Julian Lennon, the firstborn son to John Lennon from his first marriage, is heir to an incredible musical legacy. Born in 1963, at the precise onset of Beatlemania in England, Julian’s life has been one of constant comparisons to his famous father.
He’s finally coming into his own understanding of himself as an artist and of discovering his own artistic leanings rather than living up to outside expectations. Find out what the artist has been up to, as well as his net worth.
Julian inspired quite a few Beatles’ songs
During his childhood, Julian inspired Beatles songs including Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. He had brought home a drawing he’d made of his school friend, Lucy, as the story goes. Many still theorize, however, that the song is actually John’s ode to LSD.
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Another song for which Julian served as muse was Hey Jude. According to Beatles Bible, Paul McCartney recalled in The Beatles Anthology how he came up with the still-beloved song while driving to visit Julian and his mother, Cynthia after John had left them to be with Yoko.
“I thought, as a friend of the family, I would motor out…and tell them that everything was all right: to try and cheer them up, basically, and see how they were. I would always turn the radio off and try and make up songs, just in case [and] started singing: ‘Hey Jules – don’t make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better…’ It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: ‘Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you’re not happy, but you’ll be OK.’”
He’s found his niche as a photographer
Most recently, Julian has come into his own as a photographer, becoming more serious about it after going on the road with his brother, Sean Lennon, for Sean’s European concert tour in 2010.
“I surprised him on the road,” he told Rolling Stone. “I literally turned up at a gig.”
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“In some ways the photography will bring people back to the music,” Julian continued. “The process of doing [photo] work and getting it out to the public is a lot smoother than the road I’ve had with music.”
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He writes on his website, “I have always felt that I have observed life in a different way to others…Music has always been one creative outlet for me, but now I’m happy to add another one too, that being photography.”
Julian Lennon’s net worth
Julian’s net worth is $40 million, according to CelebrityNetWorth.com
He has accumulated his wealth through his hit songs, his photography exhibitions, and as producer of the documentary Whaledreamers.
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The Independent reported that after 16 years of legal struggles to win a portion of his father’s estate, Julian won a court battle in 1996 entitling him to a 20 million pounds share of his father’s estimated 250 million pounds estate.
In addition, Julian has also had to resort to buying back memorabilia of his father’s at auctions around the world, including John’s Afghan coat from Magical Mystery Tour and several postcards that John had written out to Julian over the years but had not been sent.
He was asked by CBS’ Anthony Mason which piece of memorabilia has meant the most to him.
“I guess the postcards,” Julian said. “It means that he was thinking about me at a time he wasn’t around.”
Read more: Why George Harrison Said He Felt ‘Constipated’ Being in The Beatles
Flexing his rapping skill, the Canadian superstar also delivers bars about his musical hiatus, religion, gluten-free lifestyle as well as his marriage to Hailey Baldwin.
AceShowbiz –Justin Bieber is currently working hard in the studio. Giving fans a look at what he has been doing, the Canadian superstar shared on Instagram Stories on Friday, October 11 a video of him listening to a remix of 50 Cent‘s “Many Men” that he recorded.
On the song, Justin can be heard flexing his rapping skill as he delivers bars about his musical hiatus, religion, gluten-free lifestyle as well as his marriage to Hailey Baldwin. “Took a couple years off/ Shed a couple tears, dawg/ Messed up here and there/ No fear here dawg,” he raps. “Got a wife, livin’ life, livin’ right, yeah, it’s tight/ Gluten-free, look at me/ Who wouldn’t thought I’d be nice/ When I rap I will slap on the beat/ I attack with the heat.”
In addition to that, he opens up about his battle with depression. “They put me on some medicine/ Never thought that my depression would depend on it/ I resent it,” he continues spitting. “Going hard, running on adrenaline/ Been a victim of the system, I’m a Christian with a vision, I’m a gentleman.”
For those who wish Justin will release a full version of the remix, prepare to be disappointed. Justin has made it clear that it would not be included in his upcoming project. “Not album stuff just messing around while Hailey’s doing something video stuff in the other room… It is tight though,” the “Baby” singer said.
Justin is currently working on his fifth studio album, which he announced during an Instagram Live session after the release of his Dan + Shay collaboration “10,000 Hours”. He revealed during the session, “I’m putting out an album this year.” When Hailey asked him, “This year meaning before 2020? I thought you already were doing it this year,” Justin replied, “Album coming out this year … legit though, like this year.”
The ‘Dark Horse’ hitmaker has filed paperworks for an appeal in an effort to fight the ruling that found her guilty of ripping off a rap song called ‘Joyful Noise’.
AceShowbiz –Katy Perry is officially appealing the verdict of her “Dark Horse” plagiarism case.
The pop star and her collaborators, including songwriters Dr. Luke and Max Martin, were found guilty of swiping segments from Marcus Gray‘s Christian rap song “Joyful Noise” back in July, and ordered to pay $2.78 million to the rapper, but Perry insists she shouldn’t have to pay up.
Her lawyers have filed for an appeal, claiming “the plaintiffs lack a copyright registration for the beat in question itself,” and that Gray couldn’t prove that their client had access to “Joyful Noise” prior to writing the pop song.
“Plaintiffs did not present any direct evidence of access or circumstantial evidence of a chain of events linking ‘Joyful Noise’ to the relevant authors of ‘Dark Horse’,” the appeal reads. “Nor did Plaintiffs present sufficient evidence of widespread dissemination of ‘Joyful Noise’ that would give rise to a reasonable opportunity to hear ‘Joyful Noise’.”
The lawyers also claim one of the plaintiffs’ trial witnesses, musicologist Dr. Todd Tecker, “gave improper and highly prejudicial testimony,” and urge Judge Christina A. Snyder to throw out the jury’s verdict, order a new trial, and/or reduce the damages awarded to Gray.
Michael A. Kahn, one of the attorneys for the defence, tells Billboard: “We will vigorously oppose the motion, strive to uphold the jury’s verdict, and continue to fight for our clients’ rights.”
New music Fridays are a thrilling, yet daunting prospect for any music lover.
It’s essentially a weekly holiday where fan-favorite artists and fresh faces alike drop their latest offerings for all the world to hear, flooding streaming services and digital retailers with an onslaught of aural goodies. But who has the time to sit there and listen to everything before updating their playlists? There’s just too much good stuff! (And, if we’re being honest, usually a few stinkers, too.)
As it turns out, we do. Welcome to The MixtapE!
Boy, was this week an embarrassment of riches. By now, you’ve probably given “Lights Up,” Harry Styles‘ return to music after two years a listen or two—and if you’re like us, replayed the stunning music video so many times that the people at YouTube must be wondering if something’s wrong—and possibly given the latest releases from Jennifer Lopez and Camila Cabello a spin, but there’s so much more out there, just waiting to be discovered. These are our picks for the best of the best. You’re welcome.
Harry Styles — “Lights Up”
After a two year wait, Harry is finally back with the first taste of his highly-anticipated sophomore solo album. And on “Lights Up,” which the former One Direction star co-wrote with previous collaborators Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon, he proves the wait was more than worth it. “Shine. Step into the light. Shine,” he sings on the soaring, anthemic bridge. “So bright sometimes. Shine. I’m not ever going back.” And that music video? Don’t even get us started. We’re still recovering from the beauty. Welcome back, Harry. We can’t wait to see what else you have in store.
Jennifer Lopez — “Baila Conmigo”
When Jennifer Lopez tells you to dance with her, you listen. It certainly helps when she’s dropping tracks that slap as hard as this one, a high-energy moment en Español. Between Hustlers, a world tour, her engagement to ARod and her just-announced co-headlining gig at the 2020 Super Bowl, is there anyone having a better year than JLo? That’s a trick question. The answer is no.
Fantasia — “Bad Girl”
The American Idol dropped her seventh studio album, Sketchbook, today, and the standout track on the LP is this one. “I’m just a confident, independent, getting it, intelligent woman/And if my confident, independence, go and get it, intelligence scares ya,” she tells a man who might not even deserve her before heading into the chorus. “Then I’ll be the bad girl/The one that you really want/The one that won’t settle for nothing/And make you show just what you’re made of.” It’s cinematic, sultry, and features a vocal performance from Fantasia that’ll take you all the way to church.
Lali — “LALIGERA”
Argentinian pop star Lali Esposito recently earned a place on our list of the 15 female Latin pop stars you need to be listening to, and on her latest release, she proves why. The first single from her forthcoming fourth album, due in 2020, finds Lali letting everyone know there’s no stopping her over a slick beat. She’s the whole package and the time to get obsessed is now.
Hayley Kiyoko — “Demons”
Days after announcing new project I’m Too Sensitive for This S–t—and after it was revealed that she’d be receiving the Youth Innovator Award at this year’s Trevor Project Gala in November—Lesbian Jesus has gifted the world with the first taste of her new era in the form of “Demons,” which crouches a serious exploration of mental health in slick, utterly danceable packaging. Hayley opened up about the single in a press release, saying, “‘Demons’ is really personal to me. I had the chorus lyrics written in my notes ‘please forgive me I’ve got demons in my head, trying to feed me lies until I’m dead’. There was something so haunting about it I wanted to try to turn it into something positive. I wanted to sing about mental health and battling the inner ‘demons’ many of us struggle with. But with a heavy upbeat track that everyone can sing and support you with. It’s so important for people struggling to realize that they’re not alone and I hope this song can play a part in sparking that realization.”
The Black Eyed Peas & J Balvin — “RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)”
Will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, the three founding members of BEP, join forces with the irrepressible prince of reggeaton for this bilingual banger. Making expert use of a sample from Corona’s classic “Rhythm of the Night,” the song will also appear on the soundtrack for Bad Boys for Life, which reunites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in theaters this January.
Read
Black Eyed Peas Drop First Single in 10 Years—Without Fergie
Tiana Major9 & EARTHGANG — “Collide”
One of the UK’s most exciting alt-R&B voices teams up with the American hip-hop duo comprised of Olu and WowGr8 for this gorgeous neo-soul track, the lead single from the soundtrack for Queen and Slim, the upcoming romantic thriller written by Lena Waithe and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, due in theaters this November. The song is dreamy as hell and works as the perfect theme for Lena’s modern-day take on the Bonnie and Clyde trope.
POLIÇA — “Driving”
The American synth-pop band with the Polish-sounding name is gearing up for the early 2020 arrival of their fifth studio album, When We Stay Alive, with the release of this lead single, which finds lead vocalist Channy Leaneagh returning to music after suffering traumatic injuries from a fall off her roof while clearing ice early last year. The track is a woozy little slice of trip hop, perfect for getting lost in on late nights.
Michael Kiwanuka — “Hero”
If Michael’s name or voice sound familiar, that’s because he’s the British folk rocker behind “Cold Little Heart,” the iconic track used as the Big Little Lies theme song for two seasons on HBO. As he prepares for the October 25 release of his third studio album, Kiwanuka, he’s released this second single, a lo-fi track that wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of BLL itself.
Bonus Tracks:
Sam Hunt — “Kinfolks”: The wait for Sam’s second full-length album has been a long one, but hopefully the release of this infectiously romantic piece of country-pop, his first song of 2019, means the wait might soon be over.
Pusha T and Nicholas Britell — “Puppets”: Ahead of Succession‘s second season finale this Sunday, Nicholas’ Emmy-winning theme song gets the full-length treatment with an assist from Pusha. It’s no Kendall Roy original—”L to the OG!”—but it’ll do.
Umi — “Love Affair”: On the smooth lead single off her upcoming visual album, Love Language, the Japanese-African-American R&B up-and-comer proves she’s one to watch.
MEDUZA x Becky Hill x Goodboys — “Lose Control”: For the second-ever single, the Italian production trio enlist the Voice UK singer and the British production trio for this killer dance track that announces there’s a new force in EDM to be reckoned with.
BENEE — “Find an Island”: New Zealand indie pop upstart Stella Bennett delivers our favorite new kiss-off track. “Find an island far away from me,” she sings in the killer chorus. “A shipwreck lost at sea, where nobody goes. No search party. Nobody knows but me.” Brutal. We love it.
With a brand new album out, a tour on the way and a happy family life at home, Fantasia Barrino is well aware of how far she’s come since her American Idol win in 2004 — and, she admits, she’s feeling “pretty damn good” about it.
The singer dropped her seventh studio album, Sketchbook, on Friday, the same day she also premiered the sultry, workout-focused music video for her song, “Bad Girl,” exclusively on PEOPLE.
“Bad Girl” is just one of the 12 songs off of Sketchbook, an album which Barrino describes as a mix of “all genres of music.”
“Everything is different,” Barrino, 35, tells PEOPLE. “I came from a musical family and a lot of people don’t know that my first cousins are K-Ci and JoJo from Jodeci. They introduced us to great music at a young age. Then I went off to do Idol, we were allowed to do all genres. I was so here for it because that’s how I grew up. So my new thing is being independent and not having anybody standing in the way telling me what I can and cannot do.”
“‘PTSD’ sounds nothing like ‘Enough,’ ‘Enough’ sounds nothing like ‘Holy Ghost,’ ‘Holy Ghost’ sounds nothing like ‘Take Off,'” she continues. “It’s just a feel good album of all genres with a bop to it, something people have never heard Fantasia do. I don’t want people to stick me in a box.”
Sketchbook is Barrino’s first album to be released independently, a process which she says allowed her more creative freedom than when she was signed to a record label.
“I was at a point to where I was like, ‘If I can’t do what I want to do, then I quit,'” she says. “I walked away from the label with all good relationships on good terms. And now we’re doing what it is we always really wanted to do.”
Throughout the ups and downs and downs in both her career and personal life over the last several years, Barrino says her biggest lesson was learned from “not taking full control of my destiny and putting it in everybody else’s hands.”
“I lost a lot that way,” she says. “I was the only one going out there working so hard — there would be times where my feet would be sore with blisters and my voice would be tired and I hadn’t seen my kids and I would get home to realize that everybody that was running the ship had been taking little pieces here and there away from it. And it wasn’t floating anymore. So I had to take full control of the ship. Now I’m cruising and now I know what I want.”
Barrino will soon kick off her first headlining tour in support of the new album with a performance in Columbia, South Carolina on Oct. 17. She’ll be joined by supporting acts Robin Thicke, Tank and The Bonfyre on the tour, which will run through December.
“Know that I put together just about everything [for the tour],” she says. “A lot of people don’t know that I sketch, and I design the outfits for myself and my girls. They don’t know that I put together the lights, the band, what the girls sing. It’s fun to see it all come together.”
Barrino will also be joined by her husband, Kendall Taylor, for many of the dates on the tour.
“My husband always comes out because me and my husband, we work together,” she says. “But, at the same time, we’re running three different businesses. So he probably won’t be able to be there all the time, but he comes out and makes sure everything is running smoothly, makes sure I still got that big Kool-Aid smile on my face.”
“When God put us both together, we knew that we both were on a mission and the mission was bigger than just singing,” she continues. “He goes and he speaks to the men in the prisons. His ministry is just to be a blessing to people by showing them that we have a past. We have history, but look what we did with it. Look where we took it. We didn’t let that stop us.”
The couple have been married since 2015 and wed just three weeks after first meeting one another. At the time they met, Barrino says she was working on the Broadway show, After Midnight, and focusing on herself.
“I went through this whole process of finally stopping, pausing and learning who Fantasia was,” she says. “I won Idol at 19 and from 19 it was like, go go go. But I ended up not even knowing who I was anymore. I didn’t even know what I wanted.”
Barrino says she went on to buy herself a “beautiful ring” and wore it on her engagement ring finger.
“I was like, ‘Whoever puts the next ring on it needs to top this one,'” she says. “Some people may think it’s corny, but for me it worked. I spent that seven or eight months just sitting back and learning how to love Fantasia and also letting go of so much of the past because in order to for someone new to come in, you got to let go of all the stuff you’ve been carrying or you’ll just run them away. So every day, I would put up on index cards what I was looking for and what I wanted. Everything I had on my wall, Kendall was that. He was a praying man, he was a smart man, he was a man with a story, he was a man with a past, he was going somewhere, I saw the king in him and he saw the queen in me.”
Barrino recently sparked some debate for comments she made during an interview with The Breakfast Club — and a follow-up video on Instagram — in which she talked about how she and Taylor subscribe to the “science of submission” in their relationship, something she says a lot of people misconstrued.
“People automatically think it’s someone telling you what to do — that’s not what it is,” she says. “When we got married, we both submitted to each other. And what we mean by that is if he needs me, I’m there. When we became one, I became the neck and he became the head. I look for my husband to protect my family, I look for my husband to make sure this family is okay, that we have a roof over our heads, food on our table and clothes. And I look for him to be the leader and guide us. As the woman, I am standing right beside him — not behind him.”
“It’s not him telling me what to do,” she adds. “Because I’m not a woman that can really be told what to do. I’m a very strong woman. I have a dream, I have visions, and I’m going to get there. And what I’m saying is we both submit to each other; we both help each other get there. Submission is saying that I’m not going to let anything come before my marriage and my kids — not even this business. If the industry leaves me today and dropped me, I got that man and I got those children and that’s all there should be.”
After the interview aired, Barrino says that a lot of women “totally missed” what her message was.
“But those are the same women that are wanting a relationship and wanting to be in a relationship,” she says. “And so I think you just have to sit back and figure out what works for you. People dissect things the way they want to, and they take good things and they turn them into negative things. But that’s just the world we live in. I don’t let that kind of stuff bother me.”
Playing the character Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway from 2007-2008 taught Barrino how to handle scrutiny like that in the public eye.
“I took so much from her,” she says. “She was a very tough cookie, she was told she was ugly every day and to shut up, be quiet, sit in the corner. But toward the end of the show, Celie really turns out to be the one. So when it comes to the industry and gossip, my skin is so thick that I never lose any sleep by that kind of stuff.”
Along with her fans, Barrino says her 7-year-old son Dallas can’t wait to see her perform out on tour (she also has an 18-year-old daughter, Zion, from a previous relationship).
“My son’s ready to come to a show. He loves to see me perform,” she says, adding, “I make time for my kids. I don’t want my kids to ever grow up and say, ‘Mommy was dope and she had this music out, but she never spent any time with us.’ That is like the thing that I dread the most. I never want them to say that. I’ll fly home just to be at a program at school because I want my child to look out in that audience and see mommy.”
Despite their musical roots, Barrino says she doesn’t think either of her kids will end up following in her footsteps.
“I can tell because for me, it started when I was five years old,” she says. “My mom and dad could not shut me up. We would get in trouble for going to the bathroom, locking the door, taking a brush and singing for hours. The boys would be knocking like, ‘Get out of the bathroom!’ I don’t see that in any of my kids, and I’m okay with that.”
As to how it feels to be at the place she’s at in life right now, Barrino says it’s “pretty damn good.”
“I’ve been through a whole lot,” she says. “I’ve crawled my way here. The work that I’ve put in to get to this place, nobody can take it away from me. To still be standing in the game, 15 or 16 years later, finally going independent and having such a great big following, I’m so grateful.”
“It’s a new Fantasia,” she adds of this new phase. “People haven’t met this girl yet. They’re slowly beginning to meet the new woman that came with growth, that came with trail, that came with ups and downs. This woman is ready.”
The ‘No Mediocre’ rapper shades the Aussie star in an interview, ‘I’m still actively looking for another female rapper who can undo the blunder of Iggy Azalea.’
AceShowbiz -Long after they ended their business relationship, T.I. is still regretting his decision to sign Iggy Azalea into his label so much that he wants someone to help him forget it. In an interview with The Root, the hip-hop mogul called the time he spent to work with the female emcee his career “blunder.”
“I’m still actively looking for another female rapper who can undo the blunder of Iggy Azalea,” he said during the interview. “That is the tarnish of my legacy as far as [being] a [music] executive is concerned.” Not stopping there, Tip went on saying that their time working together was like “when Michael Jordan went to play baseball” in his mind.
Iggy caught wind of the interview and proceeded to hit back. “Imagine thinking I was his biggest blunder lmaoooooooo,” so she wrote in a since-deleted tweet, suggesting that he had made a lot of mistakes in his career as a music mogul. “Tip. Sweetie. We have a whole list for you.”
T.I. signed Iggy to his label Grand Hustle Records in March 2012 after executive producing her debut album “The New Classic”. The Atlanta rapper was instrumental in helping develop his protege in the early years of her career, but when she began to rub people the wrong way by calling herself a “runway slave master” on her track “D.R.U.G.S.”, he began to back away slowly from the Aussie beauty.
Later in 2015, the “No Mediocre” rapper finally decided to part ways with Iggy after her beef with Q-Tip, who sent her a message urging her to be more aware of hip-hop’s relationship with race, politics and history. At the time, she hit back, “I’m also not going to sit on Twitter & play hip-hop squares with strangers to somehow prove I deserve to be a fan of or influenced by hip-hop.”
If it feels weird to be talking about the first Coachella in these early days of spooky season, that’s because…well, it is.
But however random it may seem, it doesn’t change the fact that the world-famous music festival, usually held over two weekends in early April, is actually celebrating its 20th anniversary on October 9. And unless you’re one of the few people—and we do mean few—who were present for the inaugural weekend at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California exactly two decades ago, you probably had no idea. (We sure didn’t.) And if the fact that the whole endeavor began in an entirely different time of year has left you shook, wait until you find out what that fateful first weekend was like. Because the different date is truly just the tip of the iceberg.
Long before the flower-crowned Instagram influencers had descended upon the annual event, turning it into a place to, most importantly, see and be seen (rather than, you know, a place to listen), the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen as a way for Goldenvoice, their Los Angeles-based concert promotion company, to stay afloat against competitors who could offer higher guarantees to secure venues. Having already booked a one-off show for Pearl Jam on the site in 1993, proving the polo club’s suitability for large-scale events, an idea was born: book several cool, but not quote-unquote popular artists for one lineup, a festival with multiple venues.
“Maybe if you put a bunch of them together,” Tollett told The Desert Sun in 2011 about his idea, “that might be a magnet for a lot of people.”
The goal was to mount the inaugural festival in 1998, but plans were delayed to the following year. On July 16, 1999, Goldenvoice got the OK from the Indio City Council, who approved the festival and said they’d provide $90,000 for services like traffic control and public safety—funds that came with a guarantee of repayment from the promoter. A preliminary lineup of 40 acts was announced on July 28, just days after the conclusion of Woodstock ’99, a disaster marred by looting, arson, violence and rapes. Watching that festival descend into complete chaos left Tollett worried. As he recalled to The New Yorker in 2017, “I’m thinking, Should we be doing this? A lot of bad things could happen.”
Nevertheless, they carried on, with tickets going on sale on August 7, just two months before the event was to take place. “Which is so stupid,” he told the publication. “To break a brand-new festival sixty days away is financial suicide. But we didn’t know that.” At $50 for each of the festival’s two days, ticket prices were a far cry from what they are today. And likely from what they should’ve been then, but more on that in a minute.
Goldenvoice
And as for the line-up? Well, it too was a far cry from the sort of list of artists that these days includes massive pop stars like Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. Headliners were Beck, Morrissey and The Chemical Brothers on Saturday and Rage Against the Machine and Tool on Sunday. There were a handful of electronic acts, like Moby and Thievery Corporation, rock bands, like Spiritualized and Modest Mouse, and DJs, like A-Trak and DJ Shadow. The late spoken-word performer Gil Scott-Heron, often considered to be the first rapper ever, was on the lineup, as was the promise of DJs like KCRW’s Jason Bentley on the main stage.
Like we said, it was much different. The festival wouldn’t dip its toes into the full-fledged pop waters it likes to swim in now until 2006 when Madonna was added to the line-up—though the poster made clear she was be “in the dance tent.”
Despite temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, the festival went off without a hitch, earning itself the title of “anti-Woodstock.” Parking was free and traffic flow was handled easily. Everyone was handed a free bottle of water as they arrived at the polo field, with free water fountains, ample restrooms and misting tents made readily available once inside. The goal of delivering a “high-comfort festival experience” was achieved. And the crowd responded to the respect in kind.
“Polite behavior is not something associated with large-scale rock festivals, but it was very much in effect at Coachella,” Rolling Stone wrote in their review of the inaugural event. “People would say ‘excuse me’ after they bumped into you, and the knots of aggressive teenagers demanding that women take off their tops were thankfully absent. In fact the only bared chests seen on Saturday were Perry Farrell and Morrissey, both of whom took off their shirts on-stage.”
Despite being an enjoyable experience for those who attended, the bigger problem was the fact that there just weren’t enough of them. Capacity was capped at 35,000 tickets for each day, but only about 17,000 sold for Saturday and 20,000 for Sunday. Despite being named festival of the year by Pollstar, the meager attendance nearly ended Goldenvoice for good. “We needed a longer campaign to get word out. It was extravagant—five stages for a startup show,” Tollett told The New Yorker, adding that, in the end, “we lost between eight hundred and fifty thousand and a million. We knew we were dust.”
The following two years were rough, with Tollett having to sell his house and car while begging acts, including the headliners to agree to deferred compensation for their appearances. Tentative plans for a festival in 2000 were ultimately scrapped, with the company partnering with EDC promoter Pasquale Rotella to stage the EDM fest Nocturnal Wonderland at the Empire Polo Club that September instead.
The festival returned as a one-day event in April 2001, in an attempt to beat the heat of the Southern California fall, with ticket prices raised to $65. With finances still a concern, Tollett sold Goldenvoice to AEG that March for $7 million, but terms of the deal meant that he would keep Coachella separate. However, after Van Santen died in December 2003 from flu-related complications at the age of 41, he sold half of the festival, along with the controlling interest, to the company in 2004. That year, with Radiohead and The Cure as headliners, was their first sellout.
“For me that was a turning point,” Tollett told the L.A. Times earlier this year. “Once Radiohead gave you the stamp of approval, you’ve arrived. Every band started to call at that point.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Headliners now command several millions of dollars for playing one of the festival’s three nights—the festival was extended to include three nights in 2007 and a second, separately-ticketed weekend in 2012—tickets routinely sell out within minutes months before even a single act is announced, and the whole thing has become such a scene that the music can oftentimes feel like an afterthought to many attendees who seem to be merely doing it for the gram.
But for one shining moment 20 years ago, Coachella was an idealistic place where lovers of music could come together to see the acts who don’t command the airwaves or sell out arenas. It wouldn’t last. After all, how could it? But it happened. And while its legacy has ultimately become something much different, it’s just nice to remember its humble beginnings.
After weeks of boring Brexit news, at last we have a headline that the whole country’s interested in.
Super-Wag Coleen Rooney has accused Rebekah Vardy's Instagram account of feeding stories about her to tabloid newspapers.
And social media has absolutely erupted with memes. And they’re amazing.
A tired nation nation needed a story like this, and we’ve got it.
As Netflix UK have said: “We're going to have to make a documentary about this, aren't we?” Yes please, Netflix. But first, maybe a gritty detective drama?
You can just hear Ted Hastings saying "“After a long time of trying to figure out who it could be, for various reasons, I had a suspicion."
Or, if we can't have Ted, what about a sexy fantasy with lots of dragons and naked people?
When the meme-makers aren't making smart references to beloved TV shows, they're plugging into other news stories and making clever, lateral, connections:
This is a football story that people who have never taken an interest in football can get into. And it's putting the VAR in Vardy:
Wayne Rooney warned Jamie Vardy about WAG Rebekah in 2016 England showdown talks
Which is an important reminder. When we say the whole country is enjoying the drama, maybe not absolutely everyone:
Wayne Rooney and Jamie Vardy's awkward England goalscoring stat with WAGs at war
For the rest of the UK's social media users though, it's irresistible.
This could definitely run and run. A regular annual WAG deathmatch would be a lot more fun than endless transfer rumours.
And it's undeniably a big improvement on boring politics news.
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Coleen says she was able to prove her theory about Rebekah's Instagram account by blocking all accounts but one from seeing her story. Just can't wait for this idea to pop up as a major soap storyline:
Rebekah Vardy: Family feud and husband Jamie Vardy as Coleen Rooney outs her
But no matter what the documentary makers, or the soap screenwriters come up with, it'll never match the sheer drama of Coleen's dramatic announcement:
“I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person viewed them.
John Lennon had no problem picking apart songs from his Beatles days or his solo career. Indeed, he could be quite harsh about it when he got in the mood. Take John’s assessment of tracks such as “Good Morning, Good Morning” (Sgt. Pepper) or “Dig a Pony” (Let It Be).
Whether he referred to them as “throwaways,” “rubbish,” or “pieces of garbage,” fans got the picture when reading through John’s interviews. In some cases, John would apply his withering critiques to whole sections of an album (as he did the medley on Abbey Road).
But John might have come the closest to contempt for one of of his songs when speaking about the track that closed out Rubber Soul. When you listen to the opening line — “Well, I’d rather see you dead, little girl” — you see why John might regret this one.
In fact, he referred to it as “his least favorite Beatles songs” in a 1970s interview. And the more you look at “Run for Your Life,” the more you understand why he disliked it.
John took an Elvis line and went even darker on ‘Run for Your Life.’
On the great Elvis Presley track, “Baby, Let’s Play House,” the King offers up the same line Lennon uses to start “Run for Your Life.” (He says he’d “rather see you dead, little girl, than be with another man.”) John took that and ran to an even darker place for his Rubber Soul closer.
Before he’s done, John warns his lady, “you better hide your head in the sand” and say she should “run for your life.” We may be a few years from “I Want to Hold Your Hand” at this point, but things definitely took a sharp turn by this late 1965 recording.
John wasn’t finished with those lines. “I was born with a jealous mind,” he sings. “And I can’t spend my whole life trying just to make you toe the line.” Just a bit later, he reiterates the threat from the opening line. “Baby, I’m determined, and I’d rather see you dead.”
Given the changes in his life (by then, he’d married Yoko Ono), you can see why Lennon wouldn’t want anything to do with this song by the time the ’70s rolled around.
Paul McCartney described it as ‘a bit of a macho song.’
When looking back at his Beatles days, Paul McCartney wasn’t anywhere near as harsh as John could be. In Many Years From Now, Paul spoke of some key differences between him and John by ’65.
“He was married; whereas none of my songs would have ‘catch you with another man,’” Paul explained. “It was never a concern of mine, at all, because I had a girlfriend and I would go with other girls.” But he summed up John’s work on this track succinctly: “A bit of a macho song,” Paul said.
When recording Sgt. Pepper’s two years later, John would return to the subject of being “cruel” to his woman on “Getting Better.” And he later acknowledged his problems with jealousy and possessiveness (not to mention violence) as a younger man.
Obviously, Rubber Soul came and went without a great deal of focus on that track, which has a cool early rock ‘n’ roll feel. But John wanted to distance himself from it as early as 1968. “‘Run for Your Life’ I always hated, you know,” he told Rolling Stone.
Also see: What John Lennon and Paul McCartney Were Smoking Before Recording ‘Sun King’
Music fans had a double treat with the releases of rock biopics Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocket Man. Both films confirmed what most people already knew. Both iconic stars had a love of excess which matched their inner struggles with their sexualities. Freddie always took great delight in dropping gossipy revelations into his interviews, including this outrageous one about Elton, which proved just how much they really weren’t like many other men – gay, straight or otherwise.
New book Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words gathers together a remarkable and comprehensive array of incredible quotes from the Queen legend. It’s almost like reading his autobiography.
His voice shines through in every passage, but fans are reminding how very different their own lives are in this extraordinary section talking about his house, One Garden Lodge, and what unsuspecting overnight guests might find lying around.
Freddie says: “I love those stories about Elton, where he had that problem where people were staying at his home at the weekends, in his spare rooms…
“They’d look under the bed and..”
What exactly would they find? It’s certainly outrageous, but perhaps not what you would expect…
Freddie added: “There would be Rembrandts and other such masters. It’s true. With me, it’s my Japanese prints that are just getting ridiculous.”
Having seen Elton’s 40th birthday and how he decorated the inside of the truck he travelled in, one can only imagine what his house looked like.
As for Freddie, the Queen star’s West London mansion was notoriously beautiful and stuffed with art but even he began to think he might have gone too far.
He said: “I’m trailing over my Lalique and Galle vases – I’m up to my ears now. I mean, a lot of people used to say my house was like a museum, but now I’m beginning t agree with them. It’s getting very silly.”
FREDDIE MERCURY REVEALED THE ONE THING HE JUST COULDN’T DO WITH A MAN
It’s actually impossible to think of anything more ‘Freddie’ than this.
Everything he did was with an awareness of the joy it could bring himself or others, as well as a firm grip on the ridiculousness of it all.
Freddie said; “All I wanted from life was to make lots of money and spend it….”
And he couldn’t resist one last outrageous comment in one interview: “I’m a rock star. I’m very rich. I can buy anything I like – including you!”
Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words (£9.99) is available from Amazon
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