Latest news with #AtlanticStarr
New York Times
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Wayne Lewis, Singer With the R&B Mainstay Atlantic Starr, Dies at 68
Wayne Lewis, the dapper vocalist and keyboardist who was a founder of the group Atlantic Starr, a fixture of the 1980s rhythm and blues scene, died on June 5 in Queens. He was 68. His brother Jonathan Lewis confirmed the death but did not specify a cause. He said that Wayne Lewis collapsed while running on a treadmill at a gym and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A suave performer with piercing eyes and a rollicking sense of humor, Mr. Lewis served as one of the singers and songwriters of Atlantic Starr, whose ballad 'Always' topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1987 and whose other hits included 'Secret Lovers' and 'Circles.' The band was nominated for three Soul Train Awards and an American Music Award. Writing with his brothers Jonathan and David, Mr. Lewis translated the universal emotions of love, lust and heartbreak into evocative verses backed by lush arrangements. His performances of the sentimental soul ballad 'Send for Me,' released in 1980, became a calling card. Fluent in the sartorial language of showbiz, Mr. Lewis meticulously color-coordinated the group's outfits, Jonathan Lewis said. His own suits — flashy, textured and patterned — were often showstoppers. Reviewing a concert for The Washington Post in 1982, Mike Joyce noted the 'pop sheen romanticism' at the heart of Atlantic Starr's music. As Wayne and David Lewis took center stage, he observed, they brought with them 'a heartthrob appeal akin to the Jacksons'.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Founding member of chart-topping ‘80s R&B group dies at 68
Wayne Lewis, founding member of the platinum-selling R&B group Atlantic Starr, has died. He was 68 years old. Lewis died on Thursday, June 5, according to a Facebook post from Atlantic Starr on Friday, June 6. 'It's with great sadness we have to post the passing of Wayne Lewis,' the post reads. 'Please keep the family in your prayers and respect there privacy.' A cause of death was not revealed. Born April 13, 1957, Lewis co-founded Atlantic Starr with his brothers David Lewis and Jonathan Lewis in 1976 in White Plains, New York, according to Billboard. Other early members of the group were Clifford Archer, Sharon Bryant, Porter Carroll Jr., Joseph Phillips, Damon Rentie and William Sudderth. Bryant and Rentie were later replaced by Barbara Weathers and Koran Daniels, respectively. Atlantic Starr signed with A&M Records and released its debut, self-titled album in 1978 followed by their sophomore effort, 'Straight to the Point,' in 1979. The group initially scored several hits on the R&B charts — including 'Stand Up,' 'When Love Calls' and 'Send for Me' — before achieving crossover success. Atlantic Starr's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 was 1982's 'Circles,' which peaked at No. 38. The song also reached No. 2 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The group's biggest commercial success came in 1987 when 'Always' topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. 'My First Love' in 1989 was Atlantic Starr's only other No. 1 on the latter chart. Atlantic Starr earned a total of 11 top 10 songs on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and three top 10 hits on Billboard's Hot 100 charts in addition to a platinum album, gold album and gold single, according to the RIAA. Atlantic Starr's most recent album, 'Metamorphosis,' was released in 2017. Legendary hip-hop duo's first US tour in 15 years to start in Mass. Festival fans demand refunds after headliner's set slashed over weather delay Live Wire: Two Northampton music series return in time for summer 'Devastated' music legend cancels more shows due to health issues Indie rock band's singer says this is 'best venue in America': Have you been? Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sly Stone, Family Stone Architect Who Fused Funk, Rock, and Soul, Dead at 82
Sly Stone, one of the most influential and groundbreaking musicians of the late Sixties and early Seventies who smashed the boundaries of rock, pop, funk, and soul, died on Monday. He was 82. The cause of death was a 'prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues,' according to a statement by his family. 'It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone,' Stone's family said. 'Sly passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend, and his extended family. While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come.' More from Rolling Stone Wayne Lewis, Founding Member of Atlantic Starr, Dead at 68 George Wendt's Cause of Death Revealed Hear Sly and the Family Stone Rock a Small Club in 1967 With Funky 'I Gotta Go Now' The family added that Stone 'recently completed the screenplay for his life story, a project we are eager to share with the world in due course.' At the peak of his success, when hits like 'Dance to the Music' and 'Everyday People' were high on the charts, the wildly inventive musician and singer presented a glowingly optimistic image in step with the times, bringing together Black and white audiences, uplifting crowds with electrifying shows. But the unpredictability that was the core of his genius gave way to a long decline, as his personal demons destroyed what he had once been. Born Sylvester Stewart in Texas in 1943, Stone started making music with his siblings as a child: The Stewart Four (Sylvester, his sisters Rose and Vaetta, and his brother Freddie) made their first single, 'On the Battlefield,' in 1952. He moved to California with his family as a kid, and later became a familiar voice in the Bay Area's music scene. As a staff producer at Autumn Records, he put together hits like Bobby Freeman's 'C'mon and Swim'; he also produced 'Somebody to Love' by Grace Slick's pre-Jefferson Airplane band, the Great Society. He was also a DJ on KSOL and KDIA, and later noted that 'in radio, I found out about a lot of things I don't like. Like, I think there shoudn't be 'Black radio.' Just radio. Everybody be a part of everything.' Stone's own band, Sly & the Family Stone, came together over the course of 1966 and 1967. It really was a family of sorts: Sly and his siblings Rose and Freddie were joined by cousins Greg Errico and Jerry Martini, as well as bassist Larry Graham and trumpeter Cynthia Robinson. The Family Stone's breakthrough hit was 1968's 'Dance to the Music,' in which their voices and instruments, high and low, each took a turn in the spotlight. A racially mixed band with male and female members, playing soul-infused rock together was a rare sight at the time — a utopian vision of what pop music could be. Hits like 'Life,' 'Stand!,' 'Everyday People,' and 'Hot Fun in the Summertime' followed: all anthems of solidarity and joy that acknowledged the pain and frustration of the times and encouraged their audiences to transcend it. Sly & the Family Stone's soaring performance of 'I Want to Take You Higher' at Woodstock in 1969 was a triumph of that era, and the band finished the decade with an enormous hit: 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' whose joyful funk masked the existential horror and lacerating sarcasm of its lyrics. Their next album was supposed to be called The Incredible and Unpredictable Sly & the Family Stone — a sideways reference to Stone's habit of blowing off gigs. He finally released his masterpiece, There's a Riot Goin' On, in late 1971. Recorded with help from Bobby Womack and an early drum machine, it was a bleak, scarred, wobbly vision — the soured remains of the Sixties dream. 'I think that's kind of his like, help the medicine go down approach,' Questlove told Rolling Stone in March. 'He paints a very dark, lyric, paranoia, self-confessional thing almost in every record, but it's so happy-sounding.' The Family Stone disintegrated over the next few years, as Sly sank deep into drug abuse and became even more erratic. He married Kathy Silva on stage in front of a crowd of 20,000 at a sold-out Madison Square Garden show in 1974, but within months, the band had broken up, and the marriage, which produced a son, Sylvester Jr., didn't last much longer. 'He beat me, held me captive, and wanted me to be in ménages à trois,' Silva said years later. 'I didn't want that world of drugs and weirdness.' Sylvia left in 1976. Sly had two more children, Sylvette and Novena Carmel. Sly persevered, making one attempt after another to win back the public: His 1976 album was called Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back, and the one that followed it three years later Back on the Right Track. After 1982's half-finished Ain't But the One Way, he never released another album of new, original material, despite persistent rumors that he was working on the magical record that would get his career back on its feet. He collaborated with George Clinton, on whom he'd been a huge influence; he turned up for guest vocals on records by the Bar-Kays and Earth, Wind and Fire. Stone's personal troubles continued. He was arrested for cocaine possession multiple times in the 1980s, and he served 14 months in a rehab center beginning in 1989. Between Sly & the Family Stone's 1993 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the 2006 tribute to them at the Grammy Awards (for which Sly appeared for a few minutes with an enormous blond mohawk, then wandered off), he all but vanished. Interviewed by Vanity Fair in 2007, he claimed he had 'a library' of new material, 'a hundred and some songs, or maybe 200.' In 2011, the New York Post reported that he was living in a camper van in Los Angeles; that same year, he released I'm Back! Family & Friends, mostly lackluster new rerecordings of his Sixties classics. But the specter of his glory years remained. Stone's great 1960s and early-Seventies records inspired Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock to incorporate electric instruments and funk grooves into jazz; Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Roots have all covered Sly & the Family Stone songs. A little over a year after the release of Stone's autobiography, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), a documentary, 2025's Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), reexamined Stone's legacy. The film, directed by Questlove, focused on how Stone's legacy and influence continues to reverberate through popular music along with how Stone carried the weight of that influence personally until it became a burden. 'My intent was always to use Sly Stone to tell our story, my story, D'Angelo's story, Lauryn Hill's story, Frank Ocean's story,' Questlove told Rolling Stone. 'When you're talking about 'blowing it,' a lot of times the fear of failing or the fear of returning to where you came from — which is the very bottom — causes you anxiety about your future, and then causes you to fumble it.' The film featured commentary from George Clinton, Chaka Khan, D'Angelo, Q-Tip, and Family Stone members Larry Graham and Jerry Martini, among several others. 'I feel like a piece of my heart left with Sly. We were best friends for 60 years. He credits me with starting the band, but it was his musical genius that made music history,' Martini said in a statement to Rolling Stone. 'He will always be in my heart and I will continue to celebrate his music with the Family Stone. We extend our sincere love, condolences and prayers to his children and his family. Rest well my dear friend. You will be greatly missed.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Billy Jones, Baby's All Right Owner and Key Player in New York Music Scene, Dead at 45
Anyone who frequented the live music scene in New York over the last decade has a favorite story about Baby's All Right, the 280-seat club in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood. There was the night Billie Eilish, then 15, played songs from her first EP and a cover of Drake's 'Hotline Bling.' The time Mac DeMarco, with the help of some wine, wrote a 'theme song' for the club. Or the night Zoë Kravitz's band Lolawolf played a set to an audience that included her dad Lenny and Anne Hathaway. All those memories, and many more, are the legacy of Billy Jones, the club co-owner who died Saturday of what a spokesperson for the venue called 'a highly aggressive case of glioblastoma,' a malignant brain tumor. Jones was 45. More from Rolling Stone Wayne Lewis, Founding Member of Atlantic Starr, Dead at 68 George Wendt's Cause of Death Revealed Jonathan Joss, 'King of the Hill' Voice Actor, Fatally Shot at 59 Jones arrived in New York in 2002 after earning a degree in media arts at Salisbury University in Maryland. As Jones and others saw, a new generation of indie and dance artists was rising up and hungry for places to play. 'Chris from Grizzly Bear worked at a cafe on Bedford, and so did Kyp from TV on the Radio,' Jones said in an interview in 2023. 'It would be like, 'Maybe that was Karen O that walked by? I'm not quite sure.' … Whatever band would come out that week was like the best band ever.' Jones himself was lead singer in his own band, Other Passengers, in the 2000s and was a DJ. Looking back at those years, and the burgeoning Brooklyn music scene, he said in the same interview, 'There was a feeling of calm before the storm.' Jones established himself as a booker at city clubs like Pianos NYC, the Dance, and Sin-é (which, in an earlier incarnation, had fostered Jeff Buckley). In 2013, he and a business partner, Zachary Mexico, opened Baby's All Right, a combination bar, dining room, and performance space. With its astrology charts and shiny lighting, the club always felt a little otherworldly but quickly became a gathering spot for the Brooklyn and New York music community. Dev Hynes played a New Year's Eve party there, and the club also hosted early shows by SZA, Beach House, and Ariel Pink. Jones himself looked the part of an indie entrepreneur; one report described him as wearing 'denim bell bottoms with the messy haircut of a 20-something.' But he was also admirably ambitious. Just before the pandemic, he was hoping to open a Los Angeles version of Baby's All Right and also owned the recently closed Billy's Record Salon, a record store near the Brooklyn space. He also recently opened two new clubs in the city's East Village neighborhood: Night Club 101 and the jazz-leaning Funny Bar. As he told Rolling Stone in 2020 as the lockdown began, ''Everyone throws around the word 'resilient' right now. But there's got to be a way to do it.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wayne Lewis, Atlantic Starr Singer and Founding Member, Dies at 68
Wayne Lewis, a founding member of the R&B group Atlantic Starr, has died at the age of 68. The band confirmed his passing in a social media post on Friday (June 7), noting that the musician died on Thursday. No cause of death has been disclosed. More from Billboard Gone But Not Forgotten: Musicians We Lost in 2025 BRIT Awards 2026 to Be Held Outside London for First Time Mariah Carey's 'Type Dangerous' Tops This Week's Favorite New Music Poll 'It's with great sadness we have to post the passing of Wayne Lewis on June 5, 2025,' Atlantic Starr wrote on Facebook. 'Please keep the family in your prayers and respect their privacy #waynelewis #restinpeace #flyhigh Sunrise 4/13/1957 Sunset 6/5/2025 #restinpeaceWayne.' Lewis served as a vocalist and keyboardist for Atlantic Starr, which he co-founded in 1976 in White Plains, N.Y., alongside his brothers David Lewis (vocals, guitar) and Jonathan Lewis (keyboards, trombone), as well as drummer Porter Carroll Jr., bassist Clifford Archer and percussionist-flutist Joseph Phillips. Other early members included lead singer Sharon Bryant, trumpeter William Sudderth III and saxophonist Damon Rentie. Bryant and Rentie were later replaced by Barbara Weathers and Koran Daniels, respectively. Atlantic Starr became a fixture in R&B throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. The group signed with A&M Records (and later to Warner Bros. Records, among other labels), releasing their self-titled debut album in 1978, followed by their sophomore effort, Straight to the Point, the next year. The band achieved its first top 10 hit on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with 'Circles' (No. 2) from the 1982 album Brilliance. Their biggest commercial success came in 1987 when 'Always,' from 1986's All in the Name of Love, reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Atlantic Starr earned a total of three top 10 hits on the Hot 100 and 11 top 10s on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. 'My First Love' in 1989 was their only other No. 1 on the latter chart. In recent years, Atlantic Starr continued to perform with Lewis and current members Jonathan Lewis, Melessa Pierce and Shammah Carter. The group's most recent album, Metamorphosis, was released in 2017. Following the announcement of Lewis' death, fans flooded social media with heartfelt tributes and condolences. 'His band gave my generation so much listening pleasure,' one fan wrote. Another shared, 'Nooooo I am devastated seeing this. My condolences to all family and friends.' A third commenter added, 'A great songwriter. Atlantic Starr was better once he became leader. He will be missed.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
