Innholdsfortegnelse for Jun-20-15 i Billboard Magazine

ANDY GRAMMER’S HIT SINGLE “HONEY, I’M GOOD” is doing as well on the charts as its title implies. The singer-songwriter notches his first Billboard Hot 100 top 10 as his country-tinged pop ode to monogamy rises 11-9. “Honey, I’m Good” holds at No. 4 on the Digital Songs chart with a 1 percent gain to 117,000 downloads sold during the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music, and climbs 14-13 on the Radio Songs tally (72 million in audience, up 13 percent) and 32-29 on Streaming Songs (4.5 million U.S. streams, up 9 percent). The song also revitalized Grammer’s second LP, Magazines or Novels, released in August 2014. The album spent a week in the Billboard 200’s top 40 when it debuted at No. 27, but thanks to “Honey,…

IT WAS BILLED AS “THE hottest hip-hop event of the year.” But as the tear gas cleared outside MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on the night of June 7, Hot 97’s 2015 Summer Jam was sparking headlines of a different kind: “61 Arrested; 11 State Troopers Injured.” While a reported 50,000 fans inside the stadium cheered on a lineup that included Kendrick Lamar, Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj and Big Sean, outside, New Jersey state police in riot gear were quelling what superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes described as a “brief and volatile situation.” He said in a statement, “A small group of highly disruptive people ruined this concert for many others. Our troopers took the appropriate steps to restore order.” By most accounts, the melee began after a number of…

“Ornette Coleman is the most beautiful man that ever lived. R.I.P.” —Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers “You could hear he was from Texas in the way he played. He had a certain farmhouse kind of call, that down-home spirit.” —Joe Lovano, saxophonist and friend “Ornette reminded us that making art is a revolutionary act, that rules are meant to be broken and that change is endemic to the creative process.” —Don Was, producer; president, Blue Note Records “This is one of the last greats — the Pharoah [Sanders] is still with us! We must now take the lessons taught and carry the torch to the future.” —Questlove “When I met Ornette, the first thing he said was, ‘Ken, what does sound sound like?’ ” —Ken Weinstein, Coleman’s publicist from 2006…

ADAM LAMBERT LOOKS LIKE he’s ready to kick some ass. Sauntering through a penthouse at the Hollywood landmark Chateau Marmont, the 6-foot-1 singer towers over a cadre of assistants in a pair of throwback clubkid platform boots that lift him a good half-foot off the ground. To complete the look, Lambert is donning drop-crotch pants and a tight black tank, showing off his arms, which are newly muscled and heavily tattooed, with much of the ink acquired during the last two years. It’s a gloomier, rawer look for the former glam-rock revivalist, one better-suited for a guy who calls his inability to be content his “dark side.” “It’s hard for me to be happy with things,” he says. “Even if things are going well, I tend to look at the…

In honor of Father’s Day on June 21, music’s brightest including Hozier, Tinashe and Jason Derulo reveal the traits — from the heartwarming to the hairy — their dads passed on to them DIANE WARREN “We both didn’t take no for an answer. My dad sold life insurance, and if a door was shut in his face, he would just get in through the window if he had to. I am the same way. If I believe in something, there is no stopping me.” HOZIER “If it wasn’t my dad’s passion for music or the blues — I received much of my tastes from his record collection — it would be his hair. We have a similar follicle endowment: hair that grows outward, thickly and wildly, with a mind of…

1 OAKGEM diamond, onyx, ruby and sapphire motorcycle brooch, $1,450; 1stdibs.com. 2 TATEOSSIAN black diamond matchstick pin, $900; tateossian.com. 3 HOOK & ALBERT satin and poplin lapel flower, $30; hookandalbert.com. 4 TATEOSSIAN crystal DJ skull pin, $125; tateossian.com. 5 FOUNDWELL 19th century European diamond pin, $2,600; foundwell.com. PAUL SMITH Soho black wool evening suit, $2,060, and cotton evening shirt, $395; paulsmith.co.uk. DUNHILL grosgrain bowtie, $150; dunhill.com.…

ALEXANDER LJUNG, 31 +ERIC WAHLFORSS, 33 SOUNDCLOUD The streaming site these two founded is the first place many DJs turn to host music, with 175 million active monthly users. NICK SABINE, 34 +PAUL CLEMENT, 36 RESIDENT ADVISOR This pair’s tastemaking online mag and ticketing platform draws 2.5 million monthly visitors and lists 130,000 concerts and parties each year. CLARK WARNER, 43 BEATPORT With 50 million users, this authoritative site is where hardcore fans and DJs turn to buy instrumentals. A ticketing platform arrives in 2016.…

THE SOUTHERN ADAGE “DON’T GET above your raisin’,” memorialized as a song title by Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs in 1951, has long been a guideline for country artists. It even dictates their choices in pronouns: always the humble “we,” never the immodest “I.” And like many things in life, it’s more strictly enforced on female artists. But Kacey Musgraves’ 2013 majorlabel debut, Same Trailer Different Park, was gloriously provocative. On the album’s two best songs, “Merry Go ’Round” and “Follow Your Arrow,” the 26-year-old critiqued life in small towns like the Texas one she couldn’t escape fast enough, and endorsed weed, girl-on-girl kissing and politics one could only describe as liberal. Her strategy, she told a reporter, was “to push buttons [and] scare off the people who are going…

Brit rock trio’s seventh album aims high, hits somewhere in the middle MUSE TREADS BETWEEN SUBLIME and ridiculous more than any rock band in recent memory, with jawdropping pretention that makes it hard to tell if they’re just having a laugh. Drones is, of course, a concept album, about, according to the liner notes, “the journey of a human, from their abandonment and loss of hope to their indoctrination by the system to be a human drone.” But the intent doesn’t match the straightforward — for Muse, at least — result. As always, the best tracks (“Mercy,” “The Handler”) find Matthew Bellamy’s protometal riff s and soaring vocals preventing his sappier instincts from holding sway. The title track ends the LP in true WTF fashion, with a church choir singing,…

TUESDAY, MAY 26 “Emergency” — the new Icona Pop single Reed, 32, helmed — just dropped. “It’s very f—ing cool,” he says. He spends the day at Dr. Luke’s Malibu studio tweaking the debut LP from soul man Lunchmoney Lewis. WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 After a six-mile run, Reed learns Twenty One Pilots’Blurryface, which he produced, is No. 1 on the Billboard 200, but he can’t stop to celebrate. He has a session at his Elysian Park studio with Motown songwriting legend Lamont Dozier. “He played me tracks he has been sitting on since the ’70s!” he says. THURSDAY, MAY 28 Reed fields calls from Robin Thicke to talk big-band arrangements for his new album. “The songs we’ve done are for record-collector heads —fonky.” A session with rapper Yung Jake goes…

THE GIBSON GUITARS BEARING THE NAME OF Les Paul have resounded in the hands of iconic players across genres and generations, from Muddy Waters to Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page to Bob Marley, Steve Miller to Slash. If all Paul had done during his lifetime was pioneer the design of the solid-body electric guitar, his legacy would still live on in countless solos and songs. But a far greater number of artists — almost anyone who has entered a recording studio, in fact — have used the multitracking and overdubbing techniques Paul helped develop. Paul, who was born June 9, 1915, and died Aug. 12, 2009, at the age of 94, achieved acclaim as a songwriter, performer, producer, engineer, Billboard Hot 100 chart- topper (“How High the Moon,” with wife Mary…

NUMBERS: TONYS TIPSCALES The Tony Awards (June 7) spurred sales for best musical nominee Something Rotten. It bows at No. 1 on the Cast Albums chart with 6,000 units sold in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music. It’s the best week for a cast set since If/Then moved 15,000 on June 21, 2014. 78% Overall Broadway cast album sales rose by 78 percent (to 32,000) for the week. Expect another gain in the week ending June 14, the first full week of post-show impact. 6 Kelli O’Hara claimed her first Tony Award win — with her sixth nomination in 11 years — for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical for The King and I. Its cast recording debuts at No. 4…

Not Extinct With major buzz surrounding the June 12 box-office opening of Jurassic World, the dinosaur-driven film franchise—s classic theme song roars to new heights. John Williams— “Jurassic Park Theme,” released in 1993 to accompany the franchise—s first film, has become a top 10 hit on a Billboard chart at last, rising 13-9 on the June 13 Classical Digital Songs survey. On the June 20 tally, it takes an even bigger bite out of the chart, leaping to No. 6 with a 15 percent gain to 1,000 sold in the tracking week, according to Nielsen Music. The melodic instrumental has sold 185,000 downloads to date.…

With your fourth album,All Your Favorite Bands,which debuts at No. 22 onTop Album Sales, it seemslike you’re more focusedon creating a cohesiveproject and not trying tocompete in the singlesmarket. Why? If we wrote [Hozier’s] “Take Me to Church” and had that [success], that would be totally welcomed. But you’ve got to follow whatever comes to you; the way that I write and we play, it comes out the way it comes out. We want to grow and force our fans who like this record and the one before it to really have to see if they like the next one. [We want] it to be different enough that it has its own identity but also continues to widen the spectrum of what this band can be. You guys are one…

Iggy Azalea (above) vaults 47-20 on the Social 50 chart — her highest rank since the Feb. 21 list, when she was No. 12 — after a busy week in the news where she announced her engagement and explained why she decided to cancel her upcoming Great Escape Tour. On May 29, the rapper nixed her rescheduled arena trek, which was due to launch Sept. 19. Then, on June 1, she explained to Seventeen why she canceled the tour. The online chatter about the tour drama helped fuel a 103 percent rise in Twitter reactions (retweets) for Azalea in the week ending June 7, according to Next Big Sound. The main driver behind Azalea’s chart gain, however, is her June 1 engagement announcement — on Instagram — to NBA basketball…

LilDurk charts his first title on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, landing at No. 2 with his major-label debut, Remember My Name (32,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen Music). The Def Jam rapper concurrently scores his first appearance on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs with lead single “Like Me” (featuring Jeremih). The track debuts at No. 43, aided mostly by a 32 percent streaming gain (to 1.7 million domestic weekly plays). A 117 percent rise in digital sales (to 8,000 downloads) also assists the entrance, while prompting a No. 31 arrival on Rap Digital Songs. Rapper Dom Kennedy also debuts on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, with By Dom Kennedy touching down at No. 3 to become his highest ranking yet on the chart. With 20,000 units sold, Kennedy’s latest album bests his two previous entries,…

Jamie xx (above) jumps in at No. 1 on Top Dance/Electronic Albums with the retro-themed In Colour. The solo debut from the xx member sold 19,000 copies in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music, beating out Major Lazer’s latest, Peace Is the Mission (16,000). Meanwhile, on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Major Lazer charts seven tracks from Peace, leading with “Lean On” (No. 4). The song, with DJ Snake, sold 58,000 units (up 18 percent) and captured 6.6 million U.S. streams (up 16 percent) as it also rises to No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Shifting to Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs, Avicii collects his fifth top 10 with “Waiting for Love” (13-8, 1.9 million streams, up 13 percent). Avicii is now tied with Calvin Harris for the most top…

A ALMOST A YEAR AFTER APPLE’S most contentious publicity play ever — the iTunes giveaway of U2’s Songs of Innocence in September 2014 — the company didn’t come away unscathed following its latest staged event at the June 8 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Predictably, the announcement of the June 30 launch of Apple Music, a combination streaming site (with subscriptions offered at $9.99 per individual or $14.99 for a family), curated 24-hour global radio station (Beats 1, helmed by Zane Lowe) and music-focused social network, made worldwide headlines and choked social media feeds — thanks in part to a performance by The Weeknd and an appearance by Drake. But 24 hours later, music industry chatter had all but become a shrug. That could be because the late-to-the-game service…

Portland, Ore.-based music supervision agency Marmoset Music has taken on big campaigns for corporate clients like JC Penney, Coca-Cola and Levi’s in recent years, and is expected to help independent artists earn $5 million in gross revenue from commercial synchs in 2015 alone. But its latest client is a big spender of a different sort: Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Beginning with Clinton’s April 12 candidacy-announcing video Getting Started (which featured the track “Scorpio” by indie composer Buddy Ross), Marmoset has been tasked with music supervision and creative support on licenses for up to 50 songs for nonexclusive use throughout the campaign’s duration. “We try to stay away from making any strong statement, politically or otherwise, but in this case, the candidate seemed like one we could get behind pretty…

THE CAREERS OF ANDY HEWITT AND BILL SILVA AS concert promoters at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles got off to a rocky start: Their first two shows —Whitney Houston with Steve Winwood followed by Jimmy Buffett in 1991 — were canceled because they were not approved by Los Angeles County in time to gain approval from the 18,000-seat venue’s neighbors. Luckily, things improved from there: 2015 marks their 25th season putting on concerts at the legendary amphitheater under the Andrew Hewitt & Bill Silva Presents banner, and also follows a robust 2014, during which the partners produced a career high of 22 events. The veteran concert promoters, who share a staff of four and an annual revenue of $30 million, have two years remaining on an exclusive nine-year contract…

Marc Anthony’s Cuban Groove Cuban duo Gente de Zona is the first act to sign to Marc Anthony’s new entertainment company, Magnus Media. The deal came about after Anthony agreed to be featured on GDZ’s new single, “La Gozadera.” The Puerto Rican salsa star first heard the song when mutual pal Pitbull invited the pair —Randy Malcolm and Alexander Delgado — to Anthony’s house in Miami several months ago. When Malcolm played the track on his phone, Anthony was hooked. “I heard the future of music,” he told Billboard at the La Voz Kids finale in Orlando on June 7. “The song is a smash.” Kiesza And Kelsey The Tony Awards brought together two strange bedfellows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on June 7. Actor Kelsey Grammer was…

“It’s like we’re living in a f—ing Terminator nightmare!” —RYAN ADAMS The rock vet onstage at Governors Ball in response to the volume of Deadmau5’s set. “Is anyone else disgusted yet?! Wake up America.” —KATY PERRY The singer on Twitter addressing the controversial footage of white policemen arresting black teens outside a pool party in McKinney, Texas. “I am literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn’t involve an animal and everyone is of age.” —MILEY CYRUS The pop star explaining her sexual preference to Paper magazine. “ I am tired of living in a world where women are referred to as a man’s past, present or future property/possession.” —ARIANA GRANDE The pop singer in an open letter on Instagram on double standards about her dating life.…

AFTER HAVING dressed country stars like Blake Shelton, Vince Gill and Josh Turner for years, stylist Trish Townsend, 54, decided it was time to offer her sartorial expertise to the rest of Music City. “There weren’t many men’s boutiques in Nashville,” she says of opening Townsend Style, located in the posh Brentwood area, in April. And for guys like Shelton, who has a taller-thanaverage 48 long build, Townsend has made it a priority to stock the shelves with hard-to-find fits and high-end brands like John Varvatos, Ted Baker and Nikki Lund (“Blake wears her Western shirts all the time”) that Nashville residents haven’t had much access to. The store, which is accented with reclaimed wood, also has a vintage bar where Townsend serves up bourbon and whiskey to customers. “It…

ALESSO, 23 The Stockholm DJ’s breakout included his debut album on Def Jam and his first top 40 hit, “Heroes.” ANDREWMcINNES, 31 McInnes’ TMWRK Management reps an all-star roster, and its 2014 acquisition by SFX promises further expansion. DUKE DUMONT, 32 Nominated for a 2015 Grammy, the British house star is prepping a September LP, featuring Vic Mensa, on Astralwerks. KYGO, 23 The Norwegian DJ sparked a major-label bidding war and set Spotify aflame as the tropical house genre’s flag-bearer. JAKE UDELL, 26 The savvy manager behind ZHU is working to take his breakthrough act Krewella to the next level this year.…

BACK WHEN HUDSON Mohawke was crafting bombastic synth-scapes in his mom’s Glasgow basement in the 2000s, the idea of him collaborating with Lil Wayne and Pusha T was but a left-field electro nerd’s distant fantasy. Years later, the producer born Ross Birchard, 29, sits in a rarefied space: He’s signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music as a producer and British electronic indie Warp as an artist, and seamlessly marries those sounds and many more on his excellent sophomore LP, Lantern. In some ways, it’s actually a reboot. One of Mohawke’s biggest recent successes was as half of TNGHT, along with Montreal producer Lunice. The duo, now on hiatus, skyrocketed to EDM-tent headliner status after its self-titled 2012 EP, which helped redefine trap for the festival set. But the pair’s rise…

R&B veteran’s new album makes stability seductive FEW SINGERS MAKE MARRIAGE sound as sexy as Tamia does on her sixth album, Love Life. Monogamy anthems are a staple for the singer, 40, who has been married to former NBA star Grant Hill for 16 years. On Love Life, she elegantly touches on the vexing and rewarding aspects of relationships, and explains how to keep the fire burning. Tamia is less concerned with fleeting moments and more focused on trust, quality time (“Chaise Lounge”) and gratitude (“Like You Do”) — with a generous side of morning sex. Love Life is at its best when the beats settle like soft caresses and Tamia’s vocals float into breathy exhales, like on “Lipstick,” where she sings about skipping dinner for something sweeter. Extra spice…

LIL WAYNE “GLORY” CASH MONEY/YOUNG MONEY With his album in limbo amid a lawsuit against Cash Money, Lil Wayne raps like his career depends on it on “Glory,” released exclusively through Tidal. It’s his best song in years, with a choir-sampling beat inspiring Weezy to hark back to his late-2000s mixtape spazz-outs for five straight verses — no hooks needed. —ALEX GALE FLUME FEATURINGANDREW WYATT “SOME MINDS” MOM + POP/FUTURE CLASSIC Australian DJ-producer Flume, known for working with Chet Faker and remixing Lorde, ventures into psychedelia with “Some Minds,” a groggy slow jam. It’s pensive and patient, building for three-plus minutes before falling into deep low-end and staccato synths so sharp you can feel them tingle. —MEGAN BUERGER WAKA FLOCKA FLAMEFEATURING GOODCHARLOTTE “GAME ON” ATLANTIC Waka and Good Charlotte team…

Of the many musicians that Les Paul mentored, influenced and inspired, Steve Miller has the deepest and longest-running connection to the late artist. Miller’s father, a Milwaukee-based physician who loved music and had a passion for home recording, befriended Paul when the artist and his musical partner, Mary Ford, spent a few weeks in town in 1949 after recovering from a serious car accident. Miller was 6 at the time, but he vividly recalls watching his father record with Paul in the basement of the Miller home. “I got the whole picture in 1949. Multitrack recording, speeding up and slowing down the tape, fooling around, electronics, having fun. Les was my inspiration and an indelible stamp on the way I looked at things,” says Miller. “I wanted to be just…

‘HERE’ COMES CARA Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara bows at No. 4 on Billboard + Twitter Emerging Artists with debut single “Here.” The caustic, antisocial R&B song drew 848,000 U.S. streams in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music, and has been endorsed on Twitter by Lorde and Jenna Marbles. “Here” previews the 18-year-old’s debut album, Know-It-All, expected this fall on Def Jam. QUINCY RETURNS, WITH GRACE Quincy Jones comes full circle with the pop classic “You Don’t Own Me.” Decades after producing Lesley Gore’s original, which hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, he has co-produced new RCA signee Grace’s take, featuring G-Eazy. The smoky cover is from Grace’s debut EP, Memo, released May 26. The Australian is 18 — almost the same age as…

BillyCurrington (above) hits a new high on the Billboard Artist 100, vaulting 85-32 (up 136 percent) as his Summer Forever debuts at No. 3 on Top Country Albums and No. 9 on Top Album Sales with 21,000 first-week copies sold, according to Nielsen Music. Album sales account for 58 percent of his activity on the Artist 100. On Top Country Albums, the set is Currington’s fifth top five entry and bests the high of his last release, We Are Tonight, which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on Oct. 5, 2013. Currington has collected three No. 2-peaking titles on the tally: Doin’ Somethin’ Right (2005), Little Bit of Everything (2008) and Enjoy Yourself (2010). The new album’s lead single, “Don’t It,” became his ninth Country Airplay No. 1 on the…

Hip-hop act Jedi Mind Tricks jets in at No. 1 on Heatseekers Albums with its latest set, The Thief and the Fallen. The album sold 5,000 copies in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music, marking the best sales frame for the act since 2006, when Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell bowed with 7,000 on Oct. 7, 2006. The new album is the third No. 1 on Heatseekers for Jedi Mind Tricks, which previously led with Violence Begets Violence in 2011 and Servants in Heaven in 2006. Notably, they are now tied with four other acts for the most No. 1s on Heatseekers (joining Anthony Kearns, Conjunto Primavera, John P. Kee and Ronan Tynan). Next up on Heatseekers Albums is rapper Troy Ave, who debuts at No.…

Florida Georgia Line (above) crowns Country Airplay with “Sippin’ on Fire” (2-1). The track is the third single, and third No. 1, from the duo’s sophomore studio album, Anything Goes. “Dirt” (Oct. 25, 2014) and “Sun Daze” (Feb. 28) previously reigned. FGL now has seven total Country Airplay No. 1s, beginning with its debut hit, “Cruise,” which began a three-week rule on Dec. 15, 2012. The pair trails only Brooks & Dunn for the most leaders (20) among duos in the chart’s 25-year history. Montgomery Gentry and Sugarland follow with five each. Appropriately, “Smoke” has led to “Fire” on Country Airplay: “Fire” replaces A Thousand Horses’ debut No. 1, “Smoke” (1-7), giving Republic Nashville back-to-back chart-toppers. The label last succeeded itself at the summit when Eli Young Band’s “Drunk Last…

Regional Mexican singer Chiquis Rivera (above) crowns Top Latin Albums as her debut set, Ahora, sells 7,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Music. Rivera, the daughter of the late Jenni Rivera, becomes the first female to top the chart since her mother opened at No. 1 on Dec. 20, 2014, with the posthumous release 1 Vida-3 Historias: Metamorfosis-Despedida de Culiacan. The Riveras become the first mother-daughter pair and only the third parentchild combination to reach No. 1 on the list following Vicente Fernandez and Alejandro Fernandez (each with five No. 1s) and Julio Iglesias and Enrique Iglesias (one and eight, respectively). Furthermore, Jenni Rivera’s brother Lupillo also has topped the albums chart, making the Riveras the only family to have three members score No. 1s as solo…

U2 (above) edges out such touring heavyweights as One Direction, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and Paul McCartney to reach No. 1 on the Boxscore chart with $9.8 million in ticket sales from five sold-out shows in the Los Angeles market. The band performed five concerts at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., the only Southern California engagement on the tour’s schedule. Amid the Forum run, U2 also played a rare club date on May 28 at the Roxy in West Hollywood for fans who had won tickets through a radio contest. Touring in support of the album Songs of Innocence, which arrived in September 2014, U2 began its sixmonth trek through North America and Europe on May 14. Hosting the tour opener was Vancouver’s Rogers Arena — the first of 10…

“A ROCK STAR BUCKS ACOFFEE SHOP” “Ask Starbucks if coffee has GMO ... Monsanto and Starbucks, mothers want to know what they feed their children” Starbucks says: “Starbucks has not taken a position on the issue of [genetically modified organism] labeling. As a company with stores and a product presence in every state, we prefer a national solution.” “MONSANTO YEARS” “The family seeds they used to save were gifts from God not Monsanto/Their own child grows ill near the poisoned crop” Monsanto says: ”Many of us at Monsanto have been and are fans of Neil Young. Unfortunately, for some of us, his current album may fail to reflect what we do to help make agriculture more sustainable. There is a lot of misinformation about what we do, and unfortunately several…

ORNETTE COLEMAN, THE visionary alto saxophonist and composer whose radical ideas about musical structure upended the course of jazz history, died June 11 in New York. The cause was cardiac arrest, according to a representative for his family. He was 85. A man of humble beginnings, Coleman went on to win some of the world’s most prestigious musical accolades, among them the Pulitzer Prize and the much-coveted MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellowship. He was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, an autodidact who got his start working with minstrel acts and R&B bands on the Southern network of clubs then called the “chitlin’ circuit.” Though his work later took him to concert halls around the world, the rustic cry of the blues remained a hallmark of his sound. It was…

1 From left: Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Elton John and Prince Harry backstage after Bennett and Gaga’s Cheek to Cheek Tour performance at Royal Albert Hall in London on June 8. 2 The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne performed as part of the Surf Lodge concert series in Montauk, N.Y., on June 7. 3 Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on June 6. 4 From left: Alicia Keys, Stella McCartney, Liv Tyler, Annie Clark, Cara Delevingne and Miranda Kerr at McCartney’s Resort 2016 presentation at the Elizabeth Street Garden in New York on June 8. 5 Courtney Barnett onstage at Club Dada in Dallas on June 6. 6 Soprano Maria Aleida and maestro Andrea Bocelli performed a private concert during…

5:30 p.m. The rapper, trying to find parking, tells his passenger she doesn’t need breast implants: “You won’t be American no more; you’ll be ‘Made in China.’ ” This woman, however, is not the subject of “Trap Queen,” his ode to ride-or-die girls; that song is about an ex, who is Haitian. He isn’t, but he’s wearing a Haitian flag bandanna around his month-old dreadlock extensions (which he says cost $4,000). 5:46 p.m. Fetty valets the car and walks to meet his friends for a Jet-Skiing adventure. He’s singing Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” which he first heard in his favorite film, Toy Story. “I almost cried at Toy Story 3,” he says. “I was like, ‘Noooo! Woody!’ ” 1:06 p.m. It’s a balmy day in South…

T.I. isn’t on tour, and his last album came out in October, but he’s as busy as ever. In addition to making a standout cameo in the Entourage film, the rapper, 34, executive-produces and stars in VH1’s T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle reality show as well as Oxygen’s Sisterhood of Hip-Hop, whose second season began June 9. There’s a lot of drama onSisterhood, which follows up-and-coming female MCs. Do you ever step in when there are heated arguments? You have to let the lesson take place. If you interrupt that, you devalue the moment. Everyone has to take their own steps to reach their destination. Your cameo inEntouragewas hilarious. Do you have an entourage? Everyone has an entourage. Even people who work a 9-to-5 job, when you go to…

THE NEXT FRONTIER MartinGarrix (Number 20), Scooter Braun (Number 11) and SteveAngello (Number 29) tHE THREE MEN GATHERED THIS SUNNY MEMORIAL Day afternoon on a patio in Los Angeles could not, in some ways, be more different. Steve Angello, 32, rose to fame as one-third of the DJ supergroup Swedish House Mafia. Martin Garrix, 19, achieved viral stardom with “Animals” (now well past half a billion YouTube spins and counting). And Scooter Braun, 33, is the impresario famous for chaperoning the careers of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. But Braun, as part of an ambitious foray into the dance-music business, is now also managing Angello and Garrix — and together, the three represent nothing less than a redefinition of success in EDM, emphasizing original music and brand-name, pop-style superstardom. (See…

Artists photographed on Randall’s Island in New York. For exclusive interviews and videos — including Noel Gallagher (pictured) talking about the (im)possibility of an Oasis reunion — from Billboard’s backstage lounge, go to Billboard.com or Billboard.com/ipad. 1. NOEL GALLAGHER ”This is my favorite city,” said the former Oasis member, who performed with backing band High Flying Birds. If he could visit New York in any era, he’d choose “1965 to 1975.” What would he do? “Get f—ing high.” 2. RUDIMENTAL ”I always wanted to go see the Statue of Liberty,” said DJ Locksmith (second from left), but he still hasn’t. With bandmates (from left) Amir Amor, Kesi Dryden and Piers Agget. 3. MARINA & THE DIAMONDS Favorite TV show set in New York? “Mad Men,” said vocalist Marina Lambrini Diamandis.…

Do you think fans of your traprap work with TNGHT and Kanye West will be turned off by songs like “Kettles” I’m not under any illusions: Someone who only knows me from TNGHT is probably going to be like, “What the f— is this doing on here?” It was very much an experiment for me. Plus, I have always been keen to get into doing more soundtrack work. It’s easy to hear West or someone else rapping on “Ryderz” and making it a hit. Why did you keep it instrumental? I didn’t want it to be heralded as their song — that would defeat the purpose. It’s an ode to the classic hip-hop production of the late ’90s and early 2000s. That style of sample-based production just doesn’t exist anymore.…

SHOULD SOME INTREPID director make a movie out of My Head Is an Animal, the 2011 debut from Icelandic arena-folk adventurers Of Monsters and Men, he or she will need lots of wildlife wranglers and CGI but only a handful of actual actors. A surprise smash that has sold 1.1 million copies, according to Nielsen Music, My Head hinged on mythical storytelling. When leaders Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir and Ragnar Þorhallsson sang of birds and bees, it wasn’t sexual — they were describing the various creatures populating their windswept, swollen-hearted fairy-tale anthems. After several years of steady touring, Hilmarsdottir, Þorhallsson and their three bandmates say they went into new album Beneath the Skin as closer friends, and have described their sophomore effort as more personal and introspective. Sure enough, track two…

What does it take, on the ground — and in the air! — to manage a major music event? The crew of the upcoming Firefly Music Festival offered a preview of what their first 24 hours will be like. 4 a.m. || MICHAEL COCO (camping operations and public safety director, Red Frog Events/Firefly) On Friday, we let fans into the campgrounds at 6 a.m., but we’re usually ready to soft-open around 4 if we have a line of people waiting. 5:05 a.m. || MIKE TATOIA (president/CEO, Dover International Speedway) We also do NASCAR here on the Speedway, and those last few hours before the gates open are very similar to the feeling you get on race day. 7:30 a.m. || CHRISTIANE PHEIL (artist relations/talent, Red Frog Events/Firefly) The day’s artists…

FEW MUSIC BUSINESS EVENTS RANK WITH THE annual Songwriters Hall of Fame gala in New York for star power. Held in a more intimate setting than the Grammy Awards — the June 18 event takes place once again in a ballroom at the New York Marriott Marquis — the induction dinner will nonetheless feature a Grammy-like A-list of stars. The attendees will gather to celebrate the core of creativity that drives the music business: the craft of songwriting. At this year’s event: Van Morrison will receive the organization’s Johnny Mercer Award, named for the “Moon River” tunesmith who co-founded the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1969 with music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. Lady Gaga will be honored with the inaugural Contemporary Icon Award. Nate Ruess of Fun will…

ON PAPER, JASON DERULO SHOULD HAVE been set for a big debut on the Billboard 200 with his latest release, Everything Is 4. And yet, the project lived up to its title, bowing at No. 4 with 37,000 in equivalent album units — of which 22,000 are pure album sales. That latter sum is half of what his last LP, 2014’s Talk Dirty, launched with: 44,000. Everything Is 4’s first single, “Want to Want Me,” is hot, rising 7-5 (a new peak) on the Billboard Hot 100 and standing as the second-biggest song on the airwaves, stepping 3-2 on Radio Songs (145.4 million in audience; up 4 percent in the week ending June 9). Further, Derulo is coming off a successful comeback with the Talk Dirty album campaign, which generated…

Two country legends arrive in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard’s new collaborative album, Django and Jimmie, debuts at No. 7 with 31,000 units earned in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music. While both acts have been charting for decades, this is first top 10 set for Haggard, and just the fourth for Nelson. The latter logged his first top 10 back in 1982 with the No. 2-peaking Always On My Mind, and more recently claimed his second and third top 10s with To All the Girls (No. 9 in 2013) and Band of Brothers (No. 5 in 2014). Over on Top Country Albums, the new set starts at No. 1, extending both artists’ illustrious legacies. With 30,000 sold in…

Drake (below) earns his first No. 1 as a lead artist on the Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks chart as “Know Yourself” re-enters atop the survey. The song’s resurgence follows its first live performance at a Toronto concert on June 2. The rendition triggered heavy response on Twitter and helped the track collect 3.2 million U.S. streams for the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music. Meanwhile, Drake’s Young Money/Cash Money labelmate Lil Wayne also nabs a top 10 debut with “Glory” (No. 9). The rapper released the track June 3 as an exclusive cut on Tidal and announced that it’s the first single from his forthcoming Free Weezy album. The surprise release and album hype translated into social gains for Wayne: His Twitter mentions jump to 25,500 for…

Dawes notches its first No. 1 on Folk Albums and highest rank on Top Rock Albums (No. 4) as All Your Favorite Bands starts with 13,000 sold, according to Nielsen Music. The Los Angeles band’s second selfreleased album also lands at No. 4 on Independent Albums. All Your Favorite Bands’s lead cut, “Things Happen,” rises 12-10 on Triple A, marking the group’s second top 10 on the airplay list following “From a Window Seat,” which peaked at No. 10 in 2013. Dawes vocalist Taylor Goldsmith (see Q&A, page 80) has participated in two supergroups. He was part of The New Basement Tapes, a collective assembled by T Bone Burnett to write music for unused Bob Dylan lyrics. The resultant album, Lost on the River, peaked at No. 23 on the…

As Marvin Sapp debuts at No. 1 on Top Gospel Albums, he scores the biggest sales week for a gospel set in seven months. His new You Shall Live debuts with 12,000 copies sold in the week ending June 7, according to Nielsen Music. That’s the largest frame for a gospel release since Trip Lee’s Rise moved 23,000 in its debut at No. 1 on the list dated Nov. 15, 2014. You Shall Live is Sapp’s fourth No. 1 on Top Gospel Albums following I Win (No. 1 for four weeks in 2012), Here I Am (No. 1 for 23 weeks in 2010) and Thirsty (No. 1 for 39 weeks in 2007 and 2008). Elsewhere on the gospel charts, Tamela Mann notches her third consecutive leader on Gospel Airplay as…

PRIOR TO 1999, JENNIFER LOPEZ HAD been recognized as an actor (Selena, Out of Sight, Anaconda) and a dancer (Fox’s In Living Color). Her official arrival on the music scene came with the Billboard Hot 100 dated May 15, 1999, when the then-29-year-old Bronx native’s debut single, “If You Had My Love,” landed at No. 81. The week before the slinky, Rodney Jerkins-produced track charted, Billboard noted the “hype storm” that Lopez’s Sonyowned label, Work, had created to promote her first single, and asked, “Does she have what it takes?” She did. “If You Had My Love” shot to No. 1 in its fifth week on the Hot 100 (June 12) and spent five weeks on top. Lopez has since scored nine more top 10 hits including three No. 1s.…