Music from the Chicago Sun-Times

Chuck Brown, pioneer of ‘go-go’ funk music, dies at 75

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chuck Brown, who styled a unique brand of funk music as a singer, guitarist and songwriter known as the “godfather of go-go,” has died after suffering from pneumonia. He was 75.

Brown died Wednesday at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. Hospital …

MusicNOW ends season with the usual hodgepodge

The CSO’s MusicNOW series closed out its 2011-12 season Monday night at the Harris Theater with the usual hodgepodge of works by unconnected young composers, along with an extra layering of unneeded amplification and just unnecessary loudness. Why chamber pieces need to be amplified in the Harris remains a mystery.

Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, Rise Against will play Riot Fest

THOMAS CONNER: The annual Chicago punk festival will move to earlier dates in September and launch its first outdoor stage.

Real ‘Jersey Boys’ to embark on national tour

FAIR LAWN, N.J. — In a basement in a quiet suburb 10 miles west of Manhattan, the characters of a bygone era in pop music are brought to life in mellifluous four-part harmony. Sherry is there, deciding whether or not to come out tonight. So …

Lyric Opera breaks even for 2011-12

Lyric Opera of Chicago prides itself on its fiscal and institutional stability. So its report of a balanced budget for its 2011-12 season, delivered Monday at the company’s annual meeting, came as no shock.

More remarkable was the contract extension for music director Andrew Davis …

A little silhouetto of Freddie Mercury on stage

Freddie Mercury, the singer for Queen who died in 1991, was expected to return to the stage Monday night. The appearance was to occur during “We Will Rock You,” a musical inspired by Queen’s music and celebrating its 10th anniversary in London. Queen guitarist Brian …

CSO names new principal bass

Alexander Hanna has been named the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal bass, effective June 4. CSO music director Riccardo Muti appointed Hanna, 25, now principal bass of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to the spot vacated by Joseph Guastafeste, who retired two years ago after nearly 50 …

Lisa Marie Presley’s true sound emerges on third album

Elvis Presley’s daughter says her latest music results from a period when trusted people were betraying her and “I was slowly starting to self-destruct.”

In Lyric recital, pianist Lang Lang goes easy on the antics

“Are you going to the circus?” was the question I heard most often in the run-up to Saturday night’s piano recital by international classical superstar Lang Lang at the massive Civic Opera House.

A rather frenetic radio campaign by presenter Lyric Opera of Chicago touted …

Gospel Fest concerts moving to bigger park

Gospel music moves the soul. So much that the city of Chicago has moved June 23-24 concerts in the 27th Chicago Gospel Music Festival from Bronzeville’s Mandrake Park, at Pershing Road and Cottage Grove, to two stages in Ellis Park, 37th and Cottage Grove. As …

Gambino puts away his ‘childish’ things

Donald Glover has tried to stay at odds with his hip-hop persona. In his non-musical life, he’s a star stand-up comic, an acclaimed actor (playing Troy Barnes on NBC’s “Community”) and an Emmy-winning writer (“30 Rock”). As a rapper, calling himself Childish Gambino, he casts …

Bartlett singer Shealeigh Voitl, 14, getting big push from Disney

Disney might have found its next Selena Gomez in the Chicago area. Before her recent win on Radio Disney’s vote-driven talent show “Next Big Thing,” singer-songwriter and Bartlett resident Shealeigh Voitl, 14, already had performed at Hollywood’s legendary Roxy Theatre and earned a standing ovation …