“NY80: A Celebration of Neil Young and His Music,” hosted by CBC’s Tom Power, will take place Nov. 12. Nov. 9, 2025 By Nick Krewen Special to the Star On the cusp of 80, few performers have remained as relevant as Toronto’s own Neil Young. He’s been steadily rockin’ in the free world since forming The Squires in Winnipeg in 1965 — and in a career that has seen him thrive…
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She just released a new EP, but the singer has already cancelled most of her upcoming tour dates. April 26, 2025 By Nick Krewen Special to the Star She’s won two Grammys and a Juno and has been associated with some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Then she went independent and virtually disappeared. Now, after being out of the spotlight for 13 years, Melanie Fiona is attempting a comeback. “I…
A technicality that prevented Lori Yates from submitting her album Matador for consideration exposes the conflict between what an indie artist needs and an industry behemoth requires. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star In a move that illustrates the conflict between what a musician feels may be best for her career and standard music-industry practices, a veteran Toronto recording artist’s album has been denied entry for Juno Award consideration…
Colin Linden, Rob Fraboni and John Simon, all of whom worked with the Band, offer remembrances. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star In 1968, when Colin Linden was eight years old, he heard a song on the radio that boggled his young mind. He was at Alexander’s department store in White Plains, N.Y., when rock radio station WNEW-FM played “The Weight” by a Canadian-American band simply called The Band….
Blue Rodeo: Lost Together and It’s All Gonna Break will screen at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star In the next 10 days, new documentaries on two beloved Canadian bands will have their Toronto premieres at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. They promise to be music to your eyes. On Jan. 24, Stephen Chung’s 89-minute It’s All Gonna Break, the story of Toronto indie collective…
