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In her latest documentary, Luther: Never Too Much, Dawn Porter crafts a striking profile of a singular musician. That Luther Vandross, who died in 2005, hasn’t gotten the documentary treatment until now is surprising considering his imprint on the music industry. Vandross — a true multi-hyphenate — sang, arranged and produced records for himself and other iconic artists. He worked with David Bowie, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick, for example. He wasn’t just popular with fans for his velvety voice and romantic numbers; he was beloved by industry stalwarts, some of whom appear in Porter’s documentary. Even for those familiar with the “Never Too Much” crooner, Porter’s project is essential viewing.

Premiering at Sundance, Luther: Never Too Much is a trove of archival material. Porter uses rehearsal footage, concert videos, old interviews with Vandross and newer ones with his friends and family to tell the musician’s story. The...

Do you remember what you were doing the evening of May 16, 1983? Well, you may have been one of the 47 million people tuned into NBC’s landmark special “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever.”

It was the star-studded celebration hosted by Emmy nominee Richard Pryor which saw Michael Jackson reuniting with his brothers for a medley of their Jackson 5 hits including “I Want You Back,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There.”

But it was Jackson’s solo performance of his blockbuster No. 1 hit “Billie Jean” from his breakthrough album “Thriller” which galvanized the audience. It was an electrifying turn where he introduced the fedora, black sequin jacket and glove and his momentous moonwalk routine during the bridge of the song, all of which became his trademarks when performing “Billie Jean.” The New York Times described the routine as “astonishing. He is clearly the heir apparent to the dazzling androgyny...

The Recording Academy will host a Special Merit Award ceremony in February ahead of the 65th Annual Grammy Awards to honor the recipients of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. The Supremes, Nirvana, Nile Rodgers, Slick Rick, Ma Rainey, Bobby McFerrin, and Heart members Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson have been announced as the show’s 2023 honorees.

“The Academy is proud to celebrate this diverse slate of influential music people spanning numerous genres and crafts as our 2023 Special Merit Awards honorees,” Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, shared in a statement.

The Recording Academy announced its 2023 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients today, with Bobby McFerrin, Nirvana, Ma Rainey, Nile Rodgers, Slick Rick “The Ruler,” The Supremes, and Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart making the cut.

The Lifetime awards were among the honors announced by the academy today for presentation at the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards Ceremony on Feb. 4 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, a day before the 65th annual Grammy Awards. In addition to the Lifetime Achievement Awards, today’s announcement includes recipients of the Trustees Award, Technical Grammy Award, and Best Song For Social Change Award.

Other honors announced today are the Trustees Award recipients, which this year includes music photographer Henry Diltz, Jazz pianist and music educator Ellis Marsalis and Stax Records founder Jim Stewart.

Receiving the awards posthumously are Kurt Cobain of Nirvana; the original Supremes line-up’s Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard; Rainey; Marsalis; and Stewart.

The Recording Academy will present several iconic acts with Lifetime Achievement Awards this year, including The Supremes, Nirvana, Ma Rainey and Slick Rick.

The academy announced Thursday that Nile Rodgers, Bobby McFerrin and Heart’s Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson will also receive the coveted honor at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony, which is returning for the first time since 2020.

The event will take place Feb. 4 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, a day before the 65th annual Grammy Awards. The academy will also give out other awards at the event: Stax Records founder Jim Stewart, jazz pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, and music photographer Henry Diltz are the Trustees Award recipients. Auto-Tune creator Andy Hildebrand and the Audio Engineering Society (Aes) are the Technical Grammy Award honorees.

The Best Song for Social Change honoree will be announced at a later date.

Kurt Cobain, The Supremes’ Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard,...

For nostalgic excitement there's no better '60s pop compendium than this! An impossibly eclectic mix of talent at the Santa Monica Civic, in a brilliantly produced live show recorded in the wonder of Electronovision! The lineup is incredible: The Rolling Stones, James Brown and Lesley Gore on the same stage? The T.A.M.I. Show; The Big T.N.T. Show Blu-ray Shout Select (Shout! Factory) 1964 / B&W / 1:66 & 1:85 widescreen / 112 + 93 min. / Electronovision / Collector's Edition / Street Date December 2, 2016 / 29.98 Starring T.A.M.I.: The Beach Boys, The Barbarians, Chuck Berry, The Blossoms, James Brown and The Flames, Marvin Gaye, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan & Dean, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Supremes, The Rolling Stones Toni Basil, Glen Campbell, Teri Garr, Jack Nitzsche, Leon Russell, Phil Spector, David Winters. T.N.T. David McCallum, Ray Charles, Petula Clark, Bo Diddley, Joan Baez, Phil Spector, The Ronettes,...

10 years ago, Superman looked a lot different onscreen. Kevin Spacey, not Jesse Eisenberg, was playing Lex Luthor. Kate Bosworth, not Amy Adams, was in the role of Lois Lane. And unknown actor Brandon Routh was starring as the Man of Steel. In retrospect, Superman was headlining a rather bright, campy movie when you look at his 2006 flick next to this year’s grimdark Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Superman Returns opened in theaters 10 years ago today. It didn’t manage to reboot the long-stagnant Superman property into a new franchise, as Warner Bros. hoped. The Batman v Superman title was being tossed around already during discussion for a sequel to Superman Returns. But the studio ultimately decided to move on from the Routh-Bryan Singer-et al. line-up. “Superman [Returns] didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” then-wb president Jeff Robinov said in...

Prince Harry may be fifth in line to the throne, but some of his younger fans would like to see him take on the big job one day. "Are you ever going to be king?" he was asked by a student during the filming of a children's TV show last Tuesday. Harry laughed. "That's the question everybody wanted, let's be honest!" before adding, "You'll be glad to know, probably not!" As 9-year-old Tristan of Lambs Lane Primary School in Berkshire looked disheartened, Harry dashed across the school hall and commiserated right along with him. "Oh, look at the disappointment! I love that!

Through the mirror of my mind / Time after time, I see reflections of you and me / Reflections of the way life used to be / Reflections of the love you took from me • “Reflections,” by Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland, recorded by Diana Ross and the Supremes, 1967, Motown Records

Like every other art form, comics – or more accurately, the creators of comics – reflect the times in which they live.

I started reading comics in the Silver Age, when superheroes were manufactured like products in factories, conveyed along conveyor belts of post-World War II American middle-class morality, which ensured that everything but the packaging was the same. Each hero kept their true nature hidden behind a pair of glasses, or a secretary’s typewriter, or a desk in a high school classroom. Each hero lived a lonely life, because to reveal their secret would only endanger their loved one. And...

Birthday shoutouts go to George Clooney (above), who is 53, Bob Seger is 69, and Gabourey Sidibe is 31.

Billy Eichner will co-create and star in the USA network series Difficult People

New sports playbook: How to come out as gay

Real Housewives Star Preaches About ‘Saving’ Gays.

Mary Wilson talks about her relationship with Diana Ross and the massive gay following The Supremes had from the beginning.

Johhny Weir and Victor Voronov are … can you guess?

Nate Silver on the odds that Michael Sam will be drafted.

Here’s the trailer for Tammy, with Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, and Kathy Bates. “There was a bee!”

Here’s your tasty Two For Tuesday With Matt Bomer. Here he is yesterday at the ‘Charles James: Beyond Fashion’ Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City. Perfection.

And here’s The Weekly ShoutOUT™. Each week we’re going to focus...

Vivica A. Fox, Montel Williams, and Mary Wilson (of The Supremes), are all attached to co-star in an indie family sports drama titled Golden Shoes. They'll be joined by John Rhys-Davies, Eric Roberts, David DeLuise and Joshua Morrow in a project that's currently in pre-production, and tells the story of a young boy whose father is missing in action at war, and whose mother is in the hospital. He consoles himself with dreams of playing in the youth soccer league, standing up in the face of bullying along the way. The movie is expected to shoot in parts of Michigan, and is currently filling out the remainder of its cast and crew. Lance Kawas will direct...

New York — In an era when Beyonce and Jay-z are music royalty, when Barack Obama is the nation's chief executive, and when black stars in the cast of a TV show are commonplace, it may be hard to grasp the magnitude of what Don Cornelius created once he got his "Soul Train" rolling.

Yes, the syndicated series delivered the music of Earth Wind & Fire, the Jacksons, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder into America's households, infusing them with soul in weekly doses. Yes, it gave viewers groovy dances and Afro-envy, helping get them hip to a funky world that many had never experienced, or maybe even suspected.

But it was more than that. Before Bet would give African-Americans their own channel, and before black music and faces found their way to MTV videos as well as network dramas and comedies, "Soul Train" became a pioneering outlet for a culture whose access to television was strictly limited.