Richard Swift, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his work with the Shins and the Arcs among many other artists, has died at age 41 of an unspecified medical condition. “Today the world lost one of the most talented musicians I know,” wrote Dan Auerbach, who collaborated with Swift in both the Arcs and the […]
A new record label deal signed by Prince’s estate will allow the re-release of dozens of albums — starting with the LPs that came out after Prince broke with Warner Bros. in the mid-1990s. Industry reports have hinted that the Prince estate was close to signing a deal with Sony, replacing the Universal deal that […]
In the two years since Prince passed, one of the biggest revelations that has surfaced about his personal life is just how much money he was quietly funneling toward the causes he believed in, especially those that worked closely with marginalized youth in urban communities and provided students with access to music education. On what […]
This spring, Prince’s estate announced that an album of previously unreleased recordings would be released in the fall. Today, marking the 60th anniversary of the icon’s birth, Warner Bros. made it official: on Sept. 21, they’ll release a nine-track, 35-minute album recorded at his Chanhassen home studio in 1983. The songs on Piano & a Microphone […]
“Did you know Prince was born in your office?” Saul Selby was joking with a colleague — but his estimate probably wasn’t more than a few dozen feet off. We were standing in the east wing of the third floor of a South Minneapolis building that used to be Mount Sinai Hospital. The best available […]
Justin Vernon hates giving interviews, but the voice memos he shares on the new PEOPLE streaming service are a good stand-in. Driving around Lowry Hill in Minneapolis, Vernon explains that the music industry and celebrity culture have made him both shy and angry, off and on, since For Emma, Forever Ago. “Granted, I was on […]
You might be aware that Francis and the Lights (aka producer/songwriter/Eaux Claires vet Francis Starlite) will be in Minneapolis next week to play First Avenue. But you probably didn’t know that he and producer BJ Burton recorded his last album, Just For Us, in Northeast Minneapolis at the Terrarium. After working with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) […]
“Girl, please,” says a man wearing a purple jacket and carrying a stylized guitar, “I Big Mac like a Prince.” Could this South African TV ad possibly be referencing any well-known musician? Not really, says McDonald’s…but an industry group begs to differ. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), an independent trade group in South Africa, received […]
The Minnesota State Fair sometimes likes to call itself the state’s biggest music festival — which is hard to argue, given the mix of big-name Grandstand headliners and seemingly infinite variety of live performances at free (with Fair admission) stages across the grounds. The Fair has just announced this year’s free music lineup, and indeed, […]
Okay, let’s take this one step at a time. There’s going to be a show at which Prince classics will be performed by a variety of vocalists backed by a symphony orchestra. Yes, it’s approved by the Prince estate. Prince superfan Questlove is involved: he “has helped curate the music and arrangements,” though he’s not […]
