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It’s shaping up as a golden season of America’s Got Talent, if the early action is anything to go by.
As the second week of auditions rumbled on Tuesday night (June 6), armchair viewers everywhere were introduced to Putri Ariani, a gifted teenage singer from Indonesia. It wasn’t so much an introduction, but a lesson in pure talent.
The 17-year-old is blind, an obstacle she overcomes when she’s performing. “When I’m singing I feel like a superstar,” she said in the preamble.
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Putri chose the right reason, and the right time to make her first trip to America. “My dream is to become the biggest diva in the world, like Whitney Houston, and win a Grammy Award,” she told the audience. “I hope I can win America’s Got Talent so I can reach my dream.”
With her parents watching on in the wings, the youngster kept the dream alive with a performance of an original song. Playing the piano, Putri melted hearts with her ballad, which she balanced with perfect-pop tones, vocal maturity and unreal control.
As the crowd roared to its feet, Simon Cowell leapt from his chair, headed for the stage and introduced himself to Putri. At his request, “because he enjoyed Putri’s voice so much,” she performed a second song, “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.” The contestant dedicated the Elton John and Bernie Taupin classic to Cowell.
There could be no doubt: the kid has got it.
“My god,” is how Cowell summed it up. He spoke for everyone, as the crowd stood as one and applauded.
There were tears on stage, and off it, as Sofia Vergara remarked “we were all mesmerized by you. Your voice, you’re an angel.”
Howie Mandel followed up, “a lot of people don’t believe in angels, but I think one just landed on our stage. You’re a superstar.”
“You sounded so beautiful tonight,” remarked Heidi Klum.
As usual, Cowell saved his thoughts for last. “I think we’re all feeling the same thing,” he explained. “You’re 17, you write songs, you’ve got an amazing distinctive voice, and I mean really, really good. You have a kind of a glow about you.”
There was a glow coming from the rafters, too, as Cowell triggered the Golden Buzzer. It’s the second glittering prize in as many weeks, following South Africa’s Mzansi Youth Choir’s inspired tribute to the late AGT album, Nightbirde.
Watch Putri’s performance below.
SYDNEY, Australia — Iconic Australian concert promoter Michael Chugg and his company Chugg Music are joining forces with Select Music and artist manager Dan Biddle on Wheelhouse Agency, a new venture.
The booking agency will lasso the growing business that is country and Americana across Australasia, and boasts an extensive roster at launch, including Sheppard co-founder Amy Sheppard, INXS’ Andrew Farriss, Casey Barnes, Kingswood, Shannon Noll and more.
Wheelhouse’s leadership team includes Chugg and his business partner Andrew Stone, the reigning artist manager of Australia’s AAM Awards; Select Music’s Stephen Wade (CEO) and Rob Giovannoni (senior agent), and country music artist manager Dan Biddle, director of Dan Biddle Management and special projects manager for Chugg Music.
Giovannoni and Biddle are named co-heads of the agency in addition to their existing roles, while Katie Krollig, a six-year veteran with Select Music, joins the Wheelhouse team as lead agent while continuing to service her roster of Select Music artists.
Wheelhouse Agency represents “a big moment for us,” Chugg tells Billboard from Nashville, ahead of the presentation of Billboard’s 2023 Country Power Players.
Chugg’s appetite for country music is legendary. Last year, he became the first-ever recipient of the Country Music Association’s Rob Potts International Live Music Advancement Award. He was the sole Australian shortlisted for the new category, which celebrates an individual’s significant contributions to the live music industry by helping to build audiences for country music outside the United States.
With the late Potts, Chugg built the CMC Rocks festival brand, which expanded with CMC Rocks The Snowys, CMC Rocks The Hunter and the popular CMC Rocks Qld leg, and he has guided Barnes’ award-winning career in country through Chugg Music.
Country music is exploding in popularity in Australia right now.
Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” is the current No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart, a position it has locked-up for two months. It’s parent, One Thing At A Time, also led the national albums survey, thanks in part to his successful Australasian tour in March, which included a set at CMC Rocks Qld.
Close behind on the national chart is another U.S. country star, Luke Combs, whose “Fast Car” sits at No. 5, its peak position in its ninth week since release. Combs will tour Australia and New Zealand this August.
Frontier Touring, which struck a joint venture with Chugg Entertainment in 2019, is producer of both treks.
“The growth of country music in Australia over the last few years has been well documented and it was clear that the market needed a new agency to service the many great new artists coming through along with the established artists who are kicking major goals,” comments Chugg in a statement.
“With our many decades of experience across all facets of live touring, combined with our knowledge of the country music industry, there is no better team in Australia to help artists develop their live careers and grow their audiences.”
Read more at wheelhouseagency.com.au.
Wheelhouse Agency roster:
Amy Sheppard
Andrew Farriss
Bud Rokesky
Casey Barnes
Henry Wagons
James Blundell
Kingswood
Lane Pittman
Leroy Macqueen
Loren Ryan
McAlister Kemp
Sara Berki
Sara Storer
Shannon Noll
Sweet Talk
Taylor Moss
The Paper Kites
Travis Collins
Wagons
The Nashville music industry gathered Tuesday (June 6) to celebrate its most influential members and several of its brightest stars.
Hosted by Billboard to celebrate the recently published 2023 Country Power Players list, the event took place at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, with execs, artists, agents and others mingling in the chic, industrial space.
Billboard’s executive editor, West Coast and Nashville Melinda Newman opened the evening’s awards presentation, first acknowledging Seth England of Big Loud, the recipient of the first ever Billboard Country Power Players Choice Award. Newman then introduced Ernest, who recounted the story of his first time meeting Jelly Roll when a mutual friend of his was selling the singer a truck. “Not long later,” said Ernest said, “he was charting on Billboard.”
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Jelly Roll then took the stage, noting in a funny, impassioned speech that “there’s a story my daddy used to tell that you could work harder than everybody, you can put in more hours than everybody, you can be more talented than everybody, you could be nicer than everybody, you could care more than everybody, but if a little luck don’t show up with you, you are screwed in this world, and I can tell you that God blessed me to be lucky to have friends like Ernest and Hardy and Ashley and these people that have came through and helped me put out my first debut country album that was commemorated by my cover on Billboard.”
Next up was Hardy, who presented the Rookie Of The Year award to Bailey Zimmerman. “I tried singing two and a half years ago and my life completely switched,” Zimmerman said in his speech. “I went from digging ditches and building pipelines to being an artist…Enjoying the moment is something I’ve really been focusing on, and I’ve never had a moment like this.”
Terri Clark then took the stage to present the Groundbreaker award to her friend, Ashley McBryde. “I’ve had the privilege of watching her build a career that will stand the test of time. She came up to me [once] and said, ‘You know when I was a teenager I was looking to women in country music who I felt like i could relate to, people who were a little bit different, and when I looked to you, I saw that. And now Ashley’s doing that very thing to many little girls and girls with a dream all over the place who want to be country singers.”
McBryde then gave an emotional speech about how when she first moved to Nashville, she was told her hair was too curly, that she had too many tattoos, that she needed to lose weight and that she should be writing different kinds of songs. “It means a lot to receive this,” she said with tears streaming down her face, “because it means betting on yourself is the right thing to do.”
Finally, Newman presented the Executive of the Year award to Rusty Gaston of Sony Music Publishing Nashville, which has earned the top spot on Billboard’s Country Radio Airplay Publishers list for the last three quarters.
“I love this community,” Gaston said in his speech, “and what I love most about country music is that we are a community — we are a group of friends who get to work together to help each other succeed, but we aren’t work friends, we’re life friends.”
BRISBANE, Australia — Twenty years after its launch in a red-hot entertainment market, Oztix, Australia’s biggest independent ticketer, just got bigger with the acquisition of Local Tickets.
With immediate effect, Local Tickets, a smaller, rival ticketing agency specializing in local events across the country, is rebranded to Localtix. And as part of the arrangement, all Local Tickets employees join its new parent, while founder and CEO Kristen Goldup is appointed as brand director across Oztix and Localtix.
Also, Oztix events will be populated across 70 local ticket marketplaces, expanding the marketing potential for events ticketed by Oztix.
“Our brands and product offerings are entirely complementary, and after just one meeting with Oztix, it was clear that we had great synergy and shared a mutual culture of putting our clients first,” comments Goldup, who founded the agency in 2011. “My Local Tickets clients will benefit greatly from access to a new collaborative platform, and even more eyeballs will be on our local tickets marketplace websites with Oztix events being listed”.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Currently, Oztix handles ticketing for venues, festivals and expos such as Big Red Bash, Crafted Beer & Cider Festival, Good Things Festival, and Summernats, while the new addition to its ranks works across a range of agricultural shows, rodeos, turf clubs, hospitality events and more.
Oztix presented its new family members with a celebratory lunch Tuesday (June 6) at its Woolloongabba headquarters, close to Brisbane’s Gabba stadium and timed to coincide with the annual Queensland Day.
“At any given time,” Oztix commercial director Seth Clancy told industry guests, “the business boasts 4,000 events on sale across the country across both platforms.” Prior to the acquisition, Oztix sold close to 3 million tickets each year.
Now, the enlarged group employs 50 full-time staff and hundreds of casual staff at events around the country, notes Oztix co-founder Stuart Field. Each year, millions are pumped into technology and innovation, he explained, a sometimes painful but essential outlay “to evolve with the way technology is changing.”
Co-founder Brian “Smash” Chladil recounted the business’ first steps, starting out under his house in Toowong, in Brisbane’s inner west, and landing contracts with mega-festivals Big Day Out, Soundwave and Falls.
“The next 20 years are looking great,” he explains, “we’re growing because our clients are growing, we’re growing because we win new business and mainly because we don’t lose business.”
Guests at Oztix’s “launch and lunch” included QMusic president Natalie Strijland and CEO Kris Stewart; Fortitude Music Hall and The Triffid venue director John “JC” Collins, former bass player with Powderfinger; Vicki Gordon, founding executive producer and program director of the Australian Women in Music Awards (AWMA); and Shane King, state member of parliament for Kurwongbah.
Australia’s ticketing industry is dominated by the big two, Live Nation affiliate Ticketmaster, and TEG-owned Ticketek. Oztix expands as a new player arrives on these shores in AEG-owned ticketer AXS, led by venue management professional and former Gold Cost Suns chief Andrew Travis as CEO of AXS Australia and New Zealand.
Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter” is doing as its title suggests, as the British hip-hop collaboration leads the U.K. chart race. The fresh cut leads the midweek chart on debut, and is set to become Dave’s third U.K. No. 1, and Central Cee’s first. “Sprinter” (via Live Yours/Neighbourhood) marks the first creative partnership between the […]
A clash of the titans is playing out in the U.K., as Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds goes head-to-head with Foo Fighters for top spot.
Based on midweek sales and streaming data published by the Official Charts Company, Gallagher’s Council Skies (via Sour Mash) has the edge. It’s a wafer-thin margin. The Foos’ But Here We Are (Columbia) is just 200 combined units behind, for second place on the Official Chart Update.
Gallagher scores U.K. No. 1s for fun. He’s enjoyed an unbroken streak of 10 consecutive No. 1 studio albums, across his career with Oasis (seven) and with High Flying Birds (three). No other individual has a more impressive track record. Furthermore, every one of Gallagher’s studio LPs has debuted at No. 1.
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The Foos, meanwhile, have led the Official Chart with five albums, including their most recent effort, 2021’s Medicine At Midnight.
But Here We Are represents a new chapter for Dave Grohl’s band, which is still grieving the sudden death last year of drummer Taylor Hawkins.
There’s a touch of beef to this chart race. As the OCC points out, during the Foos’ set at the 2019 Reading Festival, Grohl told the crowd that he wanted to start a petition to get Oasis to reunite. That apparently didn’t sit well with Gallagher, who, during a subsequent concert in San Diego, joked with his audience: “Is anyone gonna sign that petition Dave Grohl wants to get together to get us back together?… I’d like to start a petition to get the Foo Fighters to split up”.
The midweek U.K. podium is completed by Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Hana (Cooking Vinyl), new at No. 3, for what could be the English pop artist’s fifth top 10 LP, and highest charting title since 2002 debut Read My Lips hit No. 2.
Meanwhile, Bob Dylan’s Shadow Kingdom (Sony Music CG), a collection of rerecorded songs from early in the legendary songsmith’s career, could start at No. 4.
Also eyeing top ten berths are British pop veteran Louise’s career retrospective Greatest Hits (No. 6 via BMG), Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears’s second solo set Last Man Dancing (No. 7 via Mute), and American heavy metal act Avenged Sevenfold’s eighth studio album Life Is But A Dream… (No. 8 via Warner Records).
All will be revealed when the Official Chart is published late Friday (June 9).
Just days after dropping a new album, Foo Fighters have confirmed they’re dropping in on Australia and New Zealand during the next southern summer.
The Foos will embark on a major stadium tour of Australia, starting Nov. 29 at Perth’s HBF Park, before heading east for concerts in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Then, in the New Year, Dave Grohl and Co. make the leap across the Tasman Sea for January 2024 outdoor concerts in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
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Though the Foos haven’t undertaken a headline tour of both countries since 2018, that doesn’t tell the story of the rockers’ connection with Australasian audiences.
The Rock And Roll Hall of Famers are seasoned travelers to the lands Down Under, and they’re always welcome here.
Indeed, when COVID-related lockdowns lifted and borders began to open, the Foos last year made their way to Geelong, 40 miles southwest of Melbourne, for a special date at the GMHBA Stadium.
Who better than the Foos to christen Australia’s live circuit with the first full-capacity stadium show by an international act in Australia since early 2020.
That one-off show, the upcoming tour, and many Foos treks before it, is produced by Frontier Touring, the concerts specialist founded by the late Michael Gudinski. Grohl was so close to Gudinski, he’s a guest in the forthcoming documentary on the Mushroom Group founder, entitled Ego.
Foo Fighters have a longstanding love affair with Australia. Their tenth and latest studio album Medicine At Midnight debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart in February 2021, the band’s eighth leader in these parts.
The band’s 11th studio album But Here We Are dropped last Friday, and represents a new dawn for the act, whose members are still grieving the untimely death last year of talismanic drummer Taylor Hawkins.
The Foos returned to the stage last month for the launch of their current world tour, which includes headline sets at festivals Boston Calling, Sonic Temple, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Riot Fest, and more. Josh Freese, a veteran studio and touring drummer, was recently unveiled as the Foos’ full-time drummer.
Tickets for the ANZ tour go on sale Thursday, June 15 via frontiertouring.com/foofighters, with pre-sales available from this Friday, June 9.
Foo Fighters 2023/24 tour of Australia and New Zealand:
Nov. 29 — HBF Park, Perth, WAWith special guests The Chats and Teenage JonesTicketmaster.com.au
Dec. 2, Coopers Stadium, Adelaide, SAWith special guests The Chats + Body TypeTicketek.com.au
Dec. 4 — AAMI Park, Melbourne, VICWith special guests Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers + Hot Milk (UK)Ticketek.com.au
Dec. 9 — Accor Stadium, Sydney, NSWWith special guests The Chats + Hot Milk (UK)Ticketek.com.au
Dec. 12 — Suncorp Stadium | Brisbane, QLDWith special guests The Chats + Hot Milk (UK)Ticketek.com.au
Jan. 20, 2024 — GO Media Stadium Mt Smart, Auckland, NZWith special guests ??? + Dick MoveTicketmaster.co.nz
Jan. 24, 2024 — Orangetheory Stadium, Christchurch, NZWith special guests ??? + Dick MoveAxs.com.au
Jan. 27, 2024 — Sky Stadium, Wellington, NZWith special guests ??? + Dick MoveTicketek.co.nz
Presented by Frontier Touring, American Express, Triple M (AU) and The Rock (NZ)
The chart miracle that is Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s EDM hit is showing no signs of letting-up in the U.K.
“Miracle” (via Columbia) retains top spot on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, published June 2, for an eighth non-consecutive week at No. 1.
That feat equals Harris’ all-time reign over the U.K. survey, matching the eight weeks “One Kiss” with Dua Lipa spent at the summit back in 2018.
Meanwhile, David Kushner’s viral hit “Daylight” (Miserable Music) holds at No. 2, while Afrobeats artist Rema’s “Calm Down” (Mavin) completes the podium, up 5-3 for a new high.
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Loreen’s 2023 Eurovision Song Contest-winning entry “Tattoo” (Polydor) continues to stick around, logging a third week in the top 10. The Swedish singer’s pan-European hit dips 4-10.
The highest new entry on the latest survey belongs to J Hus, as “It’s Crazy” (Black Butter) arrives at No. 15. “It’s Crazy” is the East London rapper’s first taste of new music as a lead artist in three years. With its lofty debut, the hip-hop artist earns his 13th U.K. top 40 appearance.
Taylor Swift is on the rise once again, thanks to the release of Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition) (via EMI). A trio of tracks make a dent — the maximum allowed under the Official Charts Company’s singles chart criteria — led by “Karma,” this week’s big gainer thanks to a new cut featuring rising rapper “Ice Spice”. It’s up 67-12, while “Hits Different” bows at No. 18 and “Snow On The Beach,” which features additional lines from guest artist Lana Del Rey, reenters the top 40 at No. 24.
Also new to the chart is Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night” (Warner Records), lifted from the forthcoming Barbie movie soundtrack. It drops in at No. 20, for Lipa’s 23rd U.K. top 40 appearance.
Finally, as news of Tina Turner’s death spread the globe, fans paid their respects by listening to the rock legend’s greatest hits. The late singer’s signature song “The Best” (Parlophone) reenters the U.K. chart at No. 25, having peaked at No. 5 in 1989, while her comeback smash from 1984, “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” returns at No. 35. “What’s Love Got To Do With It” is Turner’s highest-peaking solo track in the U.K., reaching No. 3. Turner died May 24 at the age of 83.
What better person to star in and guide a biopic on Keyshia Cole than the R&B artist herself. That’s how it’s playing out for Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story, an upcoming biopic on the Grammy Award-nominated artist, set to premiere June 24 on Lifetime. Cole takes executive producer duties and makes her acting debut […]
While the media has fixated on K-pop superstars BTS, Blackpink, Tomorrow X Together, and, more recently, newbies Fifty Fifty, don’t sleep on Stray Kids.The South Korean boy band doesn’t get the attention, but they’re flying in the upper-elite class, with No. 1s on the Billboard 200 chart with Maxident and Oddinary. Both recordings made a mark on the other side of the Atlantic, cracking the Official U.K. Albums Chart. According to the IFPI, Stray Kids was one of the top 10 most popular artists of 2022, coming in at No. 7 on the Federation’s year-end list, led by Taylor Swift; while Maxident was the No. 6 most popular album of the year (Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti was No. 1). The eight-member pop group return with 5 Stars (via JYP Entertainment and Republic Records), the lads’ third Korean-language studio album, and fourth overall. Prior to its release at the stroke of midnight, 5 Stars was already a hit. Based on data commissioned by online casino guide 6Takarakuji, the LP has notched more than 5 million pre-orders, ahead of recordings by BTS, TXT and Seventeen’s 10th mini album FML, which dropped last month. Stray Kids recently completed a string of concerts in North America, including their first-ever stadium concerts in the United States, for which they warmed-up with a late-night TV performance of Oddinary track “Maniac” on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Forming in 2018, the Kids — Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. — took over the top 5 of Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by Twitter, dated Jan. 28, with the title track at No. 1, and the cuts “DLMLU,” “Novel,” “Battle Ground” and “Lost Me” at Nos. 2-5, respectively.Later, in February, the boy band dropped The Sound, marking their first original Japanese full-length album.
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Spanning 12 songs, 5 Stars can be streamed in full below.