Wire Entertainment - Music News

A Russian court has denied parole to a member of the Pussy Riot punk group.

Georges Moustaki, an Egyptian-born composer, singer and poet who wrote songs for Edith Piaf and other French stars, has died at age 79.

CHICAGO - It was called the "seventh engineering wonder of the world," a herculean effort to reverse the flow of the Chicago River.

A lawyer for the parent company of AEG Live LLC called Michael Jackson a freak on the day the singer signed a multimillion contract for a series of ill-fated comeback concerts, emails displayed for a jury on Wednesday showed.

A former Playboy bunny who claims Sammy Hagar fathered her now-deceased child is appealing a ruling that dismissed her lawsuit against the former Van Halen frontman.

President Barack Obama, saluting Carole King's five decades as an award-winning singer-songwriter, said Wednesday that music often is a place where people seek comfort and inspiration during trying times.

Candice Glover spent more time on season 12 of "American Idol" than she will on creating her debut album.

Shakespeare, the Magna Carta - and now some of John Lennon's finest lyrics.

LOS ANGELES - The music that keyboardist Ray Manzarek made as part of the Doors helped define the 1960s, and also was a crucial part of the Southern California music scene in the latter half of that decade. Two generations of L.A. music met in the late 1970s when Manzarek connected with punk band X to produce the group's first four studio albums. The band's songwriters and lead singers, Exene Cervenka and bassist John Doe, reflect on the music of the Doors and their relationship with Manzarek, who died Monday at 74 of cancer.

There was a time when most of the songs played on the radio came from Broadway. Now some popular hit makers like Cyndi Lauper and Sting are finding it still feels like home.

Germany on Wednesday celebrated the 200th birthday of Richard Wagner, the 19th-century composer whose music has been hailed as sublime art at the height of Western culture even as he remains tainted by his visceral anti-Semitic views, which later found favor with the Nazis.

Two emotionless prison guards watch Ai Weiwei as he eats, sleeps, paces, showers - and even sits on the toilet - in the Chinese artist's new obscenity-filled, metaphor-rich music video mocking state power.

Aretha Franklin is taking off the month of June.

AEG Live LLC did not conduct any background checks or supervise the doctor who was later convicted of killing Michael Jackson, a corporate attorney testified Tuesday in a lawsuit claiming the concert promoter was negligent in hiring the physician.

Police in suburban Atlanta say rapper Chief Keef, whose name is Keith Cozart, has been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

Carole King isn't done with music - not yet anyway.

Burt Bacharach knew writing a memoir would be emotional - not because of his never-heard backstage tales or his tumultuous marriages. He knew that being honest would force him to come to terms with the death of his daughter.

Tornadoes are a part of life in Moore, Okla., something country star Toby Keith was reminded of when a deadly, devastating one leveled parts of his hometown on Monday.

DETROIT - Eminem's song publisher is suing Facebook and its ad agency, claiming they infringed the rapper's copyright.

LOS ANGELES - Ezra Koenig wanted to be clear about this: The frontman of Vampire Weekend was not comparing his band to the Beatles.

DAFT PUNK "Random Access Memories" (Columbia) 3 1/2 stars

Mack Emerman, the founder of Criteria Recording Studios where acts including Eric Clapton, James Brown and the Bee Gees made some of their most famous records, has died after a long illness. He was 89.

Laura Mvula, "Sing to the Moon" (Columbia Records)

French Montana, "Excuse My French" (Bad Boy/Maybach Music/Interscope Records)

Eminem's song publisher is suing Facebook and an ad agency, saying they copied music from one of the rapper's songs.

Willy Moon, "Here's Willy Moon" (Cherry Tree/Island)

Russia's point man on Syria and on its relations with the U.S. on Tuesday turned his attention toward a subject close to Russian hearts - alleged vote theft at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Justin Bieber's pet monkey is no longer his.

Country music performer Toby Keith says he grew up in the area near Oklahoma City that was hit by a devastating tornado.

Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the 1960s rock group The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complemented Jim Morrison's gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock's most enduring songs, has died. He was 74.

LOS ANGELES - Justin Bieber was booed big time at Sunday night's Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas.

A corporate lawyer for concert giant AEG Live LLC on Tuesday revised his testimony and said the tour director of Michael Jackson's ill-fated "This Is It" concerts had a signed contract.

Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa, "Seesaw" (J&R Adventures)

DAFT PUNK "Random Access Memories" (Columbia, 2 1/2 stars)

It's tempting to say Daft Punk has gone Hollywood.

A leading Israeli university says it will present singer Barbra Streisand with an honorary Ph.D. when she visits Israel next month.

Daft Punk, "Random Access Memories" (Columbia)

The National, "Trouble Will Find Me" (4AD)

Darius Rucker, "True Believers" (Capitol Nashville)

If either her husband or daughter is calling, Audra McDonald knows without looking at her phone.

Fans know her as the sweet schoolgirl in the 2011 blockbuster "You Are the Apple of My Eye." Now, they can take a closer look at Michelle Chen through her first love: music.

Officials say the leader of the reggae band Toots and the Maytals was injured when a 19-year-old man threw a bottle and hit the singer during a concert in Richmond.

Another day, another domination for Taylor Swift: She was the red hot winner at the Billboard Music Awards.

Paul McCartney is kicking off the North American leg of his "Out There" tour in Orlando.

A look at key moments this past week in the wrongful death trial in Los Angeles between Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, and concert giant AEG Live LLC, and what is expected at court in the week ahead:

CHICAGO - Let's raise a glass to Bob Koester, the single-minded Chicagoan who this weekend celebrates a remarkable anniversary: 60 years of producing jazz and blues recordings.

The lawyer for a California heavy metal singer accused of trying to hire someone to kill his estranged wife says the singer's mind has been ravaged by steroid use.

LOS ANGELES - Beyonce is pregnant with her second child - another baby with husband Jay-Z, more sources said Friday.

The Weinstein Company's fall slate of awards contenders will feature a glamorous Grace Kelly, a brawny Nelson Mandela and a mysterious J.D. Salinger.