Music

Richard Marx‘s memoir Stories to Tell came out recently.  It features dozens of tales of him working with everyone from Lionel Richie, Barbra Streisand and Luther Vandross to *NSYNC, Josh Groban and Keith Urban — plus the scoop on how he wrote all his hits.  However, Richard says he’ll probably write a second volume, because he left so many things out of the first one.

“Yeah, I mean, I like the idea of maybe writing another book, or more multiple books that might be fiction, that might be different,” he tells ABC Audio. “I’ve got a couple of ideas for books now, just like I would have ideas for albums or songs.”

But mostly, Richard wants to do another chapter of his memoir because he now has what you might call “author regret.”

“There comes a point when…as an author, your publisher says, ‘That’s it. There’s no more time, there’s no more changes, this is it. You’ve approved this. There’s no going back now,'” he explains. “And from that point on, we’d be hiking, and I’d say to [my wife] Daisy, ‘Ohhhhh, I completely forgot this story…!!!!'”

“I left out so many stories that I just didn’t remember,” Richard adds. “So, yeah, there’s a whole ‘nother volume of stories. There are More Stories to Tell. That’s the gag-inducing title.”

It’s hard to imagine how Richard is going to top the story of that time he was held hostage by the Chinese mafia in Taiwan, but we’re sure he’ll come up with something.

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The Weeknd was the star of this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, however he regrets that he had to postpone his After Hours tour — named after double-platinum album — until next year due to the pandemic.

“Oh my God, I really miss performing in general, especially this album,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I really didn’t get to perform it for my fans. There’s just something about going on tour, and even going on festival runs, and just experiencing new music with the crowd. Hopefully we get to do that.”

The three-time Grammy winner was shut out at the Grammy nominations this year, but he received a surprise Emmy nomination for his Super Bowl performance: Outstanding Variety Special.

“It was definitely unexpected,” he says of the nod. “I had no idea that it was even possible to get nominated for an Emmy for the Super Bowl, so I was very grateful.”

In 2019, the 31-year-old entertainer made his acting debut in Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler. Now he’s on a team creating a new HBO TV series, while also recording his fifth studio album.

“It’s been really cool because I’m working on this album this summer simultaneously with the writer’s room for the new TV show,” he says. “So I’ve been kind of going back and forth finishing the album and pending up the show that we’re going to start shooting soon. It’s been quite a summer.”

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Slipknot‘s beloved sophomore album Iowa turns 20 this Saturday.

Originally released August 28, 2001, Iowa arrived two years after Slipknot’s self-titled debut. Drawing inspiration from their lives growing up in their home state, along with their struggles with issues including addiction and mental health, the masked metallers created what is now considered the Knot’s darkest, heaviest and most intense album of their career.

Iowa debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 — then a Slipknot career high — and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It spawned future Knot staples “Disasterpiece,” “The Heretic Anthem” and “People=S***,” plus the Grammy-nominated singles “Left Behind” and “My Plague.”

Sadly, not every Slipknot member who recorded Iowa is still here to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Bassist Paul Gray died in 2010, while drummer Joey Jordison, whom Halestorm‘s Arejay Hale calls “one of the most influential drummers of his generation,” just passed away this past July.

“I always appreciated [Jordison’s] style because it was straight from the heart,” Hale tells ABC Audio. “I always appreciated that about him, and I was always really intrigued by his playing.”

Hale adds that he’s always been particularly inspired by Jordison’s “raw energy” and “aggression.”

“You could feel what he played,” Hale says. “You could definitely feel that he beat himself up. He put his entire body into his playing.”

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Anne-Marie and Niall Horan‘s hit duet “Our Song” is about two former lovers who think they’re doing OK — until their song comes on the radio. Anne-Marie says she got the idea for the song when she heard Jason Mraz‘s hit “I’m Yours” on the way to the songwriting session — but not for the reason you might think.

“On the way to the studio, I always try and see what inspires me on the way,” Anne-Marie tells ABC Audio. “I look out the window and I see someone talking to someone and I try and imagine their conversation…it’s always constantly, you know, trying to get inspired by something.”

She recalls that on that particular journey, on the way to her recording session, the song ‘I’m Yours’ came on the radio. “It’s weird, it never used to be mine and my ex’s song. It was my ex’s and his ex’s song together, Anne-Marie notes. “So every time it came on the radio, I would be like, ‘You’re thinking about her!!!’ And so it was that song that reminded me of that time.”

The “FRIENDS” singer marvels, “It was so long ago…it just surprised me how many memories it brought back whilst listening to it. So I went to the session, [and] I was like, ‘Imagine just how many people have that one song with someone?’ and it went from there, really.”

“Our Song” is on Anne-Marie’s new album Therapy, which also features collaborations with her friend Ed Sheeran and the British girl group Little Mix, among others.

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Yungblud had released the video for his new song, “Fleabag.”

The black-and-white clip finds the U.K. rocker snarling his way through of a number of less-than-ideal scenarios, ranging from street fights to being burned alive. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

“I wrote “Fleabag” in a really dark time of my life, when a lot of people around me had an expectation about what I should be,” Yungblud said when the song premiered last week. “To tell you the truth it’s about being f***ing gutted about people judging me and trying to tear me down.”

“Fleabag” follows Yungblud’s sophomore album, Weird!, which dropped last December.

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The Grateful Dead and the Rhino label have partnered with Amazon Prime’s music-themed streaming The Coda Collection to launch a series of archival concert films.

Three professionally filmed Grateful Dead performances from the latter part of the band’s career have been confirmed as part of the series. The first, which is available now, documents a July 2, 1989, stadium show in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The concert, which is available via streaming for the first time, featured Dead classics like “Playing in the Band,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Truckin'” and “Sugar Magnolia,” a medley combining Traffic‘s “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude,” and covers of Bob Dylan‘s “Queen Jane Approximately” and “Quinn the Eskimo.”

Upcoming Dead concert films will include a Live in Washington, D.C. 7/12/89 and Live at Giants Stadium 6/17/91, which will premiere on September 8 and September 29, respectively.

The latter show, held at the now-demolished East Rutherford, New Jersey, football stadium, saw Bruce Hornsby joining the band as guest keyboardist and included a rare performance of “Dark Star Jam.”

Future installments of the series will feature performances from various other eras of The Grateful Dead. Fans can explore more information about the shows at the free CodaCollection.co website.

The Coda Collection is available to Amazon Prime members for $4.99 a month. A seven-day free trial also is offered.

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After teasing she was dropping solo music, Chloe Bailey of Chloe X Halle is loving the anticipation of performing for the first time as a solo artist at the upcoming MTV VMAs.

“I’m so excited. Thank you @MTV,” she commented on Instagram. “Told y’all it was coming.”

As previously reported, the 23-year-old entertainer will debut her upcoming single, “Have Mercy,” at the awards show on September 12 at Barclays Center in New York City. Last year, she and sister Halle performed their song “Ungodly Hour” during the VMAs pre-show.

Chloe will return to Barclays Center in October for the Lights On Festival, hosted and curated by H.E.R. The list of performers for the two-day event on October 21 and 22 also includes Maxwell, SWV, Bryson Tiller, Skip Marley, Ari Lennox, Queen Naija and many more.

While Chloe prepares her solo debut album, 21-year-old Halle completed production last month for her starring role as Princess Ariel in Disney’s new version of The Little Mermaid. The sisters also appear together in the black-ish spinoff, grown-ish, starring Yara Shahidi.

 

 

 

 

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Of all Trent Reznor‘s many different, out-of-left-field projects, producing a Halsey album is perhaps the most surprising. As the Nine Inch Nails frontman tells Entertainment Weekly, he felt the same way.

“It was completely unexpected,” Reznor says. “‘Would you be interested in working on this project that was not something that you had planned or even thought about?’ And it caught me in the moment, where I said, ‘Let me hear what you’re talking about.'”

“To my surprise, I really had fun writing material in a format I’d never thought about before,” he continues. “I found myself excited. I wanted to get up even earlier to start working on it.”

Reznor produced the album, which is titled If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, alongside his NIN band mate and scoring partner Atticus Ross. What attracted him to the project, Reznor explains, was how artistically genuine it felt.

“I thought, ‘Well, I haven’t thought through all the repercussions of what it means to my career or to my people or to her people or how I’m f***ing myself in this, but it’s exciting to me as an artist for the right reasons,'” Reznor says. “It’s not for a trophy or a paycheck or anything. The end result of working on that Halsey record is Atticus and I went into it with a set understanding of what we thought we were doing and we came out the other end realizing we don’t know everything.”

Reznor’s main concern about the project now, though, is that he hopes “other people won’t think it’s a piece of s***.”

“Maybe I f***ed it up a little bit much,” he says.

If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power arrives this Friday, August 27.

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Future announced Tuesday he’s hosting a benefit concert in Miami to raise money for victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.

“I would love for all my friends, family, music industry, fashion ad all other industries, and people as a whole to stand up for Haiti,” he tweeted.

“I want to use my voice for whatever I can to support Haiti doing these tragic times,” the “Life Is Good” rapper added.

The September 3 concert at Oasis Wynwood will also feature Lil Uzi Vert and many others. Tickets begin at $100 and are available on the Oasis Miami website.

On August 22, Haiti was devastated with a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 2,000 people and injured over 12,000 more.

Rapper Future is hosting a benefit concert for Haiti on September 3rd in Miami. 🇭🇹 #Haitiearthquake pic.twitter.com/eLAVzV1aHB

— Lunionsuite 🇭🇹 (@LunionSuite) August 24, 2021

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