[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-gu1KETjVY&w=560&h=315]
Born to Joe and Katherine Jackson on May 16, 1966, Janet Damita Jo Jackson is the youngest of nine children of the musically legendary Jackson family. Although she started her career in entertainment primarily as a television actress (Good Times, Diff’rent Strokes, Fame), it was Jackson’s music, produced by Minneapolis duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, that catapulted her to international fame and stardom. Though Control was her third solo album, it was the first one to go multi-platinum and kick-started a career that has spanned decades and generated over 100 million record sales worldwide. To celebrate Janet and her musical legacy, above is one of her early, iconic dance videos – “Pleasure Principle.” Enjoy!
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Posts published in “Music”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, and music industry entrepreneur Jimmy Iovine have donated a combined $70 million to create a new institute at the University of Southern California, the school announced Tuesday night.
The huge gift from the two who have been music business partners in the past will be used to create the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation.
The academy will provide a special four-year program for undergraduates whose interests span several fields from marketing to computer science to visual design and other arts. It will include one-on-one faculty mentoring with professors from programs around the university and interaction with entertainment industry luminaries.
The huge gift from the two who have been music business partners in the past will be used to create the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation.
The academy will provide a special four-year program for undergraduates whose interests span several fields from marketing to computer science to visual design and other arts. It will include one-on-one faculty mentoring with professors from programs around the university and interaction with entertainment industry luminaries.
In addition to making his return to “The Voice” this week, Cee Lo Green has also landed a new show with TBS.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Turner network has green lit a six-episode series, tentatively titled “The Cee Lo Life,” which follows the Grammy Award-winning musician along with his Goodie Mob group mates, Big Gipp, Khujo and T-Mo, as they work on their new long-awaited hip-hop album.
“With his distinctive voice, winning personality and remarkable ability to tap into a wide range of musical styles, Cee Lo Green has risen to the top of the music industry,” Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TBS explained to the site. “This new TBS series will give viewers the chance to get to know Cee Lo Green,who is without a doubt one of the hardest working men in show business. “The Cee Lo Life” is certain to be a smart, fun and funny journey packed with a lot of great music.”
Earlier this year during an interview with FUSE, Green revealed that the hip hop quartet is looking forward to releasing their first album together since 1999’s “World Party.”
“We’re still mixing and doing a few more guest appearances and putting the final touches on it, but yes, it’s pretty much done,” he said. “I think we’ve grown a great deal in the last 10 years. There’s a lot more to consider.”
“There’s a broader audience and a greater aspiration to reach as many people as we can, to be as relatable, to be as real, relevant and resourceful as we can. So Age Against the Machine is symbolic of wisdom being the weapon of choice. Those rules will apply.”
“The Cee Lo Life” is scheduled to premiere on TBS in 2014.
article via huffingtonpost.com
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Turner network has green lit a six-episode series, tentatively titled “The Cee Lo Life,” which follows the Grammy Award-winning musician along with his Goodie Mob group mates, Big Gipp, Khujo and T-Mo, as they work on their new long-awaited hip-hop album.
“With his distinctive voice, winning personality and remarkable ability to tap into a wide range of musical styles, Cee Lo Green has risen to the top of the music industry,” Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TBS explained to the site. “This new TBS series will give viewers the chance to get to know Cee Lo Green,who is without a doubt one of the hardest working men in show business. “The Cee Lo Life” is certain to be a smart, fun and funny journey packed with a lot of great music.”
Earlier this year during an interview with FUSE, Green revealed that the hip hop quartet is looking forward to releasing their first album together since 1999’s “World Party.”
“We’re still mixing and doing a few more guest appearances and putting the final touches on it, but yes, it’s pretty much done,” he said. “I think we’ve grown a great deal in the last 10 years. There’s a lot more to consider.”
“There’s a broader audience and a greater aspiration to reach as many people as we can, to be as relatable, to be as real, relevant and resourceful as we can. So Age Against the Machine is symbolic of wisdom being the weapon of choice. Those rules will apply.”
“The Cee Lo Life” is scheduled to premiere on TBS in 2014.
article via huffingtonpost.com
Whether seen in a market report, an art history book or a rap verse, the name Jean-Michel Basquiat is legendary. The dreadlocked young artist quickly rose to fame after taking up graffiti in New York City, becoming an incandescent art star before his untimely death in 1988 at only 27 years old.
Twenty five years later, the late artist is experiencing a massive global resurgence. In New York, his blowout Gagosian retrospective saw record attendance and his work is slated to appear later this month at Gagosian’s posh Hong Kong gallery for the first time ever. And yet, we often get so tied up in Basquiat the legend we forget he was a real person.
A new three-part video series released by Christie’s remembers Basquiat not only for his artistic genius, but also his energy, audacity and growing pains. The series begins with Basquiat’s high school friend and the other half of the graffiti duo known as SAMO, Al Diaz. “What we were doing was a response to everything around us…everything we were disillusioned by.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHe7HCBF1s&w=560&h=315]
Next we hear from Toxic, Basquiat’s friend and contemporary, who paints a picture of the Haitian artist’s meteoric rise to fame.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NvULWRxdw&w=560&h=315]
Finally we hear from Ben Haggerty, aka Macklemore — yes, the singer of “Thrift Shop” — for a surprisingly touching meditation on Basquiat as a source of inspiration in his work as he grapples with his own success. “When he got with Warhol it was like everyone just tore him down.” Macklemore continues, “That’s such a weird feeling as an artist to make something that’s pure, that’s from the heart, that is who you are, and have a group of people shit on you.”
In a conversation with the curator and critic Henry Geldzahler in Interview, the 23-year-old artist delivers a deceptively simple, thought-provoking line: “The more I paint the more I like everything.” The films above honor the mind and legacy of a star that burned too bright, too fast. Basquiat’s collection will show at Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong from May 25 until August 10, and “Dustheads” (1982) is expected to fetch $25-35 million at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 15.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdJ82FqXn4g&w=560&h=315]
article by Priscilla Frank via huffingtonpost.com
A new three-part video series released by Christie’s remembers Basquiat not only for his artistic genius, but also his energy, audacity and growing pains. The series begins with Basquiat’s high school friend and the other half of the graffiti duo known as SAMO, Al Diaz. “What we were doing was a response to everything around us…everything we were disillusioned by.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHe7HCBF1s&w=560&h=315]
Next we hear from Toxic, Basquiat’s friend and contemporary, who paints a picture of the Haitian artist’s meteoric rise to fame.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-NvULWRxdw&w=560&h=315]
Finally we hear from Ben Haggerty, aka Macklemore — yes, the singer of “Thrift Shop” — for a surprisingly touching meditation on Basquiat as a source of inspiration in his work as he grapples with his own success. “When he got with Warhol it was like everyone just tore him down.” Macklemore continues, “That’s such a weird feeling as an artist to make something that’s pure, that’s from the heart, that is who you are, and have a group of people shit on you.”
In a conversation with the curator and critic Henry Geldzahler in Interview, the 23-year-old artist delivers a deceptively simple, thought-provoking line: “The more I paint the more I like everything.” The films above honor the mind and legacy of a star that burned too bright, too fast. Basquiat’s collection will show at Gagosian Gallery in Hong Kong from May 25 until August 10, and “Dustheads” (1982) is expected to fetch $25-35 million at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 15.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdJ82FqXn4g&w=560&h=315]
article by Priscilla Frank via huffingtonpost.com
Legendary rapper Chuck D will be a featured speaker at Adelphi University and will also receive an honorary doctorate degree during the school’s 117th graduation on May 19.
He actually attended the university from 1978 to 1984 and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and had a hand in expanding the school’s radio programming.
In an interview with Ebony magazine earlier this year, he spoke of his work with the university’s program.
“I always used to do a lot of hosting and I was on college radio in the early 80s. So I was always a part of something that wanted to break deejays and parties out,” he said. “And that was with Hank Shocklee and Spectrum [City] back on Long Island. What made me want to become a recording artist; I was the first artist that was repeatedly asked by a label to record with them. That label was Def Jam Records.”
He continues, “So I was the first recruited artist ever by them. I originally told them no, but a year later, I eventually said yes. It wasn’t like I sent someone a demo. I was feverishly requested to make records.”
article by Brittney M. Walker via eurweb.com
Usher will collaborate with Macy’s to curate the concept, music and design for the Macy’s 4th of July fireworks show, which will be launched from barges off Manhattan.
It’s the first time the company has worked with an artist on the concept for its annual show, Macy’s said Thursday.
Usher will score the music for “It Begins With a Spark,” which will feature his songs, as well as songs from Rihanna, Swedish House Mafia, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Sinatra.
He will also provide visual design cues and direction for the pyrotechnics that are choreographed to the musical score.
The 37th annual Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks display will air after the annual concert on NBC.
article via eurweb.com
Music TV network Fuse is making its first foray into scripted programming with The Hustle, which will premiere June 19 at 11PM. The six episode, half-hour dramedy is in the vein of Entourage set in the hip hop world and centers on aspiring artists trying to break into the business. It is produced by Alloy Digital-owned Generate. The Hustle will be joined by a companion after-show, The Hustle After Party, which will be taped in front of a studio audience in Fuse’s street-front studio on 7th Avenue in New York City. Hosted by Esteban Serrano (host of Fuse’s Top 20 Countdown), The Hustle After Party will feature interviews and performances with hip hop stars, along with discussions with industry experts and appearances by the cast.
WWE and Sean “Diddy” Combs today unveiled a new global anti-bullying public service announcement encouraging kids to stand up to bullying. It will begin airing tonight during Monday Night Raw.
“Bullying is a very serious issue and needs to stop now,” says Diddy in the release. In the video, he says, “In this digital age sometimes it just doesn’t stop when the days end. … If it’s not you being bullied, help someone who is. … Stand up to bullying.”
The music mogul will serve as an ambassador for Be a Star, the anti-bullying initiative co-founded by WWE and The Creative Coalition to encourage young people to treat each other with tolerance and respect.
Combs is also trying to encourage an end to bullying with his Invisible Bully clothing line. The motto there: “The mind is the most powerful tool you possess. Thoughts are invisible and only those that believe in the invisible can achieve the impossible. The dream is real if you believe.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Pr1XMJUDw&w=560&h=315]
article by Ann Oldenburg via usatoday.com
Labelmates Shirley Caesar, Bishop Paul S. Morton and James Fortune & FIYA Score Big On Gospel Charts
Light Records artists James Fortune & FIYA, Shirley Caesar, and Bishop Paul S. Morton’s hit singles continue to inspire and be embraced by fans all over the country, with their stronghold on the latest Gospel charts in the Top 5 at #3, #4, and #5 respectively. Uplifting and bringing encouragement to fans with the awesome strength and power of faith, the rousing and contemplative tracks continue to have a lasting impact, collectively spending over 90 weeks on the Gospel chart thus far between the three artists. With award-winning melodies and dynamic Gospel, the empowering messages from James Fortune & FIYA’s Hold On (#3), Shirley Caesar’s God Will Make A Way (#4), and Bishop Paul S. Morton’s Your Best Days Yet (#5) remain a big hit with listeners, with their Top 5 impact on the latest Gospel radio chart (for May 11, 2013).
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A white Steinway grand piano salvaged from musician Fats Domino’s home after Hurricane Katrina has been restored and will be the centerpiece of an exhibit in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The piano was damaged after water poured through a broken levee during the August 2005 storm, flooding Domino’s home in the Lower 9th Ward. Its restoration came through $30,000 donated to the Louisiana Museum Foundation.
The largest gift of $18,000 came from Allan Slaight, a retired music producer in Miami. Other donations came from Sir Paul McCartney, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Tipitina’s Foundation. The piano was to be unveiled Thursday at the Old U.S. Mint, now a museum in the French Quarter. It will be part of the Louisiana State Museum’s music exhibition opening in 2014 but separately will go on display at the Mint in June. A second Steinway piano belonging to Domino is on permanent display at the Presbytere Museum in the exhibition “Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond.”
“Fats Domino is a seminal figure in American music, and he will have a prominent place in the coming Louisiana music exhibit,” said Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, who oversees the Louisiana State Museum. “His beautiful grand piano, fully restored, will serve as the perfect symbol for Louisiana’s resilient nature and ever-evolving musical heritage.”
Born in New Orleans in 1928, the pianist, singer and songwriter sold more than 65 million records between 1950 and 1963, made Billboard’s pop chart 77 times and its rhythm and blues chart 61 times. Katrina tore into Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29, 2005. Flooding from storm surge and broken levees washed over an estimated 80 percent of New Orleans.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press; article by Stacey Plaisance via thegrio.com