Adult Contemporary

Chantal Kreviazuk makes her Massey Hall concert a family affair. It just took some time for it to click

The legendary Canadian singer-songwriter had some help from husband Raine Maida’s band Our Lady Peace, plus a supporting act from her son.  By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Chantal Kreviazuk Three stars (out of 4)  Massey Hall, Toronto  Friday, Nov. 8, 2024  The family that plays together, stays together. As cliché as that might seem, that was the conceptual thread that ran through Chantal Kreviazuk’s two-and-a-half hour concert at Massey…

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As ‘90s icon k.d. lang enters the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, she reflects on her extraordinary career

The singer said she doesn’t miss the stage but still feels the creative impulse. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star In 1988, k.d. lang arrived at what she called “an emotional destination:” she recorded an album called Shadowland with the legendary Owen Bradley, who decades earlier had produced country icon Patsy Cline. At the time, the perennially lowercased lang was still something of an unknown quantity in the U.S….


As he gets inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame, Bruce Cockburn looks back on the highs and lows of summer festivals

The 79-year-old musician will play the Lightfoot Stage at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia on July 7.  By Nick Krewen Special to the Star The second time he played the Mariposa Folk Festival, in 1969, Bruce Cockburn wasn’t supposed to headline. That honour belonged to Neil Young, fresh from his split with Buffalo Springfield, until a last-minute health issue forced the Ottawa-born folksinger and songwriter — who, until that point, had…


It turns out Sheryl Crow’s final album wasn’t really the last. The singer explains why she made another one

The new record, Evolution, out Friday, is about “what’s happening in all of our daily lives,” including AI and social media negativity. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star When she released Threads back in 2019, nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow decided her 11th studio album would be her last and declared it as such. How, then, does she explain the arrival of Evolution, her 12th, out Friday? “Yes, I did announce…


How singer Tony Bennett embodied a life well-lived

Tony Bennett, who won 19 Grammys, died on Friday at age 96. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Few artists are lucky to have the type of career that was afforded beloved Italian crooner Tony Bennett. Bennett, who died Friday two weeks shy of  his 97th birthday, may be best remembered for his golden standard “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” and as the peerless interpreter of the Great American Songbook,…