Music Industry Moves: Def Jam Celebrates Diverse Female Staff; Sony Music Publishing Partners With Girls Make Beats

Johnny Depp began last week in a courtroom in northern Virginia, pulling back the curtain on the secretive world of celebrity enablers and hangers-on.Depp is suing his ex-wife, Amber Heard, for $50 million for describing herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse” in a 2018 Washington Post opinion piece. That revived allegations she made when the couple divorced in 2016 — about which they had each promised to remain silent — and in Depp’s view the public characterization could not go unchallenged.But after Depp lost a similar case in London in 2020, his public reputation — and career — are in tatters.

Elon Musk has been filed with a lawsuit by Twitter investors for failing to disclose that he had bought a substantial stake in the company.The Tesla chief revealed on April 4 that he had acquired a 9.2 per cent stake in the social media platform.Shares in Twitter soared as investors viewed the move as a vote of confidence, according to The Guardian.But federal trade laws require that investors notify the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after surpassing a 5 per cent stake in a company within 10 days. Musk acquired his shares on 14 March but did not make that public until over two weeks later.A new lawsuit filed in New York yesterday (April 12) alleges, in the time between passing the 5 per cent threshold and publicly reporting, Musk was able to buy up additional shares at a deflated price.Experts estimate that the delay may have resulted Musk netting $156million (£120million), according to The Washington Post.The lawsuit seeks class action status on behalf of investors who sold Twitter stock during that time who claim they lost out on gains they would have been aware of had Musk disclosed his stake earlier.After Musk disclosed his stake, Twitter shares rose 27 percent from $39.31 to $49.97.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBrooklynites will be excited to learn that BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! will return to the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park at full capacity, with live, free and in-person performances in June, kicking off on the 8 th with a performance by saxophonist-composer-producer Kamasi Washington and closing on August 6 with Nigerian singer-songwriter Yemi Alade.The innovative Los Angeles-based musician is one of the major jazz musicians to emerge in the past decade, having collaborated with a galaxy of jazz artists as well as Kendrick Lamar (on his groundbreaking “To Pimp a Butterfly” album), Florence + the Machine and others. He also has performed at multiple nights of BRIC JazzFest in years past.

Winning! Maddie & Tae’s Maddie Marlow stole the 2022 CMT Music Awards show with her heartfelt acceptance speech — as partner Tae Dye watched from home — on Monday, April 11.

TV sports host Mike Janela virtually had no chance of winning on Thursday’s episode of “Jeopardy!” however he completely turned the situation around, hilariously capturing the attention of sports fans, especially those of the New York Mets.

Amber Heard has celebrated her daughter’s first birthday as she marked “the greatest year”. The Aquaman actress shared the surprise news she had become a mother last July when she revealed she wanted to have a child “on my own terms”. She said she had named her daughter Oonagh Paige Heard and she was born on April 8.

Coldplay have added new South American dates to their huge eco-friendly world tour for new album ‘Music For The Spheres’ – see the updated schedule below.The band’s 2022 world stadium tour comes with an emphasis on environmental sustainability, and began with a gig at the Estadio Nacional in the Costa Rican capital San Jose last month (March 18) – see what went down here.North American dates for the tour kick off later this month, with European dates beginning in July and UK dates in August, including six shows at London’s Wembley Stadium.The band have now announced that they’ll head back to South America in September and October, adding six more shows to the run.Coldplay will be joined by Camila Cabello and H.E.R.

First Lady Jill Biden congratulated Ketanji Brown Jackson for being the first Black woman to ever be confirmed to the Supreme Court on Thursday April 7. The historic occasion was finalized by a vote in the Senate over a month after Jackson was announced as President Joe Biden’s nomination to fill the seat left open by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, after he announced his retirement. Besides the First Lady, plenty of other stars took to their social media to share their excitement that she was confirmed.

Mickey Rourke sustained a painful-looking injury on his forehead that left a bloody gash. The Oscar-nominated actor took to Instagram on Tuesday and shared a close-up of the grisly wound. "Looks like my skateboarding days are over," captioned the 69-year-old.                                                                                                                         It’s unclear whether the former boxer was joking or the laceration came from the gym or while riding his motorcycle.

Nick Lachey didn’t have the best night in Beverly Hills on Sunday.

Vanity Fair's famous after-party together in Beverly Hills. For the occasion, wore a satin black suit by Tom Ford that reflected the camera's flash, and Harvey chose a Tony Ward Couture gown with a structured, jewel-covered bodice and a sheer skirt. Harvey posted a short video of the two of them being lovey-dovey inside the party to her Instagram Stories. She captioned it “mine” with a white heart, definitely the emoji of the moment.The pair were and have been going strong since.

Roxy Music have announced details of 2022 tour dates in the UK and North America – get tickets here and see the full list of dates below.The shows later this year will mark the first time that Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera and Paul Thompson have been together on stage since the ‘For Your Pleasure’ tour in 2011.The new tour dates will mark the 50th anniversary of the band’s debut album, which they will be celebrating throughout 2022 with a vinyl reissue series which will see the band reissuing all eight of their studio albums.The band’s 2022 shows will begin in Toronto on September 7 to kick off a run of 10 North American shows.UK dates in Glasgow and Manchester will then follow, with the tour wrapping up in London at The O2 on October 14.Tickets for the three UK shows go on sale on Thursday (March 31) at 9am BST – grab yours here. For North America, tickets will be available from 10am local time next Monday (April 4).See a trailer for the tour and the full list of dates below.SEPTEMBER7 – Toronto, Scotiabank Arena9 – Washington DC, Capital One Arena12 – New York, Madison Square Garden15 – Philadephia, Wells Fargo Center17 – Boston, TD Garden19 – Chicago, United Center21 – Austin, Moody CEnter23 – Dallas, American Airlines Center26 – San Francisco, Chase Center28 – Los Angeles, The ForumOCTOBER10 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro12 – Manchester, AO Arena14 – London, The O2 Discussing Roxy Music’s self-titled debut album ahead of its 50th anniversary, NME said: “After being fired as a ceramics teacher for singing in the classroom, Bryan Ferry, a fine art grad from County Durham, auditioned to sing in the London prog-rock band King Crimson.

Ariana DeBose has the support of her longtime girlfriend at the Oscars after parties!

Elaine May was the last to arrive and the first to leave at the Governors Awards on Friday in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Elaine May was the last to arrive and the first to leave at the Governors Awards on Friday in Los Angeles. Her fellow honorees, Samuel L. Jackson, Liv Ullmann and Danny Glover, all arrived hours earlier, each holding court at the Ray Dolby Ballroom, posing for photos and enjoying their moment amid the lead-up to the 94th Academy Awards.

Academy Awards.It was a celebration, after all. They were about to get something for the first time in their long Hollywood careers: An Oscar statuette of their own.Jackson, whose right foot was in a walking cast boot and his left in a black velvet slipper, sat at the base of an oversized Oscar statuette as everyone from Quentin Tarantino to Magic Johnson came over to congratulate him.But May, the 89-year-old writer, filmmaker and comedy legend, walked into the Ray Dolby Ballroom arm in arm with Bill Murray long after attendees had finished their chicken pot pies, accepted her honorary Oscar with grace and wit, then departed soon after — still linked to Murray.Yes, it’s the kind of move that could upend a live broadcast.