In Brief: Michael Jackson lashes out at record industry
ByJul 7, 2002 10:00 PM
Stars line up for Timothy White tribute concert. Smoke clears Tony Bennett concert in London. Beck concert dates emerge.
Stars line up for Timothy White tribute concert. Smoke clears Tony Bennett concert in London. Beck concert dates emerge.
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Michael Jackson, during a Saturday (7/6) appearance in Harlem with New York civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, used strong words in criticizing the music industry’s treatment of black artists, and counted himself among the mistreated. “The record companies really do conspire against the artists,” he said, according to the New York Post. “Especially the black artists.” Jackson reportedly also said Sony Music Entertainment chief Tommy Mottola was a racist and “devilish,” and claimed that Mottola used the “n-word” when referring to an unidentified black Sony artist.
A Sony spokesman reportedly called Jackson’s comments “ludicrous, spiteful and hurtful. ...It seems particularly bizarre that he has chosen to launch an unwarranted and ugly attack on an executive who has championed his career, and the careers of so many other superstars, for many years,” he said.
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James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, John Mellencamp and Don Henley are among the artists who will perform a tribute concert in memory of Timothy White, the late editor of Billboard magazine, Billboard.com reports. The date and place of the concert, which will benefit White’s family and various charities, have not been finalized. White, 50, died of an apparent heart attack on June 27.
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Tony Bennett’s Thursday (7/4) concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall was cut short when smoke filled the venue as he was singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” according to British press reports. “I knew I was hot, but not that hot,” Bennett joked as the crowd began to evacuate. There were no injuries, and the smoke proved to be the result of a burned-out motor.
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Two Beck concerts have been scheduled for August: Aug. 17 at the Zellerbach Theater in Philadelphia and Aug. 21 at the Granada Theater in Dallas. A http://www.soundspike.com/story/282>new Beck album is due in stores on Sept. 24.