LaTrice Burnette and 4th & Broadway Records Join Def Jam

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe transition from bedroom pop to one of New York’s biggest stages is not an easy one — the intimate sound and emotions of the loosely defined style are almost the polar opposite of the big gestures and loud volume it takes to fill a major venue. Yet two of the genre’s most popular (and youngest) artists, Clairo and Arlo Parks, did it with ease Thursday night before an impressively full crowd at New York’s historic, 6,000-capacity Radio City Music Hall.Parks, 21 — who is nominated for two 2022 Grammys — is already a major star in her native England and is the more animated performer of the two, although Thursday’s show represented a big step up from her last area performance (at the 650-capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg in September).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust three days after two of his bandmembers tested positive for Covid-19, John Mayer has as well, and rescheduled four tour dates for May.“Whelp. More members of the band tested positive for Covid today, and I was one of them,” Mayer wrote on Instagram late Thursday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterJax Media executives Sarah Madigan and John Skidmore have joined Imagine Entertainment, the parent company of Jax, as head of business affairs and strategic partnerships and head of production, respectively, Variety has learned exclusively.Both will continue in their current roles at Jax Media, with Madigan remaining head of business affairs and Skidmore, a founding partner of Jax Media, still chief operating officer of the Imagine Entertainment-owned production company.Skidmore, who will be overseeing all projects across all divisions for Imagine, has produced some of Jax’s most popular titles, including “Broad City,” “Search Party,” “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “Russian Doll” and the Netflix stand-up specials “Chris Rock: Tamborine,” “John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous” and “Mike Birbiglia: The New One.” Madigan currently runs business affairs at Jax Media and previously held roles at MGM and Netflix.“Skidmore is a founding member of Jax and Madigan has been integral to the company’s growth over the past few years, and we couldn’t imagine doing this new job without them,” Imagine Entertainment presidents Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns said in a joint statement to Variety.Jax Media co-founders Hernandez and Burns were promoted to co-presidents of Imagine Entertainment in January and continue to lead Jax Media as CEO and CCO, respectively.

engaged in oral sex with a 16-year-old male in South Florida.Parson, 53, has been charged with two felony counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison for each charge.Under Florida law, the age of consent is 18 years old.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorUniversal Music Group has announced the launch of Def Jam India, a new label division within India and South Asia dedicated to representing the best hip-hop and rap talent from the region. According to the announcement, Def Jam India “will follow the blueprint of the Def Jam Recordings label.” The first flagship artist signings to join Def Jam India are rappers Dino James and Fotty Seven, who will release singles this month titled “Lost” and “Banjo,” respectively.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDua Lipa has parted ways with her longtime management firm, Ben Mawson and Ed Millet’s TaP Management, a source close to the situation has confirmed to Variety. However, the source says that contrary to other reports, the singer is not currently taking meetings with other management companies, although presumably she will at some point in the future.

Director Brad Bird is returning to animated feature films, but won’t be heading back to Pixar. Bird previously worked with the Disney-owned animation house leading two Best Animated Feature Oscars for his work on “Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” According to Deadline, Bird is teaming up with disgraced former Pixar head John Lasseter and Skydance Animation for an original feature film, “Ray Gunn” that the filmmaker will direct from a script he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt’s a fair bet that anyone who clicks on this article does not need a backstory on Woody Guthrie — legendary singer-songwriter, activist, poet, artist, writer of “This Land Is Your Land” and many other standards and the single greatest influence on Bob Dylan and a generation of musicians.But as a stunning, just-opened exhibit at the Morgan Library & Museum shows, there was much more to him than his most well-known songs might indicate. Most striking of all, as manuscripts of his writings show, he was an amazingly deft wordsmith who would have made a hell of a rapper — and many of his verses and casual writings show a rustic, ribald sense of humor that is rarely present, or at least rarely obvious, in most of his songs.

Pixar no more.Brad Bird, the Academy Award-winning director of such Pixar favorites as “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille,” is reteaming with his former boss John Lasseter at Skydance Animation, on a new/old project “Ray Gunn.” Skydance Animation announced today.“Ray Gunn,” which Bird and Matthew Robbins wrote when Bird was at Warner Bros. Animation in the 1990s, is a retro-futuristic detective story set in “the sprawling, magnificent city of Metropia,” according to a 1996 script’s forward, written by Bird.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala has been called off for this year, but that’s not stopping the legendary mogul from throwing a big party — his 90 th birthday is April 4, the day after the big show, and he’s throwing a star-studded bash at Casa Cipriani in New York two days later, on Wednesday the 6th, a rep for Davis confirms to Variety. The event is sure to include a guest list that outshines even his famously star-studded pre-Grammy parties — while many of these names are longtime Friends of Clive, the New York Post says invitees include Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Pat Houston, David Geffen, and entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman, as well as label heads such as Monte Lipman, Tom Corson, Rob Stringer and Julie Greenwald. Davis wrote on the invite: “I personally hope you will one day be told that the next birthday you celebrate will be your 90th.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKeith Richards & the X-Pensive Winos, Mavis Staples, Hozier, Warren Haynes, Melissa Etheridge, Allison Russell and more will headline the sixth annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert at New York’s Beacon Theatre on March 10.Larkin Poe, Tyler Bryant, David Shaw, Anders Osborne, Celisse, Ivan Neville, Jimmy Vivino, Maggie Rose and Connor Kennedy will also appear on the bill, with Will Lee serving as musical director.The concert is presented by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation and will benefit God’s Love We Deliver. It is executive produced by fashion designer John Varvatos, NYC real estate broker and prominent concert producer Greg Williamson and concert/events producer Nicole Rechter.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorChristina Yuna Lee, a senior creative producer at the digital music platform Splice, was murdered over the weekend inside her apartment in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York. She was 35.The suspect, Assamad Nash. who allegedly was seen on security video following Lee into her apartment, has been arrested and charged in connection with Lee’s stabbing death, according to New York 1 and other local reports.

Jim Angle, one of Fox News Channel’s original reporting line-up in 1996 and its chief national correspondent when he retired in 2014, died Wednesday at his home in Arlington, Virginia. He was 75.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs long expected, Universal Music Publishing has acquired 17-time Grammy Award winner Sting’s career catalog of music. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but in recent months the artist was said to be seeking around $350 million.

APPOINTMENTSSony Music Publishing has appointed Roberto Razzini as Managing Director, Italy. He will take up the role on 1 Mar. “I am honoured by the opportunity”, he says.

EXCLUSIVE: Sugar23 has optioned the rights to author Jean Meltzer’s first novel, The Matzah Ball, with plans to develop as a feature film. Sugar23 will produce along with Lance Bass Productions, Brett Gursky and Ben Savage. Michael Sugar, Sugar 23’s Ashley Zalta and Bass will serve as producers. Meltzer, Gursky, Lance Bass Productions’ Drew Pokorny, Savage and Sugar23’s Jillian Kay will serve as executive producers.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorMegaforce Records co-founder Jon Zazula — who launched the iconic label, which released the first albums from Metallica, Anthrax and many others, with his wife Marsha in 1982 — died Tuesday in Florida, a rep for the label confirms to Variety. He was 69.Marsha passed away of cancer in January of last year.Known as “Jonny Z,” Zazula was the more freewheeling half of the company’s founding duo, known for his raucous laughter and, sometimes, his temper.

Celebrating Stormi! Kylie Jenner’s daughter, Stormi, turned 4 on Tuesday, February 1, and her family members penned touching tributes to the little one.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIsland Records has named Mike Alexander general manager, it was announced by new label co-CEOs Imran Majid and Justin Eshak. Alexander will continue to be based in New York and report jointly to Majid and Eshak.A nearly two-decade veteran of Island’s parent company Universal Music Group, Alexander has for the past year been an executive VP at Island, overseeing the operations for the label including releases by Shawn Mendes, the Killers, Demi Lovato and others. He previously served as executive vice president of international for UMG, a position that jointly encompassed Island Records, Def Jam Recordings and Republic Records.