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‘Unknown band’ is opening for Cher in Toronto — but their leader is not worried

Nick Krewen Special to the Star April 18, 2019 Nile Rodgers is discovering during the Cher opening slot that Chic’s relative anonymity is working to his advantage. “We’re an unknown band opening for a big star,” he says over the line from New York. “We walk out onstage — most people don’t know who we are — but by the end of the show they go, ‘Jesus Christ, I know…


Liner Notes: Hard Won, John Cody, ole red dot, 2017

JOHN CODY HARD WON   LINER NOTES: APRIL 4, 2017   Nick Krewen     It was a race against time. The circumstances behind the recording of John Cody‘s fourth album, Hard Won, may sound panicked and urgent, but there’s a reason for it: they were. In May 2016, the Montréal-based singer and songwriter received the news that no one wants to hear, especially if you’re a musician: his larynx,…


Future of pop music is in great hands with Bruno Mars: review

Mars’s 90-minute set Saturday night at the ACC demonstrated the pop star’s gifted intuition for pop music. Nick Krewen Music, Sun., Aug. 27, 2017 Bruno Mars at the Air Canada Centre, Aug. 26, 2017 He had razzle. He had dazzle. And on Saturday night, for the first of two hotly anticipated Air Canada Centre sell-out concerts, Bruno Mars had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand with…


West Coast Bhangra on the Brink

Story by Nick Krewen | June 8, 2017 For SOCAN Words and Music Vancouver-area bhangra is on the brink of something big. The first indicator that the West Coast/British Columbia bhangra and desi music scene is on the verge of wider recognition came with 2016’s “Suit,” a massive hit throughout India that was recorded and released by Indian singing sensation Guru Randhawa and Canada’s own Aneil Kainth, a.k.a. DJ Intense….


Jean-Michel Jarre finally plays Canada, after 40 years of electronic music

Pioneering work with synthesizers and spectacle finally brings him to Toronto’s Sony Centre on May 9. Nick Krewen Music, Wed., May 3, 2017 Despite the fact he’s sold millions of albums around the world with such instrumental epics as Oxygène and Zoolook, synthesizer and electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre has never played Canada. Until now. After releasing 22 studio albums and six live ones, Jarre, 68, will finally plant his…