Music

MAMMA-MIA-2.jpeg. Christine Sherrill (Donna Sheridan), and the Company of MAMMA MIA! 25th Anniversary Tour
Photo by Joan Marcus

Things to Do in Chicago April 25-May 1: The Mix

‘Mamma Mia!’ at the Nederlander Theatre, the spring One of a Kind Show at the Mart, and the Joffrey Ballet’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” are among some of the entertainment highlights in the week ahead.

By Mary Houlihan - For the Sun-Times

Music

After years of delays, Lee's Unleaded Blues reopening and vowing to celebrate musicmakers and the community

Entertainment and Culture

JoJo Siwa, Natasha Bedingfield among headliners for 2024 Chicago Pride Fest

Music

New to Rock Hall of Fame: Mary J. Blige, Cher, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest

Music

Andrew Davis, longtime Lyric Opera music director, dies at 80

Columnists

Playing in the high school marching band makes you 'part of something bigger'

Morgan Park High School trumpeters riff on the most popular brass instrument.

By Neil Steinberg

RECORDDAY-042124_1.jpgPhillip Gross shows his wife Michelle Calderhead the records that he found at Dusty Groove on the Northwest Side on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 20, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Business

Chicagoans build community while seeking special vinyl on Record Store Day

On Saturday, music-lovers visited local record stores for their favorites among more than 380 exclusive releases, including projects from Pearl Jam, David Bowie, the Beatles and Paramore.

By Erica Thompson

Obit Mandisa. Mandisa accepts the award for pop/contemporary album of the year at the Dove Awards Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn. Mandisa, a contemporary Christian singer who appeared on “American Idol” and won a Grammy for her 2013 album ‘Overcomer’, has died.

Music

Mandisa, Grammy-winning singer and 'American Idol' alum, dies at 47

Mandisa, whose full name is Mandisa Lynn Hundley, was born near Sacramento, California, and grew up singing in church.

By Associated Press

Someone to Watch in ’24

Rising singer-songwriter Kara Jackson opening first U.S. tour with sold-out Chicago show

The Oak Park folk musician and former National Youth Poet Laureate who sings of love and loss is “Someone to Watch in 2024.”

By Erica Thompson

Wanda Jemison, who has worked at Conn-Selmer for 18 years, soders a complete Vincent Bach trumpet by hand at the factory in Elkhart, Indiana Wednesday, March 27, 2024. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Look inside the Indiana company trying to re-create the world's best trumpets

By Neil Steinberg

Taylor Swift performs Friday at Soldier Field.

Entertainment and Culture

Review: Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' is great sad pop, meditative theater

In moments, her 11th album feels like a bloodletting: A cathartic purge after a major heartbreak delivered through an ascendant vocal run, an elegiac verse, or mobile, synthesized productions that underscore the powers of Swift’s storytelling.

By Maria Sherman | AP

Obit Dickey Betts. Dickey Betts, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, exits the funeral of Gregg Allman at Snow's Memorial Chapel, June 3, 2017, in Macon, Ga. Guitar legend Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, “Ramblin’ Man,” died Thursday, April 18, 2024. He was 80. (Jason Vorhees/The Macon Telegraph via AP, File)

Music

Dickey Betts, Allman Brothers Band co-founder and legendary guitarist, dies at 80

As a child, Betts changed schools often because his father worked construction, and those memories later inspired him to write “Ramblin’ Man,” the band’s biggest hit.

By Associated Press

Obituaries

Jun Mhoon, producer who toured as Staple Singers' drummer in 6th grade, dies at 69

Mr. Mhoon toured with the gospel group and was “just as cute as he could be,” says singer Mavis Staples. The experience paved the way for his success in the music industry.

By Mitch Dudek

The Recording Academy's 2024 Special Merit Awards Ceremony

Music

The Clark Sisters, Chandler Moore among Chicago Gospel Music festival lineup

The event on June 1 at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park kicks off the 20th anniversary festival season at the lakefront venue.

By Miriam Di Nunzio

Columnists

Chicago was once the heart of country music

The WLS National Barn Dance, which predated the Opry by two years, was first broadcast 100 years ago Friday, on April 19, 1924.

By Neil Steinberg

iHeartRadio Y100's Jingle Ball 2023 - Show

Things To Do

Things to do in Chicago April 18-25 — The Mix

Concerts by Nicki Minaj, Leslie Odom Jr. and Suzanne Vega, the CineYouth Film Festival and Congo Square Theatre’s staging of “How I Learned What I Learned” are among the entertainment highlights in the week ahead.

By Mary Houlihan - For the Sun-Times

Rapper Nelly and singer-songwriter Ashanti arrive at Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in March.

Music

Ashanti, Nelly expecting first child together

The two artists have rekindled the romance that’s been on and off since 2003.

By USA TODAY

TAYLORMURAL-041724-5.jpeg. Painters work on a Taylor Swift QR code mural in Chicago on Tuesday.

Entertainment and Culture

Taylor Swift Chicago QR code mural drawing crowds in anticipation of 'Tortured Poets' release

When people scan the code with their phone cameras, it took them to a 13 second YouTube short attached to Swift’s page.

By Stefano Esposito

Music

CBS to air Billy Joel's concert again, apologizes for cutting 'Piano Man' short

Fans who tuned in were upset after the broadcast was delayed by 30 minutes due to the 2024 Masters Tournament and ultimately cut off by local news.

By USA TODAY

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Alvin Ailey's Revelations. Photo by Dario Calmese_012.jpg

Things To Do

Things to Do in Chicago April 11-18: The Mix

Expo Chicago, a Kane Brown concert and the Chicago Latino Film Festival are among the entertainment highlights of the week ahead.

By Mary Houlihan - For the Sun-Times

Joe Perry (left) and Steven Tyler perform at an September Aerosmith concert in Philadelphia.

Music

Aerosmith to resume farewell tour, including January show in Chicago

After postponing concert during Steven Tyler’s recovery from vocal cord damage, rockers plan to get back on the road this fall

By USA TODAY

Vegas Cirque Show Closure. Beatles member John Lennon is projected on the screen during the preview of "Love," a new Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show, in Las Vegas, June 27, 2006. On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, it was announced that the final curtain will come down July 7 on Cirque du Soleil's long-running show “The Beatles Love," a cultural icon on the Las Vegas Strip that brought band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr back together for public appearances throughout its 18-year run.

Entertainment and Culture

Cirque du Soleil's 'The Beatles Love' ending Las Vegas run after 18 years

Cirque announced on Tuesday that the show housed at the Mirage will end on July 7, part of the iconic hotel-casino’s major renovation plan to rebrand itself into the Hard Rock Las Vegas.

By Rio Yamat | AP

Entertainment and Culture

Latino artists audition for casting directors in push to promote diversity on stage and screen

Participants in the open casting call in Chicago had three minutes to perform anything they wanted in front of representatives from local theater and talent agencies.

By Mitch Dudek

Music

Country star Morgan Wallen arrested, allegedly threw chair off Nashville bar roof

Wallen laughed about tossing chair, which landed near police below, witnesses told police.

By Associated Press

MAKELA-040524-8.jpg. Klaus Mäkelä conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra through Saul Zinovjev’s Batteria’ at the Symphony Center's Orchestra Hall on Thursday night. It was the maestro's first tur at the podium since being named music director of the CSO.

Music

Klaus Mäkelä gives Orchestra Hall audience an exciting dose of what's to come from the CSO

The newly appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a graceful style of conducting with easy-to-follow stick technique, using abundant facial expressions and subtle movements like leaning in and out and crouching to convey a point, but not to distraction.

By Kyle MacMillan - For the Sun-Times