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Martin Kirkup, the well-respected co-founder of Direct Management Group, died Sunday, Feb. 4 while vacationing in Hawaii, according to his family. He was 75.
Kirkup currently managed Katy Perry, k.d. lang and Au/Ra, but over his decades-long career had also worked with artists including the B-52s, Counting Crows, Tracy Chapman, the Go-Go’s, Adam Lambert and many others.
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“Martin Kirkup and I conceived Direct Management while drinking Raki at a restaurant high above the Bosphorus in Istanbul, escaping the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984,” said Direct Management Group co-founder Steven Jensen in a statement. “We were both fans of alternative pop music and focused on establishing a boutique management company to support that exciting genre of music. I’m proud to have built Direct Management with Martin and Bradford Cobb to the global presence it has today, with integrity, honor and ingenuity, much of which was contributed by Martin. His influence is a permanent fixture of the Direct Management culture.”
The Tynemouth, U.K.-born Kirkup came to the U.S. in 1973 as a visiting professor of English Literature at the University of Rhode Island. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York and joined A&M Records as east coast publicity director, eventually ascending to vp of artist development and working with such artists as Peter Frampton, Styx, Squeeze, Joe Jackson, the Police and Joan Armatrading.
Kirkup and Jensen opened Direct in Los Angeles in April 1985, with early clients Boy Meets Girl, Echo & The Bunnymen and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, as well as guiding Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry on his first solo international tour. In 1989, Direct experienced tremendous success with the B-52s’ quadruple-platinum album, Cosmic Thing, which included the massive hit “Love Shack.”
In the ‘90s, Direct continued to grow, working with the Counting Crows for a decade during which the band sold more than 25 million albums. Other clients during that decade included David Byrne, Joe Jackson, Seal and the New Radicals. In 1998, Bradford Cobb joined the company as a manager, becoming a partner in 2012.
Under the three principals, the company flourished in the early 2000s, overseeing the careers of lang, Perry, the Go-Go’s and Jamie Cullum. Subsequent clients also included Lambert and Steve Perry. Signing Katy Perry in 2004 was automatic, Kirkup told Billboard in 2012. “To us, it’s not remarkable that she’s hugely successful-without sounding like wise-asses, that’s why we signed her,” Kirkup says. “We really believed in her and felt she had huge potential.”
“Martin Kirkup was a class act, a gentleman, and he was brilliant,” Cobb told Billboard in statement. “Over my 25 years working alongside him at Direct, he had a major influence on my growth as a manager and a human. Of his many talents, one that I admired most was his ability to take a problem and dissect it down to its core, finding a solution with a calm demeanor that gave everyone around him confidence. Martin had excellent taste in music, and he had great reverence for the artists who created it. He was witty with a wicked sense of humor. Martin was also warm and genuinely caring, and it was an honor to be his partner.”
Kirkup, who was on Billboard Power 100 list in 2017, was a fierce advocate for his artists, but always found time to help the next generation of executives. He doled out advice freely, mentoring a number of younger managers who came to him for advice.
He is survived by his wife Lale Kirkup, daughter Melisa Kirkup Blatt and son-in-law Ben Blatt, son John Kirkup and daughter-in-law Lorien Kirkup, and three grandchildren, Sam, Abigail, and Ivy. Details on a celebration of life will come at a later date.
At the 66th annual Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift announced her new album ‘The Tortured Poets Department.’ We break down all the fan theories, take a look at the track list and more! Mariah Carey will take over the Park MGM’s Dolby Live in Las Vegas, Adele has added two “final” dates to her shows at […]
Xavi’s sophomore hit “La Diabla” races to 17-1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart (dated Feb. 10), giving the Mexican-American singer-songwriter his first champ on a radio ranking.
The romantic corrido, released via Interscope, tops the overall Latin Airplay list with 9.6 million audience impressions, up 89%, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 1, according to Luminate.
Notably, it’s the first No. 1 by a regional Mexican artist on Interscope. The label was last on top with another song in the genre, Karol G’s “Mi Ex Tenia Razon” for two nonconsecutive weeks last October and November.
“’La Diabla’ has topped so many charts that it’s been hard to keep up, but this one is particularly special,” Manny Prado, VP of Marketing and A&R, Interscope Geffen A&M tells Billboard. “The fact that radio has embraced Xavi’s innovative sound is a significant statement and validates that he is successfully pushing the boundaries of Mexican music.”
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Xavi’s radio success follows the song’s domination on both Hot Latin Songs and Latin Streaming Songs. On the multi-metric tally, “La Diabla” spends a fifth nonconsecutive week at the summit, powered largely by 15.4 million streams during the same period. That’s enough to hold its No. 1 spot for a fourth week on Latin Streaming Songs and its No. 9 ranking on the overall Streaming Songs for a second week.
Back on Latin Airplay, “La Diabla” ejects another regional Mexican track from the lead: Fuerza Regida and Marshmello’s “Harley Quinn” falls to No. 3 after one week in charge with 8.2 million, down 9%.
Beyond its Latin Airplay domination, “La Diabla” surges 8-1 on Regional Mexican Airplay for its first week atop the 40-deep song tally; also, a first champ there for the Phoenix-born artist. Sales too, contribute to the song’s rise across Billboard charts: “La Diabla” sold 1,000 downloads for a No. 2 on Latin Digital Sales for a third week (topped the list for one week on the Jan. 20-dated survey).
Elsewhere, “La Diabla” remains steady at No. 4 on the Billboard Global 200 chart for a fourth week after its No. 3 peak in January. Plus, it remains at No. 3 for a third week on Global Excl. U.S. following its No. 2 high also in January.
Thanks to its gain in all metrics (streaming, sales, and radio), Xavi holds strong at its at No. 33 peak on the Billboard Artist 100 for a second week, which measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption- album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming – to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Singer-songwriter Toby Keith passed “peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family,” according to a statement on his official website. Tetris Kelly:Country legend Toby Keith has died at the age of 62. Toby Keith’s family released a statement letting fans know the singer passed away peacefully last night surrounded by his family after […]
Luminate continues in its mission to unify data with the acquisition of Quansic, a specialist music data company with a focus on artist identification services.
Announced today (Feb. 6), the arrangement is another step in Luminate’s efforts to unify data for the entertainment industry, by tapping Quansic’s expertise in the harmonization of metadata across record labels, streaming platforms, song publishers, and artist services within the music ecosystem.
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Based in France, Quansic maintains the world’s largest artist identification database which includes over 2.5 million ISNIs (artist identifiers) and 200 million asset identifiers.
Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.
With immediate effect, Quansic’s team will join Luminate, remaining under founder and chief scientist FX Nuttall, who now reports to Luminate CEO Rob Jonas.
“Quansic has earned the trust of many key leaders in the music data space, which is no surprise given the quality of the product and service FX and his team have built,” explains Jonas in a statement. “We warmly welcome them into the Luminate family and look forward to collaborating and taking our music data offerings to the next level, especially as we close the gap between the disparate data that labels and publishers have historically relied on to drive their businesses forward.”
In future, Quansic’s clients will have the option to access Luminate’s industry-leading streaming and sales data, and Quansic’s data will be incorporated into Luminate’s new data platform, which was announced last year and will be launched in several phases over the coming months, serving clients in the music industry and beyond.
“Combining our unique data quality with Luminate’s scale, capabilities and influence is essential for advancing our vision to unify data within the music industry,” adds Nuttall. “We are eager to scale that work with Luminate and look forward to bringing unprecedented value to the music industry.”
Luminate is an independently operated company owned by PME TopCo, a PMC subsidiary and joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge. Billboard is an independently operated company owned by PME Holdings, a subsidiary of PME TopCo.
Mariah Carey will show Las Vegas where she belongs — for a third time — with the debut of The Celebration of Mimi, April 12 through April 27 at Dolby Live in Park MGM. The “exclusive engagement” (April 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27) toasts the 19th anniversary of The Emancipation of Mimi (released on April 12, 2005).
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A statement shared with Billboard states that “the Las Vegas shows will feature fan favorites from that album as well as other hits from her unparalleled illustrious career.” The Emancipation of Mimi, with hits such as “We Belong Together” and “Shake It Off,” was one of the top-selling albums of its year and is known within her catalog as the “comeback album.”Making another comeback — this time on the Strip — The Celebration of Mimi engagement, backed by Live Nation and MGM Resorts, follows Carey’s first two residencies at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, #1 to Infinity (2015-2017) and The Butterfly Returns (2018-2020). Infinity was a chronological performance of her 18 No. 1 hits, starting with 1990’s “Vision of Love” and ending with 2008’s “Touch My Body.” While that show focused on Carey the entertainer, “Butterfly” capitalized on Carey the singer with a powerful 23-song set list of big hits, surprises and her own personal favorites. Since 2020, Carey has mostly performed and toured with her holiday music. Carey got her break in 1990 with the smash hit “Vision of Love” and since sold more than 200 million albums with 19 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles. Just days ago the five-octave-range singer accepted the Global Impact Award during the Recording Academy Honors presented by the Black Music Collective.Tickets will go on sale to the public Saturday, Feb. 10 for April 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27. Limited to only eight dates, it seems as if Carey is taking a page from Kelly Clarkson’s Las Vegas strategy book. Last year, Clarkson announced a 10-date run of Chemistry. All shows sold-out. Since then, she has picked select weekends to return including New Years and Super Bowl. With this being the third chapter in her Las Vegas legacy, the chances of more dates coming down the line seem probable.Carey’s announcement follows last week’s news that Mexican group Los Bukis will perform the Strip’s first-ever full Latin and Spanish-language residency, launching May 3 at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The theater is also home to Bruno Mars, Maroon 5 and Lady Gaga.
Benson Boone is about to complete the jump from viral star to the U.K. top 10.
The 21-year-old Washington native has three appearances on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, the standout with “Beautiful Things” (via Warner Records), which last week reached No. 11.
Prior to its release, Boone built buzz for the song by teasing it on TikTok and Instagram. Now, Boone is on the brink of his first top tier hit, as “Beautiful Things” lifts to No. 8 on the midweek tally.
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Boone recently announced his forthcoming album, Fireworks and Rollerblades, and its namesake world tour, and performed the single last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Also on the rise is of Bob Marley’s grandson YG Marley, whose debut “Praise Jah In The Moonlight” (YG Marley Music) vaults 24-12 on the chart blast. “Praise Jah In The Moonlight” is co-written with Marley’s mom, Ms. Lauryn Hill.
Critically-lauded British newcomers The Last Dinner Party are heading for the U.K. albums chart title with Prelude to Ecstasy (Island), their debut album. And a new chart peak awaits for their single “Nothing Matters,” which last week entered the top 40 for the first time and is predicted to climb further, to No. 19.
At the top of the Official Chart Update is Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” (Republic Records), which is cruising to a sixth consecutive week at No. 1.
Finally, Cat Janice is expected to make an impact on the Official U.K. Singles Chart with “Dance You Outta My Head.”
Behind the upbeat dance tune is a touching story.
The 31-year-old singer, from Washington, D.C., was diagnosed with sarcoma, a type of rare malignant tumor, in 2021. After going through chemotherapy and radiation treatment, the cancer returned, and she released this song as a final tune for her 7-year-old son, just after entering hospice care. “Dance You Outta My Head” (Cat Janice) debuts at No. 74 on the chart blast. All proceeds from the song will go to her son.
The Official U.K. Singles Chart will be published late Friday, Feb. 9.
Corporate finance veteran Michael Grau joins Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp in a dual-capacity, with duties for overseeing the live entertainment specialist’s financial matters.
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Effective from Feb. 12, Grau joins the business as executive VP, finance, then, following a transition period, adds responsibilities of CFO from April 1.
In this role, Grau will work closely with MSG Entertainment’s executive management team to support the long-term direction of the company, reporting to MSG Entertainment’s executive chairman and CEO James L. Dolan.
Also, he will provide strategic financial insight on all facets of the business, and deal with financial planning and analysis, controllership, treasury, investor relations, tax, and procurement functions.
Grau joins MSG Entertainment from Altice USA, the publicly-traded cable communications company, where he served as CFO. He took that role in 2019 following a nearly 20-year career at Cablevision Systems Corporation, which was acquired by Altice in 2016.
“We are pleased to welcome Michael to MSG Entertainment in this important role,” comments Dolan. “Michael was previously a key member of our finance team at Cablevision, and he brings significant financial and operating experience to this role, which will prove valuable as we continue to advance the company’s key initiatives.”
“MSG Entertainment is a leader in live entertainment, and I am honored by the opportunity to leverage my experience in this role,” adds Grau. “I look forward to working with the company’s management team, and the entire finance department, to help ensure we continue to deliver excellence across our financial operations and drive business priorities.”
MSG Entertainment’s portfolio includes New York’s Madison Square Garden, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Beacon Theatre, and The Chicago Theatre, and the original production, the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes.
The group last year finalized a spin-off that separated the pure-play live music business from MSG Entertainment’s state-of-the-art venue in Las Vegas, sports television network and hospitality businesses.
And just like that, The Last Dinner Party is converting critical praise into commercial success with Prelude to Ecstasy (via Island), the British newcomers’ debut LP.
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Based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the Official Charts Company, Prelude to Ecstasy leads the way in the U.K. chart race.
Prelude to Ecstasy makes a fast start and is predicted to take the title when the national chart is published later this week.
Based in London, the indie rock-pop quintet — Abigail Morris (vocals), Georgia Davies (bass), Lizzie Mayland (guitar), Aurora Nishevci (keys) and Emily Roberts (lead guitar) — captured the buzz on both sides of the Atlantic last year, thanks in part to “Nothing Matters,” their breakthrough debut single.
With “Nothing Matters” in their pocket, the group snagged this year’s BRITs Rising Star Award and the BBC Sound Of 2024 poll, a double that assures The Last Dinner Party status as the next big thing in music.
Prelude to Ecstasy features “Nothing Matters,” which the band performed on The Late Show last month for their U.S. late night TV debut, and which last week cracked the U.K. top 40 for the first time, vaulting 41-22.
Also new to the Official Chart Update is Jamie Webster’s 10 For The People (Modern Sky), at No. 2. If it holds its course, 10 For The People would give Webster a career best, outdoing 2022’s Moments, which peaked at No. 3.
Completing the podium on the chart blast is Paul McCartney & Wings’ third LP Band on the Run (Capitol), which is set for a return to the top 10 following the release of a special 50th anniversary edition. After release back in 1973, Band on the Run led the albums tally for seven consecutive weeks.
Britpop era psychedelic rock band Kula Shaker is eyeing a first top 10 album in 25 years with Natural Magick (Strange Folk), new at No. 5. Kula Shaker previously cracked the U.K. top 10 with 1996’s leader K and 1999’s Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts (No. 9).
Finally, Scottish singer and songwriter Dylan John Thomas is targeting a top 10 entry with his self-titled debut album. Dylan John Thomas (via Ignition) is set to enter the chart at No. 8.
All when will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday, Feb. 9.
With a chance to win the NFL’s biggest prize, and doing so with Taylor Swift at his side, Travis Kelce is a guy with it all going for him. The football star’s good fortune doesn’t end there; he’s had a preview of Swift’s forthcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, which he critiques as “unbelievable” and world-beating.
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During her night of domination at the 2024 Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday (Feb. 4) in Los Angeles, where she made history by collecting a fourth career album of the year award, Swift surprised everyone in the room – and the millions watching on around the world – when she announced The Tortured Poets Department, her 11th studio album.
Kelce, as you would expect, has had a listen. “I have heard some of it yes and it’s unbelievable. I can’t wait for her to shake up the world when it finally drops,” he told “Extra’s” Jenny Taft on the field at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII Opening Night.
The 34-year-old tight end reacted to his girlfriend’s bumper Grammys, where she extended her career tally to 14 wins, remarking, “She’s unbelievable, she’s re-writing the history books herself. I told her, ‘I’ll have to hold up my end of the bargain and bring home some hardware too.’”
Whatever happens this weekend, the Swifties’ support has been a fun experience, Kelce explains. “I just go out there and have fun,” he says. “Taylor has an unbelievable fan base that follows her and supports her throughout her life. It’s been fun to gather the Swifties into the Chiefs kingdom and open them up to the football world.”
The 6’5″ athlete has a chance to book-end a glittering week for the power couple when his Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11 for the Super Bowl.
Swift used the platform of the Grammys to give fans a jaw-drop moment. “This is my 13th Grammy – which is my lucky number, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that,” she quipped from the podium as she won the Grammy for best pop vocal album. “I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way. I know the way the Recording Academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans. So I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years, which is that my brand new album comes out April 19. It’s called The Tortured Poets Department. I’m gonna go and post the cover right now backstage. Thank you, I love you.”
The Tortured Poets Department is scheduled to arrive on April 19.