Music

09 Nov 2022

Flume Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Debut With a Cut That ‘Never Quite Made It Onto An Album’

It’s been a full decade since Flume unleashed his first collection of sonic specimens, with his self-titled debut album. To celebrate, the Sydney producer opens the vault and drops “Slugger 1.4 [2014 Export.WAV],” an expansive cut with a belting beat and all the fades and feels of old-school Flume, which somehow never found a home.

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“Made this one in Paris, always loved this demo but it never quite made it onto an album,” writes Flume, known to friends and family as Harley Streten. “I figured now that it’s 10 years since my first album was released it would be a good time to share. Hope you like it.”

Released through Future Classic, Flume was a critical and commercial success, blasting to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, winning the J Award for Australian album of the year, and setting him up for the biggest stages on the planet.

The album was so influential, Flume would radically change his sound to escape the copycats.

Next up was Flume’s 2016 LP Skin, which won the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album, the ARIA Award for album of the year, and its first release “Never Be like You” won triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown.

Like its predecessor, Skin hit No. 1 in Australia, but it also gave the electronic music star his first U.S. top 10, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. His 59-date world tour in support of the album sold over 300,000 tickets, reps say.

In 2019, Flume’s Hi This Is Flume mixtape earned him a second Grammy nomination for best dance/electronic album and his third and most recent studio LP, Palaces, from May 2022, is up for six ARIA Awards and recently scooped a J Award nomination.

Following a run of headline U.S. dates and festivals, Flume returns home this week to wrap up his world tour, starting Friday with a sold-out show at Perth’s Red Hill Auditorium.

09 Nov 2022

Tyrone Downie, Keyboardist With The Wailers, Dies at 66

Tyrone Downie, a keyboardist and producer who is best known for his work as a member of Bob Marley & The Wailers, died Saturday (Nov. 5) in Kingston, Jamaica after a brief illness. He was 66.

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Born May 20, 1956 in the capital, Downie was drawn to music from a young age. He went on to study at the Kingston College and often sang with the chapel choir.

Downie carved his name in music history when he joined Marley’s band in 1973, making his recording debut on Rastaman Vibration, and contributing keys and backup vocals to some of legendary reggae act’s recordings into the 1980s.

“Reflecting on brother Tyrone Downie, Bob’s keyboardist, who made his transition yesterday,” reads a statement on the late Marley’s official social accounts. “Rest in peace brother.”

Across his career, Downie also played with The Abyssinians, Beenie Man, Black Uhuru, Buju Banton, Peter Tosh, Junior Reid, Tom Tom Club, Ian Dury, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, Alpha Blondy, Tiken Jah Fakoly and Sly & Robbie, and, prior to the Wailers, was a member of the Impact All Stars.

A statement from Tuff Gong studio in Kingston, founded by Marley, reads: “We are saddened to learn of the passing of Wailers keyboardist, Tyrone Downie. Tyrone joined The Wailers just before the age of 20, making his recording debut with the band on Rastaman Vibration. We are blessed to count him as a member of the Tuff Gong Family.”

Several of Downie’s compositions appeared on the big screen, including 1989’s Slaves of New York and The Mighty Quinn.

Downie settled in France in the mid-to-late 1990s, during which time he focused on production and worked closely with Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour.

The multi-instrumentalist also had an impact on Grace Jones, the iconic Jamaica-born singer and actor. Jones penned the 1983 song “My Jamaican Guy,” which she later revealed was written about Downie.

Downie went on to released the solo album Organ-D — his nickname — in 2001.

He is survived by nine children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, The Gleaner reports.

09 Nov 2022

Watch VASSY Perform at Denver Nuggets’ NBA Game

When VASSY shoots, she scores.

The hitmaking Australian singer and songwriter is a star in the EDM space, with several slam dunks of her own.

Earlier this year, her 2014 hit “Bad” with David Guetta and Showtek passed one billion streams on YouTube, and a posterizing two billion plays across all platforms.

Born in Darwin, now based in the United States, VASSY boasts six No. 1s on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart (including “Bad” and 2018’s “Lost” with Afrojack featuring Oliver Rosa), she’s had songs featured in film and TV, including the trailer for Disney’s Frozen, won a prestigious International Dance Music Award and, last year, joined APRA AMCOS’ The 1,000,000,000 List.

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The wins don’t stop there. In 2013, she became the first Australian artist to hit No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart with her solo number “We Are Young,” and she has played to heaving audiences around the globe, including Miami’s Ultra Music Festival, Belgium’s Tomorrowland, and New York’s Electric Zoo.

This week, the multi-platinum artist added an NBA halftime show to her collection of career highlights.

Wearing the No. 50 jersey of two-time NBA dunk contest runner-up Aaron Gordon, VASSY performed a mini-set on Denver’s Ball Arena homecourt, on Pride Night.

“Had a blast,” she writes on her socials. “Such an epic night.”

VASSY turned out to be a good luck charm for the home team, whose roster includes reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic and fellow Aussie, Duke alum Jack White, who signed a two-way contract in the off-season.

The Nuggets held off the San Antonio Spurs, 126-101. And for the record, VASSY got to keep Gordon’s jersey.

Watch below and keep an ear out for the fresh cut “Pieces,” by VASSY X Bingo Players X Disco Fries, due out this Friday (Nov. 11).

09 Nov 2022

Rihanna’s ‘Lift Me Up’ Debuts at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart

Rihanna’s long-awaited return yields an immediate chart-topper as “Lift Me Up” debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart dated Nov. 12. The single, from the soundtrack to the Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, gives the superstar her eighth champ on the list.

“Lift” traces its arrival on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which combines streaming, sales and radio airplay, to 22.6 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Nov. 3, according to Luminate. The sum sparks a No. 1 start on R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs to secure Rihanna’s fifth career leader there. In the same period, the track sold 23,000 downloads and opens at No. 2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales list. On the airplay front, “Lift” registered 42.6 million in radio audience across all formats. (All airplay, regardless of genre format, contributes to a song’s rank on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.)

The new champ gives Rihanna her eighth No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and her first in more than five years. Here’s a recap of her collection:

Song Title, Artist (if other than Rihanna), Weeks at No. 1, Reached at No. 1
“Take a Bow,” one, Aug. 30, 2008
“Diamonds,” 14, Oct. 20, 2012
“The Monster,” Eminem featuring Rihanna, 13, Nov. 16, 2013
“FourFiveSeconds,” with Ye & Paul McCartney, seven, Feb. 21, 2015
“Work,” featuring Drake, 11, Feb. 13, 2016
“Needed Me,” two, Sept. 24, 2016
“Wild Thoughts,” DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna & Bryson Tiller, seven, July 29, 2017
“Lift Me Up,” one (to date), Nov. 12, 2022

Elsewhere, “Lift Me Up,” likewise debuts at No. 1 on the Hot R&B Songs chart, where the superstar lands her sixth champ. The achievement extends her record as the female artist with the most No. 1s on the list, which began in 2012. Overall, Rihanna ranks third in the count, behind The Weeknd (nine) and Drake (seven).

On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, “Lift” enters at No. 2.

Echoing its strong out-of-the-gate streaming and sales placements, the song also remains a force on multiple radio genre formats after the first full tracking week, which runs Monday – Sunday, following the song’s Oct. 28 release. It ascends 27-16 on Rhythmic Airplay, 24-18 on Adult Pop Airplay, 25-20 on Pop Airplay and 26-22 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. Plus, it repeats at No. 17 on Adult Contemporary.

09 Nov 2022

The 1975’s Matt Healy Eats Raw Meat Onstage: Watch

The 1975 frontman Matty Healy brought out an unusual snack while onstage at the band’s New York show: raw meat. The British singer pulled out a slab of red meat while performing at Madison Square Garden, causing a major spectacle.

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A shirtless Healy devoured the meat before getting on his knees and crawling across the stage.

The spectacle was not new for fans of The 1975, who are used to Healy’s onstage antics. Even Healy’s mother, actress Denise Welch, tweeted that she witnessed his bizarre behavior as well. “I saw it too,” she wrote with three cry-laughing emojis in response to a journalist who tweeted: “There is no way I could possibly explain to my 18-year-old self that I just watched Matty Healy grope himself onstage and eat a raw steak before crawling into a television.”

It wasn’t just viewers in New York that got to see the act: The concert was broadcast on Twitch as a part of an Amazon Music UK event.

The band is currently on tour after releasing its fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, last month. The Madison Square Garden show is just the tour’s third stop since beginning Nov. 3 in Connecticut. The North American leg of the band’s tour will end in Pittsburgh on Dec. 17.

Watch a safe-for-work version of the video below:

09 Nov 2022

Britney Spears Dismisses the Idea of a Biopic About Her Life: ‘Dude I’m Not Dead!!!’

On Tuesday (Nov. 8), Britney Spears put to rest any speculation of a biopic about her life and career coming anytime soon.

“Yeah I know I’ve posted too much this week on Instagram… kinda fun though !!! Now that I’m breathing … I have time … it’s different !!! I like it !!!” she posted alongside an artsy photo of a set of doors. “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life … dude I’m not dead !!!”

Without naming names, the “Hold Me Closer” singer’s thoughts on a potential movie adaptation of her life came hours after Millie Bobby Brown claimed that playing Spears would be her dream role in an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show. “I think her story, first of all, resonates with me,” the 18-year-old Stranger Things actress said on the show. “Growing up in the public eye, watching her videos, watching interviews of her when she was young…And I don’t know her, but when I look at pictures of her, I feel like I could tell her story in the right way — and hers only.”

However, after shooting down the possibility of a biopic, Spears immediately turned her ire on her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, over keeping her in the legal conservatorship that controlled her life for 13 years. “Although it’s pretty f—ing clear they preferred me dead,” she continued in her lengthy caption followed by a series of eye-rolling emojis. “I guess my family is going to lock their doors now.”

Meanwhile, if Spears isn’t down to work with her, Brown still has her secret collaborations with pal Mariah Carey to focus on, having hinted on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon recently that she’s already recorded music with the Elusive Chanteuse herself.

Read Britney’s latest Instagram post in full below.

09 Nov 2022

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’ Hits 8 Billion Views on YouTube

With 8 billion views, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee‘s “Despacito” extends its reign as the most-viewed music video on YouTube — by a long shot.

The closest competitor to the nearly five-minute clip for the 2017 smash hit is Ed Sheeran‘s “Shape of You,” which has raked in 5.8 billion views.

“Who would of thought that a melody over my guitar that morning in my house would be listened to in so many places, by so many people,” Fonsi wrote on social media celebrating the song’s new milestone. “It’s been almost six years and I still can’t believe it. The words THANK YOU don’t cover it. 8 billion views, sounds so nice.”

Fonsi continued thanking those who made it all possible, including Daddy Yankee, Justin Bieber who jumped on the remix, his co-writer Erika Ender, producers Andrés Torres and Mauricio Rengifo and video director Carlos Pérez, to name a few, and his island of Puerto Rico, where they filmed the video, featuring former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera.

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“Despacito,” released via Universal Music Latino in January 2017, is the gift that keeps on giving. Four months after the music video made its debut on YouTube, it hit the 1 billion mark back when it got a boost from a bilingual remix that featured Bieber.

Five years ago in May, the remix with Bieber reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made global history. Furthermore, “Despacito” topped the Hot Latin Songs chart for a record 56 (non-consecutive) weeks, spending the most weeks at No. 1 for any title since the chart’s inception in 1986.

09 Nov 2022

Alabama’s 40 Biggest Billboard Hits, From ‘Tennessee River’ to ‘Old Alabama’

As previously reported, Jeff Cook, of cornerstone country group Alabama, died Tuesday (Nov. 8) at age 73 at his home in Destin, Fla., according to Don Murry Grubbs, a representative for the band.

The band became an unprecedented force on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, amassing 33 No. 1s – the most among duos or groups – among 51 top 10s between 1980 and 2011.

The group – with Cook, on guitar, fiddle, keyboards and backing vocals, and his cousins Randy Owen (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Teddy Gentry (bass, backing vocals) its longest-running members, dating to its 1969 formation in Fort Payne, Ala. – first topped Hot Country Songs with its first top 10, “Tennessee River,” in August 1980. Starting with the song, the band rattled off a record 21 No. 1s in a row (counting proper, non-seasonal singles) through 1987, highlighting its signature mix of rollicking core-country, pop-rock touches and affecting ballads.

Alabama also scored crossover success, notching five top 10s on the Adult Contemporary chart. On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, the band tallied three top 20 hits, as well as its No. 29-peaking 1999 collaboration with *NSYNC, an update of the latter’s “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You.”

Alabama added its 33rd Hot Country Songs leader as featured on Brad Paisley’s 2011 tribute track “Old Alabama.” Among all acts, only George Strait (44), Conway Twitty (40), Merle Haggard (38) and Ronnie Milsap (35) have more No. 1s on the ranking.

On Top Country Albums, Alabama has charted 11 No. 1s among 26 top 10s, most recently reaching the top 10 with the No. 2-peaking Southern Drawl in 2015. Two years earlier, Alabama & Friends reached No. 2, with the set sporting covers of the group’s classics by stars including Kenny Chesney, Florida Georgia Line and Trisha Yearwood.

Just last month, Alabama hit the Country Digital Song Sales chart with its 1983 Hot Country Songs No. 1 “Dixieland Delight,” sparked by the song’s prominent part in the celebration of the University of Tennessee football team’s triumph Oct. 15.

Here is a recap of Alabama’s most successful singles on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. The group’s 1989 No. 1 “High Cotton” tops the tally. “We were walkin’ in high cotton,” Owen sings in the song, which echoes the band’s musical legacy. “Old times there are not forgotten. Those fertile fields are never far away.”

Alabama’s 40 Biggest Billboard Hits:

1, “High Cotton,” No. 1 (one week), 1989
2, “Down Home,” No. 1 (three weeks), 1991
3, “Forever’s as Far as I’ll Go,” No. 1 (one week), 1991
4, “Jukebox in My Mind,” No. 1 (four weeks), 1990
5, “Dixieland Delight,” No. 1 (one week), 1983
6, “Love in the First Degree,” No. 1 (two weeks), 1981
7, “Feels So Right,” No. 1 (two weeks), 1981
8, “Fallin’ Again,” No. 1 (one week), 1988
9, “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas,” No. 1 (one week), 1984
10, “Can’t Keep a Good Man Down,” No. 1 (one week), 1985

11, “Lady Down on Love,” No. 1 (one week), 1983
12, “There’s No Way,” No. 1 (one week), 1985
13, “Song of the South,” No. 1 (one week), 1989
14, “40 Hour Week (For a Livin’),” No. 1 (one week), 1985
15, “Old Flame,” No. 1 (one week), 1981
16, “Face to Face,” No. 1 (one week), 1988
17, “The Closer You Get,” No. 1 (one week), 1983
18, “Take Me Down,” No. 1 (one week), 1982
19, “If I Had You,” No. 1 (one week), 1989
20, “She and I,” No. 1 (one week), 1986

21, “Reckless,” No. 1 (one week), 1993
22, “Why Lady Why,” No. 1 (one week), 1980
23, “I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why),” No. 1 (two weeks), 1992
24, “Tennessee River,” No. 1 (one week), 1980
25, “‘You’ve Got’ The Touch,” No. 1 (one week), 1987
26, “Mountain Music,” No. 1 (one week), 1982
27, “Touch Me When We’re Dancing,” No. 1 (one week), 1986
28, “Close Enough to Perfect,” No. 1 (one week), 1982
29, “Southern Star,” No. 1 (one week), 1990
30, ” (There’s A) Fire in the Night,” No. 1 (one week), 1985

31, “Old Alabama” (Brad Paisley feat. Alabama), No. 1 (two weeks), 2011
32, “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler),” No. 1 (one week), 1984
33, “Here We Are,” No. 2, 1991
34, “When We Make Love,” No. 1 (one week), 1984
35, “Hometown Honeymoon,” No. 3, 1993
36, “Pass It On Down,” No. 3, 1990
37, “Take a Little Trip,” No. 2, 1992
38, “Born Country,” No. 2, 1992
39, “Then Again,” No. 4, 1991
40, “Once Upon a Lifetime,” No. 3, 1993

Alabama’s 40 Biggest Billboard Hits recap is based on actual performance on Billboard‘s weekly Hot Country Songs chart. The ranking is based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 having the greatest value and weeks at lower ranks proportionately less. Due to various changes in chart rules and methodology through the years, songs have had reigns at No. 1 and on the chart of varying average lengths. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from all years, certain time frames were weighted to account for the differences in song turnover rates.

08 Nov 2022

Alabama’s Jeff Cook Mourned by Jason Aldean, Travis Tritt & More Country Stars: ‘What an Iconic Sound He Had’

Alabama co-founder Jeff Cook died on Tuesday (Nov. 8) at age 73, and country stars including Jason Aldean and Travis Tritt have turned to social media to honor the late guitarist.

“So sad to hear of the passing of Jeff Cook,” tweeted the “Trouble With a Heartbreak” singer along with a picture of himself and the band. “I spent a lot of my life listening to him play guitar, what an iconic sound he had. I got a chance to perform with him multiple times over the years and I will never forget it.”

Tritt tweeted, “Sending out my deepest condolences to the family, friends and band mates of Jeff Cook from @TheAlabamaBand. Such a great guy [and] one heckuva bass fisherman. He will be truly missed” while Charlie Daniels wrote, “Heaven gained another guitar/fiddle player today. Mom and I were saddened to hear about the passing of @TheAlabamaBand’s Jeff Cook after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. Prayers for his family and many fans.”

Cook’s death was also memorialized on Twitter by both the Academy of Country Music and the CMA Awards, with the former organization pointing out that the musician and his bandmates remain the “most awarded group in ACM Awards history.”

In 2021, Alabama sold the entirety of their recorded music rights catalog to Reservoir Media, including 20 albums released on RCA Nashville from 1980 to 2007.

Read more tributes to the memory of Jeff Cook below.

08 Nov 2022

Alabama Co-Founder Jeff Cook Dies at 73

Guitarist Jeff Cook, who co-founded the mega-successful country group Alabama and steered them up the charts with such hits as “Song of the South” and “Dixieland Delight,” has died. He was 73.

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Cook had Parkinson’s disease and disclosed his diagnosis in 2017. He died Tuesday (Nov. 8) at his home in Destin, Florida, said Don Murry Grubbs, a representative for the band.

Tributes poured in from country stars, including Travis Tritt who called Cook “a great guy and one heckuva bass fisherman” and Charlie Daniels, who tweeted that “Heaven gained another guitar/fiddle player today.”

As a guitarist, fiddle player and vocalist, Cook — alongside cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry — landed 33 No. 1 songs on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, including the pop crossover hits “Love in the First Degree” and “Feels So Right,” as well as “Tennessee River” and “Mountain Music.”

“Jeff Cook, and all of the guys in Alabama, were so generous with wisdom and fun when I got to tour with them as a young artist,” Kenny Chesney said in a statement. “They showed a kid in a T-shirt that country music could be rock, could be real, could be someone who looked like me. Growing up in East Tennessee, that gave me the heart to chase this dream.”

The band had a three-year run as CMA entertainer of the year from 1982-85 and received five ACM Awards trophies in that same category from 1981-85. The band was the first three-time winner and the first five-time winner of that top award at the respective shows. Cook stopped touring with Alabama in 2018.

Cook released a handful of solo projects and toured with his Allstar Goodtime Band. He also released collaborations with Charlie Daniels and Star Trek star William Shatner. He entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005 as a member of Alabama.

Survivors include his wife, Lisa.