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Youssou N’Dour, Kaija Saariaho To Receive the 2013 Polar Music Prize
May 07, 2013 6:08 AM EDT Senegalese artist Youssou N’Dour and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho are the 2013 recipients of Sweden’s prestigious Polar Music Prize. The Prize was created and funded in 1989 by Stig Andersson, the late manager of ABBA (sometimes called ABBA&# ...
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Producing Magic: Master Session with Steve Lillywhite at ASCAP Expo
April 19, 2013 5:55 PM EDT 1 245 45 0 0 Steve Lillywhite has worked on over 500 albums, including the first three U2 records and benchmark follow-ups like The Joshua Tree and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb . In some bit of twisted fate, he says he owes much of it to Ian Curtis. “U ...
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Weekly Chart Notes: Taylor Swift 'Red' Hot on Hot 100
November 02, 2012 6:45 PM EDT The lady and 'Red': Swift matches Madonna and Dionne Warwick for another impressive piece of Hot 100 history. With her latest batch of new material, Taylor Swift ties the Material Girl, and Dionne Warwick, for the second-most appearances a ...
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Morning Fix: Big CMA Wins for Blake and Miranda; Alt J's Mercury Prize; Hurricane Sandy Relief
November 02, 2012 8:24 AM EDT Head HERE to subscribe to Billboard's Morning Fix and other free music-business newsletters BLAKE SHELTON, MIRANDA LAMBERT, LITTLE BIG TOWN WIN BIG AT CMA AWARDS: Once again, tonight's 46th Annual Country Music Association Awards proved ...
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Chart Moves: 'Halo 4' Sets Record as Highest-Charting Video Game Soundtrack Ever
November 01, 2012 12:11 PM EDT The Billboard 200: On the Billboard 200 chart this week, all the news seemed to revolve around Taylor Swift and her striking debut at No. 1 with "Red." The set sold 1.208 million copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, m ...
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Black Keys Top Hot Tours Chart, Followed by Jason Aldean, Eric Church
October 22, 2012 10:04 AM EDT The Black Keys rise to No. 1 on the weekly Hot Tours ranking with more than $2 million in box office grosses reported from three venues in California during its fall trek through western U.S. markets. Touring in support of the album "El Camin ...
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Single Reviews: Bruno Mars, Adele, Rihanna, Sky Ferreira & more
October 11, 2012 5:55 PM EDT BRUNO MARS Locked Out of Heaven (3:54) Producer: Mark Ronson Writers: B. Mars, the Smeezingtons Publishers: various Elektra/Warner With Gotye busy channeling Peter Gabriel, 2012 seemed overdue for a Police tribute. Leave it to Bruno Mars, then, fo ...
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The Beat 10/10: Ke$ha's Memoir, Lady Gaga's Vomit Video, CMA Awards
October 10, 2012 3:35 PM EDT Welcome to the Wednesday, Oct. 10 edition of "The Beat," Billboard.com's daily music news show, featuring host Jonathan Brooks running down the latest music news -- who's making headlines and who's topping the charts. In tod ...
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Spanish Singer Luz Casal Signs with SESAC Latina (Exclusive)
October 03, 2012 7:54 PM EDT Spanish singer Luz Casal, who will be given a lifetime achievement prize by the Latin Recording Academy in November, has signed with SESAC Latina, according to an official with the performance rights organization. SESAC Latina will represent Casal ...
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The Beat 9/17: 'The Voice' vs. 'X Factor,' Skrillex Joins 'Wreck-It Ralph' Soundtrack
September 17, 2012 6:05 PM EDT Welcome to the Monday, Sept. 17 edition of "The Beat," Billboard.com's daily music news show, featuring host Jonathan Brooks running down the latest music news -- who's making headlines and who's topping the charts. In today ...
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The Beat 9/17: 'The Voice' vs. 'X Factor,' Skrillex & Owl City Join 'Wreck-It Ralph' Soundtrack
September 17, 2012 5:47 PM EDT The Beat 9/17: 'The Voice' vs. 'X Factor,' Skrillex & Owl City Join 'Wreck-It Ralph' Soundtrack wreck-it ralph , jonathan brooks , Owl City , Billboard , Alt-J , The Voice , disney , skrillex , An Awesome Wave , Hen ...
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Peter Gabriel Launches 'So'-centric Tour, Plots Hiatus
September 14, 2012 2:30 PM EDT Peter Gabriel 's Back To Front Tour, which begins Sunday, may be the last we see of him for awhile. Gabriel tells Billboard that "there is new music" he's working on, but it will have to wait for a hiatus he's planning after ...
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Madonna Stands Up for Pussy Riot in Moscow: Video
August 08, 2012 9:35 AM EDT Madonna is the latest high-profile celebrity to throw her support behind three jailed members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot, calling the women "courageous" during a lengthy speech while performing in Moscow. A hearing for th ...
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Fun. Scores Historic No. 1 on Alternative Songs
July 31, 2012 8:05 AM EDT As 'Some Nights' reaches the chart's summit, fun. is just the third act to take its first two breakthrough chart entries to No. 1. Two format superstars had earned the honor back in the mid-'90s. Alternative can't have enoug ...
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Fun. Scores Historic No. 1 on Alternative Chart
July 30, 2012 6:52 PM EDT Alternative can't get enough fun. fun. -- Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff -- notches its second No. 1 in as many appearances on Billboard's Nielsen BDS-based Alternative radio airplay chart, as "Some Nights," the titl ...
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Lead & Fear: Can Monterrey Mexico's Music Scene Survive the Drug War
July 19, 2012 10:00 AM EDT A view of Monterrey with its emblematic mountain Cerro de la Silla (Saddle Hill) lies just 150 miles from the Texas border. By force of lead and fear, the city that served as a hotbed for some of Mexico's most important rock bands, has seen i ...
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U.K. Retailer Tesco Buys We7, Digital Music Service Co-Founded by Peter Gabriel
June 15, 2012 7:44 AM EDT U.K. supermarket giant Tesco has acquired London-based digital music service We7 for £10.8 million ($16.8 million), in which music legend Peter Gabriel owns a stake. The deal expands Tesco's digital entertainment offerings that already includ ...
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Exclusive: Whitney Houston To Be Honored in Next 'VH1 Divas' Tribute
May 08, 2012 5:15 PM EDT Whitney Houston (right) and Mary J. Blige performing at the "VH1 Divas" concert in 1999. VH1 will pay tribute to Whitney Houston for its next installment of "VH1 Divas," Billboard has learned. The network will tape the performa ...
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Peter Gabriel's CueSongs Scores Synchs With Three Major Corporations
April 27, 2012 2:33 PM EDT Screen shot of CueSongs' prcing page -- and they do bespoke! Three global brands are among the first users of CueSongs, the one-stop online music-licensing service co-founded by U.K. superstar Peter Gabriel in January and targeted at the burg ...
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Photos: Clive Davis, Alicia Keys, Diddy Pay Tribute to Whitney Houston at Pre-Grammy Gala
February 12, 2012 10:11 AM EST Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Clive Davis at the Clive Davis and the Recording Academy's 2012 Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Richard Branson at The Beverly Hilton Hotel . He said the late-Whtiney Houston "wo ...
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Oscars Not Performing 'Muppets,' 'Rio' Original Song Nominees?
February 07, 2012 3:05 PM EST When the Academy Award nominations were announced last month, the Best Original Song category only included two candidates: "Real In Rio" from "Rio," and "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets." Now, it's poss ...
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Trent Reznor, Amanda Palmer, OK Go Among Artists Cosigning Anti-SOPA/PIPA Open Letter
January 18, 2012 4:05 PM EST Entertainment industry players including Trent Reznor, Amanda Palmer, and OK Go have written and published an open letter to Washington expressing their concerns about SOPA/PIPA, the pending Congressional bills that would give the government and c ...
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Santigold Returns With Frantic 'Big Mouth' Video
January 18, 2012 2:35 PM EST After laying low in 2011, bombastic pop diva Santigold (formerly Santogold) is back with a new video for "Big Mouth," a track off her upcoming sophomore effort, "Master Of My Make Believe." As one may expect, the half animated/ha ...
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Kina Grannis' Jellybean World: Watch 2011's Best Stop-Motion Music Video
November 03, 2011 6:10 PM EDT Singer-songwriter Kina Grannis channels a touch of Peter Gabriel's beloved "Sledgehammer" video , except instead of moving vegetables, Grannis explores a stunning jellybean world. Stop-motion animation and more than a quarter million ...
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Q&A: Peter Gabriel Talks Covers and Future Writing Plans
October 17, 2011 7:30 PM EDT During the past year-and-a-half, Peter Gabriel has taken something of a sledgehammer to a batch of music -- both his own and others'. Working with arranger John Metcalfe, Gabriel first reinterpreted songs by David Bowie , Paul Simon , Arcade Fi ...
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Rihanna's New 'Love': U.K. Singles Chart
October 17, 2011 9:50 AM EDT Late 1990s/early 2000s British hit-making pop quintet Steps burst back on the U.K. album chart at No. 1 Sunday (16) with the new Sony Music compilation "The Ultimate Collection." Rihanna 's "We Found Love" (Def Jam/Universal ...
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The 10 Best '80s Music Videos: Poll Results
August 01, 2011 4:00 PM EDT Three weeks ago, in anticipation of MTV's 30th birthday today (Aug. 1), we asked our readers to celebrate three decades of music television by voting on the best videos of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, each week in a separate poll. Now, we are pr ...
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Joe D'Ambrosio Management Opens Paris Office
June 24, 2011 6:00 PM EDT Manager Joe D'Ambrosio, whose stable of producers, mixers, engineers and composers include Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T-Rex), Hugh Padgham (Sting, Peter Gabriel, XTC), Elliot Scheiner (Eric Clapton, Band of Horses) and Mike Pela (Sade, Maxwe ...
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Santigold Promises 'Dynamic, Powerful' Second Album This Fall
June 22, 2011 2:00 AM EDT Pop singer/songwriter Santigold tells Billboard.com that she is working out the "last-minute details" of her anticipated sophomore album and will release the full-length this fall on Downtown/Atlantic Records. Recorded in Los Angeles, Jama ...
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Beyonce Experimented 'With Everything' On '4,' Says Engineer
June 17, 2011 1:20 PM EDT The go-to recording engineer for Beyoncé is Toronto native Jordan "DJ Swivel" Young. He's sitting in a spacious studio at New York's new $3.5 million Jungle City Studios, talking about his unlikely road to working on one of the m ...
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Sam Cooke Biopic Moving Forward, Screenplay Complete
March 14, 2011 9:10 PM EDT Start singing "Ain't That Good News": A Sam Cooke biopic has taken a significant step toward becoming a reality. Start singing "Ain't That Good News": A Sam Cooke biopic has taken a significant step toward becoming a re ...
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Exclusive: Sam Cooke Biopic Moving Forward -- Screenwriters Complete Script
March 14, 2011 7:19 PM EDT Start singing "Ain't That Good News": A Sam Cooke biopic has taken a significant step toward becoming a reality. The screenwriters behind the all-Beatles musical "Across the Universe" have finished their adaptation of Pete ...
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Jay-Z & Kanye West: 2011 Album Preview
January 21, 2011 3:55 PM EST Jay-Z & Kanye West "Watch The Throne" Date TBD To finish their 10-song collaborative album, Jay and West decamped to Peter Gabriel's studio in Bath, England. Sources are keeping mum on whether the recording will involve a "Sl ...
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Ask Billboard: Readers' 2010 Top Picks, Continued
January 07, 2011 5:15 PM EST Ask Billboard is updated every Friday. As always, submit your questions about Billboard charts, sales and airplay, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com . Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and co ...
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Peter Gabriel Catalog Available At Retail
October 05, 2010 12:00 AM EDT The full Peter Gabriel album catalog is now available once again at retail, via EMI Label Services. Many of the artist's studio albums had been unavailable on CD for the last few years, although those albums appear to have been available digi ...
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Ask Billboard: Eminem's Multi-Chart Domination
August 27, 2010 5:30 PM EDT Ask Billboard is updated every Friday. As always, submit your questions about Billboard charts, sales and airplay, as well as general music musings, to askbb@billboard.com . Please include your first and last name, as well as your city, state and co ...
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Billboard Bits: Rihanna's New Tattoo is a Typo
August 12, 2010 6:45 PM EDT Billboard Bits serves up the best bite-sized nuggets of music news and gossip. Rihanna Receives Typo'd Tattoo Rihanna 's latest tattoo contains an unfortunate grammatical error, according to PopEater. The singer's latest ink is placed ...
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Making 'Korn III' Album Was 'Sheer Torture,' Says Jonathan Davis
July 13, 2010 3:19 PM EDT He loves the end product, but making the just-released "Korn III -- Remember Who You Are" was "sheer fucking torture and hell" for Korn frontman Jonathan Davis. Give the credit, or blame, to producer Ross Robinson, Davis tells Bi ...
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Chart Beat Thursday: Eminem, Jason Derulo, Cyndi Lauper
July 01, 2010 5:35 PM EDT SIX-SHOOTER: As previously reported , Eminem roars onto the Billboard 200 at No. 1 with "Recovery." The set becomes the rap superstar's sixth consecutive leader on the list. He first appeared with the No. 2-peaking "The Slim Shad ...
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Herbie Hancock Enlists All-Star Cast For 'Imagine Project'
May 28, 2010 2:16 PM EDT Herbie Hancock says his forthcoming album "The Imagine Project" -- due out June 22 -- was "the hardest record I've ever made." And not just because of the music. In fact, the legendary keyboardist tells Billboard.com that ac ...
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Billboard Bits: Courtney Love, Dio, R. Kelly, Lindsay Lohan and more
May 20, 2010 10:42 PM EDT Billboard Bits serves up the best bite-sized nuggets of music news and gossip each day. Courtney Love continues to make headlines with sordid tales from her past , this time in an interview with the Irish magazine Hot Press. Love told the magazine t ...
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Morricone, Bjork Share Sweden's Polar Music Prize
May 17, 2010 7:58 AM EDT Italian composer Ennio Morricone and Icelandic singer Bjork have won the 2010 Polar Music Prize. They will be invited to accept the award, which includes 1 million kronor ($130,000) each in prize money, at a ceremony in Stockholm later this year. Th ...
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Chart Beat Thursday: Usher, will.i.am, B.o.B
May 06, 2010 5:30 PM EDT 'OMG,' FYI: Usher adds to his already impressive Billboard Hot 100 history, as "OMG," featuring will.i.am , flies 6-1. With the coronation, Usher ties for ninth-place among artists with the most leaders in the chart's almost ...
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Hot Tours: Bon Jovi, The X Factor, Peter Gabriel, Carrie Underwood
May 06, 2010 12:28 PM EDT Veteran rock band Bon Jovi tops the Hot Tours chart for the third time this year with box office totals reported from six dates of The Circle Tour. Adding the $9.7 million in ticket sales from these six performances, the tour's overall gross pa ...
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POTW: Justin Bieber, Monica, Miley Cyrus, Usher
March 26, 2010 3:22 PM EDT Photos of the Week Monica Split Usher Miley Cyrus Chris Brown Mary J. Blige 50 Cent Muhammad Ali Akon Janet Jackson Iyaz Patti Smith Romeo Peter Gabriel Teena Marie Kelly Cher Madonna Jill Scott David Bisbal Cypress Hill Maya Boy George The Cranberr ...
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ABBA, Hollies, Genesis, Iggy Pop Enter Rock Hall
March 16, 2010 12:00 AM EDT An English band steeped in harmony, a reggae pioneer, progressive rockers who thrived despite a defection, four Swedes who combined their nation's traditions with their rock heroes and a man who prowled a ballroom floor singing "I Wanna ...
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Stooges, Genesis, ABBA Enter Rock Hall of Fame in NYC Ceremony
March 15, 2010 11:00 PM EDT An English band steeped in harmony, a reggae pioneer, progressive rockers who thrived despite a defection, four Swedes who combined their nation's traditions with their rock heroes and a man who prowled a ballroom floor singing "I Wanna Be ...
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Chart Beat Thursday: Taio Cruz, Ludacris, Peter Gabriel
March 11, 2010 2:35 PM EST RECORD 'BREAK'-ER: As previously reported , Taio Cruz skyrockets 53-1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his maiden chart entry, "Break Your Heart," featuring Ludacris . The song's ascent to the apex marks the biggest jump to No. ...
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Billboard Bits: Pavement, Regina Spektor, T.I., Gorillaz and More
March 02, 2010 6:01 PM EST Billboard Bits serves up the best bite-sized nuggets of music news and gossip every afternoon. Lo-fi rockers Pavement played their first show in ten years on their reunion tour last night (March 1) in Auckland, New Zealand, featuring songs from all ...
