Innholdsfortegnelse for April 1-7, 2017 i Billboard Magazine

NICKI MINAJ MAKES HISTORY ON THE BILLBOARD HOT 100 as she bests Aretha Franklin for the most total appearances among women in the chart’s 58-year history. Minaj debuts three songs (on the Hot 100 dated April 1): “No Frauds,” with Drake and Lil Wayne (No. 14), “Regret in Your Tears” (No. 61) and “Changed It,” also with Lil Wayne (No. 71). Minaj ups her count to 76 career Hot 100 entries (32 as a lead), surpassing Franklin’s output of 73. (The Queen of Soul held the mark for the most Hot 100 visits among women for nearly 40 years, beginning June 18, 1977.) Minaj’s latest songs were all released March 10 and debut in the top 15 of the Digital Song Sales chart. Her Remy Ma diss track “Frauds” flies…

Music executive and producer Tommy LiPuma died March 13 at the age of 80. The five-time Grammy Award winner had worked with George Benson, Natalie Cole, Miles Davis, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand during a 50-year-plus career that included positions at A&M Records, Elektra and Verve. Author David Ritz remembers his longtime friend. Tommy LiPuma has never been more alive. It’s a spring day in 1995 and he’s holding court at the Capitol Records studio coffee lounge. He’s telling stories. Al Jarreau is listening, as is Joe Sample and David Sanborn. Maybe they’ve heard the stories before, but it doesn’t matter because Tommy tells stories the way John Coltrane constructs solos. You’re entranced listening to him. His riffs are effortless, his digressions hypnotic, his enthusiasm infectious. He speaks…

“iSpy,” Kyle’s happy-go-lucky debut single featuring Lil Yachty, has slowly become ingrained in pop radio since its early- December release. With the ode to Internet flirtation climbing to No. 10 on the April 1 Billboard Hot 100, the California rapper, 23, says the unlikely smash feels “more like a blessing and less like something I deserved.” Did Lil Yachty foresee “iSpy” becoming a hit single? This is how you know Yachty is a genius: He DM’d me a week after I dropped [“iSpy”] and said, “Bro, this is a smash. You don’t even know yet! It’s about to be huge!” He knew from the start. You’ve said your lyrics were inspired by looking for love on Instagram. Are you on Tinder? Tinder is too savvy for me — it feels…

GROWING UP IN NASHVILLE with a country singer and hit songwriter as his father, Thomas Rhett, 26, was practically weaned in cowboy boots. But he has always felt most at home in a pair of kicks. Professionally, he finally shed his cowboy heels (“I was going to break my ankles dancing in them,” he says) in favor of sneakers when he ramped up his stage show a few years ago to include dance moves. He even outfitted his band in matching pairs. “We move as a unit and look like a unit as well,” he says, citing Bruno Mars and James Brown concerts as inspiration. Now, he’s carting 40 pairs on the road for his 40-city Home Team Tour in a bus that was recently outfitted with a crib in…

“WHILE NO INDIVIDUAL CAN BE SAID TO HAVE invented rock and roll,” hedged the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame upon inducting Chuck Berry into its 1986 freshman class along with Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino and others — “Chuck Berry came the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together.” And of course the hedge was justified in many ways, among them Presley’s preeminence and the equally momentous although not quite rock’n’roll innovations of classmates Ray Charles and James Brown. But now that the man has died — on March 18, unexpectedly, at 90 — let’s get real. Chuck Berry did in fact invent rock’n’roll. Of course similar musics would have sprung up without him.…

FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS THE STELLAR GOSPEL Music Awards have built a reputation as the premier gospel event of the year. By spotlighting both the traditional artists who laid the genre’s foundation and the newcomers who have shepherded its growth, the program, helmed by founder Don Jackson, has bolstered the careers of gospel’s most talented acts. The 32nd annual awards, set for March 25 at the Las Vegas Orleans Arena (and airing April 9 at 6 p.m. ET on TV One) will continue to serve that legacy, with the following 10 artists earning the most nominations this year. BRIANA “BRI” BABINEAUX Keys to My Heart Three nominations, including female vocalist and new artist of the year Born in Honolulu, Babineaux has become one of gospel’s fastest-rising stars. Using…

No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart She wrote breakthrough hit “Call on Me” to cope with depression. The 28-year-old Sydney native moved to London in her late teens to pursue songwriting, but ran out of money and had to return to Australia. “I had a lot of near misses,” she says, “and I just gave up.” Starley penned “Call on Me” as she was moving toward quitting music and becoming a personal trainer. But the elastic dance track, which has peaked at No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 since its July 2016 release, became that sought-after first hit. She slid into Salaam Remi’s Facebook messages. Starley coldcalled producers “all the time” as a struggling songwriter, including Remi (Miguel, Nas), who found “Call on Me” in his inbox.…

Show Stoppers On the suggestion of his drummer, Rhett got pairs of black and gold Nike Cortezes for each band member to wear onstage. Custom Kicks He chose the burnt orange and black on this pair; he also had “Home Team” inscribed across the back in honor of the tour. Fan Favorites After an overzealous fan wrote her name in mascara on his white Vans while he was performing, he had the whole crew sign them. Personal Anthem “My stylist Kemal Harris had these Vans made for me,” he says — complete with lyrics from the bridge of his hit song ”Anthem.”…

“A ‘Doug-ism’ I’ve used in many areas of my life that is always right: ‘Whenever a record sparks, no matter how small that spark may be, you make sure to get everything that walks and crawls in the building all over it.’ ” —Jimmy Iovine, Apple “Two words Doug drilled into my brain was to always ‘be nice,’ even under the most difficult circumstances. Sounds simple, but it’s never that easy. How he treated people with respect and dignity serves as one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned in this business.” —Monte Lipman chairman/CEO, Republic “Coming into Atlantic at a time when the label knew it needed a refresh and reimagining, Doug was the one to boldly and bravely invest and go hard and rebuild.” —Craig Kallman chairman/CEO,…

MICHELLE BRANCH BARELY REMEMBERS HER performance the night of Jan. 25 at New York’s Bowery Electric, but she recalls embracing Patrick Carney at the end of it. The six-song showcase at the 200-capacity venue previewed Hopeless Romantic, Branch’s first solo album in 14 years; Carney sat behind the kit, drumming live outside of The Black Keys for the first time in his career. Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley of indie group Tennis played keys and guitar, while Danger Mouse, who has produced the last four Black Keys records, jammed in the back of the audience to set-closer “Are You Happy Now?,” a top 10 hit for Branch in 2003. As the max-capacity crowd applauded, Carney weaved around his drums and hugged Branch at center stage, a grin on his face.…

Former Glee Star Gives Gonzo Fashion Week Performance Is Rilan gunning to be the male Lady Gaga? The former Glee actor and budding musician delivered an eye-popping, highly choreographed performance at the Pacific Design Center during Style Fashion Week in Los Angeles on March 12, and afterward discussed working on new glam-pop tunes for the summer. “All of my music is about the dark side of Hollywood, and of growing up,” said the 21-year-old New Orleans native (full name: Rilan Roppolo), who played a Warbler in Glee’s final season in 2015. During the performance, Rilan wore a white mask, had his jean jacket ripped off by backup dancers and rolled on the floor while playing his track “Clown.” The singer-songwriter confirmed that he worked with Richy Jackson, Gaga’s visual director,…

At 17, Eva Noblezada got her big break: At the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, where she performed “With You” from Ghost: The Musical, one of the show’s producers noticed her and promptly helped her secure an audition for a new London production of Miss Saigon. Noblezada won the role of tragic heroine Kim — originated in 1989 by Lea Salonga, who went on to become the first Asian woman to win a Tony Award. As the Vietnam musical returns to Broadway (March 23), its female lead, now 20, looks poised for a similar star-is-born moment. TRANSCENDING RACE Noblezada, who attended the Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte, N.C., moved to New York instead of pursuing college. “Being an Asian-American with Mexican blood, it’s difficult to not get…

Little Richard At 84, the live-wire, piano-playing rock pioneer remembers a rival, friend and fellow trailblazer I just feel sad about Chuck going. I didn’t even know he was sick. I lost a really great friend — one of my best friends in music. I love Chuck. I’ve been with Chuck all my life, really. We went around and toured America and Europe together. Most of my favorite moments were watching him just do the duck walk and play. Sometimes his daughter came out on the road with us. I remember one day he gave me a gold horseshoe to hold — “Feel this. How do you like it?” — and then he said, “OK, now give it back!” I said, “Chuck, you’re not an Indian giver!” “No, I’m not!”…

THE HISTORY OF ROCK’N’ROLL is littered with tales of pioneers who got scalped — by their managers, their record labels and their accountants, among others. Chuck Berry was not one of them. After learning some hard lessons early in his career, Berry, in his own eccentric way, mastered the music business well enough to leave an estate that Billboard estimates controls more than $17 million worth of music assets. The publishing rights to songs controlled by the late rocker’s Isalee Music Publishing Company could be worth more than $13 million alone, and Berry’s recording-artist royalties could amount to $500,000 per year. Berry’s introduction to the treacherous complexities of the music industry came when he signed with Chess Records and with the label’s music publishing arm, Arc Music. Only when Berry…

JASON ALDEAN The reigning entertainer of the year was the only country artist to top the Billboard 200 in 2016, with They Don’t Know. LUKE BRYAN Bryan, who last took home the award in 2015, hit the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in March with “Fast,” the sixth single from his platinum-selling album, Kill the Lights. FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE The duo returns to the category for the first time since 2014 on the success of Dig Your Roots, which is up for album of the year. CARRIE UNDERWOOD The 2008 and 2009 entertainer of the year is nominated again for the first time in eight years. Her 2015 album, Storyteller, is her sixth consecutive release to debut at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. KEITH…

Gospel music has had few stronger advocates than Don Jackson, founder of the Stellar Awards and chairman of Central City Productions. He has led the program from its boisterous start in 1970 to become one of the industry’s top awards shows, an annual event considered “the Grammys of gospel music.” The biggest challenge Jackson faced in establishing the telecast? To convince broadcast stations, especially in major markets, to air the show. “Many of the stations had very little knowledge of gospel’s entertainment value, so we purposely aired the show as a tribute to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, which the stations thought was very appropriate,” Jackson tells Billboard. “Because of the rating success, station clearances grew and the event became an annual special for broadcast stations all…

OFTEN COVERED, BUT NEVER BETTERED, The Turtles’ “Happy Together” is known not just for its ebullient horn-brightened chorus and “Bah-buh-buh-buh!” coda, but also for its place in music copyright law. When songwriters Alan Gordon and Gary Bonner (who were not members of the band) penned the song more than 50 years ago, the Los Angeles-based pop rockers already had charted five entries on the Billboard Hot 100, the most successful track a cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” that peaked at No. 8 in 1965. But “Happy Together” — the lead single from the band’s identically titled third album — took The Turtles all the way to the top of the chart for three weeks beginning March 25, 1967. After hitting No. 1, the song, which paired a…