Louis Jordan was a pioneering musician of the big band era who found crossover appeal in the early stages of the emerging rock and roll era while using pop, jazz, and R&B as his baseline. The Arkansas native’s 100th birthday was this past Sunday. Nicknamed the “King of the Jukebox,” Jordan, whose main instrument […]
You’ve probably seen a rap artist freestyle and use what he sees in front of him as the basis of a song off the top of his or her head. But have you ever seen an R&B artist do the same? Well, meet Eric Roberson, the supremely talented singer/songwriter who’s just released his crowd-sourced trilogy […]
Composer and pianist George Walker has enjoyed one of the most stellar careers in music despite being largely ignored by the greater public. Among his many firsts, he is the first African-American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music and today is his 96th birthday. George Theophilus Walker was born on this day in […]
Grammy-winning musician Reggie Lucas, who played with Miles Davis in the 1970s and produced most of Madonna’s debut album, has died. Lucas was 65. According to his daughter, Lucas died from complications with his heart early Saturday in New York City. “After a long and arduous struggle with his physical heart (his emotional one was perfect) […]
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge heard a DMX rap song before adding his own lyrics to a court proceeding on Wednesday, ordering the rapper imprisoned for a year in a tax fraud case. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff took requests, accommodating DMX’s desire to hear his autobiographical hit “Slippin'” before DMX faced the music […]
John Legend has been cast in the lead role as Jesus Christ in NBC’s adaptation of the musical, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!’. The show is set to take place on Easter Sunday (April 1) in front of a large audience at the Marcy Armory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. It will air live on NBC. Legend […]
NEW YORK (AP) — A shade of purple named for the late superstar Prince was announced Monday by the icon’s estate. The “Purple Rain” hue created by the Pantone Color Institute was dubbed “Love Symbol #2,” paying tribute to his custom Yamaha piano and the squiggly graphic Prince began using as his name in 1993 […]
WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s Kennedy Center honorees will include two singers, a television writer, a dancer – and for the first time, a hip-hop artist. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday announced the recipients of the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors. They are: hip-hop artist LL Cool J, singers Gloria […]
The R. Kelly “cult of (black) women” story is just plain crazy and getting crazier by the minute. As we reported, it all started with a bombshell report released by Buzzfeed early Monday (07-17-17) that was followed later in the day by a press conference from alleged hostage Jocelyn Savage’s family and an alleged (former) hostage named Asante McGee. […]
R. Kelly, who is no stranger to sexual misconduct accusations, is allegedly controlling the lives of several women held at his homes.
Uh oh, Kanye West has a BIG problem with Jay-Z‘s content streaming service, Tidal. Apparently he’s been unhappy for a while and also contends he’s still owed $3 million by the company Sources say that a month ago Kanye’s lawyer sent a letter to Tidal, saying the company was in breach and the contract was terminated. Over the next […]
Remy Ma has ended rival Nicki Minaj’s seven-year winning streak at the 2017 BET Awards, a show highlighted by ’90s R&B and groups popular in that decade. Ma, who returned from jail in 2014, won best female hip hop artist Sunday in Los Angeles, an award Minaj has won since 2010. “I wanna thank God […]
