MUSIC NEWS: THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2015
MUSIC-QUEBEC-FESTIVAL
An 11-day festival in Quebec City has a rather impressive summer line-up. The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters and Iggy Azalea will play during Festival d'ete de Quebec, which will take place from July 9th to 19th and include 300 shows across
10 venues. The festival launched in 1968. Other performers include Keith Urban, Nickelback, the Doobie Brothers, Deep Purple, and Jack U, the duo of popular D-Js Diplo and Skrillex. Performances, which will range from pop and rock to jazz and electronica, will take place both indoors and outdoors. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
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GOVERNNOR GENERAL PERFORMING ARTS AWARDS
Musician Sarah McLachlan and filmmakers Atom Egoyan and Jean-Marc Vallee are among the recipients of this year's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
Composer Walter Boudreau, actress Diana Leblanc, actor R.H. Thomson and philanthropist Michael M. Koerner are the other laureates announced today.
McLachlan says she feels feeling ``amazing, thrilled, humbled, a little bit surprised'' about the honour.
The three-time Grammy Award winner says she plans to stress the importance of music and arts education in her acceptance speech.
A gala honouring this year's recipients will be held at the National Arts Centre on May 30.
The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards were founded in 1992.
They're given to Canadians whose accomplishments are deemed to have inspired and enriched the country.
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WALE AND JERRY SEINFELD ARE NUMBER ONE
The odd pairing of Wale and Jerry Seinfeld is a smash. Wale's ``The Album About Nothing'' has debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Wale calls Seinfeld the narrator on the album. It took some effort for Wale to reach Seinfeld, but he found a way: Seinfeld's wife. Wale says Jessica Seinfeld is a big fan of his music and she was able to put the collaboration together. Wale says he and Jerry Seinfeld have a natural chemistry and he calls Seinfeld ``super smart.''
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''UPTOWN FUNK`` HITS NEW MILESTONE
``Uptown Funk'' by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars is now tied for the second-longest song at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It's been number one for 14 weeks. It's a seven-way tie for second place. The others are ``I Gotta Feeling''
by Black Eyed Peas, Mariah Carey's ``We Belong Together,'' ''Candle In the Wind 1997`` by Elton John, ''I'll Make Love To You`` by Boyz II Men, ''I Will Always Love You`` by Whitney Houston and ''Macarena`` by Los Del Rio. If ''Uptown Funk`` stays at number one for three more weeks, it will beat the current record-holder, ''One Sweet Day`` by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.
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NIALL HORAN CADDIES FOR RORY McILROY
Golfer Rory McIlroy may have gotten more attention than usual from teenage fans yesterday. He played the Masters Par 3 warm-up event in Augusta with Niall Horan of One Direction as his caddy.
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TWISTED SISTER ANNOUNCE FINAL RUN OF SHOWS
Twisted Sister will honour their concert dates this year and then call it quits. Former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy will handle drum duties after the death of A-J Pero two weeks ago. The band will do two tribute shows in Pero's honour. The first is May 30 in Las Vegas, which will be recorded for broadcast, D-V-D and C-D. The second is a benefit for Pero's family and will be held in Sayreville, New Jersey, on June 13th. Twisted Sister will do a 40th anniversary tour that will wrap up next year, then disband.
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MICK JAGGER GETS INTO ``EMPIRE''
Mick Jagger is a big fan of ``Empire.'' Jagger says it's great that a T-V show about music can be successful. He met series creator Lee Daniels in February and they hung out. Given that the show is big on cameos by real musicians, might Jagger have a role on the show? Jagger says thinks Daniels would have asked him already, but ``stranger things have happened. '' Jagger is working on his own T-V show, a series about the 1970s music scene in New York that will run on H-B-O. He says shooting begins in May. Then there's the Rolling Stones. They will open their Zip Code tour in May in San Diego.
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VAN MORRISON GIVEN SPECIAL SONGWRITERS AWARD
Van Morrison will be given the highest honour by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The group will present Morrison with its Johnny Mercer Award at its annual dinner on June 18th in New York. The award is given to a songwriter who has already been inducted for a stellar body of work. Morrison was inducted in 2003.
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FANS CAN NOW VOTE FOR TWO ACM WINNERS
Fan voting is now open for two of the big trophies for the Academy of Country Music Awards. Fans can decide whether Jason Aldean, Garth Brooks, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert or Florida Georgia Line should win entertainer of the year. They can also decide whether Sam Hunt, Thomas Rhett or Cole Swindell should win new artist of the year.
Voting is open at VoteA-C-M-dot-com and will close during the broadcast on April 19th.
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FRANCES BEAN COBAIN DOESN'T LIKE NIRVANA
The daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love has revealed a shocking truth, and this is her quote: ``I don't really like Nirvana that much.'' Frances Bean Cobain tells Rolling Stone with a grin she's more into Mercury Rev and Oasis. However, she appreciates that there's talent there. Cobain says she cries every time she hears the Nirvana song ``Dumb.''
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DEF LEPPARD REFLECT ON THE CHANGING NATURE OF ROCK
When Def Leppard started, they never dreamed of being a band going into their fourth decade of music because no one had ever done that back then. Singer Joe Elliott says in the late 1970s, The Who and The Rolling Stones had been together maybe 15 years and that seemed like forever. He says The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney still sell out stadiums, so that proves that age doesn't really matter anymore. Def Leppard will tour with Styx and Tesla this summer.
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OBIT-GEOFFREY LEWIS
Actress Juliette Lewis is mourning the death of her dad, veteran character actor Geoffrey Lewis. He was a frequent co-star of Clint Eastwood. Lewis appeared alongside Eastwood in many films including ``High Plains Drifter,''
''Thunderbolt and Lightfoot`` and ''Every Which Way But Loose.`` Juliette Lewis has posted a photo of her and her father on her Instagram account, saying she is forever his daughter and that he will never be gone. Lewis was 79.
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''THE VOICE``
One hopeful on ``The Voice'' was in tears earlier this week. But there was no reason to cry last night.
Kimberly Nichole and her great-grandmother were both teary-eyed after Kimberly's performance. Last night, Kimberly learned she was the top vote-getter on Team Xtina. She moves into the Top 12. Others to make it include two of the youngest performers this season, Mia Z and Sawyer Fredericks from Team Pharrell. They're both 16. Deanna Johnson also makes it from Team Adam. Adam Levine had to help her overcome her stage fright so she could perform live.
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''AMERICAN IDOL``
Keith Urban says Rayvon Owen was singing for his life last night. And his ``American Idol'' life was saved.
Rayvon and Qassim Middleton had to battle for the instant Idol Fan Save. It's Rayvon who comes out on top. Urban notes Rayvon even hit the big American Idol note at the end of his performance. The theme for last night's show was Billboard Hits, which puts Joey Cook at a disadvantage. The singer from northern Virginia notes that she's more jazz than pop. But the judges liked her version of Miley Cyrus' ``Wrecking Ball.''
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The following is HMV Canada's top 10 CDs based on national sales for the week ending April 11.
CDs
1. To Pimp a Butterfly _ Kendrick Lamar
2. Future Hearts _ All Time Low
3. ``Furious 7'' Soundtrack _ Various Artists
4. Human _ Three Days Grace
5. X _ Ed Sheeran
6. In the Lonely Hour _ Sam Smith
7. Title _ Meghan Trainor
8. Smoke + Mirrors _ Imagine Dragons
9. Endless Forms Most Beautiful _ Nightwish
10. Rebel Heart _ Madonna
COUNTRY
1. 1989 _ Taylor Swift
2. Shania: Still the One_ Live from Vegas _ Shania Twain
3. Spring Break...Checkin' Out _ Luke Bryan
4. Southern Style _ Darius Rucker
5. Montevallo _ Sam Hunt
6. The Outsiders _ Eric Church
7. Crash My Party _ Luke Bryan
8. Greatest Hits _ Shania Twain
9. Painkiller _ Little Big Town
10. Red _ Taylor Swift