Oklahoma country singer plans benefit for tornado victims
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oklahoma country singer Blake Shelton is planning a televised benefit to raise money for victims of the massive tornado that swept through Moore, Oklahoma, this week, music magazine Billboard reported Wednesday. "The Voice" judge Shelton, a native of Ada, Oklahoma, which is 75 miles northwest of Moore, said he would have more information on the NBC concert in the next 24 hours. "I'm hoping it will raise a lot of money. Obviously it will be televised and will happen really quickly," Shelton told Billboard after the conclusion of Tuesday's "The Voice. ...
Indie rockers Vampire Weekend top Billboard album chart
By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Indie rock band Vampire Weekend on Wednesday grabbed the top spot on the weekly Billboard 200 album chart, besting new albums from country legend George Strait and pop singer Demi Lovato. "Modern Vampires of the City" sold 134,000 copies in its first week, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan, and became the second album to debut at the top of the weekly Billboard 200 for the New York-based rockers. It was also the first independently distributed album to debut at No. ...
Carole King hits D.C. for Gershwin salute
By Ira Teinowitz LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Washington is truly feeling the earth move this week as singer-songwriter Carole King is honored with the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for popular song and then saluted in two concerts, one in the White House. King is becoming the first female songwriter to win the prize, which was won by Stevie Wonder in 2009, Paul McCartney in 2010, and the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 2012. ...
Singer Aretha Franklin postpones three more concerts
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Soul music legend Aretha Franklin postponed three June concerts, the singer's spokesman said on Wednesday, a week after health issues caused her to cancel two shows in May. Spokesman David Brokaw said the "Queen of Soul" did not give a reason for postponing concerts in Clarkston, Michigan, as well as Ottawa and Montreal, Canada, which were scheduled for late June. "She's going to resume her schedule in July," Brokaw said. Franklin, 71, canceled concerts in Chicago and Connecticut last week to undergo undisclosed medical treatment between May 20-26, organizers said. ...
A Minute With: Pitbull on music, Jennifer Lopez and 'Epic'
By Zorianna Kit LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Pitbull has taken his blend of American pop music fused with Latin beats from the clubs of Miami to international pop charts, but he now is crossing into film with his first acting role as an animated character in the upcoming movie, "Epic." Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Perez, has become a staple in the pop music field with lively dance-floor tracks including recent chart hits "Feel This Moment" with Christina Aguilera and "Live it Up" with Jennifer Lopez. ...
Hungary Wagner festival will not "Ring" in composer's birthday
By Michael Roddy BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Opera companies throughout the world are staging Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle this year to fete his 200th birthday on May 22, but Hungarian conductor Adam Fischer is having no part of it during his "Wagner Days" festival in June. Fischer, who launched his festival in 2006 in the Bela Bartok concert hall at the Palace of Arts in Budapest, will have a new "Meistersinger von Nurnberg", rounding out productions of pretty much all the major operas in the Wagner canon. ...
