Sony Dates Toei Animation’s ‘Knights Of The Zodiac’ For Summer

Madonna, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, the Ramones and more – has died at the age of 80.His passing was confirmed by his youngest daughter Mandy, who told The New York Times that he died in his Los Angeles home on Sunday (April 2) after a battle with cancer.Stein was born in New York City on April 18, 1942. He became enamoured with the music industry in high school, and at 15 (in 1957), worked a summer internship at King Records in Cincinnati. He became a clerk for Billboard just a year later, and in 1961, took on a permanent role at King. It was in 1966 that Stein – alongside record producer Richard Gottehrer – would found Sire Productions.

Chris Morris Music ReporterSeymour Stein, whose Sire Records launched Madonna’s career and signed such early punk rock and new wave icons as the Ramones and Talking Heads, has died, a spokesperson for his family has confirmed to Variety. The cause of death was not immediately clear, although he had been in unsteady health for several years. He was 80. Though Stein’s imprint, which he co-founded in New York in 1966, enjoyed major-label distribution, he approached the record business with an independent’s zeal, and took a multitude of risks on unproven, often underground talent that paid off on the charts. Depeche Mode, Ice-T, Lou Reed, the Pretenders, the Smiths, the Cure, Seal, the Replacements, Aphex Twin and many more artists released some of their greatest music on Sire, whether via a direct signing or a licensing deal. A well-curated mixtape of Sire releases from the ‘80s and ‘90s is like the soundtrack to an era.

Shemar Moore may have found success in primetime television with “Criminal Minds” and, currently, “S.W.A.T.”, but he’s never forgotten his soap roots.

It’s 50th anniversary week on the CBS soap opera series The Young and the Restless and a big announcement was made this morning!

EXCLUSIVE: Happy anniversary, Y&R fans!

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The all-star trio Boygenius has set 14 headlining dates for this summer, on top of festival gigs that include Coachella appearances and concerts under the Re:SET banner that’d previously been announced for the group. Opening acts for the 14 newly set dates include Carly Rae Jepsen, Broken Social Scene, Illuminati Hotties, Bartees Strange and Claud. The shows include gigs at two of the nation’s most iconic outdoor venues — Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, on Aug. 5, and the Gorge in Washington state, on July 29 — along with al fresco appearances in Phoenix, Houston, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Toronto, Vancouver, Asheville, Wilmington, Bend, Bonner and Boise.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Madonna is adding eight extra dates to the second leg of her U.S. tour this coming winter. The additional shows were revealed in an announcement that put a special emphasis on a show she’s added for Nashville on Dec. 22, where she plans to put the spotlight on the state of Tennessee’s recent wave of LGBTQ+-targeted bills. The additional dates announced for this coming December and January represent a mixture of Madonna returning to cities where she already is playing concerts earlier in 2023, like New York City and Los Angeles, along with a few cities that are completely fresh additions to the “Celebration Tour” routing, like Nashville, Philadelphia, Palm Springs and Sacramento.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Sony Music has dissolved the long-running Arista Nashville imprint, a rep for the company confirms to Variety. The news was first reported in Country Aircheck‘s newsletter. Most of the artists will be absorbed into Sony Music Nashville, with Nate Smith is going to RCA Nashville and Old Dominion and Megan Moroney moving over to Columbia Nashville. Brooks & Dunn is the most famous artist on the label, having been one of its cornerstone acts since 1991, but the duo is not a going concern on the recording front. Apart from a retrospective/duets project three years ago, they have not issued an album of new material since 2007.

Addie Morfoot Contributor During a talk at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX on Wednesday, Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams spoke about a wide variety of topics, including his latest documentary, “Love to Love You, Donna Summer,” how insanely expensive it is to garner a doc Oscar nomination, and why the racial reckoning that occurred in the nonfiction community after George Floyd’s murder is over. Despite celebrity-driven docs being all the rage, Williams admitted that he usually rejects them. “I have so many celebrities who come to me about making a documentary (about their life),” the helmer told moderator Thom Powers. “It’s never worked out because if they are a living celebrity, who is very popular, they are all about control. It’s a piece of propaganda about their image and their career. It’s not a documentary.”

Helen Flanagan is said to be eyeing up signing for the next series of E4's Celebs Go Dating, after splitting from her footballer fiancé, Scott Sinclair. Show bosses are reportedly keen to get the former Coronation Street actress on board for the show, which sees a panel of dating experts lining up a group of celebrities with non-celebrity partners in a quest to find 'The One'.The Sun reports that the team behind the show think Helen, 32, is the "perfect candidate" for the show, after she and Scott, with whom she shares three children, went their separate ways last year after 13 years together.

An incredible scrap metal sculpture commemorating the dead of the Great War is coming on loan to The Black Watch Castle and Museum this summer, sparking hopes it will make Perth even more of a visitor destination.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Music Entertainment India has appointed Vinit Thakkar as managing director, reporting into Shridhar Subramaniam, president of corporate strategy and market development for Asia and the Middle East. Thakkar will take over from Rajat Kakar, who is scheduled to leave at the end of March. Thakkar was previously COO, India and South Asia, for Universal Music, where he played a key role in major label signings with leading artists and is also widely credited for the creation and launch of non-film artist-centred platforms in a market traditionally dominated by songs from feature film soundtracks.  At Sony, he will collaborate with regional and global teams to strengthen the company’s strategic partnerships and identify new growth opportunities for its artists.

Jordan Moreau Lana Condor, Toni Collette and Jane Fonda are playing a family of sea monster queens in DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming film “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.” Condor voices Ruby, “a shy teenager who discovers that she’s part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens and that her destiny, in the depths of the oceans, is bigger than she ever dreamed.” Collette plays her mother, who forbade Ruby from ever stepping foot in the water, and Fonda is her grandmother, from whom Ruby is destined to inherit the throne of the kraken queens. Here’s the logline: “Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush (Jaboukie Young-White), who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother, the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas. The Kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids who have been battling with the Kraken for eons. There’s one major, and immediate, problem with that: The school’s beautiful, popular new girl, Chelsea (Annie Murphy) just happens to be a mermaid. Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and go big to protect those she loves most.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Miranda Lambert announced Wednesday that she is leaving Sony Music Nashville, the company she’s been with since the beginning of her almost two-decade recording career. She did not say where she might be landing after her departure — only that she “can’t wait” to see what comes next. “Since I was 19 years old, Sony has been my home in Nashville,” Lambert said in a social post. “Over the last 20 years together we have released albums that allowed me to share my story with the world, and we’ve reached heights I’d never even dreamed were possible. “I’m so thankful for our time together and everything they made possible for me,” Lambert continued, “yet I wouldn’t be true to myself if I wasn’t constantly looking for the next challenge and a new way to stretch my creativity. With that in mind, I’ve decided to say goodbye to my Sony family. I can’t wait to see what the next adventure holds.”

With Ed Sheeran's newly-announced - (Subtract) record, Jonas Brothers' much-anticipated comeback and Miley Cyrus, Mimi Webb and Metallica's new LPs, 2023's release schedule is already looking pretty packed.

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the series premiere of The CW‘s Gotham Knights.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Drake has announced dates for his 2023 “It’s All a Blur” tour presented by Cash App, Visa and Sprite. Produced by Live Nation, Drake and 21 Savage will be going on a 29-date arena run with stops including Chicago, Boston, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and more before wrapping up in Glendale, AZ at Desert Diamond Arena on Tuesday, September 5. “It’s All a Blur” marks Drake’s return to touring since headlining Aubrey & the Three Migos Tour in 2018. In the last five years, Drake has released four albums, including his most recent studio album, “Her Loss,” in collaboration with 21 Savage. According to the announcement, the tour’s title is “a celebration of the last decade,” signifying its retrospective nature

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based indie sales agent Autumn Sun comes to FilMart with a bulging slate of new film titles from around Asia — including two animated features from mainland China. Autumn Sun, headed by sales veteran Elliot Tong, is giving a market premiere to “Planet Cat,” an animated feature by Song Yuefeng (“Ping Pong Rabbit,” “Throne of Elves”) about a chance meeting between a stray cat and a girl in a city at night. The film is produced by Nuctopus Studio and Dreamers Studio and previously won a development prize at the Beijing International Film Festival. The feature is now in post-production and a promo reel is being screened at the market.

. In ET's exclusive sneak peek at Monday's all-new episode, most of the women of the house — Danielle Olivera, Paige DeSorbo, Ciara Miller, Mya Allen and Gabby Prescod — gather in the backyard to set up for a party, and the conversation quickly turns to their  bash, a «slumber party» that left Amanda Batula in tears, after Danielle named her the person she trusts the least in the group during a card game.When Amanda ran away from the game, her husband, Kyle Cooke, got defensive, praising Amanda as one of the best people in the cast, and slamming Danielle's then-bestie, Lindsay Hubbard, as a villain. Lindsay's boyfriend (now-fiancè), Carl Radke, sat back and said nothing in Lindsay's defense, which didn't sit well with Danielle, who pleaded with him to speak up.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Most of Miley Cyrus’ albums have been pretty high-concept, in the musical styles they tried on for size. She didn’t come in like a wrecking ball so much as a pendulum. Successive records found her swinging back and forth — or sideways — from the pop-diva dominance she established with “Bangerz” to the one-woman back-to-roots movement of “Young Again,” on up to the rockin’ new-wave revivalism of 2021’s “Plastic Hearts.” (Somewhere in there came her Flaming Lips collab… or probably we all just collectively dreamed that one, right?) Through it all was the sense that Cyrus was always working hard — too hard, sometimes — to establish that a new shift in direction was the real her, the one that’d really find her “just being Miley,” as a seminal hit of hers once promised.