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Eddie Van Halen’s California hometown unveils honorary plaque

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Eddie Van Halen‘s hometown of Pasadena, California, has unveiled an honorary plaque dedicated to the late Van Halen guitarist.

According to Pasadena Now, the plaque is displayed on the outside wall of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which commemorates Eddie and Van Halen for “reinventing rock ‘n’ roll” and their “connection to Pasadena.”

Eddie and his brother Alex were born in The Netherlands before the Van Halen family moved to Pasadena in 1962. By the time they started their namesake band in the early ’70s, the brothers were local sensations — as the plaque notes, Van Halen performed at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium 14 times between 1975 and 1978.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Pasadena council member Felicia Williams said, “This event brings together history and community to celebrate a world-renowned artist.”

“It’s not just the history of Eddie as a guitar legend, but also the challenges he faced growing up mixed race in Pasadena, which always spoke to me,” Williams added, referring to Eddie’s Dutch-Indonesian heritage.

The plaque arrives a week after the one-year anniversary of Eddie’s death. He died October 6, 2020, at age 65 following a battle with cancer.

SZA denies rumors that she’s releasing her album the same day as Summer Walker

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

SZA is setting the record straight. After a fan asked “The Weekend” singer if she was going to compete with fellow songstress Summer Walker by releasing her sophomore album Alt, on November 5, the same date as Walker’s Still Over It, SZA says that would never happen.

“I jus wanna know y y’all think i would drop same time as summer,” SZA tweets in response to the fan before adding, “I’m ON her album…like wut.”

Rumors of SZA’s expected album-release date comes after a SZA fan page announced that the singer had chosen the same November 5 date as Summer Walker.

While there’s no word yet on when SZA will release the follow-up to her 2017 project Ctrl, fans can be excited about the singers’ upcoming collaboration. As previously reported, the two joined forces when Walker was featured on SZA’s “Bloodstain,” released back in April. They later teased their reunion when they were seen in the studio together again in June.

Songs by The Police, Queen and Rolling Stones honored with BMI London Awards

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Members of The Police, Queen and The Rolling Stones were among the honorees today at the 2021 BMI London Awards, given out annually by the music-rights management and licensing company BMI.

Part of the ceremony was dedicated to the presentation of the Million-Air Awards, which recognize the songwriters of iconic songs that have been broadcast on TV and radio more than a million times in the U.S.

At the top of this list is Sting for writing The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” which was honored for amassing 16 million performances.

The honorees in the eight-million-plays category were the writers of Queen‘s “Another Bites the Dust” and “We Will Rock You,” composed, respectively, by John Deacon and Brian May; The Rolling Stones‘ “Honky Tonk Women,” penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards; and Steve Winwoood‘s “Higher Love,” which Winwood co-wrote with Will Jennings.

The songwriters recognized for tunes with seven million performances were Elton John for “Bennie and the Jets” and his Kiki Dee duet “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”; Gerry Rafferty for “Baker Street; Sting for The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and his contribution to Dire Straits‘ “Money for Nothing”; Paul McCartney for “Live and Let Die”; Freddie Mercury for Queen’s “We Are the Champions”; and ex-Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden for co-writing his old band’s hit “Here I Go Again.”

As for the six-million-play honorees, they included Elton for “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” former Yes members Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson for “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” Cutting Crew‘s Nick van Eede for “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” and Roxette‘s Per Gessle for “It Must Have Been Love.”

To check out a full list of BMI London Awards winner, visit BMI.com.

“Forever grateful”: Lee Brice takes “Memory I Don’t Mess With” to #1

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Lee Brice is “forever grateful” for his new #1 song.

The singer’s back at the top of the charts with “Memory I Don’t Mess With,” marking his eighth #1 single. The track is featured on his 2020 album, Hey World.

“Y’all… We have the #1 song on country radio!! A huge THANK YOU to country radio, my team, and every single one of you who called your local radio station to request #MemoryIDontMessWith,” Lee writes in a celebratory Twitter post. “I cannot thank y’all enough for showing this song so much love! I’m forever grateful.”

“Memory” is the latest in a string of four consecutive #1 hits for Lee, following “Rumor,” “I Hope You’re Happy Now” — Lee’s CMA and ACM Award winning duet with Carly Pearce — and “One of Them Girls.”

for KING & COUNTRY set new album release, tour for 2022

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

for KING & COUNTRY is on tour now and they’ll be on the road right up to Christmas — but they’ve already mapped out their next tour.

The award-winning Australian duo have announced that they’ll be releasing a new album called What Are We Waiting For? on March 11. It’s their first collection of new non-holiday music in three years, and is the follow up to 2020’s A Drummer Boy Christmas.

To go with the album, Joel and Luke will kick off What Are We Waiting For? — The Tour on March 31, 2022; it’s currently scheduled through May 22 in Franklin, TN. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday at 10 a.m. via the duo’s website.

“So many of you have encouraged us and spurred us on in this journey since we began the writing process at the top of the year,” the “Amen” duo say in a statement. “We’ve made records before in buses and in dressing rooms, but what’s been particularly beautiful about this one is that we were able to be home with our families.”

Ahead of the tour, an event called the for KING & COUNTRY New Album Weekend Experience will take place March 4-6 in the duo’s home base of Nashville, TN. Fans will get to spend the weekend with the duo, enjoy a concert, hear the entire album, attend a meet & greet and more. You can get tickets now through Eventbrite.

50 Cent roasts Snoop Dogg on his inability to stop smoking weed

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

50 Cent is having a major laugh thanks to good pal and Black Mafia Family star Snoop Dogg.

In an Instagram post to promote the latest episode of his new crime-drama BMF, 50 shared an image of Snoop in character as Pastor Swift.

“Let us all pray God, grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I can not change, the COURAGE to change the things I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference,” 50 wrote in a message accompanying the pic. “BECAUSE @snoopdogg is not gonna stop smoking weed.”

50’s hilarious revelation comes after the rapper told Jimmy Kimmel last month that he couldn’t get Snoop to stop smoking marijuana on-set.

“He did his thing,” Fif said of Snoop’s portrayal as the pastor. “[But,] you can’t get him to stop smoking weed. I went to the trailer. I was like, ‘Can you chill? Can you chill?’ He was like, ‘Get outta here, man! No, it’s legal 50! It’s legal!”

Fif continued, “He was really conflicted with me asking him not to smoke weed. He was like, ‘Why you wanna mess up my day?'”

Fans can check out Snoop in BMF, which airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on Starz.

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Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes to perform at Prince William’s Earthshot Prize ceremony

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Coldplay, Shawn Mendes and Ed Sheeran are among the performers at the first-ever Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony, which is being held in London on October 17.

The Earthshot Prize was created by Great Britain’s Prince William and The Royal Foundation to encourage scientists to develop the “most inspiring and innovative solutions” to the world’s biggest environmental challenges. There will be five winners announced, and each will get one million pounds — about $1.36 million U.S. — to scale and support their innovations.

Prince William will attend the ceremony with other participants including Sir David Attenborough, actors Emma Thompson, Emma Watson and David Oyelowo and Prince Williams’ wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.

You can learn about all 15 finalists for the prize in the documentary The EarthShot Prize: Repairing Our Planet, which is now available on Discovery+ and will arrive on October 16 on the Discovery Channel. The awards ceremony will stream globally on Discovery’s Facebook page on October 17.

Santana finds “Joy” with new collaborative tune featuring country star Chris Stapleton

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Carlos Santana has released a fourth advance track from his upcoming studio album, Blessings and Miracles, a genre-blending song titled “Joy” that features the guitar legend collaborating with Grammy-winning country star Chris Stapleton.

“Joy,” which was co-written, produced and sung by Stapleton, combines elements of reggae, rock, country, blues and gospel music.

“I was very intrigued to work with Chris,” Carlos says. “We talked on the phone about the COVID situation and how there’s so much fear in the world, and I said, ‘We need to create music as a healing force. We must bring hope and courage and disinfect twisted minds infected with darkness.’ That gave him the ammunition to write such incredible words.”

He adds, “Somewhere I said, ‘flying on the wings of angels,’ so it’s a collaboration. And what an incredible song it is. The choir in it — it’s like the Staple Singers.”

“Joy” is available now via digital formats, and you also can check out a colorful, animated lyric video for the tune at Santana’s official YouTube channel. The clip brings images from the Blessings and Miracles cover art to life.

Blessings and Miracles, which you can pre-order now, will be released this Friday, October 15. As previously reported, the album features Carlos and his band teaming up with an eclectic variety of guest musicians. The three other tracks that already have been released from the record are a cover of the Procol Harum classic “A Whiter Shade of Pale” featuring Steve Winwood; the new Rob Thomas collaboration, “Move“; and “She’s Fire,” a song written by acclaimed songwriter Diane Warren that also features singer-rapper G-Eazy.

Coldplay reveals ‘Music of the Spheres’ lyrics via London billboard

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

If you live in London, you might’ve caught a sneak peek of Coldplay‘s upcoming album, Music of the Spheres.

As flagged by the fan account @ColdplayXtra, a digital billboard recently popped up in the English capital, featuring lyrics from the unreleased Spheres song, “Biutyful.”

The song begins, “All I know is I love you/I hope that you get everything you want in this biutyful live.” We assume that “Biutyful” is pronounced like “beautiful,” but we’ll find out for sure when Music of the Spheres arrives this Friday, October 15.

Music of the Spheres includes the previously released lead single “Higher Power” and the hit BTS collaboration “My Universe.” The album also includes a song with pop star Selena Gomez, titled “Let Somebody Go.”

Lyrics to Coldplay’s track Biutyful, from new album Music of the Spheres, have appeared on a digital billboard in London at the @alienradiofm coordinates
📸 @ColdplayFrance pic.twitter.com/udrTEjxH4c
— ColdplayXtra (@coldplayxtra) October 11, 2021

Chart-topping hits by Lewis Capaldi, Ed Sheeran, Elton John win BMI London Awards

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Lewis Capaldi‘s smash hit “Before You Go” was named Song of the Year at the 2021 BMI London Awards, given out annually the music rights management and licensing company BMI.

“Before You Go,” which was the most-performed song in the U.S. in 2020 by a U.K. or European songwriter, spent 52 weeks on the Billboard chart and eventually became Lewis’ second U.S. top 10, after “Someone You Loved.” One of Lewis’ co-writers, Tom Barnes, said, “The song really resonated with people during the pandemic because many had to say goodbye to people without really saying goodbye.”

Also at the event, iconic songs that have been broadcast on TV and radio more than a million times were recognized. Elton John‘s “Bennie and the Jets” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” were honored for seven million performances each, while “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” was honored for six million performances.

Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” were also honored for six million performances, and a song he co-wrote — Justin Bieber‘s “Love Yourself” — was honored for four million performances. “Every Breath You Take” by The Police earned its composer Sting an honor for a whopping 16 million performances. Of all the songs that BMI administers the rights to, that’s the most-played song.

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