Most musicians have a moment when a song, a piece of music or the sound of an instrument hits them like a lightning bolt. It can lead to a career, or at least a lifetime passion for the profession
Steve Vai: Passion and payoff
Tag Archives: music
Amy Winehouse ‘wasn’t meant to be 30’
Amy Winehouse’s mother never expected her to live into her thirties. The Grammy-winning singer was 27 when she passed away on July 23, 2011 at her home in Camden, London.
Pharrell Williams sues will.i.am over song
Music producer Pharrell Williams has filed a lawsuit asking a US court to rule he has not violated any trademark that Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am owns for the phrase I AM. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, said that will.i.am, whose real name is William Adams, has repeatedly sent letters to Williams demanding he stop using versions of the phrase I AM on a website founded by Williams, iamother.com.
Album review: Fat Freddy’s Blackbird
I’ve been waiting for the new album by Wellington’s Fat Freddy’s Drop for a long time. The new album, Blackbird, which was released in June, is their third studio album and the first studio album since 2009.
Woman gives birth at Glastonbury music festival
The Glastonbury music festival has been the site of many a wild time but none so wild, we believe, as the birth of a child. Heidi Wesson was not expected to give birth until two weeks after the Glastonbury Festival, but it appears that her baby girl had other ideas
Glastonbury hosts heaven, hell and haircuts
Tomato fights, anarchic gymnasts and astrophysics drew festival-goers of all ages away from the mainstream music acts at Britain’s Glastonbury festival this weekend. The 1,500 hippies who paid one pound (NZ$1.95) to attend the first Glastonbury festival in 1970 would barely recognise the massive three-day event, where around 150,000 fans were watching 2000 acts on 58 stages, alongside thousands of workshops and stalls
Beatles, Beastie Boys in the mix
It’s not the most original conceit: blending rappers with the Beatles to create a new work. It’s how Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton first made his name in 2004 with his Grey Album,’which mixed a cappella recordings of Jay-Z rapping from his Black Album with reworked songs from the Beatles’ self-titled record known as the White Album
Beeb host recalls days of mud and magic
BBC presenter Jo Whiley will be the face of UKTV’s six-hour simulcast highlights package of the famed Glastonbury Music Festival next Monday morning. She talks to James Croot about what viewers can expect, and her own colourful history with the event.
Stars in the making
Culture vulture and freelance journalist Peter McLennan has written extensively about New Zealand music for Real Groove, Rip It Up, Pavement, NZ Musician and North and South. He recently published his first book I Believe You Are A Star – a collection of articles he wrote between 1992-2003 on some of New Zealand’s most influential music makers including Che Fu, Bailterspace, SJD, Sola Rosa, Hinewaji Mohi, Dawn raid and Mark de Clive-Lowe.
Rihanna the new Madonna? In her own way
OPINION: In the music industry, there have long been comparisons to Madonna thrown around – a pop single here, a fashion look there – but to encompass the scope and success, and global fame of Madonna That’s another league entirely. Figures came out this week that Rihanna is now the most watched artist on YouTube, with her official channel RihannaVEVO reaching more than 3.47 billion views, nudging aside Justin Bieber who was considered the king of social media.