State Champ Radio Awards
Page: 173
The unlikely second act of Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s 2001 dance pop jam “Murder on the Dancefloor” will get one more spin in the spotlight when the singer performs the song at the upcoming BAFTA Film Awards 2024. The English singer/songwriter’s tune got an unexpected boost when it was featured in the BAFTA-nominated hit Saltburn.
The 23-year-old song co-written by Ellis-Bextor and New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander for the singer’s debut album, Read My Lips, matched its U.K. chart heights earlier this month when it hit No. 2 on the British pop charts while also debuting at No. 98 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Jan. 13.
“I am so excited. I will be performing at the EE BAFTAs 2024,” the singer said in an Instagram video announcement. The BAFTA Awards will air on Feb. 18 on BBC One and iPlayer and BritBox in North America. “I’m already practicing some looks and I cannot wait,” she added.
The nudisco jam “became one of the most talked about moments in cinema this year and a viral sensation, taking the song back into the music charts 22 years after the first release of the song,” BAFTA said in a statement according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Old and new fans are streaming the track which is being used as a trending audio for millions of videos on Instagram and TikTok and [it] continues to mark new achievements on Spotify, YouTube and TikTok globally alongside newfound success in America, where it entered the Billboard Top 100 for the first time and continues to climb.”
The divisive murder sex drama starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant was nominated for five BAFTA Awards, including best actor in leading role for Keoghan, best supporting actor for Elordi, best actress for Pike, best original score for Anthony Willis and outstanding British film.
Speaking to Billboard earlier this month about the unexpected revival of the tune, Ellis-Bextor said, “That song took me places I’d never been before, and it was always quite a special one for me. [It] took me to Latin America and Southeast Asia and all around Europe — it was already a song I associated with adventure and new things and a friendly, glorious chapter of my life.”
But the song crashing the Billboard charts, she said, was “glorious, it’s magical, really. But it’s very hard to process, if I’m honest.”
Watch Ellis-Bextor announce the good news below.
Alan Menken is an EGOT winner, so he has enough awards to fill his shelves, and then some. But an award he’s receiving on Feb. 26 figures to be especially meaningful to him – the Howard Ashman Award, named after his longtime collaborator who died of AIDS in 1991.
The award will be presented at GMHC’s ninth annual Cabaret & Howard Ashman Award fundraising event, hosted by Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater in New York City. (GMHC was founded in 1982 as Gay Men’s Health Crisis, though the organization used the acronym in a press release about his event.)
Menken and Ashman received their first Oscar nominations for best original song in 1987 for co-writing “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space” for Little Shop of Horrors. Less than a year later, in January 1988, Ashman was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
He kept working until his death in March 1991. Menken and Ashman won the Oscar for best original song in March 1990 for “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid another in March 1992 for the exquisite title song from Beauty and the Beast. Ashman received seven Oscar nominations in all – four of them posthumously. That’s more posthumous nominations than anyone else in Oscar history.
Since Ashman’s death, Menken has two additional Oscars for best original song – for “A Whole New World” from Aladdin (which he co-wrote with Tim Rice) and “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas (which he co-wrote with Stephen Schwartz).
Schwartz will be at the Feb. 26 event to celebrate Menken, along with Claybourne Elder, Adam Jacobs and Arielle Jacobs. Kyle Branzel will be the music director.
Proceeds from the cabaret will directly support GMHC’s lifesaving programs for thousands of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
Prior Ashman awardees are Lea DeLaria, André De Shields, the late Terrence McNally, Javier Muñoz, Kathy Najimy, Andrew Rannells, Michael Urie, and Tom Viola.
Ashman didn’t live to see the completion of Beauty and the Beast, which was released in November 1991. The film was dedicated to Ashman’s memory, and featured this message after the end credits: “To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice, and a beast his soul. We will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman 1950-1991.”
For information on tickets, go here.
Dolly Parton, Bono, “Weird Al” Yankovic and other music personalities are among the finalists for the 2024 Audie Awards, which recognize distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. The nominations, which are presented by the Audio Publishers Association (APA), go to the narrators rather than the authors (unless they are one and the same). Winners across 27 competitive categories will be revealed on March 4 in Los Angeles.
Parton is nominated in the autobiography/memoir category for Behind the Seams, which she wrote and narrated with Holly George-Warren and Rebecca Seaver. Her competition includes actor Patrick Stewart for Making It So.
Bono is nominated for the top award, audiobook for the year, for Surrender, which he both wrote and narrated. His competition includes Meryl Streep, the narrator of Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake.
Yankovic is nominated in the multi-voiced performance category for Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!. Yankovic narrated the saga of the 1980 comedy classic with a full cast including Barry Diller, Beau Bridges, Bill Hader, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jimmy Kimmel.
Because nominations go to the narrators, the nominee for best non-fiction narrator for Britney Spears’ best-seller The Woman in Me is its narrator, Michelle Williams rather than the pop superstar.
Nominees in the narration by the author(s) category include former first lady Michelle Obama for The Light We Carry and, again, Patrick Stewart for Making It So.
Obama is also nominated in the business/personal development category for The Light We Carry, where she faces Tony and Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph, nominated for Diva 2.0: 12 Life Lessons from Me for You.
Six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald is nominated in the literary fiction & classics category for Homer’s The Iliad. Among the other nominees in the category: two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks for his own book The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, with a full cast including Rita Wilson, Natalie Morales, Ego Nwodim and Holland Taylor.
Tony and Grammy winner Leslie Odom Jr. is nominated in the young listeners category for I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know, which he narrated with his wife, Nicolette Robinson.
In the humor category, the nominees include Leslie F*cking Jones, written and narrated by Leslie Jones, with a foreward by Chris Rock.
All 27 categories are gender-neutral this year. The best male narrator and best female narrator categories have been transformed to best fiction narrator and best non-fiction narrator.
The full list of nominations can be found on the APA’s website: audiopub.org.
Lenny Kravitz has been announced as the first of three 2024 Recording Academy Global Impact Award honorees. The award will be presented at the third annual Recording Academy Honors presented by the Black Music Collective on Thursday (Feb. 1) at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
This is a CEO Merit Award that recognizes Black music creators “whose dedication to the art form has greatly influenced the industry and whose legacy of service inspires countless individuals worldwide, celebrating those who, through leadership and passion, empower others to embrace their authentic selves and contribute to positive change.” Harvey Mason Jr. has been the Academy’s CEO since May 2021, after serving as interim CEO for about a year.
Kravitz won Grammy Awards in four consecutive years (1999-2002) for best male rock vocal performance for “Fly Away,” “American Woman,” “Again” and “Dig In.”
The 2023 Recording Academy Global Impact Award Honorees were Grammy-winning artists Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne and leading music executive Sylvia Rhone.
Adam Blackstone will return for the third consecutive year as music supervisor for the Black Music Collective event. MVD Inc will also return for the third consecutive year to produce the event. Music executive and photographer Lenny S will curate the Icons Gallery, an art activation paying tribute to generations of influential Black music icons.
The third annual Recording Academy Honors, sponsored by Amazon Music and City National Bank, will take place three days before the 66th annual Grammy Awards, set for Feb. 4 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
As previously announced, Kravitz will receive the Music Icon Award at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards on Feb. 18, and will take the stage for a multi-song performance.
Kravitz had both success and disappointment on the awards trail with “Road to Freedom,” which he wrote, performed and produced for the Netflix film Rustin. The soul-stirring anthem brought him a Golden Globe nomination for best original song – motion picture and a Critics Choice Awards nod for best song, but it was passed over on Tuesday Jan. 23 for an Oscar nod for best original song.
Kravitz was selected as a 2023 Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee and will release a new album, Blue Electric Light, on May 24.
Vote.org and Taylor Swift on National Voter Registration Day, Elton John AIDS Foundation: Let Your Inner Elton Out and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Presents: In the Footsteps of the Freedomsurrection: A Walking Tour of January 6th are among the honorees in the human & civil rights category in the third annual Anthem Awards, which were announced on Tuesday (Jan. 30).
The Anthem Awards were launched in 2021 to highlight social impact work across the globe. They were founded by The Webby Awards in partnership with the Ad Council, Born This Way Foundation, Feeding America, GLAAD, Mozilla, NAACP, NRDC, WWF, and XQ.
“The Anthem Awards were born out of the desire to amplify and celebrate the voices that are creating sustainable change and to inspire others to take action,” Patricia McLoughlin, Anthem Awards’ general manager, said in a statement. “In a year where so much is at stake, it is incredibly important to recognize impact work and celebrate the progress happening globally.”
Amazon Music: Collaboration with Lil Durk, Musicians on Call: Making Prom Memories with Pediatric Patients and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: Thank an Arts Teacher are among the honorees in the education, art & culture category.
The Hip Hop Museum: FlowScholar: The Universal Hip Hop Museum (THHM) and SixDegrees.org: Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon are among the honorees in the humanitarian action & services category.
WORD Creative and Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty are nominated in the diversity, equity and inclusion category, where other winners include The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.
MTV Entertainment Studios & Paramount Media Networks: Behind the Scenes of RuPaul’s Drag Race LGBTQ Herstory Month is among the honorees in the health category.
The Anthem Awards are also honoring seven individuals with special achievement awards – actors Matt Damon, Kevin Bacon, Selma Blair and Jesse Tyler Ferguson; ballet star Misty Copeland; business leaders Jesper Brodin (IKEA and Ingka) and creative director/fashion designer Aurora James; and community activist Leon Ford.
This year’s Anthem winners were selected from a pool of more than 2,000 submissions from 44 countries by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Anthem judges are leaders with expertise that spans the Anthem cause areas including diversity, equity, & inclusion; education, art, & culture; health; human & civil rights; humanitarian action & services; responsible technology; and sustainability, environment, & climate.
A portion of program revenue is directed to The Anthem Fund, a grant program supporting emerging organizations working to advance the causes recognized by the Anthem Awards.
For the full list of winners and to watch winner acceptance speeches visit: http://anthemawards.com/winners.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin will receive the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song on March 20 at Washington, D.C.’s Daughters of the American Revolution’s Constitution Hall. The invitation-only, all-star concert will premiere on PBS stations April 8.
The renowned songwriting duo is only the third pair to receive the prestigious award, following Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 2012, and Gloria and Emilio Estefan in 2019. Established in 2007, the Gershwin Prize honors artists whose creative works are collected and made accessible by the Library and acknowledges popular song’s vital role in society. The prize is named for another legendary songwriting team, George and Ira Gershwin, whose papers are held by the Library. (Elton performed two of the Gershwins’ most prized songs, “Our Love Is Here to Stay” and “Someone to Watch Over Me,” on the all-star 1994 album The Glory of Gershwin.)
Other past recipients include Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Lionel Richie and Garth Brooks.
“Elton John and Bernie Taupin have written some of the most memorable songs of our lives. Their careers stand out for the quality and broad appeal of their music and their influence on their fellow artists,” said Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, in a statement. “More than 50 years ago, they came from across the pond to win over Americans and audiences worldwide with their beautiful songs and rock anthems. We’re proud to honor Elton and Bernie with the Gershwin Prize for their incredible impact on generations of music lovers.”
The pair have penned such pop and rock classics as “Your Song,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Bennie & the Jets,” “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’,” “Tiny Dancer” and “Crocodile Rock,” which became their first of eight No. 1s as a songwriting team on the Billboard Hot 100.
“I’ve been writing songs with Bernie for 56 years, and we never thought that that one day this might be bestowed upon us,” John said in a statement. “It’s an incredible honor for two British guys to be recognized like this. I’m so honored.”
Taupin added, “To be in a house along with the great American songwriters, to even be in the same avenue, is humbling, and I am absolutely thrilled to accept.”
In making the selection, the Librarian of Congress consulted leading members of the music and entertainment communities, as well as curators from the Library’s music division, American Folklife Center and National Audio-Visual Conservation Center.
John is Billboard’s top solo male artist of all time with 59 songs in the Hot 100’s top 40. When his duet with Dua Lipa of “Cold Heart” cracked the top 40 in 2021, it marked his first top 40 hit in 22 years. The song peaked at No. 7, only to be surpassed by “Hold Me Closer,” his collaboration with Britney Spears, which reached No. 6 in 2022. He also holds the record for the biggest selling physical single of all time with Taupin’s rewritten lyrics for “Candle in the Wind 1997,” which sold more than 33 million copies.
On Jan. 15, John won an Emmy for his Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium special, making him only the 19th performer to reach EGOT status for winning an Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy.
Taupin and John were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, with Taupin following in 2023.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is a co-production of WETA Washington, D.C., Ken Ehrlich Productions and the Library of Congress. Performers will be announced closer to the event.
SZA, who is the nominations leader for the 2024 Grammy Awards, is set to perform on the telecast, CBS announced on Monday (Jan. 29). This will be SZA’s second performance on the Grammy telecast. She first performed six years ago, when she was a best new artist nominee. She sang “Broken Clocks,” a song from her debut studio album, Ctrl.
The 66th annual Grammy Awards are set for Sunday, Feb. 4, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The nominations leader generally performs on the telecast, but not always. Beyoncé, who led the nominations last year, opted not to perform. She also declined to perform three years ago, when she led the nominations. Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar also did not perform when they were the nominations leaders in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Most famously, Michael Jackson did not perform in 1984 when he became the first artist to sweep eight awards in one night.
SZA received nine nods, including each of the Big Three awards – album, record and song of the year. Her album SOS is seen as being in a tight race with Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Boygenius’ The Record for album of the year. Neither Swift nor Boygenius has yet been confirmed to perform on the show.
SZA is the 10th performer to be announced for this year’s telecast. These performers range in age from three in their 20s (Olivia Rodrigo, 20; Billie Eilish, 22; and Dua Lipa, 28) to three who are 60-plus – the four members of U2, who are in their early 60s; Billy Joel, 74; and Mitchell, 80). Also booked for the show are four performers in their 30s: Burna Boy and Travis Scott, both 32; Luke Combs, 33; and SZA, 34.
U2 will perform from Sphere in Las Vegas, home of the band’s acclaimed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere show.
Additional performers for the Grammy telecast will be announced. The big question is whether Swift, who was last year’s hottest music star by a wide margin, will perform.
The other album of the year nominees, not already named, are Janelle Monáe’s The Age of Pleasure, Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation, Rodrigo’s Guts and Jon Batiste’s World Music Radio.
Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. He, too, is a Grammy nominee. He is up for best comedy album for I Wish You Would. He’s the first Grammy host to be nominated for a Grammy that same year since Queen Latifah in 2005. Noah won a Primetime Emmy on Jan. 15 for outstanding talk series for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.
The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 4, from 8 to 11:30 p.m. live ET/5 to 8:30 p.m. live PT on CBS, and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.
Doja Cat sent the records tumbling as her modern classic “Paint The Town Red” leapt to No. 1 on triple j’s Hottest 100 poll for 2023.
When her name was called out late Saturday, Jan. 27, the U.S. artist became the first female rapper and first woman of color to lead the countdown, the 31st edition.
“Paint The Town Red” beat out homegrown multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter G Flip with “The Worst Person Alive” and Aussie EDM star Dom Dolla with “Saving Up,” respectively, to take the title.
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“When we first heard ‘Paint The Town Red’ back in August, there was little doubt that we’d see it appear at the pointy end of this year’s countdown,” explains triple j music director Nick Findlay.
“Over an iconic sample of Dionne Warwick’s ‘Walk On By’, ‘Paint The Town Red’ shows Doja Cat in her truest form: effortlessly shaking off the haters while flexing her uncanny ability at executing pure pop perfection.”
During its ARIA Chart run last year, “Paint The Town Red” clocked up 10 weeks at No. 1, and is now certified double-platinum in these parts.
The Hottest 100 poll is an institution Down Under, one that triple j, a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), has, in the past, called the “world’s biggest musical democracy.”
Though it no longer coincides with Australia Day, on Jan. 26 — a controversial date in the minds of a growing number of Australians — 2,355,870 votes were cast for the countdown, down slightly from more than 2.4 million votes last year (the all-time record is the 3.2 million votes cast for the 2019 edition). Also, the annual event raised A$500,000 ($330,000) for triple j’s charity partner, headspace.
Though G Flip came off second-best to Doja Cat’s champ, the Australian artist established a new Hottest 100 record with seven titles in the countdown. That shatters the mark previously held by rock trio Wolfmother, which scored six entries back in 2005.
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A multiple winner at the 2023 ARIA Awards and a leader on the ARIA Albums Chart last year with Drummer (Future Classic/Universal), G Flip (real name Georgia Claire Flipo) now vaults to 19 career Hottest 100 entries, good enough for equal third all-time with Tame Impala and Kanye West. Adelaide hip-hop favorites Hilltop Hoods are the kings, with 24 all-time entries, while Powderfinger and Foo Fighters are equal second with 22 each.
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Australia’s own princess of pop Kylie Minogue establishes a new mark, with her U.K. top 10 hit “Padam Padam” making the Hottest 100 list. The last time she did so was in 1997, the 26-year gap between entries a new record.
This year’s pool of 2.335 million-plus votes were predominantly cast by women (61%) and 45% of all voters hailed from triple j’s target audience — 24 years of age, or under.
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Also, according to reps for triple j, 52 of those hottest 100 songs were homegrown.
All told, 35 artists made their triple j Hottest 100 debuts over the weekend, including Troye Sivan, Kita Alexander, Dua Lipa, Budjerah, Old Mervs and Royel Otis.
Read more here.
Joni Mitchell will make her Grammy performance debut at the 2024 Grammy Awards, set for Sunday (Feb. 4) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. It’s surprising that Mitchell has never performed on Music’s Biggest Night because she has been a Grammy fixture for decades. She won her first of nine competitive Grammys in 1970. In addition, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2002.
The legendary singer-songwriter is nominated for best folk album for Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live]. She won her first Grammy 54 years ago in a folk category (best folk performance) for Clouds.
Mitchell is the ninth performer to be announced for this year’s telecast. These performers range in age from three in their 20s (Olivia Rodrigo, 20; Billie Eilish, 22; and Dua Lipa, 28) to three who are 60+ – the four members of U2, who are in their early 60s; Billy Joel, 74; and Mitchell, 80). Also booked for the show are Burna Boy and Travis Scott, both 32, and Luke Combs, 33.
Mitchell is the fourth of these performers who is a past album of the year winner, following Joel, U2 and Eilish. But you may be surprised to learn what album Mitchell won for. It wasn’t her 1971 classic Blue (which, surprisingly, wasn’t nominated in any categories), or her 1974 creative and commercial hit Court and Spark (which was nominated for album of the year). It was Herbie Hancock’s jazz tribute to her, River: The Joni Letters. She won as a featured artist on that album.
U2 will perform from Sphere in Las Vegas, home of the band’s acclaimed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere. The segment will also feature a special awards presentation.
Additional performers for the Grammy telecast will be announced in coming days.
Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. He too is a Grammy nominee. Noah is up for best comedy album for I Wish You Would. He’s the first Grammy host to be nominated for a Grammy that same year since Queen Latifah in 2005. He won a Primetime Emmy on Jan. 15 for outstanding talk series for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday (Feb. 4) from 8:00-11:30 p.m. live ET/5:00-8:30 p.m. live PT on CBS and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.
U2 will perform from Sphere in Las Vegas on the 2024 Grammy Awards, set to take place Sunday Feb. 4 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The segment will also feature a special awards presentation.
The news broke today on U2’s social media channel, complementing the record-setting run of U2’s acclaimed “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere.”
This is the first broadcast performance from Sphere, a first-of-its kind venue that has garnered worldwide headlines. The Grammys were held in Las Vegas two years ago, at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Billboard’s Katie Atkinson reviewed U2’s opening night show at Sphere on Sept. 29. Her main takeaway: “U2 was exactly the right band to welcome the mind-blowing space.”
Expanding on that thought, Atkinson wrote: “You might think that all the technological bells and whistles could overshadow the performance, but U2’s music and message always remained the focal point throughout the two-hour set. … In the end, Sphere never overshadows U2; Sphere magnifies U2, pairing a band that has attempted to innovate with each new tour over their 40-plus-year career with a venue that seemingly has no limits of innovation.”
U2 have amassed 22 Grammys over the course of their career, including two awards in each of the top three categories – album, record and song of the year.
Previously announced Grammy Awards performers include Burna Boy, Luke Combs, Billie Eilish, Billy Joel, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo and Travis Scott. Three of the first eight performers announced for the show are past album of the year winners – U2, Joel and Eilish.
Additional performers for the Grammy telecast will be announced.
Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. He too is a Grammy nominee. He is up for best comedy album for I Wish You Would. He’s the first Grammy host to be nominated for a Grammy that same year since Queen Latifah in 2005. Noah won a Primetime Emmy last week for outstanding talk series for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 4 from 8:00-11:30 p.m. live ET/5:00-8:30 p.m. live PT on CBS and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.
