MUSIC NEWS: MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2015
TAYLOR SWIFT-APPLE MUSIC
Apple is listening to Taylor Swift. Apple now says it will pay artists during a free, three-month trial for new Apple Music subscribers. Swift said she pulled her ``1989'' album from the streaming service because Apple wasn't being fair to new artists.
Apple exec Eddy Cue tells the A-P the company has heard the concerns of musicians and it is changing the payment policy.
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JAMES TAYLOR...TAYLOR SWIFT...NO COINCIDENCE
Did you know Taylor Swift was named after James Taylor? He didn't until Swift's parents told him that recently.
Taylor says he was flattered and ``you could have knocked me over with a feather.'' Taylor says he has great admiration for Swift and also for her parents, and hearing that bit of news was a surprise of a lifetime.
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DEF LEPPARD'S VIVIAN CAMPBELL SEES RETURN OF CANCER
Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell says his cancer has returned. He writes on Facebook the thing that makes him ``beyond consolation'' is that the cancer will prevent him from doing his job for a while. Campbell has been fighting Hodgkins lymphoma. He says he's working on a new schedule of treatment with his doctors.
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JOURNEY ENLIST DRUMMER AS TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT FOR DEEN CASTRONOVO
Journey have picked up a replacement drummer following last week's arrest of Deen Castronovo for domestic violence. Journey write on their website that Omar Hakim will sit behind the drum kit for their concerts through August 3rd because of what they call Castronovo's ``pending issues.''
Journey plays the MTS Centre in Winnipeg July 6th.
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JOHN RICH PREPARES REDNECK RIVIERA RESTAURANT
John Rich is planning to open a chain of restaurants he describes as ``the more rural, rowdy version of Margaritaville.''
The Nashville Tennessean reports Rich will open a Redneck Riviera bar and restaurant in downtown Nashville next spring. He intends to open others in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and in Pensacola, Florida. Rich already has a clothing line based on the Redneck Riviera concept, and he plans to create a liquor as well.
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FIREFLY MUSIC FESTIVAL RAINED OUT SATURDAY
Kid Cudi was cut short and Kings of Leon cut entirely from the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware, over the weekend. Billboard reports a thunderstorm forced an evacuation of about 90-thousand people Saturday night. Steve Aoki was supposed to perform Saturday night but was moved to yesterday afternoon. Paul McCartney stopped his set on Friday to ask for a prayer for peace in the wake of the church shootings in Charleston last week. The festival also featured Morrissey, Echosmith, Modest Mouse, Foster The People and The Chainsmokers.
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BEATLES MUSICAL WILL BE STAGED IN LONDON
A British theatre production will attempt to recreate what it was like being in the Abbey Road studio when The Beatles were recording. ``The Sessions At Abbey Road'' will be staged at London's Royal Albert Hall next April. The production will try to do the instrumentation, arrangements and vocals exactly the same as they were done when The Beatles recorded. The show's producers say they are not using lookalike actors, but ``sound alike'' musicians, culled from the best Beatles vocalists around the world. They are even building a reproduction of Abbey Road's Studio 2 for the set.
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RINGO STARR CALLS FOR PEACE AND LOVE ON JULY 7
Ringo Starr would like you to celebrate his birthday by thinking or saying ``peace and love.'' If you happen to be in Los Angeles that day, you can say it with him. Starr will give a peace-and-love salute on July 7th at noon Pacific time in front of the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles. Starr was asked in 2005 what he wanted for his birthday, and he replied, ``Peace and love.''
Ever since, he has invited the public to join him wherever he happens to be on July 7th to give a peace-and-love salute, or do it on their own if they aren't with him.
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IRON MAIDEN PLAN ``BOOK OF SOULS''
Iron Maiden will put out their first album following singer Bruce Dickinson's diagnosis for tongue cancer. ``The Book of Souls'' will come out on September 4th. Dickinson was given a clean bill of health last month, but the band delayed the release of the album so he'd have the strength to promote it. Iron Maiden plan to tour behind the album beginning next year.
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OBIT - WENDELL HOLMES OF THE HOLMES BROTHERS PASSES AWAY
Wendell Holmes of the blues band The Holmes Brothers has died. The band's manager says Holmes died at his home in Rosedale, Maryland, of complications from pulmonary hypertension. He was 71. Holmes sang and played guitar and piano for the group, which also included his brother Sherman on bass and Willie ``Popsy'' Dixon on drums. Their ``Feed My Soul'' album was number one on the Billboard blues album chart in 2010.
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SPECIAL OLYMPICS ANNOUNCE OPENING CEREMONY LINEUP
Stevie Wonder, Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne, O.A.R. and Cody Simpson will be part of the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics World Games. Eva Longoria and Jimmy Kimmel will also participate. The games will feature seven-thousand athletes with intellectual disabilities competing in sporting events. The games open in Los Angeles on July 25th.
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MMVAs
Ed Sheeran did it all at the Much Music Video Awards.The British songwriter hosted the show, performed twice and won two awards.
Toronto's the Weeknd was actually the big winner of the evening, claiming a leading four trophies while also performing a sensual medley of his ``Mood Music'' and ``Earned It'' tracks.
Other performers included Nick Jonas, Carly Rae Jepsen and Jason Derulo.
Justin Bieber won the ``fan fave'' artist award while Vine sensation Shawn Mendes received the ``fan fave'' video award.
Sheeran, meanwhile, picked up best international artist and most buzzworthy international artist.
The night featured an unannounced cameo from star Toronto rapper Drake, who dropped by when his friend P. Reign claimed the award for best hip hop video.
A list of winners at Sunday's 2015 Much Music Video Awards:
Video of the Year: ``Often,'' The Weeknd (Director: Sam Pilling)
Best EDM/Dance Video: ``Keep It 100,'' Grandtheft feat. Keys N Krates (Director: Ohji Inoue)
Best Director: ``Often,'' The Weeknd (Director: Sam Pilling)
Best Pop Video: ``Earned It,'' The Weeknd (Director: Sam
Taylor-Johnson)
Best Rock/Alternative Video: ``We Exist,'' Arcade Fire (Director:
David Wilson)
Best Hip-Hop Video: ``DnF,'' P. Reign feat. Drake and Future
(Director: Drake; Davin Black)
Best MUCHFact Video: ``Forever,'' Majid Jordan
Best International Artist: Ed Sheeran
Most Buzzworthy Canadian: The Weeknd
Most Buzzworthy International Artist or Group: Ed Sheeran
Fan Fave Artist or Group: Justin Bieber
Fan Fave Video: ``Something Big,'' Shawn Mendes (Director: Jon
Augustavo)
Fan Fave International Artist or Group: One Direction
Best Post-Production: ``Lost You,'' Zeds Dead feat. Twin Shadow and D'Angelo Lacy (Post-production: we are 1188; Grandson & Sons)
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The Canadian Press/The American Press)