MUSIC NEWS: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015
SPRINGSTEEN - TICKETS
New York's attorney general is asking why there are Bruce Springsteen tickets up for resale before they're up for sale. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has requested more information from resale sites StubHub, TicketNetwork and Vivid Seats about offering tickets to Springsteen's upcoming tour. Springsteen tickets go on sale tomorrow, but resale sites are already offering seats for as much as five-thousand dollars. A TicketNetwork spokesman says the company has voluntarily taken down Springsteen listings until Friday. Vivid Seats says it has a goal of ensuring a positive ticket-buying experience. StubHub says it's reviewing Schneiderman's letter but it does not believe it has ``speculative tickets'' on its site.
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ADELE, ``UPTOWN FUNK'' - iTUNES IN 2015
iTunes has released its bestselling list for 2015 and Adele's ``25'' is right on top. Toronto rapper Drake's ``If You're Reading This It's Too Late'' is second on the albums list, followed by Taylor Swift's ``1989,'' the ``50 Shades of Grey'' soundtrack and Stratford, Ontario's Justin Bieber's ``Purpose.'' The top-selling iTunes single of the year was ``Uptown Funk'' by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. ``Thinking Out Loud'' by Ed Sheeran is number two, and ``See You Again'' by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth is number three. Maroon 5's ``Sugar'' is fourth and ``Shut Up And Dance'' by Walk The Moon`` is fifth.
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ED SHEERAN - FACEBOOK CONVERSATIONS
The top five entertainers who got the most chatter on Facebook in 2015 were all singers. Ed Sheeran was the top entertainer discussed on Facebook in the past year. Taylor Swift was second, with Kanye West in third. Reggaeton singer Nicky Jam was number four, and Wiz Khalifa was fifth.
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WIZ KHALIFA - CHARLIE PUTH - YOUTUBE MUSIC
Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's video for ``See You Again'' was the top music video on YouTube in the past year. It earned more than 1.2 billion views. ``Sugar'' by Maroon 5 was second, and Ellie Goulding (GOL'-ding) was third with ``Love Me Like You Do.'' ''Lean On`` by Major Lazer and D-J Snake was number four, and ''Bad Blood`` by Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar was fifth.
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WU-TANG CLAN ALBUM - SOLD TO DRUG EXECUTIVE
You may recall the Wu-Tang Clan had planned to sell exactly one copy of their album ``Once Upon a Time in Shaolin'' to the highest bidder. Auctioneer Paddle8 announced the album sold for millions last month but did not name the buyer or the specific price. Bloomberg Business reports it sold for two-million to Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals who made headlines for raising the price of the antiparasitic drug Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to 750-dollars. RZA of Wu-Tang says the band gave a significant portion of the proceeds to charity after finding out about Shkreli's business deals. Shkreli hasn't even heard the album.
He had an assistant do it, and he says he'll listen to it sooner if someone like Taylor Swift wants to listen with him.
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THE BEATLES' INDIAN RETREAT - OPENS TO VISITORS
The Indian retreat where The Beatles wrote most of the ``White Album'' has opened for tourists. The B-B-C reports the abandoned spiritual retreat in the town of Rishikesh had fallen into disrepair and was taken over by the local forestry department.
Beatles fans would sneak in by bribing the gatekeeper or climbing the walls. It's now been restored and foreign visitors pay about
$10.50 for admission. The Beatles went there in 1968 to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
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KELLY ROWLAND - GIRL GROUP
Kelly Rowland remembers when Destiny's Child came out, there were all kinds of girl groups. She doesn't understand why there aren't more of them now. Rowland is hoping to create a girl group through a documentary series called ``Chasing Destiny,'' which runs on B-E-T in April. The show held auditions in New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles. Rowland says she doesn't care where the singers are from or what their background is. She says she just wants girls in the group who are not afraid of work, who are excited about a great opportunity and who ``think and breathe and sleep music.''
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MICHAEL BUBLE' - HOLLYWOOD FOR CHRISTMAS
Canadian crooner Michael Buble (boo-BLAY') was going to set his Christmas special this year in Hawaii and thought better of it. Buble' says N-B-C loved the idea but he realized there are not many Hawaiian Christmas songs. Buble' chose Los Angeles, because he thought he could give it a different look. He's done previous specials in New York and in British Columbia. Guests for this year's show include Celine Dion, Blake Shelton and William Shatner. Buble' says he tries to bring out the best for his specials, and if you notice one year he isn't doing one, it's because he didn't feel it was the best he could do. ``Michael Buble's Christmas in Hollywood'' airs tonight on N-B-C.
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OBIT - GOSPEL SINGER - LABREESKA HEMPHILL
Gospel singer LaBreeska Hemphill of the family group The Hemphills has died. The family's publicist says Hemphill died Wednesday in Nashville at the age of 75. Hemphill made her debut at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium when she was 9th. The Hemphills were among the most successful gospel acts of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Their more popular songs include ``He's Still Working on Me,'' ''I Claim the Blood,`` and ''Consider the Lilies.``
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OBAMAS - FAVOURITE SONGS OF THE YEAR
Kendrick Lamar has a fan in President Barack Obama. Obama tells People magazine his favourite song of 2015 is Lamar's ``How Much A Dollar Cost.'' His wife, Michelle, says her favourite song of the year is ``Uptown Funk'' by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.
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THE REPLACEMENTS - BIOGRAPHY
The Replacements are allowing their story to be told. The book ``Trouble Boys: The True Story of The Replacements''
by Bob Mehr was written with the participation of the surviving band members and the family of late guitarist Bob Stinson. The book comes out March 1st.
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