Bruno Mars Teams Up with Fender to Release His First-Ever Signature Guitar

Posted on November 7, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Bruno Mars is striking a new chord…

The 38-year-old part-Puerto Rican Grammy-winning superstar has partnered with Fender to release his first-ever signature guitar.

Launched this week, the Limited Edition Bruno Mars Stratocaster pays homage to Mars’ electrifying career with subtle design notes blending vintage and modern.

“I don’t think of myself as a guitar player. I’m more of a frustrated songwriter. Every song is like a puzzle you have to solve, and a good guitar can bring something out of you that can help take you to the finish line. That’s what I wanted from this guitar,” Mars said in a statement of designing the Fender guitar. “It was also important to have a workhorse that I could depend on for performing live and writing in the studio, whether it be rhythm or lead.”

Offered in a brand-new caramel colorway, the limited-edition guitar retails for $2,999.99.

It features a sleek, Mars Mocha Heirloom Nitrocellulose lacquer finish, Heirloom Aged Gold Hardware, a 9.5-12-inch compound-radius maple fingerboard with stainless-steel frets, custom-voice pickups, 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo and Deluxe Locking Tuners for “enhanced tuning stability.”

The guitar’s leopard print strap is a nod to Jimi Hendrix and Prince, two of Mars’ guitar heroes.

“We wanted to fashion a guitar that shows Fender’s respect for the artists marking today’s musical hall of fame, as well as displays Bruno Mars’s supernova qualities,” said Justin Norvell, EVP of Product at FMIC. “Bruno has been a tried and true Fenderplayer since the early days of his career and we’re thrilled to include his signature among our roster. Between the all-new finish to the custom-voiced pickups, we’re confident this will be one of our largest signature launches to date.”

With his own Fender guitar, Mars joins fellow recording artists who have been honored with signature guitars including Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Juanes, H.E.R. and Steve Lacy.

The Limited Edition Bruno Mars Fender Stratocaster is available at Fender.com.

Mariah Carey’s Music to Be Featured as Part of Apple Fitness+’s ‘Artist Spotlight’ Workout Series

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Ready to get fit with Mariah Carey?

Apple Fitness+ has added the music of the 52-year-old half-Venezuelan Grammy-winning singer to its newly added workouts.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Carey, Miley Cyrus and Shania Twain will be highlighted as part of the program’s Artist Spotlight series, which dedicates an entire set of workouts to a single artist and their discography.

Starting Monday, March 6, Fitness+ users can pedal to the beat of the “Flowers” singer’s music in a cycling workout, return to heart center when it’s a wrap on the Carey-inspired yoga workout and feel like a powerful woman post-strength workout featuring Twain’s tunes.

New workouts will roll out every Monday throughout the month of March.

The Lambily will need to stretch as far and wide as Mimi’s vocal range — which spans across five octaves and goes all the way up to those whistle tones we all try reaching when belting out her 1991 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “Emotions” — ahead of her cycling, dance, HIIT and yoga workouts.

“You’ve got to make working out fun, do what you love, so it feels like burning energy instead of a job! I hear lots of people like listening to my music in the gym and it makes me so happy – it means it’s energetic and inspirational,” Twain said in a press statement. “That’s why I’m so excited for this Artist Spotlight series on Fitness+. So Giddy Up! And do what makes you happy!”

Other musicians who’ve had sets of Apple Fitness+ workouts dedicated to them include Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, BTS, Billie Eilish, Jennifer Lopez, Pharrell Williams, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, ABBA, Prince, Shakira, The Beatles, Nicki Minaj and many more.

According to the Apple Fitness+ website, anyone who purchases a new iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad or Apple TV (and hasn’t previously subscribed to Apple Fitness+) will have free access to Apple Fitness+ for three months before paying $9.99 monthly, or $79.99 annually. New subscribers who already have the aforementioned Apple products can get free access to Apple Fitness+ for one month. Apple Fitness+ can be shared with up to five family members.

Sheila E to Receive Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Sheila E’s star is shining brighter than ever…

The 64-year-old half-Mexican American percussionist and singer will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.

Sheila E began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving the group in 1983, she began a successful solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album, which included the career-defining song, “The Glamorous Life“.

Commonly referred to as The Queen of Percussion, she became a mainstream solo star in 1985 following the success of the singles “The Belle of St. Mark“, “Sister Fate“, and “A Love Bizarre” with the last becoming one of her signature songs. She is.

Prince joined forces during the Purple Rain recording sessions. She provided vocals on the B-side to “Let’s Go Crazy“, “Erotic City” in 1984. Though taken under Prince’s wing, she proved to be a successful artist in her own right.

But Sheila E isn’t the only Latinx artist getting their star…

Marc Anthony, the late Jenni Rivera, Kirstin Maldonado and her fellow Pentatonix members.

The honorees are chosen by the Walk of Fame selection panel of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Ellen K, chair of the selection panel and a top radio personality, announced the new honorees on www.walkoffame.com.

Alamo Drafthouse Bringing Prince’s Concert Film “Sign O’ The Times,” Featuring Sheila E. Back to Theaters

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Sheila E will be spending some Times in a theater near you…

Alamo Drafthouse is teaming up with distributor FilmRise to bring back to the big screen Prince’s concert film Sign O’ The Times, featuring the 64-year-old half-Mexican American percussionist, singer, author, and actress, for its 35th anniversary.

The new 4K presentation will run at 24 locations in New York, LA and nationwide starting April 1.

“Sign O’ The Times is, without a doubt, one of Prince’s greatest achievements as an artist,” says Alamo Drafthouse film programmer Jake Isgar. “We’re thrilled at the opportunity to be a part of preserving and presenting his musical legacy.”

The film captures the late singer songwriter at the height of his most prolific period, following the platinum-selling double album of the same name.

The screening is part of Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse’s ‘Play It Loud’ limited series, running through March and into April with classic rock/pop performance films including Josie and the Pussycats, A Hard Day’s Night, and Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same.

Price died in 2016 at age 57 of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park studio and home in Minnesota.

Sign o’ the Times, released in 1987, was Prince’s ninth studio album. Singles included “Sign o’ the Times” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend.” While not as commercially successful as 1984 blockbuster Puple Rain, it was considered by some his best. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.

Mariah Carey Releases First-Ever Vinyl of Her #1s Collection for Record Store Day

Posted on February 17, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a Firsts first for Mariah Carey this Record Store Day…

The 52-year-old half-Venezuelan American Grammy-winning singer came out with a special vinyl release during this year’s Record Store Day for its 2022 event on Wednesday (Feb. 16).

Carey – who remains the best-selling female artist of all time, released her 1998 greatest-hits collection #1s on vinyl for the very first time.

Among the other releases for Record Store Day’s first iteration since 2019 are a 7-inch of Taylor Swift’s Folklore bonus track “The Lakes” with its orchestral version as the B-side while also being included on charity benefit album Portraits of Her, which celebrates female artists and music industry professionals while raising money for nonprofit We Are Moving the Needle.

Prince’s 1995 LP The Gold Experience also received a special pressing.

“For the past few years, our RSD Drops dates altered the focus of what we did—instead of being one part of what the Day was, the List became the entire focus,” said Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton in a statement. “A way to get much-needed revenue and stock — and great music — into stores and then to customers’ collections. We specifically didn’t call those days Record Store Day, because they weren’t. They were very different, very necessarily so.”

She continued: “Now, we think stores have learned and adapted and are ready to bring back elements of a ‘traditional’ Record Store Day: bands and beer and fun and people and whatever parts of the party they like, in ways that make them, and their customers, comfortable. We also feel strongly that it’s important to focus on those stores themselves, and celebrate what they do year-round, in their communities.”

Check out the exhaustive list of upcoming releases on the official Record Store Day website here.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Encanto” Soundtrack Reaches Fifth Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s an enchanting five for Lin-Manuel Miranda…

Walt Disney Records’ Encanto soundtrack, containing eight original songs written by the 42-year-old Puerto Rican Tony Award-winning star and produced by Mike Elizondo, spends its fifth nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, becoming the soundtrack with the most weeks atop the chart since Disney’s own Frozen ruled for 13 nonconsecutive weeks in 2014.

With their totals at No. 1 (so far), Frozen and Encanto boast the most, and second-most, weeks at No. 1, respectively, among soundtracks in the 21st century.

Encanto earned 110,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending February 10 (down 2%), according to MRC Data.

Of Encanto’s 110,000 equivalent album units earned, SEA units comprise 91,000 (down 3%, equaling 134.82 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 17,000 (up 5%) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 28%).

Encanto continues to be powered largely by streaming activity for its songs, including its five top 40-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (which spent its second week atop the February 12-dated chart), “Surface Pressure,” “The Family Madrigal,” “What Else Can I Do?” and the Academy Award-nominated “Dos Oruguitas.”

Notably, Encanto is one of only six soundtracks to spend at least five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the last 30 years. Before Encanto, there was Frozen (13 weeks, 2014), Titanic (16, 1998), Waiting to Exhale (five, 1996), The Lion King (10, 1994-95) and the Whitney Houston-led The Bodyguard (20, 1992-93). (Before that, the last soundtrack with at least five weeks at No. 1 was Prince’s Batman in 1989, with six weeks at No. 1.) The soundtrack — and overall album — with the most weeks at No. 1 is West Side Story, with 54 weeks atop the list in 1962-63.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by MRC Data. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Soares to Perform at This Year’s Red Bull Music Academy Festival

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Elza Soares will be seeing Red (Bull).

The 79-year-old Brazilian samba queen, known as Tina Turner brasileira, will perform at this year’s ingeniously curated Red Bull Music Academy Festival.

The New York-based festival boasts a tantalizing array of music, art, film and dance.

In addition to Soares, beloved figures like Solange, Gucci Mane, New Jack Swing mastermind Teddy Riley and iconoclastic filmmaker Werner Herzog are all part of this year’s roster, as well as disco pioneer Patrick Adams and Detroit house legend Moodyman, who will perform a set in tribute to Prince.

Click here for the full lineup and to get more information.

Mars Tops Billboard’s Artist 100 Chart

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Bruno Mars is the artist to watch…

The part-Puerto Rican singer is the top musician in the United States, rising from No. 4 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart dated March 4.

Mars’ ascension to the Summit follows his acclaimed appearances at the Grammy Awards on February 12.

Mars performed a tribute medley to Prince (with The Time) and his own single “That’s What I Like,” which surges into the Billboard Hot 100‘s top 10 (37-7).

The Artist 100 (launched in July 2014) measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

Mars gains by 63 percent in overall activity, with album sales (33 percent) and digital song sales (32 percent) contributing his greatest shares of Artist 100 points. On the Billboard 200 albums chart, Mars’ 24K Magic is the chart’s Greatest Gainer, jumping 7-2 with a 108 percent advance to 66,000 equivalent album units in the week ending February 16, according to Nielsen Music. “That’s What I Like,” the set’s second single, in addition to its Hot 100 vault, bounds 36-5 on Digital Song Sales (85,000 downloads sold, up 308 percent).

It’s Mars’ second total week atop the Artist 100. He first led the December 10, 2016-dated list, when 24K Magic debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Maldonado & Her Pentatonix Bandmates’ Christmas Album Reaches No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Kirstie Maldonado is a woman on top… of the charts…

The 24-year-old half-Mexican, part Spanish-American singer and her fellow Pentatonix members have scored their second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.

The vocal group’s Pentatonix Christmas rises 2-1 on the latest list, earning 206,000 equivalent album units in the week ending December 22 (up 32 percent), according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 185,000 were in traditional album sales (up 33 percent).

It’s the first holiday album at No. 1 in five years, since Michael Buble’s Christmas ruled the tally for five consecutive weeks on the charts dated December 10, 2011, through January 7, 2012.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

Pentatonix previously led the list with its self-titled album, which debuted atop the list in 2015.

A Pentatonix Christmas was released through RCA Records on October 21. It debuted at No. 3 on the November 12-dated chart, and has never ranked lower than No. 6 on the list in its nine weeks on the chart.

The album benefits from not only holiday-fueled purchases, as well as a sale price in the iTunes Store (for just $7.99), but also a number of television appearances from the group during the tracking week. The act’s December 7 performance on ABC‘s Jimmy Kimmel Live! repeated on Dec. 16; NBC‘s A Pentatonix Christmas Special (which premiered on December 14) received an encore airing on December 17; they sang on NBC’s America’s Got Talent Holiday Spectacular on December 19; and they performed on Fox News’ Fox & Friends on December 21 and the syndicated Rachael Ray Show on December 22.

A Pentatonix Christmas is the group’s sixth top 10 album overall, and third holiday effort to reach the region, following 2014’s No. 2-peaking That’s Christmas to Me, and the 2013 PTXmas EP, which climbed to No. 7.

Pentatonix’s latest No. 1 also earns the largest sales week for a holiday album in two years, since Pentatonix’s previous holiday set, That’s Christmas to Me, sold 203,000 copies in the week ending December 21, 2014. In fact, the last acts that weren’t Pentatonix to sell more in a single week with a holiday album were Michael Buble and Justin Bieber during the week ending December 25, 2011. That week, Buble sold 467,000 copies of Christmas, while Bieber moved 225,000 copies of his Under the Mistletoe.

Further, A Pentatonix Christmas is the first album to earn its first week at No. 1 by climbing there — as opposed to debuting or re-entering at No. 1–since Rihanna’s Anti vaulted from No. 27 to No. 1 in its second chart week, on the February 20-dated list.

Also notable, since A Pentatonix Christmas reaches No. 1 in its ninth week on the list, it logs the slowest continuous climb to No. 1 (thus excepting re-entries at No. 1 from Prince’s The Very Best of Prince and Chris Stapleton’s Traveller) since the March 16, 2013-dated list, when Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox reached No. 1 in its 12^th week.

Garcia to Perform at Prince’s Tribute Concert

Posted on October 12, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Mayte Garcia will take the stage to honor her late ex-husband…

The 42-year-old Puerto Rican belly dancer, actress, singer and choreographer has joined the lineup for this week’s tribute concert honoring the late Prince in St. Paul.

Other recently announced performers include former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger; Portuguese fado singer Ana Moura, whom Prince would feature in international performances; and Prince’s former bandmate Andre Cymone.

Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Chaka Khan, John Mayer and Tori Kelly are among performers already lined up for Thursday’s concert that is sanctioned by Prince’s family.

Fans snapped up tickets for the Xcel Energy Center show when they went on sale on September 19.

Prince died of an accidental painkiller overdose at his Paisley Park recording complex in April.

On Valentine’s Day in 1996, Garcia, then 22, married Prince, then 37, in Minneapolis. In 1998, Prince announced the couple’s divorce, eventually filing an annulment in June 2000.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

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