The Grammy Awards announced another tune-up Tuesday, adding three new categories ahead of next year’s show.

The 2024 ceremony is set to introduce Best African Music Performance, Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album, organizers said.

The Best African Music Performance category will recognize “recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent,” the announcement reads. Best Pop Dance Recording will honor “tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement,” while Best Alternative Jazz Album will celebrate “artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals.”

The new additions follow a 2023 ceremony in which the Grammys added five categories, including Songwriter of the Year.

“These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” Henry Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said Tuesday. “By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists.”

Tuesday’s announcement also revealed that Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year will move to the Grammys’ general field, which is non-genre-specific. Album, Song and Record of the Year are also in the general field, as is Best New Artist.

“We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide,” Mason said.

This year’s Grammys took place in February at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, where Beyonce set a new record with her 32nd career win. Harry Styles won Album of the Year for “Harry’s House,” Lizzo won Record of the Year for “About Damn Time” and Bonnie Raitt won Song of the Year for “Just Like That.”

©2023 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Artist Steve Lacy will be performing in the first show at the former East Boston horse racetrack in 20 years when he takes the stage June 16 – the beginning of The Stage at Suffolk Downs.

The city’s newest outdoor music spot takes up 186,000 square feet, featuring room for up to 8,500 fans.

Suffolk Downs hasn’t hosted a musical show in roughly 20 years, but the venue has attracted some major artists in its existence. The Beatles marked the first band to perform there, playing to 25,000 fans in 1966. The Jackson 5, Radiohead and Bjork also held concerts.

The Stage represents an attempt at reviving the live music scene in Eastie, and fans can expect the new era of shows to be something between a festival and a headlining concert, said Josh Bhatti, senior vice president of The Bowery Presents, a leading concert promotion and venue management company along the East Coast.

“What we were trying to do was have an outdoor venue in a field, nothing more elaborate than that,” Bhatti said, “an area where people can come in, not have a reserved seating section, spread out, have a blanket and spend the day taking in music. That’s something, out of a festival atmosphere here in the city, we really don’t have.”

Lacy kicks off an opening weekend that will also feature shows from rock band LCD Soundsystem on Saturday and supergroup boygenius on Sunday. Tickets are available for the first two shows, but boygenius is sold out.

The Bowery Presents worked with the artists to curate the undercards, Bhatti said.

Gates will open at 3 p.m., with music beginning at 4 and lasting until 10:30 every night.

“To these headlining artists, it takes them out of having to necessarily play in an arena or play a larger bill, where they can play to a good sized crowd,” Bhatti said. “It’s a great way to kick off what the season is here.”

Fans will enjoy the entertainment from the infield of the track, which has been without entertainment since hosting the last horse race in 2019. The new music space offers a 68-foot-wide seasonal stage, and the VIP area includes a dedicated bar, concessions, restrooms and shaded unobstructed views of the performing artists.

Outside of opening weekend, The Stage will stay relatively quiet for the remainder of the summer, besides a two-day Breakaway Festival scheduled for Sept. 14 and 15.

The Bowery Presents is looking to expand over the years, with several shows booked and confirmed for 2024 already, Bhatti said.

His company is opening The Stage in partnership with Boston-based The HYM Investment Group LLC, which is leading the city’s largest private development project in history. That effort will bring about 10,000 apartments and condos, along with retail and restaurants, to Suffolk Downs.

The development project has designated 40 of Suffolk Downs’ 161 acres to open green space, Bhatti said.

“We are contained within that area,” he said. “Over time, things will move and shift around, but the idea is to keep music here for a long time, kind of building the development around it.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer, songwriter and entertainer whose off-hand, English-language cameo on “The Girl from Ipanema” made her a worldwide voice of bossa nova, has died at age 83.

Musician Paul Ricci, a family friend, confirmed that she died Monday. He did not provide additional details.

Born in Salvador, Bahia and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Gilberto became an overnight, unexpected superstar in 1964, thanks to knowing just enough English to be recruited by the makers of “Getz/Gilberto,” the classic bossa nova album featuring saxophonist Stan Getz and her then-husband, singer-songwriter-guitarist João Gilberto.

“The Girl from Ipanema,” the wistful ballad written by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes, was already a hit in South America. But “Getz/Gilberto” producer Creed Taylor and others thought they could expand the record’s appeal by including both Portuguese and English language vocals. In a 2002 interview with friends posted on her web site www.astrudgilberto.com, Astrud Gilberto remembered her husband saying he had a surprise for her at the recording studio.

“I begged him to tell me what it was, but he adamantly refused, and would just say: ‘Wait and see …’ Later on, while rehearsing with Stan, as they were in the midst of going over the song ‘The Girl from Ipanema,’ Joao casually asked me to join in, and sing a chorus in English, after he had just sung the first chorus in Portuguese. So, I did just that,” she explained.

“When we were finished performing the song, Joao turned to Stan, and said something like: ‘Tomorrow Astrud sing on record… What do you think?’ Stan was very receptive, in fact very enthusiastic; he said it was a great idea. The rest, of course, as one would say, ‘is history.’”

Astrud Gilberto sings “The Girl from Ipanema” in a light, affectless style that influenced Sade and Suzanne Vega among others, as if she had already moved on to other matters. But her words, translated from the Portuguese by Norman Gimbel, would be remembered like few others from the era.

Tall and tan and young and lovely

The girl from Ipanema goes walking

And when she passes

Each one she passes goes, “Ah”

“Getz/Gilberto” sold more than 2 million copies and “The Girl from Ipanema,” released as a single with Astrud Gilberto the only vocalist, became an all-time standard, often ranked just behind “Yesterday” as the most covered song in modern times. “The Girl from Ipanema” won a Grammy in 1965 for record of the year and Gilberto received nominations for best new artist and best vocal performance. The poised, dark-haired singer was so closely associated with “The Girl from Ipanema” that some assumed she was the inspiration; de Moraes had written the lyrics about a Brazilian teenager, Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto.

Over the next few years, Gilberto toured with Getz among others and released eight albums (with songs in English and Portuguese), among them “The Astrud Gilberto Album,” “Beach Samba” and “The Shadow of Your Smile.” But after 1969, she made just seven more albums and by 2002 had essentially retired from the business and stopped giving interviews, dedicating her latter years to animal rights activism and a career in the visual arts. She would allege that she received no money for “The Girl from Ipanema” and that Taylor and Getz (who would refer to her as “just a housewife”) took undue credit for “discovering” her. She also felt estranged from her native country, alleging she was treated dismissively by the press, and rarely performed there after she became a star.

“Isn’t there an ancient proverb to the effect that ‘No one is a prophet in his own land?’” she said in 2002. ”I have no qualms with Brazilians, and I enjoy myself very much when I go to Brazil. Of course, I go there as an incognito visitor, and not as a performer.”

Astrud Weinert was the youngest of three sisters, born into a family both musical and at ease with foreign languages: Her mother was a singer and violinist, her father a linguistics professor. By her teens, she was among a circle of musical friends and had met João Gilberto, a rising star in Rio’s emerging bossa nova scene.

After she met him, “The clan grew larger, to include ‘older’ folks” such as Tom Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes, Bené Nunes, Luis Bonfá and João Donato, and other respective “‘other halves,’” she recalled. “(João Gilberto) and I used to sing duets, or he would accompany me on guitar. Friends would always request that I sing at these gatherings, as well as at our own home when they would come to visit us.”

She was married twice and had two sons, João Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, both of whom would work with her. Well after her commercial peak, she remained a popular live act, her singing becoming warmer and jazzier as she sang both covers and original material. She also had some notable moments as a recording artist, whether backed by trumpeter Chet Baker on “Fly Me to the Moon” or crooning with George Michael on the bossa nova standard “Desafinado.” In 2008, she received a Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement.

“I have been labeled by an occasional frustrated journalist as ‘a recluse.’ The dictionary clearly defines recluse as ‘a person who withdraws from the world to live in seclusion and often in solitude.’ Why should anybody assume that just because an artist chooses not to give interviews, he/she is a recluse?” she said in 2002.

“I firmly believe that any artist who becomes famous through their work — be it music, motion pictures or any other — does not have any moral obligation to satisfy the curiosity of journalists, fans or any members of the public about their private lives, or anything else that does not have any direct reflection on their work. My work, whether perceived as good, bad, or indifferent, speaks for itself.”

You could take out a personal loan to travel to a megafest. But why not go to something better a single tank of gas away? Or maybe just a T ride away? And why not have that fest feature an A+ lineup of locals and international stars?

Green River Festival

Greenfield; June 23-25

Miles from Boston: 95

I have said in the past that this is our Coachella, but that’s an insult, an insult to Green River. This is more like our Bonnaroo, Newport Folk and Newport Jazz all in one. The Franklin County Fairgrounds host St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Little Feat, the Wood Brothers, the Felice Brothers, GA-20, the Glen David Andrews Band, and many more. Greenriverfestival.com

Boston GuitarFest

Cambridge; June 27-July 2

Miles from Boston: Less than one

The theme of the 18th fest is “transformation.” And these performances will show off plenty of artists who have transformed the guitar (and the renaissance lute!). Grammy-winner Sharon Isbin will open the master class series. The Bach Cello Suites will be reinvented for classical guitar. Your mind will be expanded. The fest features workshops, lectures, performance classes, private lessons and performances both online and in person at the Foundry and Multicultural Arts Center. Bostonguitarfest.org

Levitate Music Festival

Marshfield; July 7-9

Miles from Boston: 30

It’s time to celebrate 10 years of Levitate with the best line up in the event’s history. Skeptical? The headliners are Brandi Carlile, Trey Anastasio Band and Stick Figure. The undercard features Goose, Ziggy Marley, Lucius, Larkin Poe, the California Honeydrops, G. Love & Special Sauce, and many more on three stages.  levitatemusicfestival.com

• Nice!, a fest

Somerville; July 20-23

Miles from Boston: Two-ish

The Massachusetts-centric festival of underground rock ‘n’ roll returns for edition three at Somerville’s Crystal Ballroom and the Rockwell in Davis Square. Come for Karate, Swirlies, Guerilla Toss, Valleyheart, Bent Knee, Izzy Heltai, and Will Dailey. Stay for about 70 other acts.  niceafest.com

Lowell Folk Festival

Lowell; July 28-30

Miles from Boston: 31

Lowell Folk Festival executive director Kevin Dwyer has a wide definition of folk, one that includes bluegrass, Argentine tango, Manouche jazz, West African balafon and dozens of other styles. The oldest free – yes, free – folk fest in the country returns with arts, crafts and can’t-miss music from Chicago blues sensation Melody Angel to western swing champs Hot Club of Cowtown to tap dance phenom Jason Samuels Smith. Lowellfolkfestival.org

The Newport Jazz Festival

Newport, Rhode Island; Aug. 4-6

Miles from Boston: 71

Newport Folk gets most of the buzz. But that’s changing, and that’s as it should be. Yes, Newport Jazz has the old masters – Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd, John Scofield. But the event has started leaning hard on improvisational music of every kind, so you can see hard bop and jam bands, soul jazz, electronica and more. newportjazzfest.net

In Between Days Festival

Quincy; Aug. 19-20

Miles from Boston: 11

How successful was the 2022 debut of In Between Days at Veterans  Memorial Stadium? This summer’s addition is double the size. Typically, when hyping a festival I’d crow about the headliners. And yes, they’re good (including Modest Mouse, Trampled by Turtles, and Sunny Day Real Estate). But the locals that play earlier are better: Weakened Friends, Dwight and Nicole, Dutch Tulips, Carissa Johnson, Mint Green… inbetweendaysfestival.com

“My father, who was a piano tuner, decided to import pianos from Europe,” Steves told the Boston Herald. “So my very first trip, when I was 14 years old, was to see the piano factories in Germany.”

If you watch his public television travel series, “Rick Steves’ Europe,” you notice that between the castles and cuisine, there’s a lot of music: flamenco from Spain, fado from Portugal, Italian operas. Not a big slice of the program, music will take center stage when the Boston Pops presents “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey” on June 8 and 9.

Steves has deep affection for all kinds of music (he’s only had two jobs in his life, tour guide and piano teacher). His collaboration with Pops will focus on European classical music from the Romantic era, the age of Verdi, Wagner and Beethoven.

“I love Romanticism and I love national struggles,” he said. “It’s cool that music, Romantic music, was a cheerleader for the national struggles that were going on in Europe in the late 1800s… What we do is drop down in seven different countries and we get some context, what was going on when Wagner was doing that, or Verdi was doing that, or (Czech composer Bedřich) Smetena was doing that, or (Norwegian composer Edvard) Grieg was doing this.”

Each of the countries touched upon were struggling for independence at the time, or as Steves puts it, “the countries were trying to get their act together.”

“Romanticism champions the underdogs, liberty, equality, fraternity,” he said. “We’re going to Vienna and hear the Strauss waltzes, then we’re going to go to Norway and hear ‘Peer Gynt’. It’s a fun exercise to get away from the ethnocentric approach to music and to celebrate music through the emotions of different cultures and understand what was going on in this period that meant so much to these people.”

“As a tour guide, my challenge is to set this up in two or three minutes before each piece,” he added. “The quintessential challenge and responsibility of a tour guide is to give context to the art.”

Steves will play MC for the night, while the Pops will perform classics and more obscure pieces alongside stunning videos of Europe from Steves’ TV shows.

It’s part history lesson, part travel show, part artistic journey.

“It’s one thing to see the visuals and one thing to listen to the music,” he said. “But if you can put the visual with the music, preceded by context that I get to provide as tour guide, it’s a beautiful marriage.”

Like so much of Steves’ work, the concert will be a gentle nudge into the unfamiliar, a gateway into the amazing world of classical music, and European history, and geography, and architecture, and on and on.

For tickets and details, visit bso.org.

“I’m glad and grateful if people think I’m cool,” Isioma (who is nobinary and uses they/they pronouns) said this week. “It affected me a lot — All of a sudden I have these eyes on me, so I’d better do something about it. I went right from five to five thousand, that’s for sure. The attention motivated me to work harder, but it didn’t affect my personality. I’m still very much who I was when I started, I just know more and am a little wiser.”

To make the new album “Princess Forever,” Isioma investigated a lot of philosophy and music history. “With each project I do, I like to reinvent myself and show a different side. I started conceptualizing this record because I was in love and wanted to create a world out of that. So I started researching about Afro-surrealism and Afro-futurism, and my specific relationship to it. I’m a Nigerian person living in America, who grew up in the ‘burbs for a good chunk of my life. So just living in that world is super trippy– not just experiencing racism and those micro-aggressions, but also the vast cultural difference. That gives you a very specific lens to see through, so I was trying to write my music around that.”

They also did a dive into music history. “I grew up in the internet age, so I always had the world a click away. While making this album I did some research on the OF rock stars and the soul and rhythm and blues pioneers — Chuck Berry, Nina Simone, the Temptations. I was really studying how they wrote their hits, how they got people to move. And Tina Turner, rest in peace, was an icon, so I wanted to get some of her flair in there as well.” But a lot of the music also happened by accident. “Me and the friends I produce the songs with were literally making up the sounds as we went along — ‘What does this do, and what happens when you twist this?’ That was the whole creative process.”

One of their themes harks back at least to Prince’s “1999”– the idea of finding love and having a party while the world’s about to end. “Love is fun but it also hurts, so that’s something I talk about a lot. The world isn’t necessarily ending but it’s certainly messed up, and even if you’re living in the bubble of love you can’t ignore that. So the duality of that goes back to surrealism as well.”

Isioma intends for their music to be inclusive, and a few of the new songs examine gender identity. “That’s especially true on this album which I’d say is very femme, very pink and glittery. I was feeling cute and didn’t see why anyone, especially a mas [masculine] presenting person, shouldn’t be feeling like a princess. So I made a whole album about it.”

On the act’s debut album, “Simpson and Banks,” the songs explore rain clouds, open fields, darkness blooming to sunrise, trains and train tracks. Jake Swamp and the Pine pairs these lyrics with an Americana vibe powered by acoustic guitar and adorned with flourishes of rock and bluegrass instrumentation.

“I think this music accompanies a campfire really well,” singer-songwriter Drew Zieff told the Herald. “I love being outdoors. I was gardening this afternoon, hiking yesterday, and I love climbing and camping and I want my music to be reflective of that.”

Zieff is the entirety of Jake Swamp and the Pine. The name, not surprisingly, has roots in the natural world – the tallest tree in Massachusetts, a 163-foot white pine, is named for Mohawk statesman Jake Swamp. While Zieff will celebrate the release of “Simpson and Banks” at a June 2 show at Brighton Music Hall, his journey to his warm, meditative campfire aesthetic has been a longtime coming.

He started as a kid on piano. Then he picked up the bass guitar (because in every group of teenage musicians there are too few bassists). But as he grew up, he stripped away the big sounds – 7th grade bands playing Motley Crue at the Middle East Upstairs and college a cappella groups. What was left was a singer with an acoustic guitar and a pile of songs.

After tinkering with a duo format, Jake Swamp became centered on Zieff. With “Simpson and Banks,” it’s expanding again behind Zieff. He points to the album’s opening track, “Drive, Drive, Drive,” as a sonic mission statement.

“(Producer) Josh (Gold) had the idea of starting the song acoustic and when I sing, ‘All I gotta do is drive, drive, drive,’ the whole band kicks in,” Zieff said. “When I hear the whole band come in, I get goosebumps. And the reason I chose that as the first track is because it says, ‘Oh, here’s Drew singing with an acoustic guitar, this is Jake Swamp and the Pine.’ Then 45 seconds in we have organ and banjo and lead guitar and bass and drums. It’s the introduction of where Jake Swamp and the Pine is headed.”

Gold has done an excellent job of building up tracks – and the goosebump-inducing crescendo of “Drive, Drive, Drive” is a perfect example. But Gold, and Zieff, never lose the fire-side intimacy at the heart of the tunes. Yes, the backing band can boom. But it can also whisper – as should be expected considering the album features members of local luminaires Darlingside, Adam Ezra Group and the Wolff Sisters.

“I’ve done shows at Passim, a listening room, with just me and a piano player, so I can tell stories and done shows as a trio,” Zieff said. “I have a lot of flexibility with these songs… They all start with just me in a room in my house.”

Then he thought for a moment.

“Actually a lot of ideas might start on a trail with me finding a melody and then humming it into my phone (to record),” he continued. “But for the Brighton Music Hall shows, I’ll pull out all the stops. The band will be a five piece and I’ll bring up special guests.”

With all the help, expect the music to crescendo like darkness blooming to sunrise.

For tickets and more details, visit jakeswamp.com

The Philadelphia band Mt. Joy is a local favorite; they were one of the first to headline the new MGM Music Hall at the Fenway and will be back there in the fall. Their Boston Calling set promises to be shorter but punchier. “You’re playing in a place where the energy is different,” said frontman Matt Quinn. “You know that people still have a full day of music, so you don’t get too introspective on them. So we put together something that’s high energy, at least for us. When you condense it down to an hour, you can pick out the greatest hits and let it rip.”

A Mt. Joy set can still go anywhere, with their originals flowing into cover tunes. Last year at the Fenway they played a tune by Phish — who are known for covering all sorts of people, but seldom get covered themselves — and snuck in some Pink Floyd as well. “Some people run from that, but we want to feel free to express the music we love. A lot of my favorite music is from the vinyl era, ‘60 and ‘70s rock and roll. We always think about that when we put an album together — ‘Here’s where you’d turn the record over, and this is the first song on side two’.”

Mt. Joy’s recent single “Evergreen” has a witty video starring Creed Bratton of “The Office” fame. “We became friends with him over his music, and we needed someone to play a goofy character. That video is open to interpretation, but to me it’s about a guy n the search for happiness, and he finds it by playing music. I think when I wrote the song I was subconsciously trying to convince my girlfriend and now-wife to join me in this wacky life that I lead.”

The Boston band Summer Cult doesn’t need to put together a special set for Boston Calling: “We feel pretty good about going in and doing what we normally do,” says guitarist Tom McTiernan. What they do is a classic Boston thing: Intense but emotive, guitar-driven rock. “We started out more ‘90s alt rock-inspired. I used to tell people it was Arcade Fire meets the National, even though we never really sounded like that,” offers guitarist Jeff Bielat. Adds drummer Adrian Navarro, “As we grow older we’ve fallen into more of a country music or pop sensibility. We like the guitars and want the melody to paint a nice melody over the top.”

They used the shutdown years to focus on songwriting, releasing three EP’s with a separate album in the works. Navarro wrote many of the lyrics, which stand in contrast to the upbeat guitar sound. Says Navarro, “Knox [bassist/singer Andrew Knox] is great at putting a positive spin on things. And if they start out negative, we try to keep the subject matter a little bit broad. We don’t want all our songs to be ‘I’m lonely, I miss you and you took my dog’.”

Playing Boston Calling will be a new experience for Alisa Amador, a locally based Latin/pop singer who is now building a nationwide following. “I’m familiar with doing festivals, but doing them on this scale is new to me. There’s always an element of my music that is introspective, but the band and I are preparing a set that accents the groove and the flow. I’m trying to create a space where peoples’ hearts can open.”

Amador has been performing since age ten, when she started appearing with her parents’ group Sol y Canto. “I guess I realized I’d be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t a musician. My music is impossible to fit into one box, but I’m realizing that no human can do that. So it’s at the interstice of everything I’ve been exposed to — Latin folk and pop but also American funk and vocal harmony. As cheesy as this sounds, when I write a song I just try to let my heart glide.”

And many of her songs, she admits, come from moments of emotional upheaval. “Once a song is finished I can coexist with whatever has been eating away at me, whether that’s happy or sad, and make sense of this crazy life. A lot of people experience feeling lonely and out of place and needing to hear that they belong, and I want those people to hear my music. I’m also looking for people like me who grew up in a mixed cultural background, and who can use the support. And also, I want people to dance.”

Boston Calling at the Harvard Athletic Complex, May 26-May 28, bostoncalling.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and ‘70s and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” has died at 83.

Turner died Wednesday, after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, according to her manager. She became a Swiss citizen a decade ago.

Few stars traveled so far — she was born Anna Mae Bullock in a segregated Tennessee hospital and spent her latter years on a 260,000 square foot estate on Lake Zurich — and overcame so much. Physically battered, emotionally devastated and financially ruined by her 20-year relationship with Ike Turner, she became a superstar on her own in her 40s, at a time when most of her peers were on their way down, and remained a top concert draw for years after.

“How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?” Angela Bassett, who played Turner in the 1993 biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” said in a statement.

“Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.

With admirers ranging from Mick Jagger to Beyoncé to Mariah Carey, the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” was one of the world’s most popular entertainers, known for a core of pop, rock and rhythm and blues favorites: “Proud Mary,” “Nutbush City Limits,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” and the hits she had in the ’80s, among them “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “We Don’t Need Another Hero” and a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”

Her trademarks included a growling contralto that might smolder or explode, her bold smile and strong cheekbones, her palette of wigs and the muscular, quick-stepping legs she did not shy from showing off. She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, was voted along with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (and on her own in 2021 ) and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005, with Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey among those praising her. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell.

Until she left her husband and revealed their back story, she was known as the voracious on-stage foil of the steady-going Ike, the leading lady of the “Ike and Tina Turner Revue.” Ike was billed first and ran the show, choosing the material, the arrangements, the backing singers. They toured constantly for years, in part because Ike was often short on money and unwilling to miss a concert. Tina Turner was forced to go on with bronchitis, with pneumonia, with a collapsed right lung.

Other times, the cause of her misfortunes was Ike himself.

As she recounted in her memoir, “I, Tina,” Ike began hitting her not long after they met, in the mid-1950s, and only grew more vicious. Provoked by anything and anyone, he would throw hot coffee in her face, choke her, or beat her until her eyes were swollen shut, then rape her. Before one show, he broke her jaw and she went on stage with her mouth full of blood.

Terrified both of being with Ike and of lasting without him, she credited her emerging Buddhist faith in the mid-1970s with giving her a sense of strength and self-worth and she finally left in early July 1976. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was scheduled to open a tour marking the country’s bicentennial when Tina snuck out of their Dallas hotel room, with just a Mobil credit card and 36 cents, while Ike slept. She hurried across a nearby highway, narrowly avoiding a speeding truck, and found another hotel.

“I looked at him (Ike) and thought, ‘You just beat me for the last time, you sucker,’” she recalled in her memoir.

Turner was among the first celebrities to speak candidly about domestic abuse, becoming a heroine to battered women and a symbol of resilience to all. Ike Turner did not deny mistreating her, although he tried to blame Tina for their troubles. When he died, in 2007, a representative for his ex-wife said simply: “Tina is aware that Ike passed away.”

Ike and Tina fans knew little of this during the couple’s prime. The Turners were a hot act for much of the 1960s and into the ’70s, evolving from bluesy ballads such as “A Fool in Love” and “It’s Going to Work Out Fine” to flashy covers of “Proud Mary” and “Come Together” and other rock songs that brought them crossover success.

They opened for the Rolling Stones in 1966 and 1969, and were seen performing a lustful version of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” in the 1970 Stones documentary “Gimme Shelter.” Bassett and Laurence Fishburne gave Oscar-nominated performances in “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” based on “I, Tina,” but she would say that reliving her years with Ike was so painful she couldn’t bring herself to watch the movie.

Ike and Tina’s reworking of “Proud Mary,” originally a tight, mid-tempo hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival, helped define their sexual aura. Against a background of funky guitar and Ike’s crooning baritone, Tina began with a few spoken words about how some people wanted to hear songs that were “nice and easy.”

“But there’s this one thing,” she warned, “you see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy.

“We always do it nice — and rough.”

But by the end of the 1970s, Turner’s career seemed finished. She was 40 years old, her first solo album had flopped and her live shows were mostly confined to the cabaret circuit. Desperate for work, and money, she even agreed to tour in South Africa when the country was widely boycotted because of its racist apartheid regime.

Rock stars helped bring her back. Rod Stewart convinced her to sing “Hot Legs” with him on “Saturday Night Live” and Jagger, who had openly borrowed some of Turner’s on-stage moves, sang “Honky Tonk Women” with her during the Stones’ 1981-82 tour. At a listening party for his 1983 album “Let’s Dance,” David Bowie told guests that Turner was his favorite singer.

“She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous,” Jagger tweeted Wednesday. “She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”

More popular in England at the time than in the U.S., she recorded a raspy version of “Let’s Stay Together” at EMI’s Abbey Road studios in London. By the end of 1983, “Let’s Stay Together” was a hit throughout Europe and on the verge of breaking in the states. An A&R man at Capitol Records, John Carter, urged the label to sign her up and make an album. Among the material presented was a reflective pop-reggae ballad co-written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle and initially dismissed by Tina as “wimpy.”

“I just thought it was some old pop song, and I didn’t like it,” she later said of “What’s Love Got To Do With It.”

Turner’s “Private Dancer” album came out in May 1984, sold more than eight million copies and featured several hit singles, including the title song and “Better Be Good To Me.” It won four Grammys, among them record of the year for “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” the song that came to define the clear-eyed image of her post-Ike years.

“People look at me now and think what a hot life I must have lived — ha!” she wrote in her memoir.

Even with Ike, it was hard to mistake her for a romantic. Her voice was never “pretty,” and love songs were never her specialty, in part because she had little experience to draw from. She was born in Nutbush, Tennessee in 1939 and would say she received “no love” from either her mother or father. After her parents separated, she moved often around Tennessee and Missouri, living with various relatives. She was outgoing, loved to sing and as a teenager would check out the blues clubs in St. Louis, where one of the top draws was Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Tina didn’t care much for his looks the first time she saw him, at the Club Manhattan.

“Then he got up onstage and picked up his guitar,” she wrote in her memoir. “He hit one note, and I thought, ‘Jesus, listen to this guy play.’”

Tina soon made her move. During intermission at an Ike Turner show at the nearby Club D’Lisa, Ike was alone on stage, playing a blues melody on the keyboards. Tina recognized the song, B.B. King’s “You Know I Love You,” grabbed a microphone and sang along. As Tina remembered, a stunned Ike called out “Giirrlll!!” and demanded to know what else she could perform. Over her mother’s objections, she agreed to join his group. He changed her first name to Tina, inspired by the comic book heroine Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and changed her last name by marrying her, in 1962.

In rare moments of leniency from Ike, Tina did enjoy success on her own. She added a roaring lead vocal to Phil Spector’s titanic production of “River Deep, Mountain High,” a flop in the U.S. when released in 1966, but a hit overseas and eventually a standard. She was also featured as the Acid Queen in the 1975 film version of the Who’s rock opera “Tommy.” More recent film work included “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” and a cameo in “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”

Turner had two sons: Craig, with saxophonist Raymond Hill; and Ronald, with Ike Turner. (Craig Turner was found dead in 2018 of an apparent suicide). In a memoir published later in 2018, “Tina Turner: My Love Story,” she revealed that she had received a kidney transplant from her second husband, former EMI record executive Erwin Bach.

Turner’s life seemed an argument against marriage, but her life with Bach was a love story the younger Tina would not have believed possible. They met in the mid-1980s, when she flew to Germany for record promotion and he picked her up at the airport. He was more than a decade younger than her — “the prettiest face,” she said of him in the HBO documentary — and the attraction was mutual. She wed Bach in 2013, exchanging vows at a civil ceremony in Switzerland.

“It’s that happiness that people talk about,” Turner told the press at the time, “when you wish for nothing, when you can finally take a deep breath and say, ‘Everything is good.’”

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Turner died Wednesday.

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Associated Press Writer Hilary Fox contributed to this report.

Then Tina launches into what is arguably the roughest, rawest, greatest performance in the history of rock, soul and pop.

In high heels and an impossibly short skirt, Tina shakes and shimmies, frantic feet moving a mile-a-minute while she shouts out “Proud Mary” in the voice that earned her the title the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

The high voltage performance captured on video brings to mind the fact that Tina did a dozen numbers this electric in a single night, and she did them night after night, sometimes twice a night. She did them in the ’60s while living a nightmare backstage with the abusive and loathsome Ike Turner. She did them in ’90s for packed European football stadiums. She did them right out of high school and into her 60s, in the face of sexism and racism and ageism.

Tina, who passed away Wednesday at 83, started her career with Ike. They became stars, but couldn’t hold on – blame can be firmly placed with Ike’s control freak nature. After they split, Tina struggled for years to regain her late-’60s and early-’70s fame. Eventually, in 1984, she crashed back into the spotlight.

Now in her 40s – ancient by pop star standards – Tina still had a voice and fire like no one else. When Capitol took a chance and signed the “hasbeen,” Tina delivered “Private Dancer.” The album spun off four Top 40 hits including No. 1 smash “What’s Love Got to Do with It.” It sold five million copies in the States alone. It won a pile of Grammys.

Tina would never stumble again.

In 1988, she thrilled 180,000 fans at Rio’s Maracanã Stadium in Brazil while setting the record for the largest ticketed concert by a solo artist. A year later, she released her second (third? fourth?) signature tune – “The Best” – as she knocked on the door of 50. Two decades later, she made a cool $100 million on the “Twenty Four Seven” tour (then making her the best-selling touring solo artist in history).

For 50 years, she took all comers on stage and kept punching back an industry that wanted to put her in this box or that box.

Maybe the defining observation of her legacy comes in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.” During the Broadway hit, someone comments that Tina is “James Brown in a skirt.” Tina rightly corrects the misconception: “He’s Tina Turner in pants.”

TMZ was among the first to report the news, via a rep, who did not specify the nature of the illness.

Proud Mary personified, Turner’s glorious career had two musical acts. First, she gained fame as the soul-stirring singer to the innovative guitar-playing band leader Ike Turner as part of the wildly popular Ike and Tina Turner Review.

Later, she became an inspirational icon, rebounding from domestic abuse to build her own brand of musical dominance with such runaway hits as “Simply the Best,” “Private Dancer,” “I Don’t Wanna Fight” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”

Here’s a look back at Turner’s career.

Contributing: New York Daily News

So it’s no wonder that the Texas-born artist’s latest single is called “I Heart the Internet.” As she explains, “It’s definitely sarcastic, and maybe a coming of age song. I felt during COVID like the internet was giving me a lot of things and taking things away, so I love-slash-hated it.” As for her fast notoriety, “I still don’t really connect with that. I feel grateful and honored certainly, but I feel more connected when I tour with different artists and see their fans showing up.”

Harriette, 23, began putting up recordings after graduating from Parsons School of Design in New York. She later moved to Nashville for a time, and is now based in Brooklyn. She’s currently on tour with the band Joan, and the tour hits the Sinclair tonight. Though she’s done a couple of small tours in the UK, these are the first dates she’s ever played in the US. “I randomly started arranging tours, just booked them and figured out the rest. I have my best friend playing guitar, and am using tracks otherwise. I’d love to be touring with a band but so far I’m on a smaller budget.”

The song that put her across was a dry-humored breakup song, “At Least I’m Pretty,” which came with a witty animated video. She appears live in most of her other vids, which usually find her playing three or four different characters. “Goodbye Texas” found her playing with country music stereotypes, and in “Wednesday” she played the Addams Family character of that name. “I would love to do more acting — That’s on my bucket list, along with doing something with fashion and touring with a band. ‘Goodbye Texas’ was a song I literally wrote while I was driving into Texas. The rest came out when I got a video camera in front of me, it was fun playing with that idea and that genre.”

She’s drawn from breakups for a number of her songs, including “F Married” which finds her grateful than an ex married somebody else. “I think humor plays a pretty big role in the characters I’m playing. That’s the way you can be the most honest; when you’re telling something sad it’s typical for someone to laugh and shrug it off.” Do people she dates expect to have songs written about them? “Yes, and sometimes they can be mean about it. But typically people say to me, ‘I can’t wait to hear about this in a song’. I haven’t heard from the guy in F Married’ but I don’t think I was rude or hurtful there. But I definitely think he knows.”

Harriette says her musical roots are in country, since she grew up with a lot of the Chicks and early Taylor Swift. “But what I really love are people like Julia Jacklin, Mitski and Lana Del Rey. All those indie cool girls.”

Andy Rourke, the bass guitarist for British rock band The Smiths, died following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 59.

His bandmate, guitarist Johnny Marr, confirmed his death in a tweet on Friday that also included a photo of a younger Rourke.

“Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans,” Marr wrote. “We request privacy at this sad time.”

Born Jan. 17, 1964 in Manchester, Rourke initially met Marr when they were in school. The pair bonded over their mutual love of guitar, according to Billboard. They later connected with Mike Joyce and Steven Morrissey, and the foursome went on to become a worldwide sensation.

Rourke played on all four of the band’s classic and beloved albums: 1984′s “The Smiths,” “Meat Is Murder” in 1985, “The Queen Is Dead“ in 1986, and “Strangeways, Here We Come” in 1987. The Smiths, featuring Rourke on bass, Marr on lead guitar, Joyce on drums and charismatic frontman Morrisey, jumpstarted the indie rock genre with hits including “There Is a Light That Will Never Go Out,” “This Charming Man,” and “How Soon Is Now” in 1987.

During their wild five-year run, Rourke struggled with heroin and was arrested for possession in 1986. At one point, he was kicked out of the band but he returned just two weeks later.

Following The Smiths’ split, Rourke was featured on several of Morrisey’s solo singles. He also worked with Sinéad O’Connor and The Pretenders.

Rourke later sued Morrissey and Marr for an equal share of The Smiths’ earnings and royalties. He eventually settled for just over $103,000.

Shannon Willard, 19, of Easton, and her friend Sydney O’Connor have seen Swift perform at Gillette in the past, including being in the front row in 2018. On Saturday, their wildest dreams will come true again when they sit nine rows back.

“She is so relatable,” Willard said of what makes Swift such a hot commodity. “She seems to stand up for everyone, which I really like. I like when artists care about their fans.”

Stadium and public safety officials say they are ready for Swift’s trio of performances this weekend, Friday through Sunday. They’re hoping Swifties will continue to shake it off by arriving early to beat traffic from Route 1 and Interstates 95 and 495.

Lots open at 2:30 p.m. and gates at 4:30, with each show starting at 6:30.

About 10 miles away from Gillette, Janet Jackson will be performing Friday at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, causing even more traffic on area roadways.

“We would rather have people down here and relaxed as opposed to in their cars frustrated,” said Jim Nolan, chief operating officer for Kraft Sports and Entertainment. “Come early, particularly Friday is going to be a beautiful day, so make a day of it.”

Staffers will be checking for tickets in all parking lots, Nolan said, adding prepaid spaces are sold out and general parking is included in the ticket. The MBTA, which saw a mad rush of fans trying to buy tickets to get to the shows, are at maximum capacity, he said.

Nolan is warning fans not to do what more than 20,000 without tickets did last weekend in Philadelphia, where they listened to Swift from outside of Lincoln Financial Field.

“The big message for the public is, if you don’t have a ticket, we ask you not to come to Gillette,” he said.

With Swift attracting a crowd of mostly females, Nolan said stadium officials discourage fans from going into the men’s bathroom but they won’t be told to leave if they do. Two new bathrooms, including a large women’s, on the 100 level inside the Bank of America gate, will help ease the crunch, he said.

“At peak points in time, we will definitely see some lines out of the bathrooms and onto the concourse,” he said, “but I would expect those lines to be 15 to 20 minutes.”

Franklin resident John McNulty will be attending Friday’s show with his friend Colby Allard, the first time they’ll see TayTay live. They got lucky, scoring tickets in the lower bowl when they were released last November.

“I got her debut album in 2006 when it came out,” McNulty said, “and I have literally loved her ever since, so it’s a dream come true to see her live in a show.”

Swift and her Swifties kick off the summer concert season with an astounding three Gillette shows May 19, 20, and 21. But whatever side of Tay Tay you dig – country, pop, rock, that indie folk thing she tried on “Evermore” – there is something you will love just as much (or almost as much, but for way less) on our Not A Cruel Summer Concert Preview

Guster & the Boston Pops, Symphony Hall. June 6 & 7

The Boston Pops kicked off an impressive season May 12 – jazz giants, Disney princesses, “Return of the Jedi” in concert. But if you really wanted to dig into the “Boston” part of the Boston Pops, go see Tufts-born rockers Guster play with America’s orchestra. The idea of the band’s signature song “Satellite” with strings is simply delightful.

Tinariwen, the Sinclair, June 6

I like to say that if the Rolling Stones had grown up in a band of Saharan nomads, they’d sound this cool. But maybe even the Stones couldn’t get as deep in a groove as Tinariwen.

Chris Stapleton, Xfinity Center, Mansfield, June 9

This is country music. Or rather, this was country music. It can be hard to tell these days. Anyway, Stapleton and tourmates Charley Crockett and the War and Treaty will combine for something akin to a ’60s show starring Willie Nelson, Duane Eddy and Ray Charles doing “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.”

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Leader Bank Pavilion, June 10

Missing the Meters or Neville Brothers or Dr. John? Go see this. The future of New Orleans music is in good hands with Trombone Shorty.

The F.O.R.C.E. Live, TD Garden, June 25

Not even going to describe the Frequencies of Real Creative Energy acts. Just going to wow you with the lineup: LL Cool J, The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff and a rotating cast of guests popping up in different cities including Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Rakim, Common, MC Lyte, Method Man & Redman, Big Boi, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ice T, Juvenile, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, De La Soul, Goodie Mob, Jadakiss, and Rick Ross.

Yacht Rock Revue, Leader Bank Pavilion, July 6 & 14

The Atlanta tribute to ’70s AM Gold and ’80s Top 40 is an absolute sensation. But the band takes it further than any cover band: In 2020, Yacht Rock Revue released an album of originals somewhere between Ambrosia’s “One Eighty,” the Flaming Lips’ “The Soft Bulletin” and Cut Copy’s “In Ghost Colours.” The title of the LP: “Hot Dads in Tight Jeans.”

Jenny Lewis, Roadrunner, July 15

Greatest living songwriter? Jenny Lewis has got as good a shot at the title as anyone. All of her albums evoke the best bits of “Tapestry,” “Blue,” “Harvest,” “Blood on the Tracks” and Neko Case’s catalog.

Pink, Fenway Park, July 31 & Aug. 1

Pink seems to exist outside the world of pop. Yes, she has two dozen Top 40 hits. But her punk sass and fearlessness continually set her apart. And they make her one of the modern age’s greatest large stage entertainers. Bonus points: Pat Benatar opens up!

Mellow Bravo, the Sinclair, Aug. 5

Best rock band ever. Fine, tied with Led Zeppelin. The hometown heroes return for one more reunion show.

Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire, TD Garden, Aug. 11

Well, my friends, the time has come to raise the roof and have some fun. If you want to party, karamu, fiesta, forever, this is the show for you. If you want to move yourself and glide like a 747, lose yourself in the sky among the clouds in the heavens, this is also the show for you.

CANNES, France (AP) — Appearing at the Cannes Film Festival the day after premiering his first film in three years, Johnny Depp said Wednesday that he has “no further need” for Hollywood.

Depp made a rare public appearance to face questions from the press following the opening-night premiere of “Jeanne du Barry,” in which Depp plays King Louis XV. The French film, directed by and starring Maïwenn and featuring a French-speaking Depp, is the actor’s first film since a jury last year largely sided with him in his legal battle with his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

Part of Depp’s argument in that 2022 defamation trial was that he had lost work due to Heard’s allegations. Heard was ordered to pay Depp $10 million in damages, vindicating his allegations that Heard lied about Depp abusing her before and during their brief marriage. Heard was also awarded $2 million.

“Did I feel boycotted by Hollywood? You’d have to not have a pulse to feel like, ‘No. None of this is happening. It’s a weird joke,’” Depp told reporters. “When you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that is merely a function of vowels and consonants floating in the air, yes, you feel boycotted.”

Depp was most notably asked to step down from the “Harry Potter” spin-off franchise “Fantastic Beasts.” Now, though, he says he’s not interested in returning to studio projects.

“I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood, because I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t have much further need for Hollywood, myself,” Depp said. “It’s a strange, funny time where everybody would love to be able to be themselves, but they can’t. They must fall in line with the person in front of them. If you want to live that life, I wish you the best.”

“Jeanne du Barry” opened Tuesday in French cinemas. It doesn’t have U.S. distribution as of yet.

The “Jeanne du Barry” press conference was among the most circus-like in recent years at Cannes. The press conference began unusually late and started with Maïwenn and other cast members there, but no Depp. He arrived about 20 minutes in, and quickly took the spotlight.

Depp called the majority of what’s been written about him in recent years “fantastically, horrifically written fiction.”

“It’s like asking the question: ‘How are you doing?’ But the subtext is, ‘God, I hate you,’” said Depp.

Some have debated whether Cannes ought to have given Depp such a prominent platform. Asked how he would respond to such critics, Depp made a comparison that suggested few people feel that way.

“What if one day, they did not allow me to go to McDonald’s for life because somewhere there’d be 39 angry people watching me eat a Big Mac on a loop?” pondered Depp. “Who are they? What do they care?”

“I’ve had my 17th comeback, apparently,” said Depp. “I keep wondering about the word ‘comeback.’ I didn’t go anywhere. As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away. Maybe people stopped calling out of whatever their fear was at the time. But I didn’t go nowhere.”

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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For more coverage of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival

“When you are always preparing for shows or writing new songs, there’s not a lot of time to woodshed and discover new chops, new licks,” the Blues Traveler guitarist told the Herald. “I played guitar just for fun, learning solos from Steely Dan or Jimmy Page or Jerry Garcia, figuring them out note for note.”

“I was doing [expletive] I used to do in high school,” he added with a laugh. “I had no agenda. I didn’t know when the pandemic would end. So I just started playing guitar everyday for hours.”

Kinchla didn’t need much practice. Blues Traveler has recorded 14 studio albums including the six-times platinum “Four.” Since the ’80s, the band has played 2,000 live shows for 30 million fans – Blues Traveler plays the Lynn Auditorium Wednesday, May 17. But he enjoyed putting in the work.

“I felt just like I did when I was running home from school to go hide and play guitar all afternoon,” he said.

That school was Princeton High School in Princeton, New Jersey. Soon Kinchla wasn’t hiding alone. He met singer/harmonica player John Popper, bassist Bobby Sheehan, and drummer Brendan Hill when all four were in their teens. Before they made it to their 20s, the four had formed Blues Traveler and were gigging in New York City clubs.

“There was this great scene in the Lower East Side of Manhattan with so many bands, like the Spin Doctors,” he said. “We were kind of a trainwreck, but we were relentless and so slowly but surely we bent the New York club scene to our will.”

The hits would come: “But Anyway,” “Run-Around,” “Hook.” The big gigs would come from founding the H.O.R.D.E. festival to 30-plus years of July 4 headlining gigs at Red Rocks in Colorado. The one constant has been the chemistry of the group when they just get together and jam.

“Through ups and downs, through various tragedies, through good times and bad times, we would always fall back on how much we love playing with each other,” Kinchla said – Sheehan died of an accidental overdose in 1999, then the band regrouped with Kinchla’s brother, Tad, on bass and keyboardist Ben Wilson.

The pandemic forced the band to put playing with each other on hold for the first time since 1987. So it begs the questions, Was that first show back a trainwreck?

“It was Red Rocks!” Kinchla said with a huge laugh. “It just worked out that way. Sure, enough we walked out to a packed, sold-out Red Rocks. And it went really well. We were as shocked as anyone, but honestly the crowd and us were just so happy to be there that it carried everyone through.”

Hopefully Blues Traveler won’t get that kind of break for a long time – the band has two dozen dates booked that run into the fall. So Kinchla may not get to work out all of Elliott Randall’s guitar solo on “Reelin’ In the Years.”

“That solo is amazing,” he said with a chuckle. #

For details and tickets, visit bluestraveler.com

During a mini-tour last year, she previewed the album with an elaborate show that broke barriers between her and the audience. The Canadian artist, who performs under her last name only, has since adapted that show to larger venues, and will bring it to the MGM Music Hall on Wednesday.

“I think that as an audience member myself, there’s something about disappearing into your velvet seat,” she said recently. “You arrive to receive something, but it’s up to you how much you’re going to give of yourself. (After the COVID shutdown) I felt more open to doing something that wasn’t expected. People had come through this transformative experience, so it was okay to be a little curious. So the show was an invitation to be delighted, and to check your irony at the door.”

The live show is also tied to the themes of the album, which include her adopting a daughter and losing her father, after the three were locked down together. “I can now say that the record doesn’t carry much of that experience, but the show really did. After the first few shows I would watch the wall drop between me and my ‘holding it together-ness.’ I’d never played a persona onstage but there’s a certain line you don’t cross, and I crossed it. It felt like those nightmares you have about going to school naked. And it felt very much like I was giving my grief a job.”

Though often quiet and subtle, the “Multitudes” album abounds with melodic twists and sonic surprises. Her concept for the album was somewhat abstract. “I was looking for a kind of emotional echo location — something without a lot of distraction or distortion, or any reverb to make it prettier. I knew that I didn’t want drums on most of the songs because I wanted the rhythm to be indicated in the way I sing. I wanted it to sound like a person being stripped of their masks — after that, what’s left? When a person has been bawling and their face is truly bare, there’s no more guile there.”

It was also crucial, she said, that a track called ‘Song for Sad Friends’ ended the album. “We needed to end in a stronger place, a declaration of owning your own place and own story. And friendships are supposed to be containers to actualize that.”

Feist had her brush with pop stardom in 2007, when “1234” because a top 40 single (to date her only one) after figuring in an IPod ad. It’s not an experience she’s anxious to repeat.

“It’s all so long ago now, and all I can remember is how strange it was. I had made a record and it wasn’t like I could identify one song that had more than any of the others– and if I had, it wouldn’t have been that one. So I had to adjust to that happening, rather than feeling like I had a master plan and landed there. So I couldn’t recreate a moment like that — Not that I’d want to, because it wasn’t the most pleasant time. I was just trying to keep the wheels on the road as the car started going 700 times faster. So I lived through that without being blown to bits.”

When “Ragtime” debuted on Broadway in 1997, the musical was overshadowed by blockbuster “The Lion King.” But in “Ragtime,” Lockhart sees a complex and compelling work of art that speaks to America’s past and present.

“Oddly enough given all the Tony Awards it won, it is sometimes overlooked in the pantheon of great musicals,” Lockhart told the Herald. “But it is so frighteningly relevant to the time we are living in… The show is about various groups of Americans and how they experience the American dream or how they experience being denied the American dream. You could have written it about 21st century America instead of turn-of-the-century 20th century America.”

The Pops pulled the show’s original creative team together – Ahrens, composer Stephen Flaherty, and the late librettist Terrence McNally – to build a new arrangement of the musical. The reimagining debuts at Symphony Hall May 12 and continues with two Saturday performances.

“Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert” kicks off a 2023 Spring Pops Season full of jazz and Broadway, expected programming and surprises.

What starts with a musical based on early jazz rags evolves into a season including different permutations of jazz. Later in May, trumpet virtuoso Bryon Stripling explores the styles of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and more. Also in that program will be a new, original orchestra piece using the themes of Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue.” Closing the month will be piano icons Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Michael Feinstein collaborating with Lockhart to premiere a show celebrating George Gershwin and his peers.

“I suppose the season does look at early jazz traditions, but that wasn’t deliberate,” Lockhart said.

What was deliberate: A grand, diverse and fun series of programs that explore every inch of symphonic music.

The Pops mission is right there in its name. The orchestra aims to champion popular music. In 2023, popular music has a bafflingly amorphous definition. And yet its calendar does a great job of tackling its mission. Over the next few weeks, there will be a gospel choir, Star Wars film, collaboration with Boston rock band Guster, visit from travel guru Rick Steves, video game scores, and a whole bunch of Disney princesses.

“The Disney princess concert is the perfect thing to be doing two matinees of to draw in the best crowd possible,” Lockhart said. “It’s an hour and a half of every Disney princess you can think of… It’s the perfect inroad for some of our youngest potential audience members.”

“The video games thing is also totally new for us,” Lockhart added. “I haven’t played a video game since Ms. Pac-Man in a bar 35 years ago. But there’s a lot of well-crafted music in [the program] that means a whole lot to a whole lot of people. It’s a chance to reach a different demographic.”

This season will see the Pops do music by Duke Ellington, John Williams and Romantic-era European composers. That feels right. It will also see the Hall hosting a video-game-themed costume contest and a meet-and-greet with top game composers. And if that doesn’t feel right, give it a few years. If the Pops does its job, the scores to the “Final Fantasy” series will fit nicely between Ellingston and Williams.

For tickets and details, visit bso.org

On Friday, the MBTA Commuter Rail and Keolis are releasing additional tickets for the May 20 and 21 round-trip train service to the Swift concerts at Gillette Stadium.

The MBTA is releasing more tickets “to meet the high demand for this service” as excited Swifties descend upon Gillette for the sold-out shows. Swift is returning to Gillette for the first time since her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour.

The Boston special event trains will depart from South Station with stops at Back Bay and Dedham Corporate Center before arriving at the final destination of Foxboro Station.

The Providence special event trains will depart from Providence Station with stops at Pawtucket/Central Falls, Attleboro and Mansfield before arriving at Foxboro Station.

Trains will depart Foxboro Station 30 minutes after each concert ends.

The $20 round-trip tickets will be sold exclusively on the mTicket app, and will go on sale Friday at 11 a.m.

Tickets will be released for the May 20 and 21 special event trains from Boston and Providence. No additional tickets will be released for the May 19 special event train from Boston.

Due to high demand, no refunds or exchanges will be available. Tickets must be purchased prior to boarding the event train.

If a pop star can scratch out a few years standing on top, it’s a major miracle. Only two ’80s-born stars have stuck around for four decades: Madonna and Janet Jackson.

This summer both icons will dominate the concert season – Janet Jackson performs at the Xfinity Center May 19, Madonna plays two nights at the TD Garden in August. Madonna will get most of the headlines but Janet deserves equal time (and both deserve more attention than 99% of the shows on the road this summer).

Janet Jackson has outsold David Bowie, Amy Winehouse, and Tupac (and Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Cher). She has racked up 28 Top 10 hits (as many as her brother, more than Prince). But beyond the numbers, Janet has balanced radical stylistic shifts and experimental sounds with pop perfection like no one but, well, Madonna.

Jackson was 19 when she teamed with production and writing partners Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to make “Control” – an LPs-worth of perfect pop. She was 49 when she dove into the weird (but still poppy) for “Unbreakable,” an album packed with quiet storm r&b, EDM tricks, and jazzy tones. Between the two came righteous feminist anthems, songs celebrating sexual liberation, political rants set to addictive dance grooves, and sweet, silly pop gems.

With no new album to promote and absolutely nothing to prove, Jackson can spend her Together Again Tour exploring every evolution, reinvention and smash single. Yes, she’ll do “Nasty,” “If,” and “When I Think of You” (but don’t expect her to do them exactly as you remember them). Better yet, she’ll resurrect some odd, awesome stuff.

I’m thinking of something like “Damita Jo,” the title track to her 2004 album that shows off a sex-positve thump and delightful flirtation with disco, hip hop and neo soul. Or the android funk of “Feedback” (a Janelle Monáe track years before Janelle Monáe broke). Or the slow burn of “No Sleep” or towering dance jam “Throb” or glitchy, trip hop-touched “When We Oooo.”

So many of Janet’s deep cuts dive into love and lust, a night based on what she loves in her catalog, what she lusts for artistically, sounds amazing. Which brings us to this: Jackson is a killer live act.

Jackson last stopped in Massachusetts for a 2017 TD Garden show. The mix of high-energy dance numbers and breathy ballads, of defiant protest songs and pop escapism, felt unique and distinctively Janet.

It’s hard for pop stars to stick around. When one does, it’s for good reasons. It’s cause for celebration. Celebrate with Miss Jackson later this month.

For tickets and details, visit janetjackson.com

“The funny thing is that’s the oldest song on the album, I wrote it 20 years ago and it finally found a place in the band,” he says. “So that’s a picture of a much younger man writing about being old and unfashionable and irrelevant  – We did another one called “Sell-By Date’ on the same idea. And the answer is that we are proud and confident in what we do, we have the same intentions, we haven’t mellowed or changed our course. Aside from looking older, there’s no difference in us.”

Though their popularity has been steady at home, in the US they’re known mainly for a string of hits — “I Want You Back,” “Bittersweet,” “Come Anytime” — that were as close as ‘80s radio could go to the sound of ‘60s-style garage rock. At the time the band wore its vintage influences proudly. “Everybody starts out being slavish to their influences to some degree,” Faulkner says. “You end up being more of your own thing and trusting your instincts. You stop needing to say, ‘I know this is a good song because it sounds like something else I like’.”

By the time they first hit America, they’d already been around the block in Australia. “It got interesting, because we became a pop phenomenon at home — and that wasn’t cool with the scene we came from, you weren’t supposed to have a hit. Then in the States we were called an underground band, so that gave us a very cool sort of following.”

The US hits stopped coming around 1989 when they released a single called “Axegrinder,” which featured a much heavier guitar-driven sound — the very sound that was all the rage when the grunge era hit soon afterward. “We’d just done ‘What’s My Scene,’ which turned out to be our biggest hit in America, but that one sounded too ‘80s to us — We had a producer foisted on us who put on those big snare drums, and we swore that would never happen again. So the next album was kind of our pre-grunge album, but we were really just trying to capture how we sounded onstage. And suddenly radio got scared of us; it’s like we’d done something offensive because ‘Axegrinder’ wasn’t a happy pop song. Two years later Nirvana was pronounced acceptable, but when we did it, it was, ‘How dare you!’”

That song isn’t in their current setlist, but they are going deep with singles and album tracks. Their show at the Royale this Saturday has been a long time coming: They were set to come over in 2020, postponed the tour due to COVID, then cancelled it altogether and started fresh.

Prior to that, the band reunited in 2003 after six years apart. “We quit on a high and we were serious about stopping, but four years later I was saying ‘What the hell have we done?’ I was afraid people would think we were like Kiss doing endless farewell tours. But it felt more like we’d kept the band chained in a basement and finally let it out. Right now we’re touring like we haven’t done since the ‘90s — sleeping on the bus a lot, which is challenging for dudes like us.”

NEW YORK (AP) — British singer Ed Sheeran didn’t steal key components of Marvin Gaye’s classic 1970s tune “Let’s Get It On” to create his hit song “Thinking Out Loud,” a jury said with a trial verdict Thursday, prompting Sheeran to joke later that he won’t have to follow through on his threat to quit music.

The emotions of an epic copyright fight that stretched across most of the last decade spilled out as soon as the seven-person jury revealed its verdict after over two hours of deliberations.

Sheeran, 32, briefly dropped his face into his hands in relief before standing to hug his attorney, Ilene Farkas. As jurors left the courtroom in front of him, Sheeran smiled, nodded his head at several of them, and mouthed the words: “Thank you.” Later, he posed for a hallway photograph with a juror who lingered behind.

He also approached plaintiff Kathryn Townsend Griffin, the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-created the 1973 soul classic with Gaye and had testified. They spoke about 10 minutes, hugging and smiling and, at one point, clasping their hands together.

Sheeran later addressed reporters outside the courthouse, revisiting his claim made during the trial that he would consider quitting songwriting if he lost the case.

“I am obviously very happy with the outcome of this case, and it looks like I’m not going to have to retire from my day job, after all. But at the same time, I am unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all,” the singer said, reading from a prepared statement.

He also said he missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland because of the trial, and that he “will never get that time back.”

Inside the courthouse after the verdict, Griffin said she was relieved.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” she said of the trial. “We can be friends.”

She said she was pleased Sheeran approached her.

“It showed me who he was,” Griffin said.

She said her copyright lawsuit wasn’t personal but she wanted to follow through on a promise to her father to protect his intellectual property.

A juror, Sophia Neis, told reporters afterward that there was not immediate consensus when deliberations began.

“Everyone had opinions going in. Both sides had advocates, said Neis, 23. ”There was a lot of back and forth.”

The verdict capped a two-week trial that featured a courtroom performance by Sheeran as the singer insisted, sometimes angrily, that the trial was a threat to all musicians who create their own music.

Sheeran sat with his legal team throughout the trial, defending himself against the lawsuit by Townsend’s heirs, who had said “Thinking Out Loud” had so many similarities to “Let’s Get It On” that it violated the song’s copyright protection.

It was not the first court victory for a singer whose musical style draws from classic soul, pop and R&B, making him a target for copyright lawsuits. A year ago, Sheeran won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You” and then decried what he labeled a “culture” of baseless lawsuits that force settlements from artists eager to avoid a trial’s expense.

Outside court, Sheeran said he doesn’t want to be taken advantage of.

“I am just a guy with a guitar who loves writing music for people to enjoy,” he said. “I am not and will never allow myself to be a piggy bank for anyone to shake.”

At the trial’s start, attorney Ben Crump told jurors on behalf of the Townsend heirs that Sheeran himself sometimes performed the two songs together. The jury saw video of a concert in Switzerland in which Sheeran can be heard segueing on stage between “Let’s Get It On” and “Thinking Out Loud.” Crump said it was “smoking gun” proof Sheeran stole from the famous tune.

In her closing argument on Wednesday, Farkas said Crump’s “smoking gun was shooting blanks.”

She said the only common elements between the two songs were “basic to the tool kit of all songwriters” and “the scaffolding on which all songwriting is built.”

“They did not copy it. Not consciously. Not unconsciously. Not at all,” Farkas said.

When Sheeran testified over two days for the defense, he repeatedly picked up a guitar resting behind him on the witness stand to demonstrate how he seamlessly creates “mashups” of two or three songs during concerts to “spice it up a bit” for his sizeable crowds.

The English pop star’s cheerful attitude on display under questioning from his attorney all but vanished under cross examination.

“When you write songs, somebody comes after you,” Sheeran testified, saying the case was being closely watched by others in the industry.

He insisted that he and the song’s co-writer — Amy Wadge — stole nothing from “Let’s Get it On.”

Townsend’s heirs said in their lawsuit that “Thinking Out Loud” had “striking similarities” and “overt common elements” that made it obvious that it had copied “Let’s Get It On,” a song that has been featured in numerous films and commercials and scored hundreds of millions of streams spins and radio plays in the past half century.

Sheeran’s song, which came out in 2014, was a hit, winning a Grammy for song of the year.

Sheeran’s label, Atlantic Records, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing were also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit, but the focus of the trial was Sheeran.

Wadge, who was not a defendant, testified on his behalf and hugged Sheeran after the verdict.

Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents. He had been a Motown superstar since the 1960s, although his songs released in the 1970s made him a generational musical giant.

Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer who died in 2003. Griffin, his daughter, testified during the trial that she thought Sheeran was “a great artist with a great future.”

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Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Find more AP stories about Ed Sheeran: https://apnews.com/hub/ed-sheeran

The new seasonal venue will open Thursday when officials and community members gather for a ribbon cutting celebration at 5:15 p.m.

The effort combines the forces of Emerson College with family-owned local businesses Trillium Brewing and El Barrio Tacos to open the “UnCommon Stage and the Trillium Garden on the Common.”. The project is part of Mayor Michelle Wu’s long-term goal of “reimagining” America’s oldest park.

“This new performance venue and beer garden on Boston Common will activate the historic park, and our Downtown, with performances that represent all of our residents of Boston and a new, beautiful outdoor gathering space for all,” the mayor said in a release.

Residents and guests will get the opportunity to check out the new venue during the summer and into the fall as it’s slated to run through Nov. 1. The outdoor beer garden will be open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 9 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

Officials say the garden is open to all and will offer a variety of beverages and food from Trillium and Taqueria el Barrio. Daily entertainment and programming, including local musicians, radio broadcasts, DJs, comedy shows and more, will be offered on Emerson’s ‘Uncommon Stage’.

Temporary restrooms will be set up within the garden, according to the city Parks and Recreation Department.

Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods called the venue a “perfect spot to grab a bite or spend time with friends and family” and touted how it will strengthen other citywide recreational programs.

The city is expected to receive between $130,000 and $150,000 from the gathering spot, Woods said earlier this year. That money will then go toward the city’s Fund for Parks and Recreation in Boston, a nonprofit that supports recreational programs using vendor payments.

Officials say this is part of the vision from the “Boston Common Master Plan,” a comprehensive report that shows how they plan to go about enhancing underused spaces throughout the park.

“Creating opportunities to experience arts and culture in the Boston Common is an excellent way to draw residents and visitors in, foster creative expression, and spread joy,” said Kara Elliott-Ortega, the city’s chief of arts and culture.

The Cleveland-based institution announced Wednesday the artists and groups entering the hall as the class of 2023, a list that includes The Spinners, Rage Against the Machine, DJ Kool Herc, Link Wray, Al Kooper and Elton John’s longtime co-songwriter Bernie Taupin.

“When you can go from Link Wray, who was one of the early influencers, to Missy Elliott and Kate Bush and The Spinners and Rage Against the Machine and Willie Nelson, you have a very diverse body of work. What we are always trying to show is that rock ‘n’ roll is a big tent and a lot of people belong,” said Joel Peresman, president and CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation ahead of the unveiling.

Elliott, the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an MTV Video Vanguard Award recipient and a four-time Grammy Award winner, now becomes the first female hip-hop artist in the rock hall, which called her “a true pathbreaker in a male-dominated genre.”

Artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they’re eligible for induction. Eight out of 14 nominees were on the ballot for the first time, including Crow, Elliott, Michael and Nelson. This is the first year of eligibility for Elliott.

Bush was a nominee last year but didn’t make the final cut then. She got in this year due to a new wave in popularity after the show “Stranger Things” featured her song “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).” The hall hailed her for “using lush soundscapes, radical experimentation, literary themes, sampling, and theatricality to captivate audiences and inspire countless musicians.”

Michael, first as a member of Wham! and then as a solo artist, was cited for “paving the way for a generation of proud LGBTQIA+ artists, from Sam Smith to Lil Nas X to Troye Sivan” and the 90-year-old Nelson was simply described as “an American institution.”

The hall called DJ Kool Herc “a founding father of hip-hop music” who “helped create the blueprint for hip-hop.” And Chaka Khan was described as “one of the mightiest and most influential voices in music” a “streetwise but sensual hip-hop-soul diva,” who paved the way for women like Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu and Janelle Monáe.
The Spinners became a hit-making machine with four No. 1 R&B hits in less than 18 months, including “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love.” Rock guitarist Wray was said to be ahead of his time, influencing Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen.

Taupin, who made it into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and has a Golden Globe and an Oscar for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from the biopic “Rocketman,” makes it into the rock hall 29 years after his writing partner, John.

Cornelius was celebrated for creating a nationally televised platform for African American music and culture. He “became a visionary entrepreneur who opened the door — and held it open — for many others to follow him through.”

“Does a Willie Nelson fan know anything about Missy Elliott? Probably not, and vice versa,” said Peresman. “But this is an opportunity for someone who is into one of these artists to take a look at it and say, ‘Gee, I love Missy Elliott’ or ‘I love Rage Against the Machine. But The Spinners, who were they? Let me check that out.’ If that can open some minds and open some attitudes, then we’ve done our job.”

Nominees Iron Maiden, Cyndi Lauper, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes, Warren Zevon, Joy Division/New Order and Soundgarden didn’t earn a spot in the hall this time. While the late Zevon has been eligible since 1994, Billy Joel led a push in vain for his entry, writing to the nominating committee urging them to consider Zevon.

Nominees were voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals. Fans could vote online or in person at the museum, with the top five artists picked by the public making up a “fans’ ballot” that was tallied with the other professional ballots.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

“When I wrote the song I used a prompt of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to get that ‘what is reality, what is not’ aesthetic,” Ray told the Herald. “[For the video] we tried to get a lot of those elements of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ without being too on the nose.”

Mission accomplished: the clip is a psychedelic rush of bright colors, dance sequences and subtle nods to the Lewis Carroll classic.

But more can be read into the lyric. More than any Boston (or maybe national) artist, Ray has followed music in strange, magic directions: rock, soul, jazz, opera, heavy metal, and all sorts of experimental stuff between genre borders.

“I admit I am still trying to find the balance point,” she said ahead of her May 12 Stevie Wonder tribute show at Arlington’s Regent Theater – one of five different concerts she’ll present at the Regent in 2023. “My main thing in terms of balance is, ‘Where can I find the most joy?’”

Ray has followed her bliss through song since she was four, when her parents started taking her to sing with them in churches. Eventually, they told their daughter they couldn’t teach her anything else. To continue her education, she attended the Handel and Haydn Society Vocal Apprenticeship Program, obtained a diploma in opera voice from the New England Conservatory Prep School, and graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in vocal performance and classical composition.

Berklee connected her with talents that equaled her own – she scored a Grammy-nomination for her work with Terri Lyne Carrington’s jazz band and sings with guitar virtuoso David Fiuczynski’s jazz-punk/jazz-funk/jazz-fusion act Screaming Headless Torsos. Along the way, Ray became increasingly in demand for projects that break boundaries, such as her main role in last month’s opening of opera “The Jonah People” with the Nashville Symphony.

But part of that search for balance has meant devoting time and effort to her own original music. In 2023, she released singles “Cope” and throwback-r&b groove “Filly.” She plans to build from there.

“I definitely want to do longer form music,” Ray said. “I’m a really big fan of orchestration, whether it’s for film or television, and I’m trying to bring that kind of energy into my live show. And from there I want to create a fuller narrative, an LP length narrative. At this point, I have about four songs on the docket that I’ll release as singles to get people geared up for what they’ll hear with a longer-form release.”

What will those four singles sound like? As you might guess, they won’t sound much like “Cope” or “Filly” or anything in Ray’s past.

“One of my singles coming this summer is more disco, another is a ballad, a la Celine Dion,” she said.

Whatever the song, whatever the sound, it’s time for Boston (and the nation) to follow Ray down the rabbit hole.

For music, tickets and more tour dates, visit iamdeboray.com.

Representative Victoria Lord said the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His cause of death was not immediately available.

One of the most renowned voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Lightfoot recorded 20 studio albums and penned hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway,” “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

In the 1970s, Lightfoot garnered five Grammy nominations, three platinum records and nine gold records for albums and singles. He performed in well over 1,500 concerts and recorded 500 songs.

He toured late into his life. Just last month he canceled upcoming U.S. and Canadian shows, citing health issues.

“We have lost one of our greatest singer-songwriters,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. “Gordon Lightfoot captured our country’s spirit in his music – and in doing so, he helped shape Canada’s soundscape. May his music continue to inspire future generations, and may his legacy live on forever.”

Once called a “rare talent” by Bob Dylan, Lightfoot has been covered by dozens of artists, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane’s Addiction and Sarah McLachlan.

Most of his songs are deeply autobiographical with lyrics that probe his own experiences in a frank manner and explore issues surrounding the Canadian national identity. “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” depicted the construction of the railway.

“I simply write the songs about where I am and where I’m from,” he once said. “I take situations and write poems about them.”

Lightfoot’s music had a style all its own. “It’s not country, not folk, not rock,” he said in a 2000 interview. Yet it has strains of all three.

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” for instance, is a haunting tribute to the 29 men who died in the 1975 sinking of the ship in Lake Superior during a storm.

While Lightfoot’s parents recognized his musical talents early, he didn’t set out to become a renowned balladeer.

He began singing in his church choir and dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. At age 13, the soprano won a talent contest at the Kiwanis Music Festival, held at Toronto’s Massey Hall.

“I remember the thrill of being in front of the crowd,” Lightfoot said in a 2018 interview. “It was a stepping stone for me…”

The appeal of those early days stuck and in high school, his barbershop quartet, The Collegiate Four, won a CBC talent competition. He strummed his first guitar in 1956 and began to dabble in songwriting in the months that followed. Perhaps distracted by his taste for music, he flunked algebra the first time. After taking the class again, he graduated in 1957.

By then, Lightfoot had already penned his first serious composition — “The Hula Hoop Song,” inspired by the toy that was sweeping the culture. Attempts to sell the song went nowhere so at 18, he headed to the U.S. to study music for a year. The trip was funded in part by money saved from a job delivering linens to resorts around his hometown.

Life in Hollywood wasn’t a good fit, however, and it wasn’t long before Lightfoot returned to Canada. He pledged to move to Toronto to pursue his musical ambitions, taking any job available, including a position at a bank before landing a gig as a square dancer on CBC’s “Country Hoedown.”

His first gig was at Fran’s Restaurant, a downtown family-owned diner that warmed to his folk sensibilities. It was there he met fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins.

The singer was living with a few friends in a condemned building in Yorkville, then a bohemian area where future stars including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell would learn their trade at smoke-filled clubs.

Lightfoot made his popular radio debut with the single ”(Remember Me) I’m the One” in 1962, which led to a number of hit songs and partnerships with other local musicians. When he started playing the Mariposa Folk Festival in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario that same year, Lightfoot forged a relationship that made him the festival’s most loyal returning performer.

By 1964, he was garnering positive word-of-mouth around town and audiences were starting to gather in growing numbers. By the next year, Lightfoot’s song “I’m Not Sayin’” was a hit in Canada, which helped spread his name in the United States.

A couple of covers by other artists didn’t hurt either. Marty Robbins’ 1965 recording of “Ribbon of Darkness” reached No. 1 on U.S. country charts, while Peter, Paul and Mary took Lightfoot’s composition, “For Lovin’ Me,” into the U.S. Top 30. The song, which Dylan once said he wished he’d recorded, has since been covered by hundreds of other musicians.

That summer, Lightfoot performed at the Newport Folk Festival, the same year Dylan rattled audiences when he shed his folkie persona by playing an electric guitar.

As the folk music boom came to an end in the late 1960s, Lightfoot was already making his transition to pop music with ease.

In 1971, he made his first appearance on the Billboard chart with “If You Could Read My Mind.” It reached No. 5 and has since spawned scores of covers.

Lightfoot’s popularity peaked in the mid-1970s when both his single and album, “Sundown,” topped the Billboard charts, his first and only time doing so.

During his career, Lightfoot collected 12 Juno Awards, including one in 1970 when it was called the Gold Leaf.

In 1986, he was inducted into the Canadian Recording Industry Hall of Fame, now the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. He received the Governor General’s award in 1997 and was ushered into the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band announced Monday the dates for their farewell tour called “Peace Out” starting Sept. 2 in Philadelphia. The 40-date run of shows, which includes a stop in the band’s hometown of Boston on New Year’s Eve, will end Jan. 26 in Montreal.

“I think it’s about time,” guitarist Joe Perry said.

Perry said the group, with frontman Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Brad Whitford, learned from the staging and production from their recent Las Vegas residency shows.

Perry believes the time to say goodbye is now, especially with every founding band member over the age of 70. Tyler, 75, is the oldest in the group.

“It’s kind of a chance to celebrate the 50 years we’ve been out here,” Perry said. “You never know how much longer everybody’s going to be healthy to do this. … It’s been a while since we’ve actually done a real tour. We did that run in Vegas, which was great. It was fun, but (we’re) kind of anxious to get back on the road.”

Tyler and Perry said the band is looking forward to digging into their lengthy catalog of the group’s rock classics including “Crazy,” “Janie’s Got a Gun” and “Livin’ on the Edge.”

Over the years, Aerosmith, which formed in 1970, has collected four Grammys. The band broke boundaries intersecting rock and hip-hop with their epic collaboration with Run-DMC for “Walk This Way.”

Aerosmith performed the Super Bowl halftime show in 2001 and even had their own theme park attraction in 1999 at Disney World in Florida and later in Paris with the launch of the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith” ride.

“We’re opening up Pandora’s Box one last time to present our fans with the Peace Out tour,” Tyler said in a statement. His “Pandora’s Box” reference calls out Aerosmith’s 1991 three-disc compilation album that covered the band’s output from the 1970s to the early 1980s.

“Be there or beware as we bring all the toys out of the attic. Get ready,” Tyler added.

The band said Kramer decided to not take part in the current dates on the upcoming tour. He’s still a part of the group, but the drummer has been on leave to “focus his attention on his family and health” since their Vegas residency last year. Drummer John Douglas will continue to play in his place.

Perry called Kramer their brother. The band said his “legendary presence behind the drum kit will be sorely missed.”
Before the 40-date tour wraps, Perry said other cities domestically and internationally could be added.

“It’s the final farewell tour, but I have a feeling it will go on for a while,” he said. “But I don’t know how many times we’ll be coming back to the same cities. It could very possibly be the last time.”

“We ended up lighting this dollhouse on fire for the cover art,” singer-guitarist Isabella DeHerdt told the Herald. “But before we lit it on fire, we decorated it. We put fake moss on it. We covered it in glitter. We painted it. We put pinecones on it. We put in TLC before burning it down.”

“It felt like an apt metaphor for creation and music and life,” DeHerdt added. “You create something and then you have to let it go.”

“The Wick and The Flame” starts off with a tender, introspective tune about staring into the void. The Western Mass-based duo’s second LP rolls on with angry blues stomps and furious love songs and gentle ballads of survival. So, yeah, creation and music and life feels about right.

DeHerdt and singer-percussionist Isaac Eliot struck up a friendship at a Berklee College of Music summer program in 2015, but it took the pandemic to push them together into High Tea. Both played music separately, but living together, they took advantage of time and proximity to put together a duo devoted to exploring intimate, dynamic music.

“We went into our first album not knowing if it would be a one-off project or if we’d ever perform live,” DeHerdt said ahead of a May 5 Club Passim show with Rachel Baiman.

But the two quickly realized how well they sang, played, wrote, recorded and performed together.

“Isaac’s brain is one of the most harmony-centric brains I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing,” DeHerdt said. “He can hear a line and sing something that fits so perfectly with it in seconds.”

Eliot countered: “Isabella will play guitar in a way that makes me feel like her brain isn’t in her head, it’s in the guitar. She’ll jam and run with an idea and, every time through, the phrase will be a little more defined, a little more intentionally delivered, a little more sharply executed.”

Listening to “The Wick and The Flame,” it’s easy to agree with their assessment of one another. “Wine” starts off with this tangle of notes that evokes Delta blues, Celtic folk and roots rock all at once. Over the guitar line, their voices cry with high harmonies, twisted vocal counterpoints. The pair tap into a similar chemistry on “To Be Alive,” and “Crash,” and “The Tale of Billy & the Void.” But each song toys with hushed patience and wild crescendos in new ways.

“I love asking the question of, ‘How can we push this further in one direction?’,” Eliot said. “There’s a point when you think, ‘This is as quiet as I can go.’ Then you reconsider the quietness, the layers, how you’re delivering what you’re saying, the spaces between what you are saying.”

The band has mastered release and restraint. Even if restraint isn’t exactly what you would expect from a band that lights a dollhouse on fire for its cover art.

For music and more tour dates, visit highteaband.com.

Their 2009 hit “How You Like Me Now?” alone was in a dozen TV shows including “Vampire Diaries” and “Entourage,” it also appeared in a slew of sportscasts and was even heard at President Obama’s first victory party. So whenever The Heavy makes an album, including their just-released sixth disc “Amen,” the movie and commercial folks start lining up.

“I do believe that’s because Dan [guitarist Dan Taylor] and I always try to take the songs as far as possible and make them as cinematic as we can,” singer Kelvin Swaby said this week. “That probably attracts music supervisors. Being music fans, the two of us were looking for a big sound when we started the band, and we were always ambitious. We’d be chopping up Doors samples and throwing in bits of Bill Withers and Bo Diddley — anything to make it sound like more than two people {They’ve since added bassist Spencer Page and drummer Chris Ellul). That seems to have been the draw when people started to use our stuff. And it made us lucky in the pandemic, because we were still working when we weren’t out touring.”

Still, they were confident enough to give one of the new album’s first singles a title and chorus lyric that will definitely keep it out of radio and TV. “It was funny to record that one because it sounded so raucous. And we decided well, it is what it is — The label said ‘Did you do a censored version?’ and I said ‘We did not!’”

Swaby’s vocal heroes are gritty singers like Howlin’ Wolf and Tom Waits, and he recalls an epiphany a few years ago when he heard ‘60s garage punks the Sonics. “Someone played their song ‘The Witch’ at a party and I stopped dead and said, ‘What the absolute hell is that?’ Since then we’ve tried to put a garage punk number on each of our records — but if you listen to our soul tracks, there’s some grit in there as well. We may have these wonderful glossy strings, but under that is some real gutter drums.

“My dad played a lot of rock and roll when I was growing up, and I really noticed that Hi Records stuff, singers like Al Green,” he says. “And I love the essence of the old bluesmen, there was this beautiful arrogance in the way they performed. They’d walk around Chicago like the baddest guys in town, because they knew they were.”

Though the band hails from Bath, England, Swaby became a US resident a few years back after marrying a woman from Florida. The Heavy begins its US tour at Brighton Music Hall on Monday, and he treasures their chances to get together and blast.

“We played in England last month and it was so good,” he said. “We hadn’t played the songs together in awhile with all four of us being in the room. When that happens, I find different ways of singing — That’s why it’s absolutely necessary to play in a room together, because the magic happens when you’re all there. It feels like a sermon without bringing in the religion.”