Musical Notes

On June 16 Much Music presented their annual Much Music Video Music Awards to Canadian musicians and international stars.

As much a party as an awards gala, fans and music stars gathered in Toronto for the musical awards party that includes a lot of screaming and chatter.

Korean pop star Psy opens the show with his mega hit “Gangnam Style”. Psy is also a host for this year’s MMVA’s.

Down with Webster followed with “One in a Million”.

The first award of the night was for International Video Artist of the Year to Demi Lovato for “Heart Attack”.

Season four of “The Voice” has reached the grand finale and by the end of the performance packed two hour episode a new winner will be crowned.

After performing three songs on Monday night all three of the finalists made it into the top five of the iTunes top singles chart. And in a history making event over half of the top 10 on the iTunes chart were singers from “The Voice”.

Only two of the four judges brought team members into the finals. Would birthday boy Blake Shelton get a birthday present of his third “The Voice” winning singer?

After a recap of performance night, Latin star Pitbull and “The Voice” coach Christina Aguilera returns to “The Voice” stage to perform “Feel This Moment”…and filled the stage with confetti.

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Grammy Award winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty has been rocking the world for some 50 years as a member of Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a solo artist.

In celebration of his 68th birthday, Fogerty has released his newest album “Wrote a Song for Everyone” - an album of duets. Among the songs on the album are some retooled renditions of CCR songs.

This fall Fogerty will launch a tour; so far only five dates have been announced. As a part of the tour, Fogerty will feature an entire album…or two, in each city. He has not revealed what albums will be played in which cities; but he has revealed the albums to be featured - “Bayaou Country” or “Cosmo’s Factory”. Fogerty will be playing the entire album during the concert.

Irish rockers The Boomtown Rats only lasted about a decade during the seventies and eighties; but have recently reunited. Sir Bob Geldof and the boys have set some dates later this year in the United Kingdom and their homeland of Ireland.

But before that the Rats are releasing a hits collection called “Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits” on August 5. The album is a greatest hits collection that will feature 14 of the band’s hits plus two new songs from the band. The digital download edition of the album will include two more songs for a total of 18.

Season four of “The Voice” has reached the finals. No matter who claims the title on the grand finale Michelle Chamuel, Danielle Bradberry, and The Swon Brothers have cemented their spot in the music business.

Two time “The Voice” winning coach Blake Shelton brings two acts into the finals with Danielle and the brothers; while newcomer coach Usher brings one act with the alternative rocker Michelle. Never before has “The Voice” had a duo or group in the finals.

After taking time out to work on her graduate degree at the University of Michigan, singer songwriter Vienna Teng returns to her music and the studio. Speaking on her decision to attend the University Teng said, “I didn’t just want to write songs about the problems we face as human beings. I wanted to actually work on those problems.”

On September 24 she will release her fifth album - “Aims” - her first in four years; but before that Teng will embark on a 40 city tour beginning in July.

Fifty years ago a group of lads began playing beach and surf music. They called themselves The Beach Boys. In celebration of the anniversary Capitol/UMe is releasing a six CD boxed set of music by The Beach Boys including dozens of songs that have yet to be released, rarities, a cappella versions of some songs, alternate versions of some songs, and some instrumental tracks. The set contains over 150 songs.

Two time Grammy and three time Brit Award winner George Michael has had more than his share of health issues over the past couple of years. While on tour in 2011 Michael contracted a severe case of pneumonia that required a thacheotomy and he was hospitalized for several weeks. On May 16 Michael was a passenger in a car when he fell out of the car while trying to close a door that was ajar. He suffered a head injury that required more time in the hospital.

Michael is now home and on the mend.

Updated with new material.

Award winning Icelandic rockers Sigur Ros have spent the better part of the past year on the road touring. The boys will be bringing that tour to the United States in September and October.

On June 18 Jon Thor Birgisson, Kjartan Sveinsson, Orri Dyrason, and Georg Holm will be releasing their seventh album “Kveikur”. Bass player Georg Holm said that they write the music first and then let the music tell them what the song is about.