Mourners remembered legendary singer Etta James as an authentic voice whose vocals bridged genres from blues to rock.
About 300 mourners remembered legendary singer Etta James on Saturday as an authentic voice whose velvety vocals bridged genres from blues to rock.
The Rev. Al Sharpton will preside at Saturday's funeral for Etta James, the legendary singer's family said Tuesday.
There once was a time -- like, oh, the late 1990s -- when the box set loomed over the music world like a just reward. With dazzling presentations -- 3-D brains! Lucite cubes! portable faux-phonographs! -- and equally unrestrained liner notes, these CD collections were the ultimate capstone to an artist's career or the last word in genre compilations.
What does it mean to be a Texan?
Texas residents aren't shy about their love of the Lone Star state and its rich history, as CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.
Grammy-winning blues pianist Willie "Pinetop" Perkins died at his home in Austin, Texas, Monday, his official website said.
G. Love remakes "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" on his new Avett Brothers-produced album.
"Just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan. Don't need to be coy, Roy. Just listen to me."
"Is my cigarette out of the shot?" asks John Mellencamp, as smoke curls around his tousled head. When asked why he even bothers to hide it, the singer replies sheepishly with a chuckle, "Cuz I don't want people to know I smoke."
John Mellencamp talks about his new album and says the Internet is the most dangerous invention since the atomic bomb.
Yankee soul man
updated: Wed Aug 18 2010 11:01:00
Yankee soul man croons of love and life.
The soul man howled into the microphone, his voice busting through the ceiling of the dimly lit Mississippi juke joint. He sang of love and sex, cheating scoundrels and lying fools.
The musician debuts a new song - and weighs in on who should win Celebrity Apprentice
Jazz master Wynton Marsalis says the blues is the true American music -- the heartbeat and unifying principle of jazz, country, R&B, gospel and other styles -- but it's been relegated to the back of the bus by greed and the legacy of racism.
Jazz virtuoso Wynton Marsalis talks about the meaning of the blues, the legacy of racism, and lessons from his father.
As you walk down Prince Street in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, it may be easy to forget that it's 2009.
CNN photojournalist John Bena talks to a blues performer who considers himself as much a preservationist as a musician.
Yes, they signed with a mega-label and are cashing checks as a late-night show's house band, but sellouts? The Roots?
The Roots say their new gig on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" affords them a chance to hone their musical chops.
Pat Davis was just 10 years old when two black men came into his father's barbecue joint in the heart of the Mississippi Delta in 1947. A huge fuss ensued, with four racists shouting every name in the book.
Madeleine Peyroux has carved out a successful career as an interpreter of songs from greats such as Billie Holiday, Patsy Cline and Leonard Cohen. But on her fourth album, the smoky-voiced singer holds the mirror up to herself.
Singer Madeleine Peyroux talks to CNN's Shanon Cook about recording her new album 'Bare Bones.'
Iggy Pop invented punk rock. That's how cool he is. His songs have been covered by the likes of Guns N' Roses, REM, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Sex Pistols.
The Queen of the Blues is dead.
Now in its 37th year, the Glastonbury festival has built a reputation as the mother of all music festivals, with the biggest names in rock music gladly accepting invitations to play the Pyramid stage year after year. Yet for all their combined wealth and fame, it is festival's organizer who remains the true star of Glastonbury.
"Cadillac Records," the story of a rowdy musical revolution and the record label that helped to launch it, begins in 1941, when Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright) is a sharecropper playing slide guitar under the blazing hot Mississippi sun.
A jury finds Eric McLean guilty of reckless homicide in the shooting death of his wife's teen lover.
The singer, who secretly married in April, flashes an 18 carat diamond at Fashion Rocks
Bo Diddley dies
updated: Mon Jun 02 2008 22:13:00
Bo Diddley, the musical pioneer whose songs melded rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll, has died. He was 79.
Bo Diddley, the musical pioneer whose songs, such as "Who Do You Love?" and "Bo Diddley," melded rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll through a distinctive thumping beat, has died. He was 79.
VIDEO: The influential musician helped the blues evolve into rock 'n' roll
Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll and an inspiration for legions of musicians, died Monday at the age of 79
The family of the pilot killed Saturday watched as his F/A-18 Hornet crashed in a neighborhood during a U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision-flying team air show, Lt. Commander Anthony Walley said Saturday.
From distinctive sounds to literary eminence, African-American performers, artists and writers have transformed their respective fields. The following is just a sampling of African Americans whose contributions have changed the arts.
As home prices seem poised to fall, housing industry businessmen may need a contingency plan for riding out what could be a rough stretch.
Several noted R&B singers and musicians played roles -- and songs -- in "The Blues Brothers." Among them:
The song broke in the summer of 1965, a fired gun of a drum shot followed by words out of a fairy tale: "Once upon a time, you dressed so fine ..."
showbuzzupdated: Fri Apr 15 2005 15:15:00
"The Wedding Singer," that celluloid celebration of the 1980s starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, has been transformed into a Broadway musical and booked for a New York opening -- for April 2006.
Thanks to an innovative Chicago label called Soundies, an extraordinary collection of vintage jazz and pop recordings will soon be available on the Internet--fully indexed and searchable. Soundies ...
"And the box office boost goes to...
Advertising has Madison Avenue. The theatre has Broadway and finance has Wall Street. But it's hard to find one central stretch of road for the music industry. There are, however, certain streets and stretches where music history resides. Here's a quick drive-by of musical hot spots.
Ray Charles, the innovative singer and pianist whose combinations of blues and gospel pioneered soul music and earned him the nickname "the Genius," has died. He was 73.
showbuzzupdated: Fri Apr 30 2004 11:01:00
The blues are back at Chess Records Studio.
showbuzzupdated: Fri Jan 30 2004 11:56:00
Tony Randall is recuperating from pneumonia following bypass surgery in December, his publicist said Thursday.
Drink Small, the legendary Carolina bluesman, said it best: "Two hundred years from now, church people will be singing 'Amazing Grace.' And two hundred years from now, blues people will be singing ...
American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, Mo. 816-474-8463; www.americanjazzmuseum.com. Listen to recordings by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker or sit in on twice-monthly lectures by li...
Every college has a student who turns out to be the self-anointed music authority, and at my school that student was me. I was the college newspaper's rock columnist, I managed the on-campus record...
"One More Heartache" came out of the Motown music factory, written by, among others, Smokey Robinson. But it was Marvin Gaye, using the label's usual musicians and arrangers, who released a very co...
If anyone has a right to the blues, it's Willie Nelson. At 67, the red-headed stranger from Abbott, Texas, can look back on a string of life lessons learned the hard way: failed marriages, record-l...
Jeff Gordinier's recent Transoceanic In-Flight Playlists have admirably addressed the typical six- to eight-hour plane trip. But New York-Tokyo requires special preparation. It's a marathon--14 1/2...
Comedy clubs were booming as the curtain lifted on the 1990s. But it's no laughing matter on the club scene anymore. Comedy has crashed, and is being routed by blues clubs and a revival of performa...