EDITORS — With the Tokyo Olympics postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press is looking back at the history of Summer Games. Lionel Richie, then just starting his solo career, spoke to the AP recently about his performance at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. ___ Lionel […]
Silkroad, the acclaimed international musical collective with a social conscience, has a new face — and a fresh sense of purpose. Grammy-winning folk singer and instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens is Silkroad’s new artistic director, taking the baton from renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who founded the group two decades ago, Silkroad said Tuesday. The 43-year-old North Carolina […]
In the most fascinating way possible, 21-year old artist Wé McDonald is an enigma. In conversation with her, you’re met with a vivacious, uplifting, and refreshingly original personality which is certain to make you smile. But through her music, the old soul of Wé emerges in full force, and the initial shock of “the switch” […]
The life story of French-Caribbean composer Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is coming to the big screen. The idea is from Emmy-nominated writer Stefani Robinson, known for her work on FX’s Atlanta and What We Do in the Shadows. Stephen Williams, who has directed prominent episodes of Watchmen and Westworld, will helm the biopic. De […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Beyoncé used her platform Sunday while accepting the BET humanitarian award to relay a direct appeal to viewers: Go vote. “Your voices are being heard and you’re proving to our ancestors that their struggles were not in vain,” said the superstar singer at the BET Awards, which celebrated its 20 years […]
NEW YORK (AP) — After watching the ghastly video of George Floyd dying as a police officer pressed a knee on his neck, Grammy-nominated R&B singer Trey Songz couldn’t sleep. He felt a pain in his gut so heavy it brought him down to his home studio, where he began recording a new song. […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Little Richard, one of the chief architects of rock ‘n’ roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday after battling bone cancer. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Kelly Rowland says her new single “Coffee” and its accompanying music video is her “ode to the beauty of black women.” Rowland debuted the breezy R&B track and video featuring black women across a spectrum of shades and colors two weeks ago. “I just wanted it to be an expression of […]