Olivia Rodrigo teased new music on the two-year anniversary of “Drivers License.”
“working on so many new songs I’m excited to show u! thank u for everything,” she wrote to her fans in an Instagram Story on Sunday night (Jan. 8), ending her message with a heart emoji. Her breakthrough single, “Drivers License,” was released on Jan. 8, 2021.
The temporary post featured a video clip of herself with Dan Nigro, who produced her debut album, Sour. The pair rocked out to a mystery piano track, giving fans a small taste of what’s to come.
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In November, fans got an early hint that new Rodrigo music was on the horizon when the singer sent a special video message out via Spotify Wrapped. “Hey, it’s Olivia! I just wanted to say thank you so much for listening to my music this year,” she said. “I really, truly couldn’t be more grateful and I’m so excited for next year, and all of the new things and new music that 2023 will bring. So I’m sending so much love your way and thank you again! Bye!”
Rodrigo’s Sour album shot to No. 1 upon its release, spending five weeks total atop the chart in 2021, and featured Hot 100 No. 1s in “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z‘s daughter Blue Ivy Carter turned 11 this weekend, and Grandma Tina Knowles-Lawson couldn’t be more proud of her.
“The day that you were born was one of the best days of my life,” she wrote on Instagram on Sunday, the day after Blue Ivy’s Jan. 7 birthday. Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who are also parents to 5-year-old twins Rumi and Sir, welcomed Blue Ivy in 2012.
“I was really praying and pushing your mom to have you on January 4 which is my birthday,” she recalled of her daughter Beyoncé giving birth. “I really wanted you to share my birthday, but like your auntie Solo you decided to come when you were good and damn ready and that was on January 7 three days after my birthday. Knowing you and your personality now, I realize that you needed your own day because you were such a queen and you are so very special!”
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Knowles-Lawson gushed, “You can sing dance, play basketball, play, volleyball, paint draw, sculpt, sew, write poetry, write songs , , create, act , play the piano ! I could go on and on. Because there’s really nothing that you can’t do .You are funny and beautiful and graceful , Kind , and so smart. I could not ask for a better granddaughter Ms. Blue Ivy Carter!”
“I could not be more blessed , grateful , and completely in love with another human,” she said of her talented granddaughter. “You truly bring me joy!!”
See the sweet Instagram snapshot of them together that she posted below.
Lizzo took a moment on a Sunday morning to share her concerns about cancel culture.
“This may be a random time to say this but it’s on my heart.. cancel culture is appropriation,” Lizzo tweeted on Sunday (Jan. 8).
“There was real outrage from truly marginalized people and now it’s become trendy, misused and misdirected,” she wrote.
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Lizzo Slams Body Shamers: ‘I Wish That Comments Costed Y’all Money’
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Lizzo Slams Body Shamers: ‘I Wish That Comments Costed Y’all Money’
Lizzo continued: “I hope we can phase out of this & focus our outrage on the real problems.”
Just days before, the “About Damn Time” singer had taken to social media to shut down the “tired” “discourse around bodies.”
“I’ve seen comments go from, ‘Oh my gosh, I liked you when you were thick. Why did you lose weight?’ ‘Oh my gosh, why did you get a BBL? I liked your body before.’ ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so big. You need to lose weight but for your health’ to ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so little. You need to get a– or titties or something.’ ‘Oh my gosh, why did she get all that work done? It’s too much work,’” she said in a TikTok video on Friday.
She continued, “Are we OK? Do you see the delusion? Do you realize that artists are not here to fit into your beauty standards? Artists are here to make art. And this body is art. I’mma do whatever I want with this body. I wish that comments costed y’all money so we could see how much time we are f—ing wasting on the wrong thing. Can we leave that s— back there please?”
See Lizzo’s latest message to her fans below.
This may be a random time to say this but it’s on my heart.. cancel culture is appropriation.
There was real outrage from truly marginalized people and now it’s become trendy, misused and misdirected.
I hope we can phase out of this & focus our outrage on the real problems.
First Stream: New Music From YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Popcaan & Drake, Shania Twain and More
Twain’s party-ready new sing is the first track off of Queen of Me, her forthcoming album that’s set for a Feb. 3 release. The singer line danced into 2023 with “Giddy Up,” dropping the song and its music video on Jan. 5.
“The saying ‘Let’s Go Girls!’ is such a wonderfully uplifting sentiment now, but it’s just something I said during the recording in the studio and I guess that’s the same for ‘Giddy Up!’,” Twain said in a statement this week. “These lines come to me when I’m thinking about how to put a little ‘pep in my step.’ I want people to feel good when they hear the new album. I want to set a celebratory tone and ‘Giddy Up!’ is a way to call to the audience and say ‘let’s get ready for some fun!’”
Trailing behind the pop-country icon’s “Giddy Up!” on the fan-voted poll is YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s I Rest My Case album, with nearly 5% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.
SZA’s SOS makes it a month at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as the album spends a fourth straight and total week atop the list (dated Jan. 14). It earned 125,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 5 (down 2%), according to Luminate.
SOS is the first album by a woman to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 in a year, since Adele’s 30 ruled for its first six weeks (Dec. 4, 2021 through Jan. 8, 2022-dated charts) and is the first album by a woman to have four consecutive weeks at No. 1 since 30’s six week-run at No. 1.
SOS is also the first R&B album by a woman to have four weeks at No. 1 since February of 2008, when Alicia Keys’ As I Am notched a fourth and final nonconsecutive week atop the list (Feb. 16, 2008). More strikingly, SOS is the first R&B album by a woman to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 in nearly 30 years, since Janet Jackson’s janet. ruled for its first six frames (June 5-July 10, 1993). (R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart.)
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Also in the top 10: holiday albums vacate the region (and chart) entirely after five dotted the top 10 a week ago, while ATEEZ notches its second top 10-charting album, as Spin Off: From the Witness debuts at No. 7.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Jan. 14, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 10. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 125,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 121,500 (down 4%, equaling 162.42 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 3,000 (up 289%) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 7%). SOS got a sales boost following the release of two new digital album variants of the set, released late on Jan. 5 exclusively in SZA’s Top Dawg Entertainment webstore. The two versions included two bonus tracks (“PSA” and a solo version of the album’s “Open Arms”) and sold for $4.99 each, and one of them boasted alternative cover art. SZA promoted the release on her social media, including her official Twitter.
The rest of the top six on the Billboard 200 consists of former No. 1s. Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a non-mover at No. 2 (117,000 equivalent album units; up 10%). The set’s album sales grew by 7% for the week (to 58,000) following the release of four new digital album variants in Swift’s webstore for one day only on Jan. 5. Each had alternative cover art, an exclusive bonus track (a short “behind the song” commentary from Swift about one of four different songs on the album) and sold for $4.99 each. The four alternative covers, if combined, would complete a clock face image – similar to the back covers of her CD and vinyl LP variants. Swift promoted the limited-time offer in her Instagram Stories.
Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains rises 4-3 (57,000 equivalent album units; down 2%), Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss bumps 6-4 (52,000; up 4%), Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti climbs 7-5 (50,000; up 4%) and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album jumps 11-6 (42,000; up 6%).
ATEEZ collect its second top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as Spin Off: From the Witness debuts at No. 7. The set starts with 41,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 40,000; SEA units comprise 1,500 (equaling 2.11 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
CDs comprise a little over 39,000 of Spin Off’s sales for the week, while digital album purchases comprise 1,000. Like many K-pop releases, the CD configuration of Spin Off was issued in collectible deluxe packages (six), each with a standard set of items and randomized elements (photocards and posters).
ATEEZ previously visited the top 10 with The World EP.1: Movement last June, debuting and peaking at No. 3.
Rounding out the Billboard 200’s new top 10: Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak (22-8 with 33,000 equivalent album units; up 12%), Lil Baby’s chart-topping It’s Only Me (20-9 with 32,000; up 6%) and Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Harry’s House (19-10 with 29,000; down 4%). Bryan continues to benefit from his guest appearance in the Dec. 18 episode of the hit show Yellowstone, which has prominently featured his music in previous episodes.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Americana artists gathered Saturday evening (Jan. 7) at Nashville’s City Winery for the fundraising concert Hello From the Hills, which supported a range of nonprofit organizations dedicated to addiction and substance abuse recovery, restorative justice work, and residential recovery/transitional living.
Held by The Hello in There Foundation (which launched in 2021 to remember singer-songwriter John Prine and aims to support people who are marginalized or discriminated against) and Tyler Childers’ Hope in the Hills, the show featured performances from artists including Childers, Jason Isbell, Sierra Ferrell, Amythyst Kiah, and Margo Price with Jeremy Ivey.
Oh Boy Records leader Jody Whelan welcomed the crowd, while singer-songwriter Kathy Mattea served as host for the evening.
“I wanted to thank all the artists who quickly said yes to this show,” Whelan told the crowd. “The Hello in There Foundation would not exist without the fans who love John’s music and the artists community that has come and lifted us up.”
The ongoing love and admiration for the late Prine was palpable throughout the evening, as numerous artists spoke of the songsmith who melded elements of folk and country to build a enviable song catalog that includes “Illegal Smile,” “Sam Stone” and “Angel From Montgomery.”
The bill also included performances from Arlo McKinley, Kelsey Waldon and Tré Burt, artists signed to the Prine-co-founded Oh Boy Records. Waldon offered up “Season’s Ending,” the first song she wrote following Prine’s death in 2020.
Waldon then joined labelmate Burt for “Dixie Red,” and he wielded both harmonica and acoustic guitar for “Sweet Misery.” Other artists on the bill include Buffalo Wabs & the Price Hill Hustle, William Matheny and Darrin Haquard.
The event was presented by Oh Boy Records and management company WhizBangBam (which represents McKinley and Childers, among other artists) benefiting the Prine Family’s The Hello in There Foundation as well as Childers’ Hope in the Hills. The Hello in There Foundation and Hope in the Hills each selected two organizations to receive $10,000 grants, with the donations benefiting the residential recovery program Healing Housing, the restorative justice program Raphah Institute, the substance abuse recovery program the Keith Dixon Foundation, and the transitional living facility Recovery Community Inc.
Here, we recap five standout performances:
Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, “Cover Me Up”
Americana luminaries Isbell and Shires brought raw, emotional storytelling to their performance of “Tour of Duty,” from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s 2011 album Here We Rest.
“At concerts, people will say, ‘This next song has been very good to me,’” Isbell said. “I think that’s really funny. That makes me laugh every time. I’m gonna tell you right now, I have been very good to this next song, because before I came along, it wasn’t a damn thing,” he said, drawing laughter and cheers from the crowd. He then introduced the intimate, vulnerable love song “Cover Me Up,” from his 2013 album Southeastern. The song, written during the early days of the couple’s relationship, also nods to Isbell’s own recovery journey. A key line, “But I sobered up and swore off that stuff/ Forever this time,” drew hearty cheers from the audience.
Sierra Ferrell Performs Two Unreleased Songs
Clad in a cowboy hat, old-timey dress and with fiddle in hand, Ferrell showed off the undeniable musical prowess and onstage charm that earned her the emerging act of the year win at the Americana Music Association’s Honors & Awards in 2022.
But onstage at City Winery, she didn’t regale the crowd with songs such as her signature “In Dreams”—instead, she introduced two unreleased songs from an album she is currently working on. For the first, she wielded her fiddle for the charming “I Can Drive You Crazy,” before trading her fiddle for an acoustic guitar to deliver another unreleased song, this one a tribute to a string of broken hearts. Host Mattea praised Ferrell’s throwback look and sound, noting it feels like she “lives outside of time.”
Amythyst Kiah
Accompanied only by her electric banjo, the Grammy-nominated artist’s smoky, evocative voice silenced the crowd as Kiah brought the audience into the emotionally complex lyrics of “Firewater” (from her 2021 album Wary+Strange), followed by the classic old-time Appalachia song “Darlin’ Corey.” Kiah’s searing, full-bodied vocal proved a perfect match to convey this tale of a fearless, gun-toting, moonshine-making woman. Kiah’s two-song performance made such an impression on the crowd–and host Mattea–that Mattea welcomed Kiah back to the stage to embrace another round of applause from the audience.
Tommy Prine Honors His Late Father with “Ships in the Harbor”
Nashville native Prine, the son of John Prine, launched his two-song set with “This Far South.” But it was Prine’s potent performance of his debut single “Ships in the Harbor” that hushed the intimate crowd, as he musically acknowledged inevitable change, and sang of loss, pain and acceptance. In a full-circle moment of sorts, it was Isbell’s Southeastern album that inspired the younger Prine to begin writing music at age 17.
Tyler Childers Holds Court
Childers, whose song “All Your’n” was nominated for a Grammy in 2020, closed out the evening with an acoustic set that kept the focus on his well-crafted storytelling, and his full-throttle vocal—which drew numerous cheers and shouts from the crowd.
He also shared how learning fiddle helped him overcome his own struggles with alcohol, noting that he became passionate about learning to better his craft on the instrument. “I can tell you that you spend eight or nine months playing eight hours a day and get alright and then you can not play for about two weeks and [you’re] off. You can put a guitar away for awhile and pick it up and be okay…over the last three or four weeks, I’ve rededicated my life to the fiddle,” he noted. In 2020, Childers released the surprise album Long Violent History, an album largely made of traditional fiddle tunes. His set on Saturday evening included “Creeker,” “Matthew,” and “Lady May.”
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, the first Gundam animated TV series in roughly seven years, has just drawn to a close. For the first time in the franchise’s history, the protagonist was a woman, and the show generated a lot of buzz for the new directions it was taking Gundam, such as including elements of school life and inter-corporate war.
The show’s writer, Ichiro Ohkouchi (also responsible for Planetes, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, SK8 the Infinity, and more) was asked to “create a Gundam series that could be enjoyed by newcomers to the franchise, including young viewers.” This, he explains, is why he added new elements to the anime. “I’m not all that young myself, so I thought if I merely tried to match the story’s sensibilities to those of young people, I’d end up missing the mark. Instead of simply lowering the target age, I expanded it — up, down, left, right — with the hope of making a series that would also be appealing to younger viewers. Traditionally, Gundam is mainly about tragedy, battles, and wars, but this new series also involved school life, society, and romance.”
However, he couldn’t turn his back on the traditions of the franchise, which began in 1979. “I wanted to create something that was true to Gundam. I added new elements to the excellent foundation established by previous Gundam shows. However, that also made it hard to control the amount of information involved. Maintaining balance was a struggle.” Ohkouchi did this out of respect for Gundam fans and for the traditions of the franchise. “The reason Gundam is so famous is that countless people have created an uninterrupted chain of works that feature the things that make the franchise great. I couldn’t just ignore that and make something totally different.” “One thing I can say is that one of the central elements is a certain hard-edged tone. When the first Mobile Suit Gundam came out, most of the new series’ viewers hadn’t even been born yet. Viewers knew many people who had lived through war themselves, and so war was still something that still felt real and familiar. When I thought about what fighting meant to today’s generations, I thought ‘companies.’ People experience factional struggles, they get called to oppressive meetings and harassed by superiors. I thought I could use those kinds of battlefields to create something that wasn’t all that divorced from modern audiences.”
Matching the desires of the series’ creator to share Gundam with even more people by expanding its audience, YOASOBI (a musical duo known for producing songs inspired by novels) wrote the show’s opening song, “The Blessing.” YOASOBI consists of two artists, Ayase and ikura. It was formed in 2019, and its debut song, “Yoru ni Kakeru,” took first place in Billboard JAPAN’s 2020 “Hot 100” year-end song chart.
YOASOBI’s Ayase recalls, “Honestly, there was a lot of pressure. However, I wanted to create a great song that would live up to those high expectations. At first, I had these ideas for concepts that I thought would be interesting, but ultimately I decided to make a powerful, straightforward song that reflected my image of Gundam.”
ikura added, “It’s the opening theme, so you hear it every episode. That’s why we talked about making a song that you could interpret in different ways as the story progressed. We hoped to make a song that would remain fresh, with new things to discover each time you listened to it, instead of just keeping the impression it made when you first heard it.”
Each of YOASOBI’s songs is based on a novel. “The Blessing” is based on Cradle Planet, a novel by Ohkouchi. “When I first heard their song,” says Ohkouchi, “I was amazed. The novel isn’t a happy one, so the song they wrote could have ended out like a witch’s curse, but their imagination led them to come up a response in the form of ‘The Blessing.’”
Cradle Planet is written from the point of view of the Gundam Aerial, the mobile suit piloted by the show’s protagonist, Suletta Mercury. Ohkouchi explains why: “Suletta starts out unaware of what’s really going on, so I thought that a song based on a novel about her would end up being really vague. Writing about the adults around her would result in a song that doesn’t really match the series. The show is about Gundam, so I thought ‘Why not make a Gundam the protagonist?’ I proposed writing about how Suletta would look from the perspective of the Gundam, and they took up my idea.”
The name The Witch from Mercury conjures to mind images of “curses” and “spells.” Ayase talked about the creation process that led them to “The Blessing.” “At first, I was just kind of thinking, ‘What’s the opposite of a curse?’ I’m not sure if it would be a blessing, but reading through the novel and other materials, there were these different situations involving people encouraging and supporting each other, which, I felt, threw the curses into sharper relief. I always struggle with naming songs when we finish them, but this time the process went surprisingly smoothly. ‘Curse’ is such a strong word, but at the same time it’s commonplace, something you can feel in all kinds of places. ‘The Blessing’ is, of course, about the world of The Witch from Mercury, but I also think it connects, in a way, to actual society.”
In the past, vocalist ikura has decided on delicate singing nuances before going into recording, but this time was different. “I didn’t think too hard about it, but instead read the novel, listened to the music, and then decided to throw in all the power I felt from them. The lyrics are powerful even compared to other YOASOBI songs, and I’m singing about really sweeping themes, so I thought that instead of trying to load the lyrics with my own delicately detailed emotions, it would be better to sing the words as they are written, expressing the feelings I had when reading the story.” “Suletta is doing her best to survive in the environment she is thrust into, but that’s a curse placed on her by her mother. She doesn’t realize this, but her partner, the Aerial, knows all about it. At the end of the novel, when Suletta chooses to confront her situation head-on instead of fleeing, the Aerial tells her ‘I’m here with you.’ I hope that the Aerial’s kindness and Suletta’s power come through in the song.”
When Ohkouchi heard the song, he says, “I was moved at how accurately the image of the original novel was retained, and how it was opened up to make the song.” At the same time, he also points out how the lyrics can be interpreted differently after watching each episode. The song itself changes as the story progresses.
“That’s what we focused on the most,” explains Ayase. “The season consists of 12 episodes. I wanted viewers to listen to the opening every time, without skipping it. I wanted to make it a song that developed along with the heroine, so that it felt different as the story went along, and its emotional impact flowed with the story.”
“I’m amazed that they were able to write it that way,” says Ohkouchi. “Originally, it’s a song about Suletta, but, for example, after you watch episode 7, it becomes a song about Miorine. Then, at some point, it becomes a song of encouragement for the audience. It’s wonderful how its range of interpretations blossoms like that. When you try something new, at some point you’ll be tempted to give up. If ‘The Blessing’ springs to mind at a time like this, it’ll inspire you to keep pushing forward.”
—This interview by Takuto Ueda first appeared on Billboard Japan.
Some Britney Spears fans seem convinced that something is not quite right in a new picture featuring the singer on Paris Hilton‘s Instagram feed. Hilton shut down the “ridiculous” rumors herself in a comment on Saturday (Jan. 7).
In a post on Friday, Hilton shared several photos from friend Cade Hudson’s birthday party, most of which she says were taken on an iPhone. One picture had longtime friends Spears and Hilton posing with the guest of honor.
Comments included followers saying “That is not Britney” and leaving theories like “It’s really strange how half the necklace chains are missing in the photo with Britney. And what’s wrong with her fingers?” Another person wrote, “Is that an AI Britney?? Look at her fingers!!! WTF Paris? You’re becoming more and more shady to me and I used to love you dude. How dare you participate in whatever is going on with Brit?”
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“To all of those asking. Some of these photos were taken on an iPhone so they ended up being blurry. So they used this app called Remini to make it look unblurry and sometimes the Ai distorts images,” Hilton wrote in the comments section of her own post.
“Didn’t want to even dignify this with a response,” she added. “But some of these conspiracy theories are absolutely ridiculous.”
See her snapshots below via Instagram. The photo with Spears is the third image on Hilton’s post.
Alan Copeland, the songwriter, Grammy-winning arranger and ultra-smooth vocalist known for his many years with The Modernaires and performances on Your Hit Parade and The Red Skelton Hour, has died. He was 96.
Copeland died Dec. 28 in an assisted living facility in Sonora, California, his friend Bob Lehmann told The Hollywood Reporter.
As recently as this fall, Copeland was still singing and playing keyboards in a quartet called Now You Hazz Jazz. “It was his dream to play in a small group until the last curtain, that’s how he termed it,” said Lehmann, the drummer.
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Copeland wrote or co-wrote songs including “Make Love to Me” — Jo Stafford’s version made it to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1954 — “Too Young to Know,” “High Society,” “This Must Be the Place, “Darling, Darling, Darling” and “While the Vesper Bells Were Ringing.”
After taking arranging lessons from Henry Mancini, he arranged vocals for big bands and the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Bing Crosby, Jim Nabors, Count Basie, Engelbert Humperdinck, Peter Marshall and Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme.
In 1968, Copeland won a Grammy for best contemporary pop performance by a chorus for pairing the theme from CBS’ Mission: Impossible with The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood.” (Listen to the medley here.)
Known for combining musicality with wit, as noted jazz critic Stanley Dance once put it, Copeland also spent several years in the 1960s on Skelton’s CBS variety show with The Modernaires, who would morph into The Skel-tones and The Alan Copeland Singers.
Copeland, who went by the nickname Weaver, was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 6, 1926. As a member of the Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, he sang in such fabled films as Angels With Dirty Faces (1938), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Meet John Doe (1941), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and Going My Way (1944).
After serving with the U.S. Navy, Copeland started his own vocal group, The Twin Tones, a featured attraction with Jan Garber’s orchestra.
He joined The Modernaires for the first time in 1948, and soon, the group was performing alongside The Andrews Sisters and Dick Haymes on a five-nights-a-week radio variety program hosted by singer/bandleader Bob Crosby (Bing’s brother). The show then segued to television.
Copeland appeared with the group in The Glenn Miller Story (1954), starring Jimmy Stewart, then left to perform solo on the popular NBC/CBS program Your Hit Parade from 1957 until it left the air in 1959.
He rejoined The Modernaires and did arrangements and added lyrics to such classics as “In the Mood” and “Tuxedo Junction” for the 1960 album The Modernaires Sing the Great Glenn Miller Instrumentals. They found further success four years later with New Top Hits in the Glenn Miller Style, an album that featured singer Tex Beneke.
Copeland arranged and conducted for Nabors’ 1966 hit “Cuando Calienta el Sol” and sang on Universal Pictures’ Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), starring Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing. And he served as choral supervisor on Blake Edwards’ Darling Lili (1970), starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson, and on Bing Crosby-hosted Christmas specials for two decades.
Copeland appeared as a member of the band put together by Tony Randall’s Felix Unger on two 1974 episodes of ABC’s The Odd Couple and was back, yet again, with The Modernaires in the 1990s.
He also collaborated with his late wife, Joyce, a vocalist also known as Mahmu Pearl, on several albums.
His memoir, Jukebox Saturday Nights, was published in 2007.
The Weeknd‘s “Is There Someone Else?” video has arrived, on the one-year anniversary of his Dawn FM album.
The Cliqua-directed music video for “Is There Someone Else?” — the 10th track on Dawn FM — was released on Saturday (Jan. 7). The Weeknd had previously teased the visual, sharing a snippet on his social media accounts earlier in the week.
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The singer’s latest video features him watching a woman’s seductive dance through a city apartment window — and with a somewhat creepy mask — as he wonders in the night, “Is there someone else or not?”
Dawn FM made its debut on Jan. 7, 2022 and launched at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Watch “Is There Someone Else?” below.
Are you still listening?
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