Music – Page 3576 – 105.7 WDNY

Elton John and Dua Lipa lend support to the UK’s efforts to win the Eurovision song contest

October 21, 2021 by WDNY Radio

A-list artists Dua Lipa and Elton John are are throwing their weight behind the U.K.’s efforts to win the Eurovision Song Contest.

The “Cold Heart” duet partners, in conjunction with Tap Management, were selected to announce the search for who will represent Britain in the annual competition, which in the past two years has made global stars of “Arcade” singer Duncan Laurence and “Beggin'” rockers Måneskin.

Tap, which manages Dua, as well as Lana Del Rey and Elle Goulding, is taking over the selection of entries for the competition in an effort to have their country perform better in the contest. The U.K. hasn’t won in 25 years, and last year, its contestant came in dead last.

Sharing her excitement for the new gig, Dua raved, “I’m a proud Brit whilst also being a proud Kosovan. I’m happy to lend my manager to the cause. I’ll be cheering them on!,” according to The Sun.

Elton added, “There aren’t many televised events that are as big and global as Eurovision, so it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to remind the world yet again of the depth and diversity of our talent. I can’t wait to see what gems our friends at Tap Music will unearth.”

Arguably the most famous artists ever to have competed in the Eurovision Song Contest, which has been running since 1956, are Céline Dion, who competed and won for Switzerland in 1988, and ABBA, who won for Sweden in 1974 with “Waterloo.”

Atlanta declares October 20 Lil Nas X Day

October 21, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Lil Nas X has even more to celebrate after releasing his successful debut album, Montero. On Wednesday, Atlanta revealed that October 20 will henceforth be known as Lil Nas X Day.

The “Industry Baby” artist shared the news to his Instagram story, along with a snapshot of the official plaque awarded to him by the Atlanta City Council.

Council member Antonio Brown, who is the city’s first openly gay city councilman, signed the proclamation that certified the new holiday.

The council highlighted why the Grammy winner was deserving of the honor, declaring “his tremendous success and ability to break barriers in music and popular culture” in tandem with his “artistic influence and transformative music” has made a positive and lasting impact on the city.

Other reasons given were LNX’s “considerable impact on the LGBTQ community” by challenging how queer artists are treated in the music industry and “empowering others to break barriers and be more open, expressive, and personal through music and art.”

The city council also commended the success of his debut album, how “Old Town Road” shattered the Billboard Hot 100 record for most consecutive weeks at number one, the recognition he’s received at various music award shows and the seismic impact he’s had on streaming services.

Lil Nas X was born Montero Lamar Hill and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.

After a controversial name change and a “midlife crisis,” Lady A doubles down on ‘What a Song Can Do’

October 21, 2021 by WDNY Radio

On Friday, Lady A‘s eighth studio album, What a Song Can Do, arrives, completing the cycle started by June’s seven-song Chapter One.

Recorded “around the same time” as the EP, the seven new tracks were chosen from “up to sixty songs” Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood wrote during the pandemic.

“Obviously, we finished [2019’s] Ocean, we were preparing for that tour, and had to cancel it because of the pandemic,” Dave recalls. “So we just put our heads down and started writing for an indefinite amount of time. We didn’t know how long the pandemic was gonna last, and so we just wrote and wrote and wrote, kind of like we did for our very first album.”

The album’s bouncy lead single, “Like a Lady,” doesn’t begin to hint at the deeper messages on What a Song Can Do, as Charles explains.

“I feel like I had kind of my midlife crisis this past couple years of just, ‘What’s our purpose going through all the stuff we went through?'” he says, “and feeling like some of your intentions got twisted and misinterpreted, obviously, with our name change and all these things.”

“And it was like it only brought us stronger in our conviction of what we want to represent as a band,” he adds.

Charles affirms there’s no doubt what that is, as Hillary agrees.

“Nothing is going to deter us from trying to leave our mark in a positive way,” he proclaims. “[There’s] a little bit more determination — not just survival, and trying to make sure we stay on the radio, making sure we can maintain this certain level of success — but actually going like, ‘What are we leaving behind?'”

Lady Gaga? Justin Bieber? You can now bet on which pop star is most likely to go into space

October 21, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Now that 90-year-old William Shatner, aka Star Trek‘s Captain Kirk, has ventured into space in real life aboard one of Jeff Bezos‘ ships, which celebrity will be next to boldly go where only a few have gone before? Well, you can actually place bets as to which pop star is most likely to shell out big bucks to take a ride with Bezos…or Elon Musk, Richard Branson or any other billionaire who has their own spacecraft.

MyBookie.com, an online sportsbook, is now offering prop bets on the likelihood of celebs going to space, and there are plenty of musicians to choose from. For example, the odds on Justin Bieber blasting off are +1200, which means if you bet $100, you’d get $1,200 if he were next. Odds on Lady Gaga going are just a bit higher: You’d win $2,000 if you bet $100 on her.

*NSYNC‘s Lance Bass, who once legitimately trained to be an astronaut and was set to fly on a Russian Soyuz space capsule before his sponsors pulled out, is more likely to launch than both of those stars. According to MyBookie, If you bet $100 on him, you’d only get $700 back.

Other stars whose space futures you can bet on include Rihanna, Katy Perry, Kanye West and music manager Scooter Braun, who represents Justin, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato. Maybe Taylor Swift would foot the bill to send Braun, her arch-enemy, to outer space — if he promised never to come back.

If music’s not your thing, you can also bet on actors going into space. Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise — all of whom have made movies set in space — are some of the names available.

Legendary Stax guitarist, songwriter and producer Steve Cropper turns 80 today

October 21, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Steve Cropper, guitarist with legendary Stax Records house bands The Mar-Keys and Booker T. & the MG’s, and later The Blues Brothers, celebrates his 80th birthday today.

Formed in 1958, The Mar-Keys were the Memphis-based Stax label’s first house band. Besides backing other artists, The Mar-Keys made their own records, and in 1961, they scored a #3 hit with the instrumental single “Last Night,” which, interestingly, featured Cropper on keyboards.

In 1962, Cropper co-founded Booker T. & the MG’s with keyboardist Booker T. Jones, drummer Al Jackson Jr. and bassist Lewie Steinberg, who was replaced in ’65 by Donald “Duck” Dunn.

Like The Mar-Keys, Booker T. & the MG’s backed Stax artists and also made their own records. The group’s debut single, the classic 1962 soul instrumental “Green Onions,” peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the R&B chart.

Cropper also wrote songs with various Stax artists, including all-time classic soul hits like Otis Redding‘s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” Wilson Pickett‘s “In the Midnight Hour” and Eddie Floyd‘s “Knock on Wood.”

Starting in the 1970s, Cropper began playing on and producing records for artists outside of Stax.

Among the many other artists Steve has worked with over the years are John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Peter Frampton, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Roy Orbison and Etta James.

Cropper also played with The Blues Brothers, the blues/R&B tribute band led by Saturday Night Live stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, which released a chart-topping live album in 1978. Steve was featured in the hit 1980 comedy film focusing on the group as well.

Cropper was welcomed into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Booker T. & the MG’s in 1992, and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.

Steve’s most recent solo album, Fire It Up, was released in April of this year.

Last month, Cropper’s 80th birthday was celebrated with a special concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium that featured performances by ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons, James Burton, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Eddie Floyd, R.E.M.‘s Mike Mills and more.

Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock launching book tour next week promoting upcoming book, ‘Made in Hollywood’

October 20, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock‘s recently announced photo book Made in Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Go’s will be released on Tuesday, October 26, and coinciding with its publication, the veteran rocker will launch a promotional tour that will include in-person and virtual events.

Schock will be joined at some of the events by celebrities, including all of her band mates. The Go-Go’s will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on October 30, four days after the book arrives.

The first event, on October 26, is hosted by Greenlight Books in Brooklyn, New York, and will feature a virtual conversation between Gina and The B-52s‘ Kate Pierson.

Next up is an in-person event in Cleveland at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame October 29, a day before the Induction Ceremony. All five Go-Go’s will take part in an interview outside at the Rock Hall’s Union Home Mortgage Plaza, and Gina will sign copies of the book following the Q&A.

Other in-person book events will take place on November 5 in Laguna Beach, California; November 6 in Los Angeles; November 13 in San Francisco; November 16 in New York City; and November 18 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Additional virtual events are scheduled for November 8 and November 17, and will be hosted, respectively, by the Book Soup store in West Hollywood, California, and LiveSigning.com.

Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine also will be taking part in the November 6 event, while the band’s singer, Belinda Carlisle, will join Schock on November 8.

As previously reported, in Made in Hollywood, Schock takes fans on a photographic journey through her band’s history, using a treasure trove of personal pics and many other images.

Check out more details about the book tour at HachetteBookGroup.com.

Report: Dr. Dre served divorce papers at grandmother’s funeral

October 20, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The divorce proceedings between Dr. Dre and his estranged wife became even more bitter when he was reportedly served papers at a family funeral this week.

Nicole Young, who filed for divorce from the rap mogul in 2020 after 14 years of marriage, had legal papers delivered to the six-time Grammy winner Monday while he was attending his grandmother’s funeral in Los Angeles, according to TMZ.

There are conflicting reports about the incident.

Some sources say the process server attempted to give documents to Dre as he was paying his last respects to his grandma at the Inglewood Park Cemetery. The legendary rapper/producer was reportedly standing next to the casket and got into a dispute with the server. Another source claims that the papers were actually served in the cemetery parking lot.

The documents ordered Dre to pay over $1.2 million for his estranged wife’s attorney fees after he allegedly only paid a portion of her legal costs.

Nicole has claimed in court documents that she endured so much abuse from Dre that now she suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome. He denies those claims.

In July, a judge ordered the Beats by Dre co-founder to pay Young nearly $300,000 in spousal support monthly. His net worth is estimated at $800 million. The estranged pair share a son Truice, 24, and a daughter, Truly, 20.

Elton John scores first-ever #1 hit on ‘Billboard’ Dance/Electronic chart

October 20, 2021 by WDNY Radio

It’s nice to know that after more than 50 years in the music business, there are still some things that Elton John hasn’t done…until now.

The 74-year-old legend’s latest achievement is topping Billboard‘s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart with “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix),” his collaboration with U.K. pop star Dua Lipa.

As previously reported, “Cold Heart” is a mashup of four previously released Elton songs from the ’70s and ’80s: “Rocket Man” from 1972, “Sacrifice” from 1989, “Kiss the Bride” from 1983 and “Where’s the Shoorah?” from his 1976 album, Blue Moves.

“Cold Heart” has also been #1 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart for nine weeks, and has ascended to #25 on the Hot 100, which is the highest Elton has been on that chart since March of 1998.

“Cold Heart” has already become Elton’s first #1 hit in the U.K. in 16 years.

Celine Dion’s sister details medical issues that led to cancellation of new residency

October 20, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Earlier this week, Celine Dion announced that she was canceling her new Las Vegas residency show at Resorts World for medical reasons — she is having “severe and persistent muscle spasms which are preventing her from performing,” according to a statement. Now, the Canadian superstar’s sister is shedding a bit more light on exactly what’s wrong.

In an interview on a news show on TVA, a French language television network in Canada, Celine’s sister Claudette said Celine will be out “maybe for a few months” due to the muscle issues, which involve her lower body, and were apparently also problem at her last Las Vegas residency.

“The stage was a bit of a steep slope, and it was causing her problems with her muscles and her legs and feet,” Claudette explained, adding, “I know she can’t wait to get back to her fans, she can’t wait to get back on stage, but she won’t if she doesn’t feel 100% fit.”

“I’m not worried, because if we had had the slightest concern, we would already have had [more] medical details to tell you,” noted Claudette, who believes that her sister’s “great professionalism and passion” will allow her to overcome these issues so she can perform safely.

Celine’s residency was supposed to kick off in November; it also included performances in January and February. All those performances have now been canceled.

In a statement announcing the cancellation, Celine said, “I’m heartbroken by this…I’m especially sorry for disappointing all the fans who’ve been making their plans to come to Las Vegas. Now, I have to focus on getting better… I want to get through this as soon as I can.”

Scotty McCreery brings his newest single, “Damn Strait,” to the Kelly Clarkson Show stage

October 20, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Scotty McCreery reconnected with a fellow American Idol alum — Kelly Clarkson — this week, stopping by the stage of her talk show to perform his latest single, “Damn Strait.”

Coming off his new Same Truck album, “Damn Strait” is a heartbroken ballad paying tribute to the King of Country, told from the perspective of someone who can’t listen to his favorite George Strait songs because they remind him of the girl who left him behind.

“Damn Strait” hit country radio airwaves last week, and since then, it’s picked up more station adds than any other song in Scotty’s career to date. The new single follows his latest number-one hit, “You Time.”

Meanwhile, American Idol is gearing up for a new season. Representing the country music contingent is Luke Bryan, who will return for another season as a judge.

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