Song Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Thania Garcia Brenda Lee’s iconic “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” has hit No. 1 for the first time in its 65-year history. The single, which annually returns to the Hot 100’s top 10, is Lee’s third No.

Michaela Zee Alicia Keys‘ musical “Hell’s Kitchen” is heading to Broadway in the spring. The musical, which features music and lyrics by Keys and a book by Kristoffer Diaz, made its world premiere at the Public Theater on Oct. 24 and is currently running there through Jan.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It’s hard to quite think of someone who was as big a veritable child star as Brenda Lee was in the late ’50s and early ’60s a “late bloomer.” Nor can “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” really be considered an underdog song, after its accrual of quintuple-platinum sales over the decades. And yet it’s spent the last several years peaking at No. 2 each December, after spending most of its lifetime not annually charting at all.

Give it to ‘em, they’re “Worth It”!

Ariana Grande has given us bop after bop over her past decade in pop, and she’s already amassed an incredible discography.

The wife of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan has said the late singing icon was "so vibrant and beautiful and so determined to live only a few days ago" before his death at the age of 65.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Every fan of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971) loves the scene where Gene Wilder, as the mystical candy maker, takes his guests on a psychedelic tunnel ride, zooming through the bowels of the Chocolate Factory as he chants a little verse (“There’s no earthly way of knowing, which direction we are going…”), getting angrier and more hysterical by the second. Wilder’s Wonka was a sweetheart, but he had a hidden maniacal side. And in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Tim Burton’s majestically wacked 2005 remake, Johnny Depp, then at the apex of his movie stardom, went full Depp, playing Wonka like some louche vampiristic cross between Anna Wintour and Michael Jackson.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The Cruel World Festival featuring 1980s new wave mainstays as well as newer acts has been set for May 11 at Pasadena’s Brookside at the Rose Bowl venue, with Duran Duran as the headline performer. The lineup for the daylong Goldenvoice event will also feature Interpol, Blondie, Simple Minds, Placebo, Soft Cell, Adam Ant and more acts to be announced later.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music While it includes some of the most iconic Christmas songs of the past 60 years — most notably Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) — if there was ever an album with a problematic history, it’s “A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector.” Spector was the hottest producer in the world at the time of the album’s release, but it dropped on Nov. 22, 1963 — yes, the day President John F.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Disney Animation Studios’ chief creative officer Jennifer Lee had not yet written the script for “Wish” when Grammy nominated songwriter Julia Michaels wrote the demo for “This Wish” in 2020. But that demo, Lee says, “defined the whole movie; it became our North Star.” Celebrating 100 years of storytelling at Disney, “Wish” pays homage to the celestial entity so many have wished upon. Ariana DeBose voices Asha, its main protagonist and heroine, a 17-year-old who lives in the magical kingdom of Rosas, ruled by Disney’s newest villain, King Magnifico, voiced by Chris Pine.

Can there be any lingering doubt about who truly holds the Queen of Christmas crown? Brenda Lee has returned to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” 65 years after the song’s 1958 recording.

Brenda Lee is making history!

Billie Eilish doesn’t seem to be too happy after a recent public appearance.

Darius Rucker. “You have to pinch yourself when you hear something like that — it just blows your mind. I’m just a kid from South Carolina.” Between Hootie & the Blowfish’s 1994 debut album, “Cracked Rear View” (21 times platinum), and his inescapable 2013 single, “Wagon Wheel” (11 times platinum), Rucker has provided the sound for two massive musical phenomena.

The much-praised Scissorhands: A Musical Tribute is a success!

Shane MacGowan‘s funeral have now been released.The lead singer of The Pogues died on November 30 aged 65, passing away peacefully surrounded by friends and family.Tributes have poured in from his family and the entertainment world. His wife Victoria Mary Clarke called him “the most beautiful soul”, whilst close friend Nick Cave said MacGowan was “the greatest songwriter of his generation”.

Billie Eilish has responded to Variety “outing her” in a recent interview.The popstar recently told Variety in a cover story that she was “attracted to [women] for real.” She later confirmed her sexuality in a further interview for the publication’s Hitmakers event, where she received the Film Song of the Year Award. On the red carpet, she admitted that she “didn’t” mean to come out: “I kinda thought, wasn’t it obvious?”“It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, so it’s cool that they know,” the singer continued.

Dolly Parton has spoken out about the political background of her new song, ‘World on Fire’.In a new interview with Vulture, the country legend was responding to superlatives, and named ‘World On Fire’ as the song that “best embodies your own mythology”. ‘World On Fire’ appears on her new album ‘Rockstar’, which became her highest-charting album at number 3 and gaining four stars from NME.“I write a lot of uplifting songs, but I think ‘World on Fire’ makes a statement because people often say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you’re political’,” she said.

Nadine Shah has released ‘Twenty Things’, the second single from her upcoming full-length, ‘Filthy Underneath’. Upon a hypnotic groove, dramatic piano stabs and a gloomy sonic atmosphere, Shah recounts various colourful characters who appear to hide darker secrets. In the second verse, she sings: “They’re laying flowers by the bus stop / Some poor old junkie’s lucks up  / Took a man and woman on the same day  / His right leg shorter than the other / The second eldest brother  / Goes to see his mother every Sunday ”. In a press release, Shah expressed that the sombre track was inspired by a slate of characters she encountered “whilst in recovery”.

Future Islands have shared their latest new single, ‘The Fight’. Listen to the track below.The Baltimore band’s seventh album ‘People Who Aren’t There Anymore’ is due to be released on January 26 via 4AD, and frontman Samuel T.

Gracie Abrams have released a new collaborative single in the form of ‘Everywhere, Everything’. Listen to the track below. The song was originally released on Kahan’s 2022 album ‘Stick Season’, and for this new duet version, Kahan takes the first verse, while Abrams sings the second.

Alkaline Trio have released ‘Bad Time’, the second single from their upcoming tenth full-length album ‘Blood, Hair and Eyeballs’.Released last week (November 30), the spirited track finds frontman Matt Skiba earnestly professing his affection for an old flame under life-threatening circumstances: “Left a message saying “hi” / I answered from a firefight / Told you it’s a bad time / But I can talk”According to a press release, the events described in the song were based on Skiba’s real life experiences. “‘Bad Time’ was initially inspired by a friend and crush who happened to call me while I was on tour in El Paso, Texas as an active shooter situation was happening just across from where we were staying,” he wrote.“We could hear gunshots and sirens as the situation escalated.

The members of boygenius are opening up about their recent success!

Taylor Swift is sharing her love for Mariska Hargitay‘s new cat!

Bobby Brazier has said it was a "privilege" to honour his late mother Jade Goody on Strictly Come Dancing last week after his tribute left the judges, viewers and his dad, Jeff Brazier, in tears. The EastEnders actor performed a couple’s choice dance with professional partner Dianne Buswell.

During its run from 2011 to 2019, Game of Thrones reigned supreme in the television world.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Billie Eilish and her brother and collaborator Finneas O’Connell have received Grammys, an Oscar and just about every award and honor and tribute and kudo young recording artists can imagine in the six years since her debut EP in 2017, but even they can still be awed by a tribute from a respected influence. That happened at Variety’s Hitmakers celebration in Los Angeles on Saturday, when Elton John’s lyricist of 56 years, Bernie Taupin — who has written the lyrics for everything from “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” to “Bennie and the Jets” and “Candle in the Wind” — paid tribute to their songwriting partnership when rewarding them with the Film Song of the Year honor for “What Was I Made For?,” their song from the summer blockbuster film “Barbie.” Before an audience that included Boygenius, Joan Baez, Olivia Rodrigo, Victoria Monet and many others (SZA hadn’t arrived yet), the following exchange took place: Taupin’s tribute and Eilish’s response (Finneas just said “Thanks guys!”) follows in full.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Boygenius made a connection with Joan Baez. Billie Eilish was giddy at the sight of Bernie Taupin. Olivia Rodrigo and St.

Olivia Rodrigo has spoken about the “pressure to please everyone” with ‘Guts’.The musician recently appeared at Variety‘s Hitmakers event, where she was honoured with the Storyteller of the Year Award. In her acceptance speech, Rodrigo spoke about writing her new song ‘Can’t Catch Me Now’, which she wrote for the new Hunger Games: A The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes soundtrack.“Telling stories through songwriting has been my favorite thing to do for as long as I can remember,” she began.

Billie Eilish has comment her recent coming out as attracted to women.The 21-year-old popstar revealed to Variety last month that she was “attracted to [women] for real,” going on to say: “I have deep connections with women in my life, the friends in my life, the family in my life. I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”Now, Eilish has commented on her decision to open up about her sexuality.