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,…
Boi-1da has produced for music superstars, including a long association with Drake. On Sunday, he’s up for Non-Classical Producer of the Year for the second time By Nick Krewen Special to the Star When the 65th Grammy Awards are held Sunday in Los Angeles, all Canadian eyes will be on the Non-Classical Producer of the Year category. That’s because Toronto’s Matthew Samuels – better known publicly as Boi-1da – has…
Amanda Marshall is back with Heavy Lifting, her first album in two decades. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Music comeback story of the year? Well, that would belong to one Amanda Marshall, the Toronto-born vocal powerhouse that is finally emerging from the mists of time following a 22-and-a-half-year hiatus between albums: Heavy Lifting, a 12-song opus featuring 11 Marshall originals and a cover of Floetry‘s “I Hope She Cheats”…
From 1972 until 1981, the band created five wonderfully idiosyncratic studio albums and toured incessantly — even headlining Maple Leaf Gardens three times within 18 months. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Up until very recently, Kim Mitchell had forgotten that day in Indianapolis in 1981 when he performed “Battle Scar” with his Toronto rockers Max Webster and a man wearing a mask of ex-U.S. president Richard Nixon snuck…
Lapps is one of the few women to specialize in steel pan or steel drum. She will share her passion with the Toronto Jazz Festival. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Quiz time: what sunny-sounding percussive instrument that invokes the sound of the Caribbean is forged from a 55-gallon industrial drum? The answer: the chromatically pitched steel pan, which is front and centre of Joy Lapps‘ first full-length album of…
