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Anne Murray, who has received more Juno Awards than anyone else in history, will pick up one more at the 2025 ceremony — the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the National Arts Centre. Murray will become just the second recipient of that award, following Pierre Juneau, a Canadian film and broadcast executive, who received the award in 1989. Juneau, for whom the Juno Awards were named, died in 2012 at age 89.
Murray will be present at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday, March 30, to receive the award, which is her second career-spanning honor at the Junos. She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1993.
This year’s award brings Murray’s Juno collection to 26. She is followed on the Juno leaderboard by The Weeknd (22), Bryan Adams (21), Celine Dion (20), Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (19), The Tragically Hip (17), and Michael Bublé and Alanis Morissette (15 each).
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Murray, 79, received her first Juno Award — top female vocalist — at the second Junos ceremony in 1971. Murray’s collection of Junos includes back-to-back awards for both album of the year and single of the year for 1980-81. She took the album awards with New Kind of Feeling and Anne Murray’s Greatest Hits, and the single prizes with “I Just Fall in Love Again” and “Could I Have This Dance” (the latter from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack).
In addition, Murray hosted the Junos in 1996.
Murray was one of the top pop/country crossover artists of the 1970s and ’80s. She topped the Billboard Hot 100 once (with “You Needed Me” in 1978) and the Hot Country Songs 10 times. She won a Grammy for best female pop vocal performance with “You Needed Me” and for best female country vocal performance three times, with “Love Song,” “Could I Have This Dance” and “A Little Good News.” She is one of just four women to win Grammys in both pop and country solo vocal performance categories. She followed Olivia Newton-John and Linda Ronstadt in accomplishing the feat, and preceded k.d. lang.
Murray made the top 10 on the Hot 100 with her first charted hit. “Snowbird” reached No. 8 in September 1970.
In 1984, she won both album of the year and single of the year at the CMA Awards. She won for “A Little Good News” and the album of the same name. She won vocal duo of the year the following year in tandem with the late Dave Loggins (who was a second cousin to Kenny Loggins). In addition, she co-hosted the CMA Awards three times.
Murray is a Companion of the Order of Canada — the highest honor that can be awarded to a Canadian civilian. She has been inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, and in 2008 received the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Murray has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Nashville’s Walkway of Stars.
Murray has also received three American Music Awards and three Canadian Country Music Association Awards.
Boi-1da and Sum 41 are also set to receive special honors during this year’s Juno Awards. Boi-1da will receive the International Achievement Award (to be presented by Jessie Reyez). Sum 41 will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (with Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte doing the honors).
Bublé is set to host this year’s Juno Awards, which will broadcast and stream live across Canada on Sunday, March 30, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, and globally on the CBC’s website and CBC Music’s YouTube page. The show will be produced by Insight Productions (a Boat Rocker company).
Dua Lipa brought a bit of rock to her set as she tours down under. The superstar took the stage at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday night (March 17), where she added a new song to her tour set — a cover of AC/DC’s 1979 classic, “Highway to Hell.” The tribute is […]
Will Smith will be taking his MC skills on the road for the first time in decades. The Grammy-winning polymath announced his Based on a True Story Summer Tour on Monday (March 17), which will hit major cities in the U.K. and Europe this summer. The tour kicks off in Hamburg, Germany, on July 13, […]
Music fans are amping up for 2025 to be the biggest year ever in stadium touring and leading the pack is Beyoncé, whose Cowboy Carter Tour has posted impressive sales after a month of ticket availability. The “Texas Hold ’Em” singer initially faced significant criticism when early presales revealed aggressive ticket prices for the now-31-date stadium tour through nine major markets — L.A., Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Houston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Las Vegas.
Some fans criticized Bey’s high prices — tickets in her stageside Club Ho-Down section cost $1,795 a piece — but they also bought a lot of tickets. Beyoncé sold more than 1 million tickets during the fan and sponsor presales and today two-thirds of the stops on the tour — all of the dates in Houston, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Chicago and three of her five nights in New York — are effectively sold out, with Live Nation announcing that 94% of all tickets have already been sold.
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The Cowboy Carter Tour likely won’t outgross her 2023 Renaissance Tour — which ran 55 dates compared to 30 for Cowboy Carter — but she will earn far more on average than Renaissance thanks to higher ticket prices. It’s an impressive feat considering the number of A-list stadium tours competing for fan dollars this summer, including Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Shakira, The Weeknd and BlackPink.
The Beyoncé tour’s economic prowess is derived from its high ticket prices, priced to match what scalpers would sell the tickets for on the secondary market. Fans got their first glimpse of ticket prices on Feb. 11 for the Beyhive presale, the first of a handful of ticket presales for Beyoncé. Fans were required to register in advance for the presale and then wait to receive an email notifying them when it was their turn to try and purchase tickets for the high-demand outing.
Once the sale opened, they were given access to a wide range of tickets and prices, with nosebleeds as low as $102 while floor seats and tickets inside Beyoncé’s standing-room fan areas starting at $877 and rising to several thousand dollars per seat.
For example, tickets in the 500s section at SoFi Stadium in the upper seating area were among the least expensive for Los Angeles, priced at $166 apiece, while tickets on the floor started at $878 per ticket. The most expensive tickets at SoFi Stadium were priced at $1,422 for floor seats, while many floor tickets were priced between $1,000 to $1,200.
The tickets were aggressively priced — according to Billboard’s own non-weighted analysis, the average ticket price during the presale was $670 per ticket. The range in pricing also did cause some confusion among fans, many of whom accused Ticketmaster of using surge-pricing tactics during the ticket sale process, a practice the company denies. While Ticketmaster uses algorithms to help set prices ahead of a ticket sale, it does not adjust prices after they go on sale nor does it engage in surge pricing during periods of high demand.
While fans claimed to have seen prices change, what likely happened was that fans were comparing price points across multiple sections and seeing large variations in prices in seating sections that appeared close to one another. For example, tickets on the 100 level for Beyoncé’s June 28-29 shows in Houston saw large swings in price — the 138 section had tickets priced at $455, while just four sections over in 134, tickets were priced at $565. Closer to the stage, prices in section 102 were at $636 while tickets in section 108 were $852.
That variation in price across multiple sections confused fans who logged into the presale and had limited time to comparison shop. Adding to the confusion was that some of the least expensive tickets were first to sell during the presale, creating the perception that tickets were getting more expensive and the price was increasing, as the minutes of the presale ticked away.
Those high prices have remained strong on the secondary market, according to an analysis by Billboard. Typically, prices on the secondary market drop slightly below face value after a massive stadium onsale, but by only scheduling 30 concerts this summer, Beyoncé has created sustained demand for tickets that extended past the presale and general onsale. Tickets for her two Houston concerts, her three in Chicago concerts and two Washington, D.C. shows are effectively sold out, with only a handful of high-priced floor tickets for purchase on the primary market, while plenty of tickets are listed from secondary sellers for close to face-value prices.
Most impressive, Beyoncé has nearly sold out her first three concerts in New York (May 22, 24 & 25) and is closing in on selling out the final two concerts (May 28 & 29). Fans still hoping to score tickets will probably have the most success in Los Angeles at one her five concerts at SoFi Stadium (April 28, May 1, 4, 7 and 9).
Plenty of tickets are still available on the 500 level for as low as $105, as well as 300 level marked as VIP selling starting at $305, floor seats starting at $535 and tickets next to the stage inside the standing room only Sweet Honey and Buckin’ Honey pits.
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MF DOOM, one of Hip-Hop’s most beloved wordsmiths, left behind a towering legacy of lyricism and influenced countless numbers of bar-heavy rappers in the game today. The estate of MF DOOM, long embroiled in a legal back and forth over a series of rhyme notebooks, won the items back and dropped a merchandise line that garnered mixed reactions from fans.
As spotted in HipHopDX, MF DOOM’s estate dropped an exclusive merchandise line that features an image of a page from one of the notebooks that DOOM’s widow, Jasmine Thompson, sought to gain back from former Stones Throw Records manager Eothen “Egon” Alapatt.
During his time at Stones Throw, Alapatt served as a manager for DOOM collaborator Madlib, and the pair released the acclaimed album, Madvillainy, in 2004. That project just saw a release of previously leaked demos that were referenced on the album.
The Note Books Collection is the latest drop from the DOOM estate and features clothing adorned with a photo of the Metal Face mask and images of the aforementioned notebooks on the front and on the back, handwritten lyrics from the song “Deep Fried Frenz” from the DOOM’s Mm..Food album released also in 2004.
As the outlet notes, an Instagram post highlighting the new collection drop was not received warmly as probably expected. That said, some respondents believed that the estate reaping the benefits of DOOM’s legacy financially is a win for the family despite detractors attempting to frame it as a money grab.
Please view the Instagram post in question below and invite readers to peruse the comments to see the reactions both positive and negative from fans.
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Photo: Getty
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Not too long ago. Diddy and his legal team attempted to call out CNN for allegedly altering the video of him beating Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016. The news network is now clapping back at the claim saying they don’t know what the heck he’s talking about.
According to TMZ, CNN has responded to the allegation that Diddy’s legal team lobbed at them in which they claimed that not only did CNN alter the now infamous video of Diddy beating and dragging Cassie down a hotel hallway, but that they destroyed the only copy of the video in the process. Needless to say, that’s a huge accusation to hurl at any news network; CNN has finally responded to the allegation.
Per TMZ:
A spokesperson for CNN tells TMZ … “CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source. CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.”
We broke the story … Diddy’s defense team claimed Thursday in new court docs that CNN purchased the video showing Diddy attacking Cassie in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in L.A.
Diddy’s camp claims CNN took the only known copy of the hotel’s surveillance footage and uploaded it into a free editing software, altered the video and then destroyed the original footage.
But, CNN says Diddy’s lawyers have it all wrong.
At this point, it seems like Diddy’s team will do anything to repair his reputation before his trial starts in May, but with all these men and women coming out the woodworks with their own stories about “The Diddler” and his predatory ways, Diddy’s name is beyond salvageable.
On the flip side, there are rumors that Diddy is being treated like a celebrity behind bars by his fellow inmates, so there’s that. Heck, even crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried says Diddy was nice to him when they crossed paths at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. So it seems like Diddy’s ways and actions aren’t rubbing too many people the wrong way where he’s currently stationed. Just sayin’.
What do y’all think? Does it look like CNN altered the video of Diddy beating Cassie? Is Diddy’s team capping for their client’s sake? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Now that Papoose and Remy Ma’s gold standard of “Black Love” was taken to the pawn shop courtesy of Remy (SMH), fans of the culture have been wondering who’ll fill that void the once loving couple left behind, and it seems like we may have a contender.
Over the past few years, A$AP Rocky and Rihanna have been steadily building a strong family nucleus with the birth of their sons, RZA and Riot. And all these years later Rocky still talks up his ride-or-die like she’s the only woman in the world. During a recent interview for Mystery Fashionist, A$AP gushed over the love of his life and declared his undying love for the mother of his children.
Speaking in a way that only native New Yorkers would recognize a man publicly professing his love for his woman, A$AP stated, “That’s my son. She’s my son, know what I’m sayin?” Going further with his praise, Rocky added, “Birds of a feather, flock together. I’m gonna ride till wheels fall off like she do. That’s my dog, that’s my n***a, that’s my b***h, that’s my wife, that’s my everything.”
You gotta love how men from New York state their love for their women. So on brand.
https://x.com/FentyHeadlines/status/1900350375900729438
While Rihanna herself actually grew up in Barbados, she’s seemingly taken to New York culture as she once told Mystery Fashionist “Y’all don’t know me, I’m ghetto as f*ck” while rocking a Yankees cap along with a spiffy fit. Only thing missing were some Timbs and camouflage pants, b.
https://x.com/mysteryfashioni/status/1871224714716479951
Yeah, A$AP Rocky and Rihanna might be the new gold standard for “Black Love,” and we’re all here for it.
What do y’all think about A$AP Rocky and Rihanna’s love for each other? Do y’all think they can go the distance? Let us know in the comments section below.
Audacy has announced a slate of executive changes, with Kelli Turner appointed as president and CEO, while Chris Oliviero has been named chief business officer, and Bob Philips named as chief revenue officer.
Turner had been serving as interim president and CEO since January, after former Audacy chief David Field stepped down, and has served on the Audacy board since September 2024. Turner most recently served as managing director and CFO for Sun Capital Partners, and previously served as president and COO for Blackstone-owned music licensing and rights management SESAC Holdings. She has also served in various executive and leadership roles in the investment and media industries, including RSL Group, Martha Stewart Living, Time Warner, Allen & Company and Citigroup.
Oliviero was most recently market president for Audacy New York, and Philips was president of Audacy Networks and multi-market sales.
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“On behalf of the Audacy board, we are delighted that Kelli Turner has agreed to take on the permanent President and CEO role and lead Audacy through its next phase of reinvention and growth,” Michael Del Nin, chairman of Audacy, said in a statement. “She is an exceptional media executive who, along with Chris Oliviero and the rest of the Audacy team, will ensure we continue to invest in high-quality content to engage our audiences and provide best-in-class solutions to our partners.”
“It’s a privilege to lead Audacy at this exciting moment in its impressive history and the evolution of audio,” Turner added. “This is one of the most dynamic businesses in media and entertainment, and I am looking forward to partnering with Chris Oliviero and all of our teams to build on our momentum with audiences, creators and advertisers. I’m especially excited by the appointments of Chris and Bob, who know Audacy’s businesses inside out and whose track records in management, programming and sales are second to none.”
Oliviero has served as market president in New York since 2020 and previously spent over 23 years at CBS Radio (which became part of Audacy in 2017). Philips joined CBS Radio in 1996 and later took on the role of CRO for CBS Radio and Entercom. After Entercom’s rebranded as Audacy in 2021, Philips transitioned into his most recent role.
Audacy has also announced several departures, including COO Susan Larkin, chief digital officer J.D. Crowley, chief marketing officer Paul Suchman and executive vp and general counsel Andrew Sutor.
Mike Dash, who has been with Audacy’s companies for nearly 20 years, has been named executive vp and general counsel, and will succeed Sutor, who will stay on for a transition period.
Just a few weeks into the latest season of American Idol, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie have made it clear that they think newest judge, and OG Idol season four winner, Carrie Underwood is a bit of a push-over who just wants to help everyone make it to Hollywood.
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But on Sunday night’s episode, 22-year-old Isaiah Moore of Oneonta, AL had all three judges crying in their pink Poppi cups with a life story that was as emotional as the song he chose to cover. The singer/worship pastor revealed that he arrived at the audition after he and his wife of seven days, Abby Grace, agreed to cancel their honeymoon so Isaiah could shoot his shot on the show.m
“We had a cruise to the Caribbean for our honeymoon,” Isaiah said before his audition on Sunday night (March 16). “But ultimately, my wife, she told me that there was no other option but to cancel it and come here to audition in Nashville.”
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Moore told the panel about his rough upbringing, which included his mother’s struggles with drug use and multiple trips to jail, resulting in him and his brother being raised by their grandparents. With a smile on his face, Moore said his mother – who was at the audition with him, along wit his maw-maw and paw-paw — is now three-years sober, though he choked up when he noted that his younger brother could not make it because of his current struggles.
Isaiah then dedicated a moving cover of Luke Combs’ “Where the While Things Are” to his brother, singing with grit and a heart-heavy weariness as he crooned, “Oh, it’s hearts on fire and crazy dreams/ Oh, the nights ignite like gasoline/ And light up those streets that never sleep when the sky goes dark/ Out where the wild things are.” By the end of the song about a brother lost to the wild things, all three judges had a hitch in their voice.
“You’ve got some power in that voice,” Underwood said, with Bryan adding, “I think there’s a story in that voice. That song kind of showcases a lot of parallels in your life and a lot of people’s lives.” Richie said he felt passion and the pain in the performance. “You’re carrying a lot inside but your blessing is that you can actually deliver it in a vocal,” he said. “It’s touching. I enjoyed your performance. It’s was just… smokin’.”
Underwood praised Moore for his powerful voice and storytelling and his ability to connect with the judges. She asked Isaiah to bring his family in and he got emotional as he introduced his family, with the judges passing him through to Hollywood with no reservations.
American Idol airs every Sunday on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
Watch Isaih Moore’s American Idol audition below.
J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival returns to North Carolina for its fifth and final iteration April 4-5, and the highly anticipated lineup is finally here.
Dreamville Fest 2025 announced its star-studded lineup on Monday (March 17), with Lil Wayne, 21 Savage and Erykah Badu headlining alongside festival co-founder J. Cole.
The final Dreamville Fest — which launched in 2018 — will be held at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday, April 5, and Sunday, April 6. Tickets are already on sale, with a limited number of two-day general admission passes still available at the Dreamville Fest website.
On Saturday (April 5), Lil Wayne will kick things off alongside Hot Boys (Juvenile, Turk and B.G.) and Big Tymers (Mannie Fresh and Birdman), a notable bookend to last year’s debates over whether Weezy should have headlined the New Orleans-hosted Super Bowl LIX halftime show. 21 Savage, with whom Cole won his first Grammy, will also serve as a Saturday headliner. Other Saturday performers include Ab-Soul, Young Nudy, Chief Keef, Ari Lennox, Lute, Omen, Kai Ca$h & Niko Brim, Bas, Ludacris and PARTYNEXTDOOR, who recently earned his first Billboard 200 chart-topper with the Drake collab $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. Keyshia Cole will play a special set celebrating 20 years of The Way It Is, which houses her timeless classic “Love.”
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Cole and Badu will each close out their respective stages as headliners on Sunday night (April 6). Badu’s performance will come just over a week after she accepts the Icon Award at Billboard Women In Music on March 29. Additional Sunday performers include Grammy winners Tems and Coco Jones, as well as rap stars GloRilla, Wale, BigXthaPlug, JID and Anycia. Earthgang, Cozz and Akia are also set to perform on Sunday night.
“Our team looks forward to welcoming fans from around the world to Dreamville Festival this spring for our fifth-anniversary celebration,” Dreamville co-founder and festival president Adam Roy said in a statement. “The first weekend in April has grown to become one of our team’s favorite times of the year as an annual NC reunion.”
Find the full Dreamville Festival 2025 lineup broken down below.
Saturday, April 5:
Lil Wayne with Hot Boys (Juvenile, Turk, and B.G.) and Big Tymers (Mannie Fresh and Birdman)
21 Savage
PARTYNEXTDOOR
Ludacris
Ari Lennox
Chief Keef
Keyshia Cole (celebrating 20 years of The Way It Is)
Bas
Young Nudy
Ab-Soul
Lute
Omen
Kai Ca$h & Niko Brim
Sunday, April 6:
J. Cole
Erykah Badu
Tems
GloRilla
J.I.D
Wale
Coco Jones
BigXthaPlug
EarthGang
Anycia
Cozz
Akia
See the announcement below: