grandfathers, and then the close-up clip of my brother basically looking at me, it was so overwhelming,” says Luke. “I could not be prouder, not only of the message of this song, but also how this video turned out.”
“Up” is the sixth single off Luke’s latest album, Born Here Live Here Die Here.
