Music
Page: 192
Jade Thirlwall had auditioned for The X-Factor twice as a teen and was just not feeling it when the third time came around in 2011. Luckily, her older brother pressed her to give it one more try, which led to the 31-year-old singer being grouped with her future Little Mix bandmates, launching her into global superstardom.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I couldn’t be bothered because I was with a crappy boyfriend, and I was like, ‘Oh, I just want to hang out with him.’ I just didn’t know if it was realistic anymore,” Thirlwall told People magazine about last shot at the Factor when she was 15. “I was going to do an art degree for theater production and stuff. Then, my older brother was like, ‘Just go one more time. You never know what’s going to happen. You’ve got nothing to lose.’ I was like, ‘Fine.’ I went, and then I got put in Little Mix, so thank God.”
It was in that season that she was teamed up with Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson, with Little Mix going on to become one of the most successful winners in the show’s history and landing five No. 1 singles on the UK charts along with 19 top tens. The group went on hiatus in 2022 so that the members of the Brit Award-winning act could pursue solo projects, and Thirlwall told the magazine that she if fully ready to present her new vision to the world.
Trending on Billboard
The singer — who goes by Jade for her solo work — is off to a good start after landing a top 10 hit in the U.K. with her propulsive dance pop debut solo single “Angel of My Dreams” this summer, followed by kink-celebrating disco track “Fantasy” and the electro grinder “Midnight Cowboy,” co-written by RAYE. All three songs will appear on Jade’s upcoming, as-yet-untitled debut solo album, which is due out net year.
“You can really hear through the tracks that I’m trying to find who I am as an artist on my own,” she said. “I wanted to let fans in on that experience because it’s the truth.” Thirlwall said the inspiration behind her new single “Fantasy” was simple: “sex, darling.” The original idea was to write a love song, but in her own unique way, which led to the track on which she sings, “Passion, pain/ Pleasure, no shame/ If you like it weird, I like it strange/ It’s a fantasy, babe.”
“I wanted this liberating concept of feeling like you’ve found the right person that you can explore all your sexual fantasies with, a safe space for whatever you’re into. I’ve not seen much of that, actually, especially from a woman,” she said of the song that “heavily references” her 1970s disco-era sheroes Diana Ross and Donna Summer, but reflected in her own unique disco ball fashion.
Feeling more liberated and able to lean into more overtly sexy themes than in the innuendo-trafficking Little Mix, Thirlwall went all-in on the song’s promotion, releasing a line of “kinky merchandise” that she expected her team to reject. “Thankfully everyone was onboard,” she said, noting that the line of edible underwear, lubricant and sex toys was also originally going to include condoms, before she worried that it was too risky if, for some reason, they failed during use.
Thirlwall said she wanted the three songs released so far to reflect the “chaos of the record,” explaining, “You would not expect each song to come after the next. That’s definitely the vibe. I just want to show everyone a little taste of each part of me before the album comes next year.” She described the full LP as “quite experimental,” saying you can hear her trying to find her solo artistic groove on them. “I wanted to let fans in on that experience because it’s the truth. I’ve spent three years writing an array of so many different kinds of songs, and I want the unexpected twists and turns along the way,” she said. “I only get one debut solo album. Why not just do whatever I want?”
While she’s still putting the finishing touches on the album, Thirlwall said she can’t wait for her fans to hear it. “I’ve lived with it for a long time, so it kills me when fans are asking online, ‘What’s this clip? I’ve heard this might be the title of a song.’ I just want to blurt it all out and tell everyone, but I can’t,” she said. At press time a release date had not yet been announced for the album.
Country crossover sensation Shaboozey and regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida are set to perform on the 2024 Billboard Music Awards, which is set to air Thursday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX and Fire TV Channels.
They will join SEVENTEEN, Teddy Swims, Tyla, Coldplay, Jelly Roll, Megan Moroney and Stray Kids, who were previously announced as performers on the show.
Shaboozey is a finalist for six BBMA awards: top new artist, top song sales artist and four awards for his megahit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” That smash, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-tying 19 weeks, is a finalist for top Hot 100 song, top streaming song, top selling song and top country song.
Trending on Billboard
Shaboozey will deliver a special performance from W Hollywood, part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio. The crossover star’s third studio album, Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going, debuted and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 in June.
Fuerza Regida’s seventh studio album Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada entered the Billboard 200 at No. 14 in November 2023 and has been a fixture on the chart for 58 weeks. Its follow-up, Pero No Te Enamores, debuted and peaked at No. 25 in August. The group has amassed 11 Hot 100 hits, including three that have made the top 30 – “Bebe Dame,” a collab with Grupo Frontera, “Sabor Fresa” and “Tu Boda,” a collab with Óscar Maydon.
Hosted by actress and comedian Michelle Buteau, the 2024 BBMAs presented by Marriott Bonvoy is set to air on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX and Fire TV Channels, and on-demand on Paramount+, with performances also rolling out across Billboard.com and via @BBMAs and @Billboard social channels.
As previously announced, Zach Bryan, Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Sabrina Carpenter are the leading finalists for the 2024 Billboard Music Awards.
This marks the show’s return to FOX, which carried the show from its 1990 inaugural broadcast through 2006. In addition, Paramount+ will provide on-demand streaming of the show, while the free Fire TV Channels app will provide one-click access to fans using Amazon devices (Fire TV smart TVs and streaming media players and Fire Tablets).
The BBMAs will celebrate music’s greatest achievements with exclusive original performances, artist interviews, and award celebrations taking place from global locations and in the midst of sold-out tours. Additional performers and special guests will be announced soon.
The BBMAs honors the year’s biggest artists, albums, songs, producers and songwriters across multiple genres, as determined by year-end performance metrics on the Billboard charts. The eligibility dates for this year’s awards are aligned with Billboard’s Year-End Charts tracking period, which measures music consumption from the charts dated Oct. 28, 2023 through Oct. 19, 2024.
The Billboard Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation. PMC is also the parent company of Billboard.
The show is presented by Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott International’s travel program and portfolio of more than 30 hotel brands. For more information, visit MarriottBonvoy.com
BMI honored Graham Lyle with the BMI Icon Award at the 2024 BMI London Awards. The private event, held at The Savoy in London on Monday, Dec. 9, was hosted by BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill.
As part of the tribute, Rich Soul Ensemble performed a medley of some of Lyle’s most popular songs including “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” both originally performed by Tina Turner, and “Just Good Friends,” originally performed by Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.
Upon receiving the award, which was previously announced, Lyle thanked people who have supported him over the years, including his longtime co-writer Terry Britten; his former McGuinness Flint bandmates Hughie Flint and Tom McGuinness; and Paul McCartney. He then played acoustic renditions of “Heart on My Sleeve,” originally performed by Ringo Starr, and “Something Beautiful Remains,” originally performed by Turner.
Trending on Billboard
“Creepin,” written by Enya, Nick Ryan, Roma Ryan, Carlos “Lo” Jones and Mario Winans, was named London song of the year. This award is given to the most performed song of the previous year in the BMI repertoire by UK or European writers.
“Creepin,’” performed by Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart in December 2022 and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2023. The song is a partial remake of Winans’ 2004 hit “I Don’t Want to Know,” featuring Enya.
During the ceremony, BMI Million-Air Awards were presented to the songwriters and publishers whose works have achieved the rare feat of surpassing one million broadcast performances on U.S. radio, or multiples thereof. Among the hit songs honored were “Every Breath You Take” written by Sting with 19 million performances, “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen (10 million), “Here I Go Again,” by Bernie Marsden of Whitesnake (9 million), “I Melt With You” by Modern English (8 million), “Listen to Your Heart,” by Roxette (7 million), “Islands in the Stream” written by Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb (6 million) and “Someone You Loved,” written by Tom Barnes and Sam Roman (5 million).
Awards for the most-performed pop, film, television, cable and streaming songs were also presented throughout the ceremony. For pop, LiTek and whYJay accepted an award for “Doja” performed by Central Cee; Blush Davis and Chris James were honored for “Like Crazy” by Jimin of BTS; and Ari PenSmith, Believve, Jack LoMastro, Olmo, rayo and Sammy SoSo were presented an award for “Water” by Tyla.
Among the composers honored, Atli Örvarsson won six BMI Network Television Awards for his work on Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted. Tom Howe received three awards for his work in streaming in both film and TV series categories for The People We Hate at the Wedding and Apple’s Shrinking and Ted Lasso, respectively.
A complete list of 2024 winners will soon be available on the BMI London Awards’ website.
Just as she prophesied on Cowboy Carter‘s “Protector,” Beyoncé is watching her kids shine on their own.
Following the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King starring Blue Ivy Carter in the leading role of Kiara, the superstar posted a heartfelt message dedicated to her 12-year-old daughter on Instagram Monday (Dec. 9) and wrote that she “could not be prouder” of her hard work. “My gorgeous baby girl,” Bey began, sharing photos of Blue modeling a gold Christian Siriano ballgown on the Mufasa red carpet. “This is your night.”
“You worked hard and you did such a beautiful job as the voice of Kiara,” added the “Break My Soul” singer, who also stars in the film as Nala. “Your family could not be prouder. Keep shining.”
The new live-action Mufasa comes five years after the 2019 remake of The Lion King, which also found Bey voicing the character of Nala and contributing a self-curated soundtrack album titled The Gift. The LP reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and earned a Grammy nod for best pop vocal album.
Trending on Billboard
Half a decade later, the vocalist is now sharing the cinematic spotlight with Blue, whom she joined on the red carpet Monday along with Jay-Z and Tina Knowles. The next day, Good Morning America aired a behind-the-scenes clip of the mom-daughter duo recording their parts for the movie — in which Bey’s firstborn at one point asks her mom to stop staring at her, to which the Destiny’s Child alum responds, “I can’t help it — you’re just too beautiful.”
“Seeing Blue as Kiara and hearing her voice come out of that character … it’s really hard to focus and do my job after that,” Bey says in a sit-down interview portion, tears welling up in her eyes. “I can’t believe that’s my baby.”
Blue Ivy adds, “This is just a great experience for me, and I’m really happy that girls who look like me all around the world are able to watch this movie and hear and see themselves in it.”
Bey — who also shares 7-year-old twins Rumi and Sir with the Roc Nation founder — has worked with her eldest daughter before. Blue joined her mom on some of the Renaissance Tour in 2023, performing choreography for “My Power” and “Black Parade” on stage on certain dates of the world trek — an opportunity Bey says the tween had to do some convincing in order to secure.
“She told me she was ready to perform, and I told her no,” the superstar said in last year’s Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé, before noting that the resistance only made Blue train harder.
Mufasa: The Lion King hits theaters Dec. 20. Watch Bey and Blue on GMA below.
It was a très joyeux occasion for Paris and the world beyond this past Dec. 7, when the city’s Notre-Dame Cathedral reopened its doors after a five-year closure, which followed a 2019 fire which burned through the building’s roof. After years of rebuilding and renovations, the 860-year old Gothic cathedral has been restored to new glory.
This past weekend, celebrities and politicians including First Lady Jill Biden and President Elect Donald Trump traveled to Paris for the reopening of Notre-Dame, which included prayer, religious rites and speeches, including one from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Also, there was techno.
Trending on Billboard
A series of musical performances featured artists including Pharrell (who sang his 2013 hit “Happy”), French singer Garou, famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and French electronic producer Michael Canitrot. His 10-minute set in front of the soaring cathedral included his own tracks “Light Odyssey” and “Niteroi,” along with an unreleased production called “Icon” and a remix of Moby‘s 1991 classic “Go.”
“It was incredible, you could feel the emotion in all the artists,” Canitrot tells Billboard. “And as an electronic music artist, it was also a great opportunity to meet other artists like the violinist Gautier Capuçon or Pharrell, who played just before me with a 60-strong choir.”
See video and exclusive photo from the performance below.
Canitrot is well-acquainted with playing in the presence of historic buildings. His ongoing performance series, Monumental, has included sets in front of structures like the Eiffel Tower, the Notre-Dameof Laon cathedral in northern France and nearly 20 other architecturally and culturally signifiant buildings, largely in France, with some funding by the French National Commission for UNESCO.
With these shows, Canitrot presents historic monuments in futuristic ways, using electronic music, lights and video mapping to create immersive experiences that Canitrot says “resonate with both electronic music audiences and the wider public.” His track record with conceptualizing and pulling off these shows “certainly played an important role in securing the Notre-Dame gig,” he says.
He and his team from Monumental, made of roughly 30 visual designers, lighting experts, technical producers and more, worked for months to make this show perfect. The focus was, he says, “on paying tribute to the greatness of Notre-Dame while offering a show that highlights electronic music and heritage.”
The pressure was high for the show, especially as Canitrot had to play it without rehearsing, given that his rehearsal was cut short by heavy winds the night prior. “That’s always quite stressful on such an important and technical show,” he says, “but in the end everything went well.”
Although his performance was relatively brief, Canitrot accomplished a lot in ten minutes. His performance was sequenced into visual and sonic chapters that went through themes of architectural renaissance and honoring builders from the past and present, then nodded to life and elevation via plant-inspired visuals, then paid homage the the cathedral’s new reliquary before shifting to a message of universal peace. These visuals were created in collaboration with Canitrot’s teams at Monumental Tour, AVExtended, and frequent collaborators Jérémie Bellot, and François Deretz, who altogether brought created music and visuals that bathed the famous cathedral in swirling lights and lasers.
With this performance, Canitrot not only added a globally significant performance to his resume, but helped expose electronic music to those who may not often hear it.
“I’ll always remember the moment when, at the end of my set, one of the church officials came to congratulate me,” he says. “To be able to play [electronic] music at such a moment was really important for me, it puts it on the same level as all other music and continues to democratize it for a wider audience.”
Michael Canitrot at Notre-Dame
yo0ujo
Michael Canitrot at Notre-Dame
yo0ujo
Michael Canitrot at Notre-Dame
yo0ujo
An Argentinian judge has charged two hotel workers in relation to Liam Payne‘s death, Rolling Stone reported Tuesday (Dec. 10), citing new documents.
According to the filings — which come about two months after the One Direction star suffered a fatal fall from the third-story balcony of his hotel in Buenos Aires — the publication reports that the two are CasaSur Palermo employees. The first is reportedly the hotel’s manager, while the second person is the receptionist head who called 911 leading up to Payne’s Oct. 16 death.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
It is not clear from the documents what specifically the two parties are being charged with, per the publication. The judge has only asked that the manager and receptionist be notified of the charges, calling for all suspects in the case to be questioned amid local authorities’ ongoing investigation into what played out the night of Payne’s fall, according to Rolling Stone, citing the documents obtained.
“Since there is sufficient reason to suspect that they have participated in the investigated act, we ask that the following people give a statement,” reads the filing.
Three others were previously charged in connection to the case: two individuals who work for the hotel are accused of supplying the “Strip That Down” singer with drugs, as well as a friend accused of abandonment of a person followed by death. All of them were detained by police in November.
All five individuals named by the judge will now have to face the courts. After interrogations, it’ll be up to the judge to decide whether they should be further prosecuted or dropped from the case.
Payne died Oct. 16 of multiple traumas. Toxicology reports showed that he had multiple substances in his system at the time, including alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants.
Leading up to his fall from the balcony, the reception head named in the new documents placed two 911 calls. The first was to report that a guest was “trashing the entire room,” and in the second call, he urged that the guest’s life “may be in danger.” The receptionist also asked the dispatcher to send only emergency medical services, and to abstain from sending the police as well, according to a transcript of the call.
The latest update in the investigation comes about three weeks after Payne was laid to rest in a private service attended by his One Direction bandmates, family and girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
Mariah Carey has a million reasons to be thankful this holiday season. In fact, the Queen of Christmas has 16 million reasons according to the RIAA, which recently announced that Carey’s yuletide classic single, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” has been certified 16x Platinum. The perennial holiday favorite — which was once again […]
In March 2020, Elena Rose was a songwriter in her mid-twenties who had helped craft hits for Latin superstars like Becky G and Myke Towers. She was content with her day job, but as lockdown began to take hold, the Venezuelan American had an early-pandemic revelation.
“I really thought that the world was coming to an end,” she says. “When I saw that my voice had not been heard, it made me sad.”
While Rose continued to work behind the scenes — her songwriting credits to-date include Billboard chart entries and collaborations with Selena Gomez, Bad Bunny, Marc Anthony, and the Becky G-Karol G team-up “MAMIII,” which reached No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart — she made her singing debut as an independent artist that May with the Latin urban song “Sandunga.” She paired the release with a colorful music video that showcased her striking presence and alluded to her superstar capabilities.
Trending on Billboard
Today, the 29-year-old has fully realized her potential, breaking through in recent months on the Billboard charts as a performer with “Orion,” her collaboration with Panamanian star Boza.
Born Andrea Elena Mangiamarchi in Miami to Venezuelan parents, Rose grew up between Puerto Rico and Venezuela before returning to her hometown due to sociopolitical and economic crises in the South American country. No matter her location, she loved to sing anywhere and everywhere: initially, she began as a performer, singing in bars, restaurants and at parties.
She met mentor and producer Patrick Romantik in Miami in her early twenties, who brought Rose to the studio and taught her the ins and outs of the technology, while also letting her observe sessions to learn about the songwriting process. “And my years of silence began,” she reflects. “I remember they told me, ‘OK, you can be here, but we cannot feel you.’ ”
During that time, she watched writers and producers such as Servando Primera, Yasmil Murrufo and Mario Cáceres create hits including Becky G’s “Mayores” featuring Bad Bunny in 2019, which reached No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100. Along the way, she gained an informal music education as a hitmaker.
“When I worked in bars in Miami, the musicians were Ricky Martin’s percussionist, Alejandro Sanz’s pianist, the bassist who had played with Stevie Wonder,” Rose says. “It was my best school because they were people who had experienced music, understood it and wanted to preserve it.”
Elena Rose photographed September 26, 2024 at Grove Studios in Miami.
Mary Beth Koeth
She continued to self-release new singles through the next few years, such as “La Ducha” and “Picachu” and made appearances at key industry events such as Billboard Latin Music Week, where she has participated every year since 2021 either as a panelist or a performer. In summer 2022, she signed a record label deal with Warner Music Latina.
“Her lyrics, her voice, her presence and the ability she has to convey emotions is unparalleled,” said the label’s president Alejandro Duque at the time. In September of the following year, she agreed to a management deal with OCESA Seitrack, whose artists include superstars such as Sanz and Alejandro Fernández.
“The day I sat down a year and a half ago to have dinner with her, I was blown away,” says OCESA Seitrack founder/CEO Alex Mizrahi. He adds today that he recognized her as “a diamond in the rough” with the potential of becoming “the next Karol G” in terms of success.
In the year-plus since then, she has released soulful solo songs, including the empowering “Me Lo Merezco” in March. But her collaborations with artists spanning genres on her November EP, En Las Nubes (Con Mis Panas), and elsewhere have taken her to new markets — chiefly with “Orion.” Sophisticated in both its lyrics and production, the song is a captivating fusion of reggaetón, salsa and Afrobeats. It has an irresistibly playful bridge from Boza, and with Rose’s evocative writing, the single shows new layers to both artists.
“I made the song ‘Orion’ at a [writers] camp in Miami a year ago,” remembers Boza. “I heard it with the producer, Daramola, and the songwriters, Essa Gante and Omar, and at that moment we already knew that we needed a female voice. Together with my team, we thought of Elena.”
Adds Rose: “When this song came to me, I remember saying, ‘OK, it has a soul, it has something nice. If you allow me, I want to take it to my world and see how I can give it a little more of myself.’ I remember that was when I gave love to the chorus, changed the lyrics, and wrote my verse. I feel that, for me, the concept of ‘Orion’ became a source of information on emotional intelligence.”
The song was released May 29 on Sony Music Latin (Boza’s record label), with an official music video arriving the following day. Though Rose recorded her part separately, they got together to shoot the video in Panama, which has since tallied more than 105 million views on YouTube. “Orion” steadily began to take hold at radio as well, and by mid-September, it debuted at No. 20 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. Three weeks later, it arrived on the overall Latin Airplay ranking. It has held ever since on both, with “Orion” spending the last six weeks at No. 2 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. It has also reached a No. 15 high on Latin Airplay. “Working with her is like traveling to another planet,” Boza says of Rose.
As her public profile reached new heights fueled by the song’s success, so did her status within the industry: in September, she earned three Latin Grammy nominations, for song of the year for “Caracas En El 2000” with Danny Ocean and Jerry Di; best pop/rock song for “Blanco y Negro,” a LAGOS song featuring Rose; and best regional song for her hand in Becky G’s “Por El Contrario,” which she co-wrote with Latin hitmakers Edgar Barrera and Keityn. (The year prior, she was the only woman to be nominated when the songwriter of the year category was inaugurated.)
Rose has continued to prioritize her collaborative efforts, releasing both the country-tinged ballad “A Las 12 Te Olvidé” with Ha*Ash and a Latin pop song infused with cumbia and urban rhythms, “Pa’ Qué Volviste?” with Maria Becerra, as non-EP singles in November. And while her success with Boza has made her a recognizable face in Panama — Rose coyly says that a recent flight she was taking was delayed after the co-pilot requested a photo with her — Mizrahi teases that more duets are on the immediate horizon, which aim to bolster her following in other countries.
In the coming months, there are plans for releases with Camilo and Morat (both from Colombia), Sanz (Spain) and Los Ángeles Azules (Mexico). She is also scheduled to perform at both Lollapalooza Argentina and Lollapalooza Chile in March 2025. “The goal is to bring Elena’s music to the world,” Mizrahi says, “to make her a global artist.”
Elena Rose photographed September 26, 2024 at Grove Studios in Miami.
Mary Beth Koeth
A version of this story appears in the Dec. 14, 2024, issue of Billboard.
The lineup for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025 has added a galaxy of stars to this year’s lineup. The West Coast portion of the show will include Alanis Morissette with special guest Reneé Rapp, as well as Dasha, DJ Cassidy’s “Pass the Mic Live!” with Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Slick […]
Honoring the Grateful Dead without including co-founder Jerry Garcia, which the Kennedy Centers Honors program is doing this year, would be like honoring Earth, Wind & Fire without including Maurice White. Oh wait – the Kennedy Center did that too, in 2019, when they honored three members of the groundbreaking R&B group, but not its principal architect.
It’s not that the Kennedy Center is unaware of what a crucial role Garcia and White played in those groups. It’s just that they reserve their honors for artists who are living. Garcia died in 1995, 29 years before the group was chosen for the Kennedy Center Honors. White died in 2016, three years before EWF got the nod.
Trending on Billboard
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors were presented on Sunday Dec. 8 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. The show, hosted by Queen Latifah, will air on CBS on Sunday Dec. 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
The members of Grateful Dead who are being honored are drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, bass guitarist Phil Lesh and rhythm guitarist Bobby Weir. Lesh died on Oct. 25, three months after this year’s honorees were announced. (The Kennedy Center allows posthumous inductions if the honorees were selected before they died.)
Two other groups received Kennedy Center Honors without key members who had died by the time the groups were included. The Who was honored in 2008, but without drummer Keith Moon, who died in 1978, or bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002. Led Zeppelin were honored in 2012, but drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, was not posthumously included.
The Kennedy Center Honors’ site makes plain that the awards “provide recognition to living individuals (emphasis added) who throughout their lifetimes have made significant contributions to American culture through the performing arts.” (Here’s a link to the site’s list of previous inductees.)
Eagles were selected for the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015, but founding member Glenn Frey was too ill to attend, so the honor was postponed one year. By that time, Frey had died, but the Center included him as a recipient anyway – on the grounds that the group was selected before he died. I’ll take it, but a better reason to honor him would have been that he co-founded the genre-bridging group with Don Henley and it wouldn’t have been what it was without him.
Mercifully, all four members of U2 were alive when the band received the honors in 2022. So were both members of The Nicholas Brothers, a popular dance duo of the 1930s to the 1950s. But if one of them had passed away, should that have precluded them from receiving the honor?
The Beatles, the GOAT of all pop and rock groups, are conspicuous by their absence on the roster of Kennedy Center Honors recipients. Paul McCartney was honored as an individual in 2010. A century from now, people looking over the list of Kennedy Center Honors recipients will find it strange that McCartney was honored but the group in which he did his best and most lasting work was not. Why haven’t they been? John Lennon died in 1980, followed by George Harrison in 2001. Their deaths are tragic losses, but why should those deaths keep the group from receiving an award it undisputably deserves?
Bee Gees were never honored. Instead, Barry Gibb got a solo nod in 2023, after the deaths of his brothers Maurice in 2003 and Robin in 2012. Even Barry Gibb would probably say it would have made more sense for him to be saluted alongside his brothers. Almost all of their successes as recording artists were as a unit.
The Beach Boys were never honored. Instead, Brian Wilson got a solo nod in 2007. He was unquestionably the group’s resident genius, but the quintet was one of the most iconic American groups of all time. Unfortunately, Wilson’s brother Dennis died in 1983, followed by Carl in 1998.
There are a few cases where it’s debatable whether it would have made more sense to honor an individual or the entire group. The Kennedy Center honored R&B great Mavis Staples in 2016. Two other members of The Staple Singers had died by that point – Pops Staples (in 2000) and Cleotha Staples (in 2013). In similar fashion, Gladys Knight was honored in 2022. Two other members of the mighty Gladys Knight & the Pips had died at that point – Edward Patten (in 2005) and William Guest (in 2015). There are arguments to be made on both sides about whether it made more sense to honor Staples and Knight as individuals or with the groups in which they had most of their greatest successes, but the fact that group members had died should not be the deciding factor.
When the Kennedy Center Honors finally get around to The Rolling Stones (and what are they waiting for?) it would be nice if they included drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. Other groups that are (or should be) on their list of future inductees which have both living and dead members include Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Pink Floyd and Queen.
It’s a sad fact of life that artists die. But with our greatest artists, their work lives on. The Kennedy Center should modify its rules so all key members of groups and duos are honored, whether they’re still living at the time of their inductions or have taken their final earthly bows.
The Kennedy Center Honors has become perhaps the most prestigious honor in American arts and entertainment. Who they choose to honor matters. That’s why they should take a close look at this limiting policy.
If they start to honor group members who have died, should they also change their rules and honor individuals who have died – maybe one per year? I certainly wouldn’t object. They could start with Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby, who died in 1977, the year before the Kennedy Center Honors got underway. And they could catch up to some other great artists they missed, including Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Burt Bacharach.
This year’s other honorees, in addition to the Dead, are Bonnie Raitt, jazz musician Arturo Sandoval; director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; and The Apollo, which will receive a special Honors as an iconic American institution.