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Today’s Music News: B.B. King enters home hospice care

by Staff

May 03, 2015

Blues legend B.B. King, 89, has told his fans that he is "in home hospice care at my residence in Las Vegas. Thanks to all for your well wishes and prayers." King has recently been struggling with health challenges related to diabetes. (Billboard)

Ben E. King, the R&B singer best-known as a member of the Drifters and for his timeless 1961 single "Stand By Me," has died at age 76. (MPR News)

A new Kurt Cobain album will be released this summer, says Montage of Heck director Brett Morgen. The music on the album will be taken from the dozens of Cobain's home tapes that Morgen used in the making of his new documentary. (Pitchfork)

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams have filed a motion for a new trial in the lawsuit that recently resulted in a judgment against them for pilfering elements of Marvin Gaye's song "Got To Give It Up" in their hit "Blurred Lines." Thicke and Williams are claiming that their first trial was marred by "errors in jury instructions, improper testimony from a musicologist, and insufficient evidence." (Pitchfork)

Meanwhile, Gaye's ex-wife Jan Hunter is preparing to publish a memoir that will deal frankly with the couple's troubled relationship, which Billboard describes as "rife with sexual manipulation and ­infidelity, drug abuse and emotional cruelty."

Prince revealed plans to release a new tribute song called "Baltimore." On Saturday night, he performed at Paisley Park in a "Dance Party 4 Peace." (Local Current)

Paul McCartney said that collaborating with Kanye West on their song "Only One" was not unlike songwriting with John Lennon. (Pitchfork)

Smokey Robinson says he'll probably appear in the next season of Empire, a hit TV series about a fictional music mogul. (Billboard)

On Wednesday, Lindsey Buckingham reunited with the USC marching band, which performed on the 1979 Fleetwood Mac song "Tusk." When Buckingham visited the USC campus to deliver a speech, he was joined by the marching band for performances of "Tusk" and "Go Your Own Way." (Billboard)

Jamie Foxx performed the National Anthem before Saturday night's Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, and viewers weren't impressed. (Billboard)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKFE2zhF66A

Earning better reviews for their rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" were James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett of Metallica, who rocked the anthem as part of Metallica Day at Saturday's Major League Baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Angels. (Rolling Stone)

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