Innholdsfortegnelse for Mar-14-15 i Billboard Magazine

MARKING HIS LATEST HIGH-PROFILE HIT TEAM-UP, Zedd’s “I Want You to Know,” featuring rumored girlfriend Selena Gomez, soars onto the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 17. Following its first week of availability, the dance-pop track, co-written with Ryan Tedder and Kevin Drew, launches with nearly two-thirds of its activity from sales, entering Digital Songs at No. 7 with 100,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen Music. The track, off Zedd’s upcoming sophomore LP, also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard + Twitter Top Twitter Tracks and blasts 9-1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. “Know” is the Russian-German DJ’s fourth top 20 Hot 100 hit in as many tries: The 25-year-old, born Anton Zaslavski, reached No. 8 with “Clarity” (featuring Foxes) in 2013. In 2014, “Stay the Night” (with Hayley Williams) rose to…

In the 20 years since the death of The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, no solo tour or post-1995 configuration managed to tap into the box-office power of the original band — until Fare Thee Well. The three-day 50th-anniversary run at Soldier Field in Chicago, site of the group’s last performance with Garcia in August 1995 and featuring Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio joining the “core four” (Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann), sold out within an hour of its general on-sale on Feb. 28 with ticket prices ranging from $59.50 to $199.50. (The shows are produced by 42-year-old Peter Shapiro in association with AEG-owned Madison House Presents.) Add VIP experiences to the 210,000 tickets sold (a 360-degree staging configuration allows Fare Thee Well to maximize capacity beyond the…

The ongoing “Blurred Lines” trial has proved more than a copyright clash over the most popular song of 2013 — it has provided an in-depth look at where the money goes when a tune becomes a global hit. With bombshell financial information revealed in court on March 3 ($16.7 million in profits for the parties involved in the case), as much as $40 million could be at stake if the Los Angeles federal court jury decides co-writers Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. copied the song from Marvin Gaye’s 1977 track “Got to Give It Up.” At right is a breakdown of who earned what.…

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP HAS touted its digital initiatives throughout the Lucian Grainge era — from licensing pacts, like the just-announced Vessel video service, to its investment in Beats, to its soon-to-launch ultra-transparent artist portal — so it came as a surprise when, in one week, two senior digital executives left the UMG fold. Rob Wells, president of the global digital business team and a 14-year veteran of the company, announced on Feb. 23 he was leaving to pursue “entrepreneurial opportunities.” Executive vp David Ring followed four days later. The exits come on the heels of a series of internal reviews by consultants Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group and Michael Lang and his Lang Media Group, prompting internal whispers that the events were related (a UMG representative denies such an…

THEY WILL HAVE TO KILL US FIRSTAfter jihadists banned music in Mali in August 2012, musicians there kept it alive by performing wherever they could. Director Johanna Schwartz commissioned artists to write songs that act as narration (including new material from recent Atlantic signing Songhoy Blues). “Our soundtrack is a combination of [that], music from our characters and the score, written by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs,” says Schwartz. DOMINGUINHOS Gilberto Gil, Hermeto Pascoal and other Brazilian greats discuss the late master accordionist Dominguinhos in this documentary, which producer Deborah Osborn worked on for six years. “It’s a universal story about love and pain, the life of an immigrant,” says Eduardo Nazarian, one of the film’s three directors. “He became a musical phenomenon without ever looking for fame. He…

THE 2015 CRS PROVED TO BE AS ENTERTAINing as it was educational, with 20-plus panels touching on social media and format trends. Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley kicked things off Feb. 25 by playing dress-up in a 1990s cover band called Hot Country Knights, while Garth Brooks played a secret show at Marathon Music Works and imparted a life lesson for the crowd: “Find what you love and then you’ll never work for a living.” Kacey Musgraves and Eric Church previewed new material at Universal Music Group’s showcase on Feb. 26 at the Ryman, where Keith Urban closed out the night with a midnight set. Always a highlight, Sony Music Nashville’s 29th annual dinner show on the General Jackson River Boat hosted performances by acts like…

Six Degrees Of Ryan CabreraIt was a family affair at Ryan Cabrera’s album-release party on March 3 at the No Name Bar in Los Angeles. Among those in the crowd to watch the “On the Way Down” singer perform songs from his new EP, Wake Up Beautiful, was exgirlfriend Ashlee Simpson (several months pregnant with proud papa and new husband Evan Ross — son of Diana Ross — in tow) and her father, Joe Simpson (now a fashion photographer), along with members of the Keough clan (Cabrera used to date Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter Riley Keough), proving that all that ended well is ... well. Also in the house: Nas, actor Clark Duke and Steve Aoki. Stay With Me... In The Hot TubSam Smith likes a good soak with his…

“Tonight I stared into one of the lazers for too long and for the rest of the show I saw Seth Rogen’s face whenever I closed my eyes.” —ARIANA GRANDE The pop singer tweeting after a performance in St. Paul, Minn. “The one thing you should never say to Madonna is ‘no.’ ” —MADONNA The singer on French talk show Le Grand Journal. “I love Steve Jobs, but there’s one thing that disappoints me: When [he] passed he didn’t give the ideas up. That’s selfish.” —KANYE WEST The rapper on the late Apple mogul, during a lecture at Oxford University. “This is like the caviar of joints.” —2 CHAINZ The rapper, about to smoke weed using rolling papers made from 24-karat gold, in GQ’s Most Expensivest Shit web series. “If…

1 The makeup “is a pop-art-doll look,” says artist Kabuki. “Instead of a cat eye, we did a clown eye.” 2 Racks of nursery rhyme-inspired clothing in Scott’s studio. “These are like clothes you would find on a doll that’s not fresh out of the box,” he says. 3 Scott’s tight-knit team of 10 grew to a chaotic crew of nearly 100 at New York’s Milk Studios two hours before showtime. 4 Kanye West snuck backstage for a preshow glimpse. 5 From left: Scott, model Gigi Hadid and Kiedis backstage. 6 Each model wore a wig topped with acrylic paint. “Jeremy showed me photos of Karen Elson as inspiration,” hairstylist Eugene says. “He’s in touch with the cooler side of pop culture.” 7 Hadid being fit for the final look.…

In an era where digital dominates music consumption, 72 percent of vinyl buyers are 35 and under as fans flock to the format’s “comforting pops and clicks” AT AMOEBA MUSIC, THE HANGAR-SIZE ROCK’N’ROLL MECCA on Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard, something surprising happened just before Christmas in 2013. After a few years of moderate growth, vinyl records started flying off the shelves in serious quantities for the first time since CDs took over in the late 1980s. Powered by Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and classic rock reissues, LP sales “exploded” that November, according to Amoeba GM Rik Sanchez. “It’s just continued since — it’s substantial, a really heavy spike,” he says. “Having a record in your hand is just way cooler than having a file in your iPod.” It’s not…

willow smith the mountain climber Smith was 10 years old when her single “Whip My Hair” hit No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and she toured with Justin Bieber, which she describes as “overwhelming but amazing.” She has since cut her whippable braids, but that wasn’t some teenage act of defiance. “Shaving my hair made my inner light grow and shine even more,” she says. “I really like who I’m evolving to be.” Music continues to be a go-to form of expression for the teenager who quietly posts woozy new electro jams to her SoundCloud account, and plans to tour this year. Despite the early fame and life in the spotlight, the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith is surprisingly Zen. “When I’m happy and joyful about something,…

PRODUCERS Greg Kurstin, Jason Halbert, Jesse Shatkin LABEL RCA RELEASE DATE March 3 KELLY CLARKSON HAS NEVER ACHIEVED the cultural relevance of would-be peers like Beyoncé or Katy Perry, but the 32-yearold American Idol alum was an indisputably dominant force at her mid-2000s commercial peak. With her sixth studio album, Piece by Piece, Clarkson looks to recapture the form that led to four straight top 10 hits (all from 2004 sophomore slam Breakaway) a decade ago — and occasionally exceeds it. Clarkson’s discography lacks a real stylistic through line. Instead, it always has been characterized by her vocal strength and versatility — few bells and whistles are needed to convey just how powerful her instrument can be, and her best singles appeal to both pop cognoscenti and more casual, radio-centric…

Anyone hoping to meet with Nettwerk Music Group co-founder/CEO Terry McBride at lunchtime should come prepared to do downward dog. That time is reserved for his daily yoga class. The 55-year-old father of three is not a casual yogi: Since 2007 he has run Yyoga, a chain of 13 yoga studios that has expanded to Toronto from his home base in Vancouver. For McBride, music and yoga are deeply intertwined. “They are both thousands of years old. They both deal with emotions,” he says. “They’re very closely aligned for me.” Like a yogi seeking balance, McBride has built Nettwerk as a diversified company achieving equilibrium among its three parts: recording, music publishing and artist management. In the process, Nettwerk has become Canada’s most successful independent music company. McBride and business…

NUMBERS : BIG SEAN’S FIRST NO. 1 ALBUM The rapper scores his first chart-topper on the Billboard 200 as Dark Sky Paradise bounds in at No. 1. It follows two earlier albums that both peaked at No. 3: 2011’s Finally Famous and 2013’s Hall of Fame. 173 K The album moved 173,000 units in the week ending March 1, according to Nielsen Music, with pure album sales claiming 139,000 of that sum. It marks Big Sean’s biggest sales week ever, surpassing the 87,000 start of Finally Famous. 5 Big Sean tallies five songs on the Billboard Hot 100 this issue (a personal record for him) — all from his latest album. Among them are three new entries, including “All Your Fault” (featuring Kanye West) at No. 80. 3 Dark Sky…

THE BILLBOARD CHARTS HAVE UNITED two forbidden loves: Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight. The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack holds at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, moving another 108,000 units in the week ending March 1 (down 35 percent), according to Nielsen Music. In its three weeks on sale, the album has sold 393,000 copies, making it the fastest-selling theatrical compilation soundtrack since the first Twilight album moved 396,000 in its first three frames (2008). Also impressive: Fifty Shades of Grey sold in excess of 100,000 copies in each of its first two weeks. A film compilation soundtrack hasn’t managed that since The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009. There’s a caveat to New Moon’s achievement, however, that makes the Fifty Shades comparison not entirely fair. Since it…

LESS THAN A YEAR AGO, Lady Gaga was still the Queen of Shock: a marquee concert for Doritos at South by Southwest ended in her being vomited on by a performance artist; a music video for her R. Kelly single “Do What U Want” helmed by Terry Richardson, was deemed too racy even by her body-flaunting standards; and her Artrave: The Artpop Ball arena tour featured plenty of scantily clad dancers thrusting amid Gaga chanting, “How weird can you make us?!” Fast-forward to the Feb. 22 Academy Awards, and the only freaky thing about Gaga’s five- minute musical tribute to The Sound of Music was how not weird it was. Dressed in a floor-length, custommade Azzedine Alaia gown and sporting flowing, blonde locks, Gaga brought the A-list crowd to its…

ON ITS 2014 DEBUT SINGLE, BRITISH country duo The Shires sing, “We can build our own Nashville underneath these gray skies.” The lyric may prove prophetic as the United Kingdom develops its own vibrant country music scene. Five years ago, the prospect of exporting twang from the United States would have been laughable. Today, country’s share of the U.K. album market is not insignificant, reaching 2.3 percent in 2014, its highest level since 2007. It’s why AEG Europe and SJM Concerts — joint promoters of the 2-year-old Country to Country (C2C) festival — are banking on growing their event at London’s O2 Arena into a multiterritory fest with stops all over Europe. “The first year, we begged artists to roll the dice,” says Nashville-based Ali Harnell, senior vp at AEG…

The Internet in the United States officially became a more level playing field on Feb. 26. In a historic, controversial decision — sure to be challenged in court and in Congress — the Federal Communications Commission voted to subject Internet service providers to Title II of the Communications Act, which imposes “net neutrality” on such providers as Comcast and AT&T, and bans preferential treatment for companies and applications, considering all information equal. In effect, an iTunes purchase, a Bandcamp download and YouTube stream will have the same right of way from server to computer. What does the FCC’s vote mean for the music and entertainment businesses? Following are four points of view. TIM WU, PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL “The most important thing about the vote is that it helps preserve…

The Residents may be known more for their signature costumes — tuxedos with giant eyeballs covering their heads — than the nearly 50 albums and 24 multimedia projects they’ve released since 1972. But a new film puts a spotlight on the influence of the avant-garde group’s DIY approach and its twist on musical collages, spoken word and performance art. Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents, which will premiere at South by Southwest on March 14, chronicles the nearly 50-year career of the theatrical art-rock collective, which was formed by Louisiana natives in San Francisco in the mid-1960s. The doc includes footage from their first show, in 1971, through their 40th-anniversary tour. In keeping with the group’s anonymous image, the Cryptic Corporation, which records and markets the music and…

Billboard senior chart manager Wade Jessen died shortly after midnight on March 5 at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tenn., following a heart attack. The 53-year-old media veteran and country music champion had just observed his 20th anniversary as head of Billboard’s country, bluegrass, Christian and gospel charts in December. During his tenure, he was a fixture in the Nashville music business, overseeing the charts with unflagging integrity and commitment to detail. Jessen commandeered the country charts during a particularly significant transitional period: as Billboard converted Hot Country Songs to a hybrid system in 2012, after decades in which the business’ most reliable rankings were solely determined by radio airplay. “I’ve worked with Wade throughout his entire tenure at Billboard, and his dedication to the brand, radio and to country…

ONE COULD CALL IT THE BAY AREA’S version of New York’s CMJ Music Marathon. What began as a one-night-only punk show in 1993 has become a 10-day-long multivenue festival, with this year’s lineup featuring Best Coast, The New Pornographers, How to Dress Well, Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins and hometown darlings Cathedrals (who signed with Neon Gold last June). Though Noise Pop has built momentum, New Pornographers’ A.C. Newman said part of the appeal is that “it’s still a collection of cool gigs that aren’t about the industry or parties.” Highlights included the reopening of the landmark Swedish American Music Hall on Feb. 23 with a show by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, who played despite a broken hand and surprised fans with special guest (and longtime friend) Mark…

BEALE STREET DYNASTY by Preston Lauterbach (W.W. Norton & Co., March 30) Memphis’ Beale Street is now known for tourist traps, but this book takes it back to the days of “whorehouses and bullet holes.” Some will be disappointed the story ends before Elvis, but Dynasty makes the case that Beale’s early years are the key period. BILLIE HOLIDAY: THE MUSICIAN AND THE MYTH by John Szwed (Viking, March 31) The late singer’s 100th birthday (April 7) brings a bio by the author of acclaimed books about Miles Davis and Alan Lomax. Szwed unveils tales that didn’t make Lady Sings the Blues, her classic memoir, including flings with actors Orson Welles and Charles Laughton. I FOUND MY FRIENDS: THE ORAL HISTORY OF NIRVANA by Nick Soulsby (St. Martin’s/Griffin, March 31)…

GEORGE EZRA The Bluesy Sam Smith Age 21 Hit-to-be “Budapest” (No. 9 on Hot Rock Songs) Why he’s next After topping the charts in Britain with his debut, Wanted on Voyage, which Columbia released stateside in January, Ezra is showing off his polished Americana and gravelly vocals on U.S. tours with Smith and, later this year, Hozier. JAMES BAY The Folky Sam Smith Age 24 Hit-to-be “Hold Back the River” (No. 5 peak on Billboard + Twitter Emerging Artists on Feb. 21) Why he’s next The Johnny Depp lookalike’s folk-pop is racking up praise, including a BRIT Award and countless “what a Bayb!” puns online. Chaos and the Calm (Republic), his debut LP, makes its U.S. bow March 24. JESS GLYNNE The Female Sam Smith Age 25 Hit-to-be “Hold My…

2003 Britney Spears, “Toxic” “I whipped this up in 24 hours,” says Scott of the sexy, sci-fi stewardess look. 2008 Lady Gaga, “Paparazzi” The bumble bee-hued dress from his fall 2009 show became an iconic Gaga look. 2012 2 Chainz, “I’m Different” “Totally insane,” says Scott of the Adidas track suit and gorilla sneakers. 2014 Iggy Azalea, “Work” The singer wore totem pants from Scott’s spring 2013 collection for Adidas. 2014 Young Money, “Senile” “I love that she’s just a bad bitch,” he says of the Moschino that Nicki Minaj donned.…

HERE IS HOW YOU STARTED A MUSIC COLLECTION, if you were born sometime between 1940 and 1990: You bought an album, and for the time being, that album was all you had. You liked some tracks more than others at first, but as you only owned eight or 10 or 12 of them (maybe a few more, if it was a recently released CD), you couldn’t afford to play favorites, so you listened to your one album over and over again until you liked all the songs equally. A couple of weeks later, you bought another album. After a year, you owned 15 or 20, and after five years, a couple of hundred. Here is how you started a music collection in the early years of the 21st century: You…

IN DECEMBER — AS MADONNA RUSHED OUT SIX SONGS from Rebel Heart after some truly ugly cyber-bullying — she told Billboard she had recorded so much material that she had considered doing a double album. And indeed, there are at least two albums struggling to come into being amid these 19 tracks. Oppositions are the animating tension of Rebel Heart: Biting breakup songs like “Heartbreak City” rub up against some of the most absurdly lubricious sex songs of her absurdly lubricious career, like the Kanye West-co-produced “Holy Water,” where she compares her bodily fluids to the song’s title, then proclaims, “Yeezus loves my pussy best.” Declarations of invincibility like “Unapologetic Bitch” are undone by laments over the price of fame and the way that even hearts of steel can break.…

PRODUCER Jack Ü LABEL Atlantic RELEASE DATE Feb. 27 WESLEY PENTZ AND SONNY MOORE, better-known as Diplo and Skrillex, respectively, have been on a collision course for years. During dance music’s ascendance in the last decade, they both have found enormous success as EDM iconoclasts. Their two labels/empires — Skrillex runs OWSLA, Diplo Mad Decent — serve as the DARPA of the genre, funding an array of wildly experimental and divergent acts that make the poppy sounds of Calvin Harris and David Guetta seem pandering and monochromatic by comparison. If anyone can be expected to push EDM forward, it’s them. Unfortunately, their selftitled debut as Jack Ü — surprise-released Feb. 27 during a live-streamed, 18-hour, tag-team DJ set — is not the album to do it. Jack Ü was mostly…

Nettwerk Music Group has released more than 30 song-driven soundtracks during its three-decade history, including music from the TV series Veronica Mars, Nip/Tuck, Everwood and Rescue Me and such movies as Away We Go and Inventing the Abbotts. But until January, Nettwerk had never released a soundtrack primarily comprising an instrumental score. That changed with the film soundtrack to Still Alice, the story of a woman struggling with earlyonset Alzheimer’s disease, portrayed by Julianne Moore, who won the best actress Academy Award for the role. The poignant score of Still Alice, written by British composer Ilan Eshkeri, spoke to Nettwerk co-founder/CEO Terry McBride and his partners, but its release also signals a new business direction for the company. While many labels are stepping away from releasing instrumental scores because of…

‘ BILLS’ DUE AT TOP 40 Dr. Luke’s new signee Lunchmoney Lewis makes his Mainstream Top 40 debut at No. 38 with his catchy, comedic “Bills” (Kemosabe/Columbia), up 115 percent in plays, according to Nielsen Music. The Florida native previously built cachet with a feature on Nicki Minaj’s “Trini Dem Girls” (on The Pinkprint). Artists including One Direction’s Liam Payne and Meghan Trainor have paid “Bills” tribute by sharing it on Twitter. DILLON CROSSES OVER London-based trio Life of Dillon launches stateside with “Overload” (Disruptor/Epic). Echoing the melodic vibe of Nico & Vinz’s “Am I Wrong,” it enters Adult Top 40 at No. 37. The group, currently prepping its debut album Prologue, is the first act signed to the Disruptor imprint, a joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug…

Jam band Blues Traveler (above) enters the Billboard Artist 100 at No. 87 thanks entirely to the sales of four of the group’s classic albums rereleased on vinyl. The John Popper-led act’s Four (which originally hit the Billboard 200 in 1994), Blues Traveler (a noncharting release in 1990), Travelers & Thieves (1991) and Save His Soul (1993) chart on Top Album Sales at Nos. 91, 94, 95 and 96, respectively. Each registers sales of approximately 4,000, all from vinyl, according to Nielsen Music. The sets respectively start at Nos. 2-5 on Vinyl Albums (see Billboard.biz/charts). Blues Traveler tallied its two Billboard Hot 100 hits 20 years ago: “Run-Around,” which reached No. 8, and “Hook” (No. 23). The band is readying the release of its 12th studio album, Blow Up the…

Kevin Hart is one of the world’s most popular comedians, with hit movies, albums and TV roles. Now, the 35-year-old Philadelphia native can add record-breaker to his résumé: Hart’s What Now? Tour, which begins April 9 in Texas, is on track to become the highest-grossing comedy tour ever reported to Billboard Boxscore, selling more than 600,000 tickets and grossing $35 million to date. In New York alone, Hart quickly sold out two shows at Madison Square Garden, along with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (nearly 75,000 seats total) — a trio of metro-area plays that only the most confident pop or rock stars would even attempt. To top it off, Hart will wrap the tour with a hometown show at Lincoln Financial Field…

Now that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has united the world’s disparate album-release days under a street date of Friday, businesses in the United States are grappling with how their move from Tuesday will affect operations. Supporters of the switch include major labels Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, which hope to see a boost in business for their digital music services that now account for slightly more than 50 percent of recorded-music revenue. But detractors worry that Friday will wind up costing them money, either through lost CD sales, if accounts don’t order enough for street date, or through returns, if merchants order too much to compensate for the fear that they might run out of stock. Says one brick-and-mortar retailer: “If I don’t order right…

Agent/manager Laura Engel had attended 15 Oscar ceremonies with her composer clients before winning for the first time in February with Alexandre Desplat, 53, for the score to The Grand Budapest Hotel. The 55-year-old co-owner of the Kraft-Engel agency, who also represents Danny Elfman, John Powell, Michael Penn and Marco Beltrami, says victory was a welcome relief from the usual “depth of despair and sadness I feel in that moment when their name isn’t called.” It also helps that “Alexandre is such a great guy,” she adds (on deck for Desplat: Suffragette, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep, and the next Roman Polanski feature). “A lot of people were rooting for him.” Desplat is among today’s most prolific composers. Is there an “Oscar effect” for a person who’s always…

SINCE ITS LAUNCH, IN 1980, THE ROLAND TR-808 drum machine has gone from fad to icon, appearing in everything from early hip-hop and Prince hits to Kanye West songs and EDM tracks. 808, a new documentary premiering at South by Southwest on March 13, pays homage to the machine through such enthusiasts as Rick Rubin, Questlove and Beastie Boys. The film, which is narrated by former BBC radio host Zane Lowe, has an accompanying soundtrack on Big Beat/Atlantic Records. The 808 was manufactured for just three years, but not before it found its way into the hands of pioneering producers like Arthur Baker, who served as an executive producer on the doc. “I was at the BRIT Awards last week,” he says, “and Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Madonna –– each…

1 Snoop Dogg (center) performed while surrounded by models and bubbles at the Etam lingerie show held at the Piscine Molitor during Paris Fashion Week on March 3. 2 Carly Rae Jepsen (left) dropped by SiriusXM’s New York studio on March 2 to premiere her new single, “I Really Like You,” for Hits 1 channel host Kid Kelly. 3 Kacey Musgraves onstage at the Brown Theatre in Louisville, Ky., on Feb. 26. 4 Taylor Swift arrived at the Elle Style Awards held Feb. 24 at the Walkie Talkie Tower in London wearing an emerald Julien Macdonald gown and Giuseppe Zanotti shoes. 5 Drake during his performance at the Future Music Festival held Feb. 28 at the Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.…

REDEMPTION SEASON IS UPON US,” says Charles Hamilton, sitting at a piano inside Los Angeles’ Sayers Club on Feb. 18, the rapper’s first public performance in three years. The crowd — filled with record executives and fans, including one in a “Charles Hamilton Saved My Life” T-shirt — is excited, and so is Hamilton. “Thanks for all the love,” he adds. “I just feel so good.” To hear Hamilton, 27, utter those last five words was unimaginable a few years ago, when the prodigiously talented rapper, producer and multi-instrumentalist hit bottom after one of the most massive flame-outs music has ever seen, one that took him from stardom to homelessness, incarceration and institutionalization in little more than year. In 2008 Hamilton blew up the blogosphere with a prolific series of…

Charlie Wilson is a survivor. His five-decade career has endured substance abuse, cancer and the 2010 breakup of his legendary Gap Band. Through it all, the singer, 62, has released seven solo LPs and become a go-to collaborator for Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. His latest challenge? Recovering from crippling back issues and surgery, then shaping up for a 28-show tour with fellow soul men Kem and Joe that launched Feb. 12 in support of Forever Charlie, which bowed at No. 2 on the Feb. 14 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The setback “ When I performed at Steve Harvey’s 2013 Neighborhood Awards, I did the show from a chair because my legs wouldn’t allow me to stand up. When I returned to Los Angeles, I went straight from the airport…

ON A 4-DEGREE NIGHT IN Manhattan, hours be fore Jeremy Scott’s fall 2015 show at New York Fashion Week, models and seamstresses scurry about a 2,000-square-foot studio where the designer is putting the finishing touches on his collection. A blunt line of bangs cases his forehead (Scott has cut his own hair since he was 7) and though he often wears a tough-guy scowl in photos, Scott is quick to smile in person. “Ca-yooot,” he exclaims approvingly as a model slips into a teddy bear-printed dress. He keeps warm in a navy sweatshirt with Mickey Mouse’s rear end stitched onto the back of it, and bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos lay scattered throughout the work space. If junk food, cartoon butts and teddy bears didn’t already make it clear, the…

AN 18-YEAR-OLD Elvis Presley walked through the doors of the Memphis Recording Service at 708 Union Ave. in the summer of 1953. He carried a beat-up guitar that he’d had since the age of 11 and enough money to make a $3.98 record of his own voice. He sang two ’30s ballads — “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” — hoping to catch the attention of Sam Phillips, who had started his own label, Sun. When he was done, Marion Keisker, who helped run the place with Phillips, typed his name on the back of a label for Sun act The Prisonaires, and Presley left with his acetate. For more than six decades, that record of Elvis singing “My Happiness” was kept by the family of the high-school…

WAFFLES, BACON AND A SIDE OF VINYL WITH THE ADVENT of the CD and the continuing usefulness of the cassette, vinyl records were out of vogue in the 1990s. So how did United Record Pressing — a Nashville plant in operation since 1949 that in 2014 broke the record for the fastest-pressed album (in collaboration with Jack White) — stay afloat in these lean times? Partial credit should be given to Waffle House. Once upon a time, the home of late-night waffles and bacon was a key source of demand for URP, which kept the vinyl jukeboxes in each of its 2,000-plus locations stocked with the latest 45s from Waffle House’s in-house songwriting and recording team: “Special Lady at the Waffle House,” “Waffle Doo-Wop,” “Waffle House Thank You” and the…

Terraplane, the title of three-time Grammy winner Steve Earle’s 16th studio set, is a nod to Delta legend Robert Johnson’s “Terraplane Blues,” but the similarities end there. The record, inspired by his divorce from singer Allison Moorer in 2014, evokes the electric Texas rock of ZZ Top and the fire of Chicago blues icon Howlin’ Wolf, colored by 60-year-old Earle’s worldweary lyrics. One of the highlights of the LP is “Better Off Alone.” You have been married and divorced seven times — is that something you think about a lot? It goes through my head, but I’d rather think about baseball and pussy. (Laughs.) Would you get married again? I’m done with it. I got married a lot in the ’80s, but, after that, I didn’t get married for a…

ALABAMA SHAKES, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (FEB. 28) Brittany Howard is such a captivating frontwoman, she could sing a software terms and conditions agreement and raise goose bumps. In this case, she had “Don’t Wanna Fight” — a new song with a great guitar hook reminiscent of The Who’s “Eminence Front” — and from her Joplin-esque opening to the song’s full-tilt climax, she slayed. IN THE VALLEY BELOW, CONAN (FEB. 23) This Los Angeles synth-rock duo’s 2014 album, The Belt, was exhilarating, and its performance of “Peaches” proved the band is just as compelling live. Jeffrey Jacob, who looked like Al Pacino in The Godfather, and Angela Gail traded taut riffs and dreamy vocals that could get the most hopeless wallflower dancing. WARREN G AND KENNY G, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! (FEB.…

The company may be headquartered in Vancouver, but Nettwerk Music Group is heading south to the Lone Star State to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The official birthday party takes place March 18 at the South by Southwest conference in Austin. Scheduled to appear at the fete at nightclub Maggie Mae’s on Sixth Street are Nettwerk acts Family of the Year, Boxed In and Chadwick Stokes. The event, thrown in partnership with the Leo Burnett Artist in Residence program, starts at noon. The company’s anniversary festivities started in January with the release of From Cover to Cover: 30 Years at Nettwerk. The 14-track collection features current Nettwerk acts interpreting tunes from the label’s robust catalog first made famous by previous artists on the roster. Among the selections on the compilation: Lily…

Shaggy Returns Shaggy scores his first entry on Billboard’s Rhythmic airplay chart in 12 years as “I Need Your Love” (featuring Mohombi, Faydee and Costi) debuts at No. 38. Shaggy, 46, tallied eight hits on the chart between 1995 and 2002, including the No. 1s “It Wasn’t Me” and “Angel.” His new track is “one of those songs that just feels good to me,” says DJ Buck, program director/music director at WZMX Hartford, Conn. “It has that Caribbean backbone but is layered with the smooth sounds of its guests. With Shaggy’s signature sound, the record becomes even bigger.”…

WHEN THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE Disney Channel’s High School Musical topped the Billboard 200 on March 11, 2006, it was, to quote the TV movie’s hit song, the “start of something new.” Thanks to the popularity of the Kenny Ortega-directed film — according to Disney, more than 290 million global viewers watched it between 2006 and 2009 — the album became the first TV soundtrack to reach No. 1 since Miami Vice in 1986. High School Musical went on to become the year’s best-selling album in the United States, according to Nielsen Music (with 3.7 million copies sold), while the movie spawned two successful sequels —High School Musical 2 in 2007 and the theatrical release High School Musical 3: Senior Year in 2008, which in turn produced two more chart-topping…