After R Kelly was convicted in his sex trafficking trial, attorney Gloria Allred, who represented several of Kelly's alleged victims, said the R&B singer is 'the worst' predator she has ever pursued in her 47 years of practicing law. Kelly was convicted by a federal jury on all nine counts he faced after prosecutors accused the R&B singer of being the ringleader of a decades-long racketeering and sex trafficking scheme that preyed upon Black women and children. Kelly’s lawyer Deveraux Cannick said ‘I’m sure we'll be appealing’.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Music
Rolling Stones review – a funky, heavy first show without Charlie Watts
The Dome at America’s Center, St Louis, Missouri
The veteran rockers return to the road with an emotional tribute to their longtime drummer and a reinvigorated sense of purpose
For many musicians, it has been an emotional return to live music after the coronavirus pandemic put a protracted end to touring. For the Rolling Stones, picking up their No Filter tour in Chuck Berry’s hometown of St Louis, Missouri, the stakes are even higher. Not only have the stalwart performers not played in more than two years; it’s also a commemoration for drummer Charlie Watts, who died last month.
It opens with an empty stage and only a drumbeat, with photos of Watts projected on the stage backdrop. The band appear, kicking their way through Street Fighting Man and It’s Only Rock’N’Roll (But I Like It), before Mick Jagger pauses the show to devote the tour to Watts’s memory. He along with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, walk centre stage to thank fans for the outpouring of love and support for Watts.
Continue reading...‘She went her own way’: the tragic and unusual life of folk singer Karen Dalton
In a new documentary, the underrated singer’s life of depression, addiction and poverty is told while her incredible talents are celebrated
The outlines of the life led by singer Karen Dalton tell a heartbreaking tale. It was one scarred by consistent poverty, intermittent homelessness, bouts of depression and escalating alcohol and drug addiction, culminating in her death from Aids at 55. Yet, to Robert Yapkowitz, who co-directed a new documentary with Richard Peete titled Karen Dalton: In My Own Time, “there’s an inspirational element to her story. Karen was an artist who didn’t compromise. She made music that she was proud of with the people she loved. And that was the focus of her life.”
Related: Beatles on the brink: the truth about the Fab Four’s final days
Continue reading...Spice Girl among stars to begin phone-hacking claims against Murdoch empire
Melanie Chisholm, Boyzone’s Shane Lynch and S Club 7’s Hannah Spearritt latest to allege voicemail interception
A group of 1990s pop stars are among the latest individuals to launch phone-hacking cases against Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, as the scandal that has dogged the company for more than 15 years continues to rumble on at the high court.
Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls, Shane Lynch from Boyzone, Hannah Spearritt from S Club 7, and Steps’s Ian Watkins and Lee Latchford-Evans have recently filed claims against the company.
Continue reading...‘Anything I do, I want to be the best’: Usain Bolt
Can the fastest man on the planet become a chart-topping reggae star?
Hang on,” I can’t help thinking as I wait for Usain Bolt – the Usain Bolt, Fastest Man In The World Usain Bolt – to magically appear on the laptop screen in my kitchen. Bolt has released a reggae album with his childhood friend and manager Nugent “NJ” Walker, and I’ve been granted an interview. Except… has there been some terrible mix-up? Am I interviewing some other Usain Bolt, some lesser-known reggae artist who just happens to share his name? Why on earth would a man widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time, a three-time world record holder, be releasing a reggae record?
But, nope, there he is, beaming at me from a nondescript kitchen somewhere in the world. (He’s actually in the UK, ready to play for the World XI against an England XI at Soccer Aid at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium; days later, a clip will circulate of the long-retired Liverpool and England footballer Jamie Carragher beating him in a foot-race for a through ball.) He’s got the Bolt brand logo – a black bolt of lightning inside a yellow B – on the left breast of his black T-Shirt. There’s no mistaking it.
Continue reading...Beatles on the brink: the truth about the Fab Four’s final days
The director’s new documentary weaves together hours of unseen footage to dispel many myths about the band’s final months. John Harris, who was involved in the project, tells the inside story
On paper, the idea looked brilliant. In the opening weeks of January 1969, the Beatles were working up new songs for a televised concert, and being filmed as they did so. Where the event would take place was unclear – but as rehearsals at Twickenham film studios went on, one of their associates came up with the idea of travelling to Libya, where they would perform in the remains of a famous amphitheatre, part of an ancient Roman city called Sabratha. As the plan was discussed amid set designs and maps one Wednesday afternoon, a new element was added: why not invite a few hundred fans to join them on a specially chartered ocean liner?
Over the previous few days, John Lennon had been quiet and withdrawn, but now he seemed to be brimming with enthusiasm. The ship, he said, could be the setting for final dress rehearsals. He envisaged the group timing their set so they fell into a carefully picked musical moment just as the sun came up over the Mediterranean. If the four of them had been wondering how to present their performance, here was the most gloriously simple of answers: “God’s the gimmick,” he enthused.
Continue reading...Keen spirit: Australian cyclist uses GPS to recreate Nirvana’s Nevermind cover
Enthusiast marks album’s 30th anniversary with 150km ride around Adelaide using Strava to sketch naked baby
The naked Nirvana baby has been recreated yet again – this time on the unsuspecting streets of Adelaide.
Pete Stokes rode about 150km on a single-speed bike to sketch the outline of the famous Nevermind cover. His efforts, tracked by GPS-based site Strava, show the baby’s (slightly angry) face over the CBD and the banknote over the leafy eastern suburbs of Burnside and Kensington.
Continue reading...‘We’re like Mork and Mindy!’ Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, music’s odd couple
Fourteen years after their Grammy-winning debut, the roots duo have reunited – facing high expectations. They explain how they left their comfort zones with a ‘nuts but tasteful’ all-star band
More than half a century since arriving to play his first show in the US with Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant was in the strange position of having to explain himself to the authorities.
“I had to prove that I was contributing to the betterment of the American system somehow, which is kind of cute, really,” Plant says of this post-lockdown trip to Nashville. He is sitting in the city’s famous Sound Emporium studio with his collaborator, the bluegrass legend Alison Krauss. It is the same place where they recorded their second, highly anticipated record as a duo, Raise the Roof, before the pandemic put the world on pause.
Continue reading...Fugees return to New York for their first gig in 15 years … after a three-hour wait
The rap trio kick off their just-announced world tour to an eager audience but fall into old habits of tardiness
Dressed in a red frock that flounced as she performed, the rapper, singer and musician Lauryn Hill told the eager but weary crowd: “Respect the miracle. Respect the miracle of this union” three and a half hours later than billed.
Related: Fugees announce reunion world tour, 25 years after The Score
Continue reading...Violinist Nigel Kennedy cancels concert after Classic FM stops Hendrix tribute
Performer pulls Royal Albert Hall gig over decision he compared to musical segregation
Violinist Nigel Kennedy has pulled out of a concert at the Royal Albert Hall with only days to go after accusing the radio station Classic FM of preventing him from performing a Jimi Hendrix tribute.
Kennedy said the “culturally prejudiced” decision amounted to “musical segregation”, with the station he now calls “Jurassic FM” preferring him to play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Wednesday’s show.
Continue reading...Rebellion and redemption: how the Slits gave a voice to female prisoners
Playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm on how the groundbreaking female punk band helped her tell the story of women suffocating in the prison system
It was a bit of a “pinch me” moment, to be honest. Earlier this month I sat in the rehearsal room for Typical Girls and watched our incredible cast play the music of the Slits to Tessa Pollitt, an original member of the band.
When I first started writing this show, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined we would get to this point. This absolute legend, punk royalty, was beaming at the liveness of it all and so were we. This is what we’ve all been aching to do.
Continue reading...Iggy Pop on finding new music: ‘At my age, it helps to remain curious’
The source of the rocker’s enviable eternal youth? In the words of the man himself, it’s avidly rooting out new artists into his 70s (and beyond)
I keep reading that we decline in our 70s so I try to keep using my brain. Discovering new music opens my mind and the element of surprise keeps me connected. I feel like I’m mining for diamonds – and when you find the diamond, you know. When I heard Chaise Longue by Wet Leg I got really excited: it’s cheeky, with a wicked groove, but it’s the vocals – they’re almost metronomic. You could ask 100 people to sing it and it wouldn’t sound the same.
Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips
Continue reading...Britney Spears’ 30 greatest songs – ranked!
As she celebrates her engagement and fights for her autonomy, we celebrate the best of an artist who helped to define 21st-century pop
Spears previously flirted with dubstep on 2007’s Blackout, but it was Hold It Against Me that dragged the then-underground dance music into the mainstream. A decade later, and its blistering amalgamation of industrial EDM and saccharine pop melodies still feels every bit as audacious and innovative.
Continue reading...The Activist: reality TV show to be ‘reimagined’ as documentary after backlash
CBS says it will drop X-Factor-style competition from celebrity-fronted show after widespread criticism
A reality TV show that planned to pit activists against each other in an X-Factor style contest judged by celebrities is to be drastically “reimagined” after it sparked a backlash from campaigners.
The Activist, which had been due to air in the US in late October, prompted incredulity among many campaigners and elsewhere when its format was revealed last week, with many labelling it a “tone-deaf” distortion of true activists’ values.
Continue reading...Alanis Morissette criticises ‘salacious agenda’ of HBO film about her life
The singer has spoken about about Jagged, premiering at the Toronto film festival, for its ‘reductive take’ on her life
Alanis Morissette has spoken out against a new HBO documentary about her life and its “salacious agenda” as it premieres at the Toronto film festival.
The 47-year-old singer had agreed to be interviewed for the film Jagged but has released a statement to express disappointment in how her story has been told. She said she was interviewed “during a very vulnerable time” during her third postpartum depression amid lockdown.
Continue reading...Hurry up and wait: the joys of slow culture
In the streaming age, sleeper hits such as Schitt’s Creek and The Morning Show have replaced quick successes, confirming culture is a marathon not a sprint
If one thing guarantees a TV hit in 2021, it’s a lukewarm reception. Take Ted Lasso, a sitcom about a perky, naive American football coach transplanted on to British soil. Its first season premiered last summer to barely any fanfare – but little by little came mass critical reconsideration. The show ended up a smash hit, breaking the record for most Emmy nominations for a first season of a comedy. Its second series, concluding next month, has made it one of the most talked-about shows of the year.
Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips
Continue reading...Alanis Morissette says she was victim of multiple statutory rapes as a teenager
Canadian music star says in new documentary: ‘I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded … you’re not consenting at 15’
Speaking in a new documentary, Alanis Morissette has said she was the victim of multiple statutory rapes as a teenager.
The documentary, Jagged, is screening at the Toronto film festival this week. The Washington Post has reported that Morissette describes the attacks during the film. “It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimisation on my part,” she says. “I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded like ‘Hey, you were 15, you’re not consenting at 15.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all paedophiles. It’s all statutory rape.’”
Continue reading...Super teens: Raducanu and five other young people reaching career heights
The 18-year-old’s US Open victory puts her among a super-successful group of under-20s
Emma Raducanu’s remarkable victory in the US Open was, among other things, a victory for the fearlessness of youth. The Guardian has picked out six teenagers, including Raducanu, who despite their tender years have already had a huge impact.
Continue reading...Maria Mendiola, half of Spanish vocal duo Baccara, dies aged 69
Group’s 1977 disco hit Yes Sir, I Can Boogie has become the unofficial anthem of Scotland football fans
Maria Mendiola, one of the members of Baccara, whose 1977 disco hit Yes Sir, I Can Boogie is the unofficial anthem of Scotland football fans, has died.
Mendiola, who was one half of the Spanish duo, was best known for her rendition of the hit song. She died in Madrid surrounded by her family on Saturday morning at the age of 69. Cristina Sevilla, her partner in a later iteration of the group, expressed her gratitude on social media in a message written in Spanish.
Continue reading...Louis Armstrong and the spy: how the CIA used him as a ‘trojan horse’ in Congo
Book reveals how the jazz musician unwittingly became party to secret cold war manoeuvres by the US in Africa
It was a memorable evening: Louis Armstrong, his wife and a diplomat from the US embassy were out for dinner in a restaurant in what was still Léopoldville, capital of the newly independent Congo.
The trumpeter, singer and band leader, nicknamed Satchmo as a child, was in the middle of a tour of Africa that would stretch over months, organised and sponsored by the State Department in a bid to improve the image of the US in dozens of countries which had just won freedom from colonial regimes.
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