Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Pop/R&B/Dance”

Lil Wayne Breaks Elvis Presley's Billboard Record

By goodblacknews on September 28, 2012

Lil Wayne, Elvis Presley
Lil Wayne is the new Elvis Presley when it comes to Billboard hits. The inimitable MC from New Orleans has just surpassed the king of rock in total number of songs to land on the Hot 100.  “Celebration,” the latest single from Game, is the 109th song to make the chart with Wayne appearing as either a lead or featured artist. Presley’s record was 108 spanning between 1958 and 2003.

Bettye LaVette Back With New CD and Autobiography

By goodblacknews on September 28, 2012

Bettye LaVette  (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)

WEST ORANGE, N.J. — Bettye LaVette makes no apologies for her life. Sitting cross-legged on an Art Deco chair in her living room here, sipping wine, she was animated and gritty as she talked about the decades she spent singing in clubs and cursing her “buzzard luck,” while her contemporaries, like Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, became superstars.

“I thought I was going to die in obscurity,” said Ms. LaVette, 66. “I’m still going to die broke but not obscure.”
It has been 50 years since Ms. LaVette, then a teenage mother from a working-class Detroit home, recorded her first single, “My Man — He’s a Lovin’ Man,” which became a hit on Atlantic Records and seemed to foretell a bright future. But she quarreled with Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records and left the label, and even though she recorded dozens of other R&B singles in the 1960s, including the minor hit “Let Me Down Easy,” her career never took off. She survived as a club performer and appeared in “Bubbling Brown Sugar” on Broadway and on tour. Her long-delayed first album in the early 1980s didn’t sell. By the late ’90s, she was popular only among European R&B enthusiasts.

CBS Plans Whitney Houston Tribute With Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Celine Dion

By goodblacknews on September 28, 2012

Singer Monica performs a tribute to Whitney Houston during BET Awards 12, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 1, 2012. UPI/Jim Ruymen 

Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson and Usher are to lead the lineup of performers for a Whitney Houston tribute to tape in Los Angeles next month, CBS announced.  Houston accidentally drowned in a hotel bathtub last February after using drugs shortly before she was to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony. She was 48.

Mariah Carey Accepts Icon Award At BMI Urban Music Awards

By goodblacknews on September 10, 2012

Mariah Carey performing during a concert in Monaco. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, file)

Mariah Carey performing during a concert in Monaco. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, file)

BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) — Mariah Carey was late to the BMI Urban Music Awards, where she was the guest of honor, but that didn’t stop other artists from literally singing her praises.

Fantasia Barrino and Eric Benet were among those who serenaded the star with her own hits. Benet performed “One Sweet Day” and the former “American Idol” sang “Hero” during the private ceremony at the Saban Theatre, where writers, producers and publishers of the year’s top urban hits were recognized Friday.

Happy Birthday, Beyoncé!

By goodblacknews on September 4, 2012

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7vObnFUJc&w=560&h=315]
Happy 31st Birthday, Grammy Award-Winning recording artist Beyoncé Knowles-Carter! Learn more about her life and music here  and watch her “Love On Top” above.

Paul McCartney Helps Restore Historic Motown Piano

By goodblacknews on August 31, 2012

Sir Paul McCartney performs during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Sir Paul McCartney performs during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

DETROIT (AP) — A damaged 1877 Steinway grand piano used by Motown artists during the record label’s “Hitsville USA” heyday has been restored, thanks to a little help from Paul McCartney, and he’s set to play it when it’s unveiled next month.