Steve Baltin is a Recording Academy/GRAMMY.com contributor.
Throughout Mental Health Awareness Month in May, GRAMMY.com has shared quotes and stories from artists who have made the choice to speak publicly about how their mental health has directly affected their lives, and how the healing power of music has helped them on their path toward a more peaceful, present and mindful life. Multiplatinum rock band Shinedown, who recently…
Looking at social media this weekend, all of the music talk centered around Beyoncé's career-defining performance at Coachella on Saturday night. And rightuflly so. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The only reunion that matters! The glorious, <a href="https://twitter.com/destinyschild?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DestinysChild</a> reunited at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeyChella?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BeyChella</a>!<br><br>(via Coachella/ GIPHY) <a href="https://t.co/aGRqJGhXgu">pic.twitter.com/aGRqJGhXgu</a></p>— BET (@BET) <a href="https://twitter.com/BET/status/985431313237921792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Whether it was her precision opening…
As has been well documented for hundreds of soap opera-esque TV documentaries, band dynamics can make marriages or families look downright harmonious. Take the case of the now-splintered UB40. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zXt56MB-3vc" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> Four-time GRAMMY nominees for Best Reggae Album, the group saw lead singer Ali Campbell leave in 2008 due to business disputes with the band’s management. Campbell…
Forty-one years after her last nomination, Judy Collins returned to the GRAMMY Awards in a major way in 2017. A 59th GRAMMY nominee this year for Best Folk Album for Silver Skies, the iconic folk troubadour got to honor two of her peers this year when she sang “Both Sides Now” in front of Joni Mitchell at The Recording Academy & Clive Davis' Pre-GRAMMY Gala…
A member of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, multiple GRAMMY nominee Grace Slick is one of the most iconic voices in the annals of rock – the woman who led the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship in such enduring hits as “Somebody To Love,” “White Rabbit,” “Miracles,” “Jane” and more. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5aeWicwy7fA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media"…
The pairing of Carlos Santana and the Isley Brothers is something the GRAMMY Awards could have totally dreamed up for a once in a lifetime performance. Both iconic acts, having come out of the Sixties, are true GRAMMY heavyweights with over a dozen awards between them, including Santana’s Album and Record Of The Year in 2000 and the Isley Brothers’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. <iframe width="620" height="349"…
More than two decades into their career, seven-time GRAMMY nominees Garbage are as creatively invigorated and vibrant as ever. The Shirley Manson-fronted quartet just kicked off a new tour with rock icons Blondie, they have a new socially conscious single, “No Horses,” on the way, plans to head into the studio later this year and they just released a massive coffee table…
Now 59, Paul Weller, a.k.a. “The Modfather,” as he will forever be known to fans of the Jam and Style Council, is feeling good these days. His new album, Kind Revolution, finds Weller writing upbeat soulful tunes to do the best he can to soothe an increasingly anguished and tumultuous world. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zty_ONRLevE" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> He is also…
Chris Cornell, who died at age 52 in Detroit on May 17 while on tour with Soundgarden, was one of the most beloved figures not just in rock, but all of music. I have covered music for more than two decades, which in that time sadly encompasses far too many deaths. And few have prompted the waves of sadness and…
Chuck Berry was playing in my house and my grandparents' house so [his music] was [always] around. I think I really became conscious of how popular he was [when] — this sounds kind of silly to say, but I grew up in the '80s — Michael J. Fox played the Chuck Berry thing [in Back To The Future]. I was…
It’s a gorgeous Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles when Brandon Boyd joins us for lunch at the Sunset Marquis Hotel. Boyd is here to talk about his burgeoning art career, but inevitably, as he is in the midst of writing a new Incubus album, the focus turns to songwriting. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fgT9zGkiLig" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> During the conversation,…
Television series about musicians and the music industry are almost as old as TV. The first network television season was broadcast in the U.S. seven decades ago and within a few years musicians were a central part of the story. When "I Love Lucy" debuted in 1951 Lucille Ball's husband, Desi Arnaz, played a bandleader, with plenty of music performance…
Before James Bay and Skrillex became household names, they were just kids finding the musical heroes who would shape their sound. Having been fortunate enough to talk to many musicians over the years, we’ve noticed that certain songwriting heroes are mentioned repeatedly as being inspirational and influential, having shaped generations of music with their individuality, their artistry and in the…
At the Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on their Love You To Death tour, Tegan and Sara, in their usual charming fashion, shared with the sold-out crowd that they’re often praised, however disconcertingly, for their effortlessly funny stage banter as much as they are for their indie-folk-turned-pop songwriting. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9e9NSMY8QiQ" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> With their magnetic ability to…
It’s a gloomy Friday afternoon in the industrial outskirts of Los Angeles, and we are at Pollution Studios to meet up with the multi-platinum alternative band, Deftones. We catch them filming the video for “Prayers/Triangles,” the lead track from their forthcoming album Gore. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JAmt6zN9vOk" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> The GRAMMY-winning quintet comprised of Chino Moreno, Abe Cunningham,…
"This was the first time [a band] deciding to work separately became worldwide news, treated almost as a death," wrote the UK's The Guardian. No, this wasn't a reference to Zayn Malik's recent departure from One Direction. The split to which the paper was referring goes back to 1970, when Paul McCartney announced the end of the Beatles.It was a…
Just nine months after the release of their seventh studio album, What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World, the Decemberists are back with a five-song EP. Florasongs is a collection of tracks that frontman Colin Meloy says were all contenders for What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World but ultimately did not make the cut. The EP was…
Following the release of their seventh studio album, The Waterfall, in May, GRAMMY-nominated rock band My Morning Jacket are now on the road touring in support of the album. When GRAMMY.com caught up with frontman Jim James prior to a concert in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7, he revealed the transition for this album from the studio to the stage…
When Dallas Green started City & Colour it was essentially a solo project that barely allowed him to hide his own name. (Think about it for a second, but don’t feel bad if you don’t get it, Green says people are still figuring out the thinly veiled pseudonym.) <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fbStWiWDCEI" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> The one-time Alexisonfire frontman…
The job of a journalist is often times to describe an experience, to paint a picture of what it was like to be at an event. However, there are no words that can adequately describe what it is like to experience Charles Bradley, “The Screaming Eagle of Soul,” in concert. Powerful, moving, mesmerizing, and uplifting only begin to capture the…
