Longtime Motown Exec Suzanne de Passe Talks Launching the Jackson 5, and Being One of the Music Industry’s First Top Female Executives

Emily Longeretta “American Idol” debuted 20 years ago and has since launched the careers of many budding singers. The series premiered on Fox in 2002 with judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAmazon Music has announced that Phylicia Fant has joined the company as head of music industry partnerships, a newly created role. According to the announcement, she will identify and oversee strategic music partnerships and identify cross-entertainment campaigns for Amazon Music, She will be based in the company’s Culver City, Calif.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorCity of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S., will honor Republic Records founders Monte and Avery Lipman (pictured above, R-L) at its 2022 Spirit of Life Gala in the fall. The prestigious award will be presented to them at a gala dinner — the first Spirit of Life Gala since 2019.According to the announcement, the Spirit of Life Award is City of Hope’s most prestigious honor and is presented to an esteemed community of industry leaders around the world who have made a significant commitment to improving the lives of others through the advancement of research and clinical innovation and the delivery of personalized, compassionate care.

Peter Andre has admitted he has a “lot of fear” about his son Junior following in his footsteps into the music industry.The 16 year old signed a record deal with Columbia Records last year and he has been busy working on new music ever since. But his Mysterious Girl hitmaker father says it’s like being “thrown into the lion’s den”. He exclusively told new!: “Of course, there's a lot of fear, because you get thrown into the lion's den.

Lionel Richie has the kind of music career only few can dream about.  The 72-year-old legendary singer/songwriter rose to fame in the 70s as a founding member of the band Commodores before venturing off on a solo career. His first three albums sold over 30 million copies and spawned such mega hits as “You Are,” “”All Night Long (All Night)” and “Say You, Say Me.” While recording his own music, he also wrote/produced such chart-toppings singles as Kenny Rogers’ “Lady,” “Endless Love” featuring Diana Ross and “We Are the World” with Michael Jackson. His talents brought him four Grammys, an Academy Award nomination and the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award. Fans can now see him as a judge on American Idol, as he returns for his fifth season on Sunday (Feb. 27).

Daniel Radcliffe, Jack Black and Conan O’Brien have been spotted filming their upcoming Weird Al biopic in Los Angeles. The actors got into character in wigs and garish costumes as they transformed themselves for the movie based on the American comedy musician. Radcliffe was far from incognito as he donned a big curly wig, a Hawaiian print shirt, a moustache and round wire-frame eyeglasses for the title role.

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.

For Ruben Fleischer, Uncharted, was two years in the making, however, the feature take of the Sony PlayStation game has been in the works since 2008 with several directors attached, i.e. David O. Russell, Neil Burger, Travis Knight and Shawn Levy to name a few.

Tributes are being paid this morning to SBTV founder and entrepreneur Jamal Edwards, who died yesterday aged just 31. 

J. Kim Murphy Jamal Edwards, a major figure in the British music industry known for founding the music platform SBTV, which helped popularize grime and launch several major musicians, died Sunday. He was 31 years old.Edwards’ death was reported by the BBC on Sunday evening after the publication confirmed with Edwards’ company.

COVID.Downing Street has said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will reveal details of his “living with COVID” plan on Monday (February 21) – outlining that factors such as vaccination, testing, and anti-viral drugs will be enough to keep people safe, rather than expecting infected people to stay at home.Self-isolation regulations for those who test positive and their close contacts are expected to cease by the end of this week.“COVID will not suddenly disappear, and we need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms,” said Johnson. “We’ve built up strong protections against this virus over the past two years through the vaccine rollouts, tests, new treatments and the best scientific understanding of what this virus can do.”He added: “Thanks to our successful vaccination programme and the sheer magnitude of people who have come forward to be jabbed, we are now in a position to set out our plan for living with COVID this week.”Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary told BBC‘s Sunday Morning today (February 20) this was “declaring victory before the war is over”, that ending mandatory self-isolation was “not the right thing to do” and that this was a distraction from the ongoing ‘partygate’ scandal.“At this stage the PM risks muddying the waters,” he said. “We want to see the government publish the scientific advice because at the moment this seems very premature.”“He continued: It seems like Boris Johnson is keen to declare victory before the war is over in the hope he gets some headlines about ‘victory day on COVID’ instead police officers asking questions about actions in Number 10.”Labour Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting tells #Raworth that dropping remaining

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music Group has announced the launch of its Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Institute, following the unveiling of their DEI commitments as part of the company’s first Environmental Social Governance (ESG) report earlier this month. WMG’s first global head of DEI, Dr. Maurice A.

Luke Bryan has a special surprise in store for him on the opening night of his US tour  - wife Caroline has brought along a new fan.MORE: Luke Bryan receives outpour of love as he shares bittersweet message"Fireball the monkey is ready for opening night!" she captioned a picture of her with a large stuffed monkey that wears a grey sweater with a red hood that reads: "Wild about you."WATCH: Luke Bryan surprised on stage by wife Caroline in sweet videoCaroline was on a private jet with girlfriends as they headed to Las Vegas for the opening night, and she also shared a picture of Luke smoking a cigar and giving Fireball a cuddle."You three have a blast opening night. It is going to be epic," commented one fan as others shared laughing emojis and one wrote: "I absolutely love that you brought him!! You’re awesome!"MORE: Luke Bryan gets fans talking with rare pictureThe Raised Up Right tour kicks off on Friday 11 February in Las Vegas and alongside a teaser image of the upcoming gigs, the American Idol judge wrote: "My favorite place to be is on stage performing to country music fans.

Fancy watching Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Marvin Gaye on the same show? Of course you do. It can’t happen in real life, but ITV’s latest Saturday night extravaganza, Starstruck, offers the next best thing.

Luke Bryan enjoys a close and often hilarious relationship with his American Idol co-judges Lionel Richie and Katy Perry.MORE: Luke Bryan's five children and their mothers – and the heartfelt story behind his family unitIn a new interview with Good Morning America, the country superstar opened up about his relationship with Katy in the run-up to her Las Vegas residency and how that extended to her fiancé Orlando Bloom.WATCH: Chayce Beckham wins American Idol 2021"Anything Katy does, she sends stuff to create more anxiety," he said to the amusement of GMA hosts Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, who could be heard laughing in the background."She's like 'Wow. Big stage, be ready','Wow, get ready for the dry air of Las Vegas', I'm like 'Katy!'" he joked.MORE: Katy Perry reveals wedding news after claims she secretly wed Orlando BloomHowever, he revealed that there was nothing but love between the two, perhaps veering on being closer than you'd expect when Orlando comes into the mix."Me and her, even as years have gone, we have an even more fun friendship and a great working relationship," he gushed about the Firework singer.A post shared by Good Morning America (@goodmorningamerica)Luke joked about Katy being "jealous" of his relationship with Orlando BloomHe then added: "She's really a little jealous because she believes Orlando kind of…might have a little man crush on me. "Because Orlando came to Nashville and I had all these outdoor activities planned for him.

Lionel Richie is celebrating Black History Month by opening up in a new interview.