Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Beyoncé and Jay-Z Tied for Most Career Nominations Heading Into 65th Annual Grammy Awards

Photo Courtesy of The Recording Academy
When it comes to Grammy Award nominations, no duo is more prolific than music power couple — The Carters.

Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z, are the most-nominated artists in Grammy history with 88 apiece.

The accomplishment was revealed on Tuesday when the nominations for the 65th annual Grammy Awards were announced.

With nine nominations to lead the field, the pop music diva tied the rapper — who received five nominations — for the honor.

If she can win at least four of the awards she is in contention for, which include album, record and song of the year, she will surpass classical conductor Georg Solti for the most Grammy wins.

Other leading nominees for the awards, which will take place on Feb. 5 at the Crypto.com center in Los Angeles, included rapper Kendrick Lamar (eight), Adele and Brandi Carlile (seven), and Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, Future, DJ Khaled and producer and songwriter The-Dream, who each earned six Grammy nominations.

Click here for the full list of nominees.

Monday, November 14, 2022

Roberta Flack Reveals ALS has Robber Her of Ability to Sing

Roberta Flack, the Grammy-Award-winning songwriter known for hits like “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," can no longer sing.

Flack's manager Suzanne Koga announced the news on Monday, sharing that the 85-year-old has been diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The progressive disease “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak," Koga said in a press release. “But it will take a lot more than ALS to silence this icon.”

The statement did not reveal when Flack originally received the diagnosis, but it did say that she would not allow it to end her career.

"Miss Flack plans to stay active in her musical and creative pursuits," it continued. "Her fortitude and joyful embrace of music that lifted her from modest circumstances to the international spotlight remain vibrant and inspired."

This is the latest medical setback for Flack. She suffered a stroke in 2016 that kept her from performing for an extended time. She was still feeling the effects of it as late as 2018 when she fell ill while performing at the Apollo Theater and was rushed to the hospital.

Flack was the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in consecutive years with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (1973) and "Killing Me Softly with His Song" (1974) and has won four awards on 13 nominations. She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

Travis Scott Joins DJ Screw Biopic as Executive Producer

Courtesy of DeMo Sherman and University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
The Sony biopic set to chronicle the life of Houston music legend DJ Screw has a new producer.

The studio announced that Travis Scott, another Bayou City native, will executive-produce the project — tentatively titled "All Screwed Up" —first publicized in 2020.

Deadline broke the news, which comes just days before the 22nd anniversary of the death of the pioneer behind the "chopped and screwed" sound that came to define Houston hip-hop in the latter part of the 20th Century.

“When I went up to the LA office with my bro Earl, and the entire Cactus Jack team was there. Trav and I talked over an hour about how epic this could be… bouncing ideas,” Isaac Yowman, who will direct the movie, said. “The love for Screw was mutual, and he told me I had his full support. We’re both raised in Mo. City so this means that much more to have him be a part.”

The film is being developed by Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony, and has the blessing of the deceased star's family.

"Continuing the legacy of my brother is most important," DJ Screw’s sister Michelle Wheeler said. "The process honestly has been exciting. I’m like wow, we’re really about to make a movie. Nearly a dozen film directors and producers had approached us over the years, but this was the first time I actually felt fully comfortable. I’m very thankful for Sony and Travis being on this journey with us, helping keep my brother Screw’s legacy going.”

Born Robert Earl Davis Jr., DJ Screw invented his signature “chopped and screwed” sound by spinning two copies of a record to “chop” in new rhythms and having local rappers freestyle over the tracks and slow down the recordings of the session on tape.

As the leader of Houston's iconic Screwed Up Click rap collective, and through the release of over 350 mixtapes he became a pivotal figure on the regional level during his life and his legacy continues to spread his innovations nationally and globally, as well as beyond the genres of rap and hip-hop.

He died at the age of 29 on Nov. 16, 2000, of a codeine overdose in addition to mixed drug intoxication, in his recording studio.

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