Give climate a chance!
November 24, 2022

Coldplay, Robyn, David Gilmour call for new EU climate law

Robyn; foto by Lewis Chaplin

A group of prominent musicans are among the signers of an open letter calling for the European Union to adopt a new law cracking down on deforestation, as part of its efforts to tackle the climate emergency. Coldplay, Brian Eno, Sting, Robyn, Barbra Streisand, Bryan Adams and David Gilmour, are among the musical signatures, next to veteran climate campaigners, as well as actors, directors and activists. ClientEarth

Every little song he sells is magic
February 10, 2022

Sting sells his music catalog for $300 million

Singer, songwriter and bassist Sting has sold his entire song catalog to Universal Music Publishing Group, MBW reports, adding an assessment by an expert industry source who believes the final acquisition fee reached north of $300 million. The catalog features the entirety of both Sting’s solo works, as well as those with The Police, including mega-hits like 'Roxanne', 'Every Breath You Take', 'Shape Of My Heart', 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You', 'Fields Of Gold', 'Desert Rose', 'Message in a Bottle', 'Englishman in New York' and 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'.

The Knack

A lovely article in the New York Times about songs named after real people like Dolly Parton’s 'Jolene', Kinks' 'Lola', Sting's 'Roxanne'... Dave McCabe's 'Valerie' was inspired by Valerie Star, a makeup artist, who dated the singer, but the song was popularised after Amy Winehouse recorded her version. Ms. Star thinks “it was a brilliant song, and I loved everything about it. It described that moment in my life and those trials and tribulations that I had gone through in the most quintessential way". Sharona Alperin was the subject of the Knack’s 1979 hit 'My Sharona' - band's singer Doug Fieger wrote it as a love letter to her and got her thanks to the song. When she decided to leave him it was because of the "my" part of the song - "when we broke up it was time to be my Sharona”.