Music

NEW YORK — Tony Bennett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease but it hasn’t quieted his legendary voice. The singer’s wife and son reveal in the latest edition of AARP The Magazine that Bennett was first diagnosed with the irreversible neurological disorder in 2016. The magazine says he endures “increasingly...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rod Stewart and his son have worked out details for a plea deal to settle misdemeanor battery charges stemming from an altercation with a security guard at a posh Florida hotel, a lawyer for the rock icon says. Defense attorneys said Friday that Stewart and...

LONDON — Sophie, the Grammy-nominated Scottish disc jockey, producer and recording artist who had worked with the likes of Madonna and Charli XCX, has died following an accident in the Greek capital of Athens. She was 34. In a statement, U.K. label Transgressive said the musician, whose full name was...

Pittsburgh jazz legend Roger Humphries marches to his own beat. The musician from Pittsburgh’s North Side began playing the drums at the age of 3. He wanted to be like his older brothers. “Music is in my blood,” said Humphries, who turns 77 on Saturday. “I recall lying on the...

Looking for some home renovation or decor ideas? Head down to the Washington County Fairgrounds for the annual Washington County Home Show. Have a short story idea rattling around your head? It might be a fit for Parsec Ink’s annual speculative fiction writing contest. Wondering how writers for the “The...

Pittsburgh’s celebrity songstress is a new mom. “American Idol” alum and Munhall native Gabby Barrett and husband Cade Foehner welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Baylah May, on Jan. 18. Barrett, 20, updated her fans with the big news in various social media posts including a Twitter post...

There will be an encore to the single released earlier this month. Western Pennsylvania musicians recorded “SOS 2020,” a song inspired by the Save Our Stages movement to help struggling music venues. It’s a mixture of rock, punk and heavy metal. Next up on the playlist will be a concert...

For Lindsay Dragan, the best part of being a musician is playing in front of a crowd. “That’s when I feel most alive,” she said. There hasn’t been much opportunity for that in the past year, but Dragan and her Pittsburgh-based band at least will be able to get onstage...

Middle school is a tough gig — just ask singer/songwriter Jill Sobule. She poured her experiences into a musical called “F*ck7thGrade” that was presented in its initial form in Pittsburgh at City Theatre Company’s 2018 Momentum Festival of New Plays. Now, City Theatre will premiere a concert film of the...

NEW YORK — R&B star Jazmine Sullivan and country singer Eric Church will join forces to sing the national anthem at the next month’s Super Bowl, where Grammy-winning singer H.E.R. will perform “America the Beautiful.” The performances will take place Feb. 7 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa before...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will attempt some normalcy at the season-opening Daytona 500 with a live pre-race concert — the first big performance at a track during the pandemic — featuring country music star Luke Combs. Combs, who performed virtually for NASCAR’s season finale in November, has not done a...

INDIANAPOLIS — A heavy metal guitarist who was photographed with the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol and is accused of spraying police officers with a pepper-based bear spray irritant has been arrested, the FBI said. Jon Ryan Schaffer turned himself in Sunday after he was featured on an FBI...

Add Garth Brooks to the lineup of entertainers at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. “This is a great day in our household,” the country music superstar said during a virtual press conference Monday, two days before Biden is to be sworn in. “This is not a political statement. This...

LOS ANGELES — Phil Spector, the eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his “Wall of Sound” method and who later was convicted of murder, has died. He was 81. California state prison officials said he died Saturday of natural causes at a hospital. Spector was convicted...

Joe Biden’s Inaugural Committee announced today that Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez will appear during his Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol. Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem while Lopez will provide a musical performance. Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States...

Pittsburgh Opera has postponed its first-ever production of George Frideric Handel’s “Semele” from February to May. The move was made “in response to ongoing covid-19 concerns, including high cases in Allegheny County and the slower-than-hoped-for vaccine rollout,” the opera said. “Semele” will be performed on six dates, May 8-20, at...

Music always came naturally to Jessa Pontier. The 18-year-old Apollo resident said she started singing when she 2 while banging on a toy piano. She could play a real piano by the time she was 6, and taught herself to play guitar around 10 or 11 — never taking any...

LOS ANGELES — Dr. Dre says he will be “back home soon” after the music mogul received medical treatment at a Los Angeles hospital for a reported brain aneurysm. The rapper and producer said in a social media post Tuesday night that he’s thankful for the “well wishes.” TMZ reported...

NEW YORK — The 2021 Grammy Awards will no longer take place this month in Los Angeles and will broadcast in March due to a recent surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. The Recording Academy told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the annual show would shift from its original...

The ongoing controversy over the money left behind by Prince when he died without a will is heating up again after Internal Revenue Service calculations showed that executors of the rock star’s estate undervalued it by 50%, or about $80 million. The IRS determined that Prince’s estate is worth $163.2...