A business manager for singer Alanis Morissette has admitted that he embezzled millions of dollars from the musician, then told her that he’d used the money to invest in marijuana grows, according to a federal court document filed Wednesday. Jonathan Todd Schwartz, 48, of Playa Vista, admitted...
The Recording Academy announced Wednesday the first round of performers for the 59th annual Grammy Awards, and, as always, it’s a far-flung bunch designed to attract as many viewers as possible to the televised ceremony branded as “music’s biggest night.” Veteran heavy-metal band Metallica, R&B...
A weekly roundup of must-hear music from The Times staff. This week’s picks include a heartbreaking, disco-inspired song from Chicago artist the Black Madonna, as well as Celtic-punk veterans the Dropkick Murphys. Also, catch a bit of Allison Crutchfield’s winning debut. And if you want to dig...
Disappointed fans unable to land a ticket for U2's sold-out performance of “The Joshua Tree” at the Rose Bowl on May 20 can relax. The Irish band just announced a second show for May 21. As with the first, the quartet will be performing its 1987 album in its entirety. The new Pasadena date is one...
Citing the urgency of the moment while calling for participation in Saturday’s nationwide Women’s March, the avant pop band CocoRosie has issued a new indictment of the incoming Trump administration, “Smoke ’Em Out,” as if to lob a musical Molotov in advance. According to a note by Bianca and Sierra...
Though she grew up on the East Coast, singer, songwriter, guitarist and transplant Aimee Mann long ago earned her place as the poet laureate of a certain brand of Los Angeles ennui. Her most famous song, “Save Me,” after all — from the film “Magnolia” — opens with the line, “You look like the...
The long-awaited Tupac Shakur biopic finally has a release date. Morgan Creek Productions and Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment said Tuesday that “All Eyez on Me” would arrive in theaters on June 16, on what would have been the slain rapper’s 46th birthday. The release of “All Eyez on Me” will...
Before there was Skrillex, Dog Blood or Jack U, the artist Sonny Moore was a screaming hardcore punk vocalist and guitarist from Highland Park who joined a band called From First to Last. On Sunday, Moore and his original FFTL bandmates announced, seemingly out of the blue, that they had recorded...
If the prospect of a 15-album box set of nothing but novelty records sounds a little weird, that’s exactly the idea. Actually, it’s designed to be a lot weird — “Weird Al” Yankovic, that is. The all-time king of pop music parody is preparing the monumental release later this year to mark his 40-year...
There’s a bold new youth movement in the Los Angeles music scene. Led by the Regrettes and Cherry Glazerr, each band, with songwriters still in their teens, takes a warts-and-all, open-book approach to music-making, all while being unafraid to take a stance. Or to mess with a reporter. “What’s...
“Let’s show them we are better.” That’s the refrain of the new Chainsmokers song “Paris,” which came out Friday and shot to No. 1 on iTunes. It’s also crazy advice the Chainsmokers have wisely elected not to follow. One of 2016’s biggest breakout acts, this band of EDM bros has found enormous success...
When Matt Saincome was an adolescent punk rocker, he sculpted his hair into a foot-tall red mohawk. He was proud of his spiky gesture of defiance, but he quickly had to find a sense of humor about it when he needed transportation. “I’d have to tilt my head so it wouldn’t hit the roof of my parents’...
More than 15 years after her death, Aaliyah’s presence can still be felt as her influence percolates through a new generation of artists — Tinashe, Banks, SZA and Jhené Aiko are just some of today’s acts that can be traced to her. Such an impact is impressive given her modest output — a catalog...
Many music fans will be craving some sort of comfort — or inspiration for protest — during the first days of the Trump administration. A new subscription music service hopes to offer one, by way of 100 new songs from popular indie artists. Our First 100 Days has corralled new tracks from Mitski,...
The same day a British television network nixed plans to air a dramatized depiction of a wild urban legend about Michael Jackson following a backlash, Lifetime announced it is prepping a biopic on the late King of Pop. Based on a 2014 book from two of Jackson’s personal security guards, “Michael...
After weeks of speculation, Donald Trump’s inaugural committee has shared its list of performers for next week’s celebrations. Country music star Toby Keith, rock band 3 Doors Down and patriotic staple Lee Greenwood join a roster that includes “America’s Got Talent” runner-up Jackie Evancho, the...
It’s more than fate that has brought Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie to Studio D, the recording suite inside this one-time Masonic temple. It is history. “It’s almost eerie, you know?” Buckingham says. “Almost too familiar in a strange way… A time warp. You walk into the bathroom, the tiles...
On Jan. 21, Grammy-nominated singer Katy Perry will join a growing number of celebrities and women marching on Washington to oppose President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Ahead of the national event she’s also lending her star power and her pocketbook to “#DontNormalizeHate,” a short-film...
Buddy Greco, the jazz singer, piano player and long-running Vegas showman whose hits included “The Lady Is a Tramp,” has died. The musician, who was often associated with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin’s Rat Pack and whose lengthy career spanned eight decades, died Tuesday in Las Vegas, according...
Bruce Springsteen made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Donald Trump during the 2016 election. But a band playing the Boss’ songs will be headed to the president-elect’s inauguration. Some music fans have chuckled at the lack of A-list talent performing at Trump’s upcoming celebrations. Then...
Ed Sheeran spent most of 2016 working behind the scenes, co-writing pop hits for Justin Bieber (“Love Yourself”) and Major Lazer (“Cold Water”). Now the British singer-songwriter is back out front with a new album. The LP, called “÷” (pronounced “Divide,” in the style of his last album, “Multiply”),...
The crowd swelled inside the ornate Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday night for a screening of “Moonlight” with live musical accompaniment, fresh off the film’s Golden Globe win for best dramatic motion picture. Composer Nicholas Britell joined the Wordless Music Orchestra...
The life of a musician can be economically precarious, and the club-gig circuit rarely comes with health insurance. Under the Affordable Care Act, many artists have been able to find and afford coverage for the first time. Now that the law is threatened by the incoming Trump administration, some musicians...
A weekly roundup of must-hear music from The Times’ music staff. This week’s picks include some twang from Dale & Ray as well as a teen pop musician transitioning into adulthood and the latest surprise release from the late, great David Bowie. Dale & Ray, “Write Your Own Songs” (Ameripolitan/Home)...
The lead single with the prominent Hall & Oates sample. The music video set at an underage dance party. The publicity photos that suggest a sunny Netflix reboot of “Three’s Company.” Everything the xx has revealed in the run-up to its third studio album, “I See You,” seems to lead toward the idea...
Lucinda Williams is feeling a little restless these days and is talking about shifting gears musically in 2017. It’s not that the acclaimed singer-songwriter is remotely unhappy with her work. Last year’s “The Ghosts of Highway 20” double album was another career high watermark creatively, exploring...
Eddie Kamae, one of the most influential Hawaiian musicians of the last half-century and a filmmaker who painstakingly documented the culture and history of the islands, has died at his home in Honolulu. He was 89. Kamae, who died Saturday, had long been the face of The Sons of Hawaii, a popular...
Looks like hip-hop stars Chris Brown and Soulja Boy will be turning a social media beef into some serious cheddar. What began as a run-of-the-mill celebrity feud has evolved into a televised, pay-per-view boxing match, according to TMZ. The site has reported that the fight was originally scheduled...
While the music lineup at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration looks pretty thin, a whole festival’s worth of counterprogramming will happen across America and outside the National Mall. The latest edition to the protest roster? Common and the National, who will headline a benefit and awareness...
Fans may not appreciate U2 sneaking onto their phones, but they adore the Irish rockers when they come to town on stadium tours. And the band’s new one should have plenty to say about American life at the moment. The group has announced a full tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “The Joshua...
Why make a big deal out of a 19th anniversary? Because the Smell might not be around for its 20th. On Saturday night, some of the highest-profile acts to come out of this tiny downtown club, including Best Coast and No Age, gathered at the Belasco Theater to pay tribute to the place that’s been...
Tinashe’s journey from underground mix tapes to commercial pop artist has been a bumpy one, but the alternative-R&B singer is starting 2017 off by releasing the year’s first must-see visual with “Company.” Nearly four months after releasing the single, which was written and produced by R&B savant...
Words of hard-earned wisdom from Ed Sheeran: “The club isn’t the best place to find a lover.” That’s how the young British singer-songwriter begins his new song “Shape of You,” in which he cleverly goes to a bar instead to flirt with a woman whose “love was handmade for somebody like me.” Built...
Like the honoree himself, the annual Elvis Birthday Bash has seen its ups and downs over the last 31 years, from humble beginnings in tiny clubs of L.A. to the 1,000-seat House of Blues in West Hollywood during its peak. More recently, it’s been back to more modest surroundings, such as the Pickwick...
Pharrell Williams took to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Thursday to respond to recent homophobic comments made by gospel singer Kim Burrell, with whom Williams collaborated for his soundtrack to the new movie “Hidden Figures.” In video circulated widely online this week, Burrell can be seen referring...
Final figures from Nielsen Music confirm that Drake’s “Views” was the most “consumed” album of 2016. Meanwhile, Adele’s mega-smash “25,” released in late 2015, rang up the biggest numbers at physical and virtual cash registers. Neither musician, however, finished as the year’s top-selling artist....
The Piano Man is coming to Dodger Stadium. Billy Joel will perform at the baseball park on May 13, Live Nation announced on Thursday — a first for him. Although Joel cut his teeth as a piano player and lounger singer at the Executive Room in L.A. during the ’70s (he performed as Bill Martin then)...
As any Coachella regular knows, the Kardashian family has established a reliable presence at the annual desert music festival in Indio. In 2015, for instance, Kendall Jenner made headlines when she and Tyler, the Creator got into a spat during his Coachella performance (which no one remembers as...
Stevie Wonder isn’t in the habit of making songs for movies — but when he gets around to it, the song makes an impact. In 1985 he won an Academy Award for “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” from the Gene Wilder comedy “The Woman in Red.” In 1991 his soundtrack for Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” topped...
When the inaugural Soulquarius festival was unveiled recently, it sent a generation of R&B fans into pandemonium. Its lineup boasted so many of the acts that have defined the last quarter century of the genre that it seemed too good to be true. Nearly every era of R&B is represented — from new...
Drake and the Chainsmokers lead the nominations for this year’s iHeartRadio Music awards, iHeartMedia and Turner announced Wednesday morning. Drake is up for 12 trophies at the fan-driven fete, including song of the year for his summer smash “One Dance,” male artist of the year and hip-hop artist...
It’s the “Day of the Doors” on Wednesday in Los Angeles, the 50th anniversary of the release of the rock quartet’s debut album, “The Doors.” The work instantly put the band on the map nationally thanks to the breakthrough hit “Light My Fire.” The band’s surviving members, guitarist Robby Krieger...
On Dec. 23, as fellow airline passengers began tweeting that Carrie Fisher, suffering a health crisis on a flight from London to Los Angeles, appeared unresponsive when paramedics took her from a plane, many people quickly blamed 2016. It was a year that had already claimed a number of beloved...
Coachella is going back to the future. After years of tapping old-school rock bands and marquee reunions, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Tuesday unveiled a remarkably forward-looking lineup for its 2017 edition, set to take place April 14-16 and again April 21-23 at the Empire...
The lineup for this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was surely booked months ago. But there’s a prescience in its choice of headliners: Two radical, inventive black artists at the peak of their powers and influence, as well as an English rock band devoted to re-invention and melancholy....
Gospel singer Kim Burrell labeled homosexuality “perverted” in a sermon she gave in her other life as a Pentecostal preacher, quickly eliciting responses from both Pharrell Williams, with whom she sings on the “Hidden Figures” soundtrack, and two stars from that film, Octavia Spencer and Janelle...
Rebecca Ferguson, the runner-up on “The X Factor” in 2010, joins the growing list of entertainers invited to perform at Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration. And unlike many of those asked (including Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli), she’ll do it. But on one condition. On Monday, the “I Hope” singer ...
Beyoncé, Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar will headline the 2017 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, which is slated for April 14 to 16 and April 21 to 23 in Indio, festival organizers announced Tuesday. Among nearly 150 other acts booked this year are Lorde, xx, Travis Scott, Bon Iver, Future,...
After four seasons of escalating melodrama, “Nashville” is preparing for a key change. Picked up by CMT last year after its cancellation by ABC, the series set in country music’s capital begins its fifth season Thursday night. And along with a new network has come a fresh creative team promising...
Lizzo’s performance had been planned weeks ahead of election night. As the musical guest on the Nov. 9 episode of “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” the Los Angeles-based singer and rapper was set to celebrate the arrival of America’s first female president with an elaborately choreographed run...
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band navigated “The River” 35th anniversary tour all the way to the bank in 2016, pulling in $268.3 million globally to score the top-grossing concert trek of the year worldwide, according to Pollstar, the concert industry-tracking publication. Beyoncé nipped close...
It began as a musical version of fantasy baseball. But for singer-songwriter John Hiatt, it turned into a career-rejuvenating project, and all of it was because of a dare put forth by concert promoter John Chelew. “One time between shows we started talking about making some kind of record,” Hiatt...
Long an underdog, punk-rock hero John Doe has an opportunity to triumph come Grammy Awards day on Feb. 12. If the statuette in the spoken-word album category goes to the nominated audiobook edition of “Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk,” co-author Doe has a quick two-word...
Cruising along Avenida Raul Pujol, weathered brown hands on the wheel of his late-model Hyundai economy car, Cuban artist Alberto Lescay smiles and points toward El Parque Zoologico, which sits about a mile down the road from his private workshop in the stately Vista Alegre neighborhood. More than...