Over four decades, Lisa Robinson has made a name for herself as a celebrated journalist in a business long known for its boys’ club mentality. But to Robinson, the female performers who sat down with her, most often at the peak of their careers, were the true revelations.
Based on conversations with more than forty female artists, Nobody Ever Asked Me about the Girls is a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the effects of success on some of music’s most famous women. From Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Donna Summer, Bette Midler, Alanis Morissette and Linda Ronstadt to Mary J. Blige, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Adele, Beyonce, Rihanna, and numerous others, Robinson reveals the private obsessions and public distractions that musicians contend with in their pursuit of stardom. From these interviews emerge candid portraits of how these women—regardless of genre or decade—deal with image, abuse, love, motherhood, family, sex, drugs, business, and age.
Complete with reflections from Robinson’s own career as a pioneering female music writer, Nobody Ever Asked Me about the Girls offers an overdue consideration of how hopes, dreams, and the drive for recognition have propelled our most beloved female musicians to take the stage and leave an undeniable, lasting musical mark on the world.
As the holiday season creeps upon us all and the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, it’s becoming clear to a lot of us that 2020 won’t be a year where we’re able to celebrate with all our family or friends. After struggling with this revelation for the majority of the year, Long Island-based folk musician Josie Bello has released a one-off Christmas single chocked full of raw emotion and sentiments. It’s called “Come Home” and it’s available now.
The four-minute, 45 second-spanning folk number was penned by the New York musician after her 24-year-old son moved out earlier this year to start life with his fiancee. It features a myriad of vivid lyrics which express the feeling of missing someone so much that it hurts — it’s clear that Bello’s came right from the heart.
The single artwork even features a photograph of the loving mother and her son smiling together outside of Rockefeller Center in New York City during the 2006 holiday season. The “Magic of the Music” singer revealed that the photograph has been sitting on her fridge for the last 14 years.
In the song itself, it’s blatantly clear that Josie is longing for her son to come home. She sings: “I just want to spend the holidays with family and friends and you … especially you.” On the hardest part of having her son leaving the nest, the renowned musician admits “I miss having him to fuss over and cook for.”
While reminiscing on the joyous moments she’s shared with her beloved son in the last two decades, Bello reflected on the ongoing pandemic too and how it’s affecting almost everyone across the globe this season. “Holidays have always been a time for our family and close friends to reconnect and spend some quality time together,” she says. “The pandemic restrictions present a unique challenge for planning this year’s holiday gatherings.”
The Americana-inspired song was written and composed solely by Josie Bello; she even played the accordion. From there, “Come Home” was produced and recorded by Mike Nugent at Melts in Your Ears Studio in Huntington, N.Y., mixed by Kevin Kelly at the Workshoppe East, and mastered by Erik Balkey and Glenn Barratt and Morningstar Studios; Nugent also contributed all guitar and bass tracks, Kelly provided the synth, and drums were performed by Shawn Murray. All hail from Long Island, just like Bello.
Prior to “Come Home,” Bello has released two solo studio albums: 2018’s Can’t Go Home and 2020’s Have Purpose Live Long. Her albums have received extensive U.S. and international airplay on Roots, Folk and Americana-centric channels respectfully. Some have even charted on the EuroAmericana Chart, among several others.
In her spare time, Bello runs sporadic open mic nights and performs in her own band, The House Kit Band, with her bassist husband Frank Bello.
According to one study, the regular use of customer testimonials can help you generate roughly sixty-two percent more revenue not only from every customer but from every time they visit your brand. Ninety-two percent of people said that they read testimonials when considering a purchase. Use this to get more gigs, more festivals, more merch sales, too!
Chicago-based noise-pop rockers STAR are back with their sophomore offering, Violence Against STAR — available now via Half A Cow Records.
Theodore Beck (Gun Creeps), Scott Cortez (Astrobite, Lovesliescrushing), and Shannon Roberts (Future Silence, Gun Creeps) first formed after a meeting of the minds as market researchers in the motion picture circuit. As STAR — all caps — they pull influence from the likes of 80s horror cult classics to Bjork, My Bloody Valentine to Yoko Ono, David Lynch to Depeche Mode, and to Star Wars to Bob Dylan, and then some.
At 14-tracks, Violence Against STAR is the band’s second full-length and just as “crushing, highly melodic yet dense and instinctive,” according to White Light/White Heat; their breakthrough debut — Devastator (2007) — was received with:
TimeOut Chicago — “Beneath the mountains of fuzz guitar and restless lo-fi drum machines lies one thing no band can cover up: great pop songwriting. Led by the cold coo of vocalist Shannon Roberts this Wicker Park trio put together some of the most heartsick three-minute Brill Building jams all year.”
Illinois Entertainer — “As if broadcast from the bottom of a well and produced by Phil Spector’s wall of sound, Devastator – the 12-cut, 30 plus minute debut from STAR – might be the most irresistibly original sound out of Chicago since the rise of house and Wax Trax. Definite life transformation potential here.”
Jim DeRogatis in the Chicago Sun Times — “Finding the perfect mix of swirling noise and floating, ethereal melodies, with Shannon Roberts’ breathy vocals a real highlight.”
Denver Metropolitan — “When the realm of science fiction is less fantastic and more believable than the majority of love-based narratives society needs a champion like STAR to bring our heads out of the clouds. Devastator is the album to do that.”
Built on a Weak Spot — “Devastator is such a consistently good album there are no songs on it that fall flat or fail to deliver.”
Smother Magazine Editor’s Pick — “Noisy indie pop meets modern alternative rock head on like two trains driven by drunken coked up New Wave fans. Devastator is an intriguing listen that will have folks clamouring for more.”
Lost Music Ireland — “This is an excellent debut album consistently captivating from start to finish by a band proving to be a favourite emerging from the states right now for me.”
Sly Vinyl — “Melodic fuzzed out tunes of beauty and bliss.”
East Coast breakthrough band Arsenal Mills continue their quest to reimagine rock n’ roll as they deliver their sophomore single, “The Bleeding Heart.”
That we have it in our hands is a feat, though; the energy-laden 80s-inspired tale surrounding matters of the heart almost didn’t come to be from the PEI-based band.
“‘The Bleeding Heart’ was never meant to be an Arsenal Mills song, strangely enough,” lead vocalist and guitarist Brad Milligan muses. “It began as a song I had written for someone special in my life, so I was planning on keeping it for myself.
“But it was a little too raw,” he continues. ““I’m not usually one to write ‘love songs,’ but ‘The Bleeding Heart’ isn’t your average love song. After showing it to the band, we collectively realized it was worth working on and perfecting.”
The single is the second of a few set to land ahead of the emerging East Coast band’s forthcoming debut EP, Lovesick & Broke; it follows this summer’s earlier single offering of the same name.
“‘Lovesick & Broke’ helped us find our sound as a collective,” lead guitarist and vocalist Griff Arsenault says. “It paved the way for the rest of the album. ‘The Bleeding Heart’ is an 80s-inspired ballad for those craving a nostalgic vibe, and features little, unexpected moments, which I just love in songs.”
“It creates an interesting, contrasting image,” bassist, keys and synth man André U adds of their debut single. “It’s one of those songs that sounds very positive and energetic yet, at the same time, the lyrics are the opposite.
“’The Bleeding Heart’ has lyrical depth, melodies, and harmonies aplenty, and I feel is a truer representation of what we will become.”
“‘Lovesick & Broke’ is one of my absolute favourite songs to play; there’s just such an unmatched, fun energy to it,” drummer and percussionist Josh MacNeil considers. “‘The Bleeding Heart’ joins it — it’s such a blast to perform.
“The two are a really great showcase of our versatility and how we made our vision a reality.”
Canadian indietronica rocker Oliver Pigott delivers his frenetic, uncompromising and undeniably welcome take on Aerosmith’s 1973 ever-classic, “Dream On” — available now.
“Here we were, my wife, kids and I, in a charming small town across the border in the US riding out the next wave of 2020,” Pigott recalls of the cover’s earliest inspiration. “We were in a basement playing music with a few new friends and strangers when, that night, we met a man who suffers from amnesia; he came down to listen to us jam.
“Apparently, he had been a musician himself before his near-fatal car accident,” the Toronto-based singer/songwriter, musician, and actor continues. “As I played a few arpeggios over a D minor chord, he began to half mumble/half sing ‘Dream On.’ ‘You know it?’ He asked me, and of course I replied. He nodded and looked through me with piercing eyes; ‘great song, man.’”
As the night wore on, the man ultimately forgot that moment as well as who Pigott was. “Yet, we both knew the song would live on. Once I was back home, I began to dream of covering it in the studio and producing it with dramatic, orchestral-like instrumentation throughout.”
The process of recording the biting ballad would soon prove to create a journey all its own. “My wife recorded the piano track on a beautiful grand piano in our friend’s home,” Pigott shares of Danka Pigott. “Her take sped up significantly over the course of the song, but it was full of feeling so we made the choice to keep it.
“I had the same approach to my vocals; I recorded that night, and decided to keep everything that came out of me on the first take. Too much music is auto-tuned and set to a click, and I wanted to make a departure from that.
“I wanted to trust the moment.
“With my twin boys in the other room as I sang, I could not help but feel the weight of the lyrics. This song has always spoken to me and I wanted to create something that captured my feelings about 2020 as well as what I imagine a lot of people have grappled with over the course of this volatile year.”
When it comes to the music video, Danka handily contributed there as well, directing and filming the stunning visual accompaniment; “Dream On” isn’t the first creative collaboration for the two — they appear together as Americana/folk duo LambLion as well.
On a cliff at dusk, overlooking tumultuous waves giving the shores of Lake Erie a piece of their mind, the entire video was captured in one take, with the partners once again ‘trusting the moment’ in its entirety.
“The two of us followed each other’s instincts and let the performance and camera angles unfold in real time,” Danka shares of the powerful dream-like sequence that evokes states of anguish and passion.
“And melancholy,” Pigott adds. “It’s where the struggle for freedom and the yearning for truth is unyielding.
“My wife always says ‘your art is your politics’ and, with this cover, that may well be the case.”
Multi-award winning Canadian country artist Leanne Pearson yearns for connection amidst COVID with her sweet new single “Miles Away” — available now.
“This is a song straight from my heart,” Pearson lays plainly. “I’ve never released such a personal and emotional song before.”
At 350,000+ streams on Spotify alone, Pearson is well-known for her bop-worthy brand of country rock. With a feature on HGTV, and three Top 100 singles at Canadian country radio — including the Top 50 hit, “Get Outta My Heart” — she won Album of the Year at the 2019 Manitoba Country Music Awards for her debut LP, Pull It Off, as well as Music Video of the Year for her single, “Hot Pursuit.”
But this year hit different for the 2018 MCMA Female Artist of the Year.
While she released “Checkin’ Out Your Truck” earlier in 2020, Pearson was then inspired by the emotional struggle of being away from her fiancé for months in the midst of the nation’s travel and safety restrictions. As a result, “Miles Away” lands as an intimate and heart wrenching release that reveals the Winnipeg artist’s vulnerable sentiments as she grappled with the situation.
“During a time of challenge and pain, I wanted to pour my heart and soul into the music I was creating,” Pearson shares. “Out of the struggle, came beauty. I posted myself singing ‘Miles Away’ the day I wrote it, and the response was overwhelming. People from all over the world seemed to connect with the song, and started sharing their own personal struggles of being away from a loved one.
“So many people are hurting right now,” she continues. “I want to spread positivity and love during this challenging time, and ‘Miles Away’ was a perfect way to do that.”
At the board for “Miles Away” is award-winning producer Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies, Doc Walker), and mastered by Nathan Dantzler (Avenue Beat, Niall Horan, Ellie Goulding); Matt Kelly (City and Colour) contributed steel guitar.
In addition to the song’s official music video is an American Sign Language (ASL) version with special importance to Pearson. “My two Nana’s were my best friends and biggest supporters; one was blind and one was deaf,” she explains. “One of them never got the chance to see me play live, but she could hear me, while the other couldn’t hear me, but could see me jumping around the stage and having fun.
“Together, they were the eyes and ears.
“When I stumbled across Sign A Song, I was completely blown away at the opportunity to share ‘Miles Away’ through sign language. It’s a perfect marriage, and a dream come true.”
Speaking of marriage, Pearson and her partner Jordan’s love story continues to traverse unexpected terrain.
“Jordan and I had to push our wedding festivities many times due to COVID, but at a certain point, we just couldn’t wait any longer! We decided to get married and make it a fun, memorable event for everyone.”
This meant forgoing their initially planned festivities for an impromptu ceremony at an Elvis chapel in Nashville, Tennessee this past November — the footage from which will soon become Pearson’s official music video for “Miles Away.”
“We live streamed the event and our family and friends thought we were going to the courthouse, so they were so surprised when Elvis walked out,” she recalls. “We also had our cat as the ‘Cat of Honour.’
“After we got married, Jordan and I had a frozen pizza for dinner alongside a $4 bottle of champagne and a cake from the grocery store’s frozen aisle. We plan on having a big celebration when COVID-19 is long gone, but for now, this was the most perfectly imperfect day!
“I guess this is what getting married during a worldwide pandemic looks like!”
To celebrate what would have been the 74th birthday of David Bowie on the 8th January, two previously unreleased cover versions John Lennon’s MOTHER and Bob Dylan’s TRYIN’ TO GET TO HEAVEN will be released as a very special limited edition 7” single.
The 7” single is limited to 8147 numbered copies, 1000 of which will be on cream coloured vinyl available only from the official David Bowie store and Warner Music’s Dig! store (the remainder will be black). Both tracks will be available to stream and download.
Originally recorded by Lennon for his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Bowie’s version of MOTHER was produced by Tony Visconti in 1998 for a Lennon tribute that never came to fruition. Bob Dylan’s original TRYIN’ TO GET TO HEAVEN was released on his 1997 Album of the Year GRAMMY winning Time Out Of Mind. David’s version was recorded in February 1998 during the mixing sessions for the live album ‘LiveAndWell.com’.
Today one of the most successful, iconic and revered artists in pop music history, Annie Lennox releases a virtual choral performance of “Dido’s Lament” with London City Voices choir.
Annie Lennox has collaborated with London City Voices choir to bring together a unique performance of her arrangement of Purcell’s “Dido’s Lament”, taken from the 10th Anniversary Edition of A Christmas Cornucopia released via Island Records.
The collaboration is in partnership with Greenpeace, who Annie has supported over numerous campaigns as an Ambassador, while Eurythmics supported Greenpeace and Amnesty for their Peace tour in 1999. Viewers of the video will be invited to donate to Greenpeace with this link.
Says Lennox: “It’s been such an honour and privilege to have been able to create this unique event in collaboration with the London City Voices Choir during this unprecedented time of the 2020 Covid 19 pandemic. I’m deeply touched and grateful to my friend and co producer Mike Stevens and choirmaster Richard Swan for making this possible. Also, to each choir member who took part from their homes through the medium of ‘Zoom’. As a long term supporter of Greenpeace I am deeply concerned by the Global Climate Crisis, which I feel is the most urgent challenge we all have to face, particularly with regard to sustainability for future generations. I very much hope to be able to make a contribution by drawing attention towards this vital issue. Additionally, I feel a tremendous sense of empathy and concern for everyone who has lost a dearly beloved friend or family member this year and hope this recording can offer a moment of shared collective mourning for those whose lives have been taken.”
London City Voices is a non-audition community choir made up of three branches across the capital who normally come together twice a year to perform in a 400+ person choir concert. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, the choir would have just performed at their Christmas concert. Each of the 276 members of the choir involved in this choral performance of “Dido’s Lament” video have learnt, prepared and recorded their parts from each of their homes during lockdown, overseen by founder and director Richard Swan.
“Dido’s Lament” is a classical aria written by Henry Purcell in the 17th century referencing the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas as documented in Virgil’s legendary epic poem, The Aeneid, from the 1st century BC. Annie’s recording of “Dido’s Lament” is a unique arrangement of the classical piece, arranged by herself and co producer Mike Stevens.
Premiered by Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2, “Dido’s Lament”, has also received radio support from Magic FM and Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. Annie Lennox has appeared on the BBC’s The One Show and Russell Brand’s podcast Under The Skin over the past week, and is due to appear on Scotland’s Makar to Makar on 17th December and the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on 20th December.
“Dido’s Lament” was released with an accompanying music video depicting a Victorian magic lantern show which starts with the wonders of the natural world, but soon becomes a stark warning of the future and an elegiac lament to the death of the Earth. As part of Annie Lennox’s collaboration with Greenpeace you can now also view this original music video for “Dido’s Lament” on Greenpeace’s Instagram and Facebook pages.
“Dido’s Lament” is the closing track on the digitally remastered version of Annie’s sixth solo album, A Christmas Cornucopia which features a new track listing and new artwork (across all formats – vinyl, CD and digital).
The music on A Christmas Cornucopia was mostly played by Lennox, in collaboration with co producer Mike Stevens, and originally recorded in his southwest London studio – at the bottom of his garden in 2010. But to achieve the resonance and vibrancy that were integral to Lennox’s ideas for these re-energized reboots, the pair also worked with a 30-piece orchestra at Pinewood Studios. And they travelled further afield too: to South Africa, to record with the African Children’s Choir, a remarkable organization with which impassioned campaigner and activist Lennox has long had a relationship.
A Christmas Cornucopia is far from a saccharine packaged selection box. As befits its title, it offers an abundant track listing drawn from British, French and German traditions covering the well-known alongside more untrodden ground. It’s broad spectrum encompasses a wide range of narratives and emotions – from joyful and celebratory thorough melancholic and haunting to poignant and timely. On “Lullay Lullay”, for example, Lennox draws direct links between the Nativity and the plight of Africa’s child soldiers.
Vibrant but vintage, classic and contemporary, glorious but with a polemical edge, Annie Lennox’s A Christmas Cornucopia is no ordinary collection of seasonal songs.
As Scala Radio focuses its January output on Be Healthy, Be Happy, it today announces that it will welcome British artist Midge Ure to the station from 4th January, where he will be curating popular evening programme, The Space.
Midge really needs very little introduction. Having already achieved huge success in the 70s and 80s, by the time his single “If I Was” went to No1 in 1985 he had crammed several musical lifetimes into a 10 year professional career – Slik, The Rich Kids, Thin Lizzy, Visage, Ultravox and of course the most famous one-off group in musical history, Band Aid.
Now joining Scala Radio as a guest host on weeknights throughout January, Midge will bring his vast musical experience as he curates the atmospheric sounds of ‘The Space’. Midge will be specially selecting classically-inspired pieces and sharing anecdotes from his expansive career. You can expect to hear calming music from fellow pop and rock counterparts including Brian Eno, Sigur Ros, Air, Peter Gabriel and Jonny Greenwood alongside classical favourites by the likes of Grieg and Debussy.
Speaking about the new show, Midge said “I think like me, many people are probably quite guilty of spending far too much time looking at screens in 2020 when we’ve been limited of other forms of real-life entertainment or contact. It will be the perfect opportunity to relax and unwind from the computer, tablet and mobile phone. I hope as January draws in, you’ll join me in taking a break from the noise in the evenings and just sit back and allow yourself to be carried away by some gorgeous music.”
Scala Radio Music & Content director, Ric Blaxill added “We break the mould of classical music at Scala Radio, always bringing something new or unexpected to our listeners. Midge’s music has transcended both genres and generations, and we’re incredibly pleased to welcome him next month to guest host this series.”
Listen to The Space on Scala Radio, guest hosted by Midge Ure from Monday 4th January from 10pm on weekdays.
Scala Radio is available on national DAB Digital Radio, Sky TV, online, via smart speakers and via mobile apps. Further information on how to listen can be found at www.scalaradio.co.uk.
