The King of Pop still reigns.
According to Forbes magazine, the late Michael Jackson has earned more money in the past year than any other musician — dead or alive. Between June 2012 and June 2013, Jackson’s estate earned $160 million. This surpassed the second-place earner, MJ’s living rival Madonna, who made $125 million in that time span, by $35 million. “It’s the third time in the past five years that the top-earning celebrity in the world has come from the graveyard,” reports Forbes.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Jackson’s earnings come from ”two Cirque du Soleil shows — one that tours, one housed at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Vegas — and his half of the Sony/ATV song catalog, which includes his own hits as well as tunes like ‘When a Man Loves a Woman.’”
On the list of deceased earners, Elvis Presley comes in a distant second (with $55 million), followed by Peanuts creator Charles Schultz ($37 million), Elizabeth Taylor ($25 million), and Bob Marley ($18 million).
article via thegrio.com
Posts published in “Music”
Charlie Parker started playing as a boy, when his mother gave him a saxophone to cheer him up after his father left. He went on to spearhead a musical revolution.
Charlie “Bird” Parker was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. In his brief life, Parker created a new sound on the alto saxophone and spearheaded a revolution in harmony and improvisation that pushed popular music from the swing era to bebop and modern jazz.
In Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker, scholar and author Stanley Crouch tells the story of Parker’s early years and his rise to prominence. But Crouch says he didn’t want to tell the same old story of young black musicians overcoming obstacles.
“These guys, they thought about life,” he says. “Oh yes, they thought about being colored, but they also thought about life. And people came to hear you because you played life. It wasn’t because you played, ‘Oh, I’m just a poor colored man over here, just doing some poor colored things. I’m thinking about my poor colored girl and how the white man is not going to let us blah blah.’ That wasn’t what they were playing.”
‘I Put Quite A Bit Of Study Into The Horn’
Crouch’s book opens with a triumphant moment in Parker’s career. It’s February 1942 and the 21-year-old alto player is on the bandstand at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, performing with the Jay McShann Orchestra for a live radio broadcast. He steps up to solo and Crouch explains what happens next:
When the band started throwing up stock riffs behind him, Parker sidestepped the familiar shapes, issuing his responses from deep in left field.
… Each chorus was getting hotter; it was clear, from the position of his body and the sound of his horn, that Charlie Parker was not going to give in. All the nights he had worked on it, the flubs, the fumblings, the sore lips, mouth, and tongue, the cramped fingers — they all paid off that afternoon. Suddenly, the man with the headphones was signaling McShann, Don’t stop! Don’t stop! Keep on playing!
In 1980, the late pianist and bandleader Jay McShann described how Parker’s sound grabbed him the first time he heard it. “One particular night, I happened to be coming through the streets and I heard the sound coming out. And this was a different sound, so I went inside to see who was blowing,” he said. “So I walked up to Charlie after he finished playing and I asked him, I said, ‘Say man,’ I said, ‘where are you from?’ I said, ‘I thought I met most of the musicians around here.’ Well, he says, ‘I’m from Kansas City.’ But he says, ‘I’ve been gone for the last two or three months. Been down to the Ozarks woodshedding.’ “
Usher Raymond is on double movie duty with his credit as executive producer of the upcoming education documentary Undroppable, as well as his role in Hands of Stone as legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. The project, written and directed by Jason Pollock, will explore the dropout epidemic in the U.S. educational system with direct feedback from American students. The film will be supported by a social media/video campaign that will allow them to discuss the issues they face in school.
Raymond will executive produce with Scooter Braun (Justin Bieber‘s manager) who introduced him to the project, as well as Adam McKay, Sharon Chang, Alex Soros andJohn Powers Middleton. “I knew Usher was very passionate about the issue of education, so I felt this was a great project to bring him into,” said Braun. “His expertise will be invaluable as we continue this film and movement.”
Undroppable will be completed this year for a 2014 release.
article by via uptownmagazine.com
According to Variety.com, Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced an eclectic lineup of nominees for 2014 induction today, including rap acts LLCoolJ and N.W.A., disco band Chic and New Orleans funk group the Meters.
Other newly-anointed candidates include Chicago’s blues-rocking Paul Butterfield Blues Band, British hard rock act Deep Purple, U.K. singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, blue-eyed soul duo Hall & Oates, costumed Detroit metal act KISS, Seattle grunge icons Nirvana, Minneapolis’ shambolic punks the Replacements, vocalist Linda Ronstadt, singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, pathfinding guitarist Link Wray, Brit prog-rock kings Yes, and ‘60s British Invasion group the Zombies.
Stevens, LL Cool J, Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, KISS, N.W.A. and the Meters are all repeat nominees; it is the first time in the running for the remainder of the field. Gabriel is already a member of the Rock Hall via his association with Genesis, inducted in 2010. The induction ceremony is set for April in New York, and will be presented on HBO in May.
Inductees are select by a panel of 600 music biz authorities, including musicians, execs and writers. Beginning today through Dec. 10, fans can vote online at rockhall.com/vote; the top five vote recipients will constitute a “fan’s ballot” counting toward the final vote tally.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
ATLANTA (AP) — Patti Labelle and Queen Latifah both will be among those honored as part of the Black Girls Rock! awards show on BET in November. Black Girls Rock! founder Beverly Bond announced the show’s honorees in a statement Monday. Other honorees include tennis champion Venus Williams, screenwriter-producer Mara Brock Akil, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, community organizer Ameena Matthews and children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman.
Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King return as hosts of the ceremony, which will air Nov. 3. It will be taped later this month at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J. Black Girls Rock! is a nonprofit organization that mentors young black girls and works to fight negative images of black women in the media.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com
Congratulations go out to Pharrell Williams and his model wife Helen Lasichanh, who tied the knot in Miami yesterday (Oct. 12). The musician and his beautiful wife enjoyed music by pals Usher and Busta Rhymes, Us Weekly reports, and the Daily Mail adds that Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke were also rumored to perform.
The couple’s wedding photographer was none other than Terry Richardson, photographer to the stars, adds Just Jared. Never one to play by the rules, Williams, 40, ditched the conventional tux and instead opted for a red tartan suit. Lasichanh, looking gorgeous, skipped the white dress and instead wore a voluminous blue and green plaid gown. The two have a son together, 4-year-old Rocket.
article via huffingtonpost.com
article via huffingtonpost.com
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs may have come from humble Harlem roots, but that did not stand in the way of his growing an estimated personal fortune of $580 million, according to Forbes magazine. Now giving back to inner city youths with similar entrepreneurial dreams, the media mogul has donated $250,000 to an organization that helps low income children learn the brass tacks of business. Last Thursday at the Times Center in New York City, Combs presented a $250,000 check to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), an international non-profit dedicated to teaching underprivileged young people to think like entrepreneurs.
“I’m definitely proud that I could do something positive,” the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment told theGrio. “Being able to have a certain amount of economic power, to me, gives you the opportunity to help people and support great causes. NFTE is a great cause.”
Combs did not merely stop by and drop off some cash. Before the gala where his gift was announced, the rapper and clothing impresario spoke in depth with NFTE finalists in a national business competition. The 2013 NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge included 39 students representing 35 different businesses. Winners Toheeb Okenla and Jesus Fernandez won the $25,000 first prize for their idea, T&J Soccer, which produces a special sports sock containing pockets for shin protectors.
The music producer and branding expert was on hand to personally mentor NFTE participants and nurture their business ideas at the benefit. “I wish I had a NFTE when I started. That could really have showed me the importance of combining what I learned in school, and then applying that to my street smarts,” Combs said of working with the group.
Business advice for tomorrow’s leaders
What is Combs’ best advice for young business leaders of the future?
“Don’t be afraid to close your eyes and dream, then open your eyes and see,” the entrepreneur affirmed. “It’s a quote I came up with when I was 19. Sometimes it’s hard to come up with something that doesn’t already exist. That’s really being in the darkness. A lot of people get scared in the dark.”
DANBURY, Conn. — DANBURY, Conn. (AP) — Lauryn Hill’s attorney says she has been released from federal prison after serving time for failing to pay taxes. Hill left the facility in Danbury, Connecticut today. Her attorney Nathan Hochman says he hasn’t had a chance to speak to his client yet.
Hill pleaded guilty last year to not paying taxes on more than $1.5 million earned from 2005 to 2007. She was sentenced in July to serve three months. Under terms of her plea agreement, she’ll spend the next three months under home confinement. She lives in South Orange, N.J.
Hill, a former member of the Fugees and winner of multiple Grammys, has said she stopped paying taxes after she dropped out of the music business to protect herself and her children, who now number six.
article via huffingtonpost.com
Hill, a former member of the Fugees and winner of multiple Grammys, has said she stopped paying taxes after she dropped out of the music business to protect herself and her children, who now number six.
article via huffingtonpost.com
Although African-Americans weren’t prominent in Forbes’ annual list of the richest Americans, they are definitely well-represented among Hollywood power couples. The finance magazine has released its list of the highest earning celebrity couples and perhaps to the surprise of no one rapper Jay Z and his wife, pop icon Beyoncé, top the list. The chart topping duo earned $95 million last year through their concerts, album sales and endorsements, putting them ahead of couples like Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, as well as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, who just welcomed their first child, a daughter named North, into the world, came in 5th overall, earning $30 million. Still none of these couples’ earning power combined reaches the height of say Oprah Winfrey, who, bolstered by rising OWN ratings, has made close to $3 billion in the last year.
article via thegrio.com