News

Two new projects from Onyx Collective — the Disney Entertainment Television brand that curates stories by creators of color and underrepresented voices, all with a culturally specific point of view — have been given Hulu premiere dates.

Deli Boys, an original scripted comedy, will premiere Thursday, March 6, 2025, while Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), a film documentary about Sly & The Family Stone, will bow Thursday, Feb. 13.

More from TVLineTVLine Items: Brilliant Minds' Xl Finale, Percy Jackson Adds Four and MoreTVLine Items: NBC Sets SNL Music Documentary, Nightbitch on Hulu and MoreTell Me Lies Renewed for Season 3 at Hulu Saagar Shaikh,...

‘Sly Lives!,’ the original documentary about legendary musician Sly Stone directed by Roots founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, will premiere Thursday, Feb. 13, on Hulu.

Guests featured in the doc, which is subtitled “aka the Burden of Black Genius,” comes via Disney’s Onyx Collective, include Andre 3000, D’Angelo, Chaka Khan, Q-Tip, Nile Rogers, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, George Clinton, Ruth Copeland and Clive Davis. Other guest include his bandmates in Sly and the Family Stone — Jerry Martini, Greg Errico, Larry Graham and the late Cynthia Robinson — and family members Sylvette Phunne Robinson, Novena Carmel and Sylvester Stewart Jr.

See a new trailer for the film, which premieres at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, below.

Sly and the Family Stone formed in the San Francisco Bay area in 1966 and quickly became a pioneering group of the ‘60s, with a multi-racial, multi-gender lineup (rare for the time), an explosive fusion of pop,...

Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features bassist Doug Wimbish.

As the in-house bassist for Sugar Hill Records, Doug Wimbish played on songs that make up the foundation of hip-hop as we know it today,...

Betty Davis, the cult funk singer and ex-wife of jazz legend Miles Davis who left an underappreciated yet trailblazing body of work, died Wednesday at the age of 77. Danielle Maggio, a close friend of Davis whose research as an ethnomusicologist focused on Davis’ work, confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone. Amie Downs, communications director for Allegheny County where Davis lived, added that the cause of death was natural causes.

“It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of Betty Davis, a multi-talented music influencer and pioneer rock star,...

Bootsy Collins has dropped a new music video for “Slide Eazy,” his collaboration with Ellis Hall, Rod Castro, and Brennan Johns from his most recent album, The Power of One.

Directed by Jameson Mangan, the clip is an eye-popping kaleidoscopic collage that finds Bootsy and his collaborators breezing through the upbeat funk jam. The psychedelic visuals are put to particularly perfect effect when Castro appears to unleash his dazzling guitar solo.

In an email to Rolling Stone, Bootsy explained how he built “Slide Eazy” with his three key collaborators. It...

Low Cut Connie have released a new music video for “Charyse,” the latest single from the band’s 2020 double album, Private Lives.

The video, directed by Skylar Watkins, boasts a moody, late-night feel, but one that still seems filled with possibility and mystery. The clip jumps between footage of Low Cut Connie frontman Adam Weiner performing the ramshackle rocker, and sequences in which three models (Helen Logan, Phasayi Thomas, and Bria Bryant) light up the night.

“There are 8 million stories in the Naked City. Charyse is just one of them,...

Bootsy Collins has released a video for his funked-out slow jam, “Lips Turn Blue,” featuring vocals from Cincinnati singer Emmaline.

Directed by Oscar Arce, the eye-popping clip finds Bootsy and Emmaline delivering their parts against a kaleidoscopic backdrop of puckering neon lips. The video also features singer Olvido Ruiz as an extra back-up dancer.

“Lips Turn Blue” notably marks Bootsy’s first bilingual track, with Emmaline singing part of the chorus in Spanish. “It’s pretty exciting to introduce something we have never done together as a team to the world,...

So, How Was Your 2020? is a series in which our favorite entertainers answer our questionnaire about the music, culture and memorable moments that shaped their year. We’ll be rolling these pieces out throughout December.

Most 69-year-old funk legends would probably be content to rest at home during quarantine and reminisce about minor things like helping to invent one of the most upbeat genres of all time. But Bootsy Collins used his time to enlist Snoop Dogg, Larry Graham, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride and Victor Wooten and finish The Power of the One,...

Bootsy Collins has released a new video for “Want Me 2 Stay” — his take on Sly and the Family Stone’s 1973 hit “If You Want Me to Stay” — featuring the song’s original bassist, Larry Graham, as well as Branford Marsalis and Uché Ndubizu.

The simple clip puts the song front-and-center, with Collins, Graham, Uché, and horn player Brennan Johns all performing in front of an array of psychedelic backgrounds (Marsalis does not appear in the clip). The scenery behind Uché remains comparatively calm, but that only heightens the emphasis on his stellar vocals.

Bootsy Collins has released a characteristically eye-popping new clip for “Jam On,” his recent collaboration with Snoop Dogg and 17-year-old guitarist Brandon “Taz” Niederauer.

The clip is a delightfully outlandish space-age blast with Bootsy — wearing a stunning, glittering red top hat and matching outfit — and Co. delivering the song from a funked-out future. Niederauer steals the show with his impeccable shredding, while the clip also serves as a tribute to late Parliament-Funkadelic keyboard player, Bernie Worrell, who appears via archival footage.

Along with releasing the “Jam On” video, Collins...

“You don’t miss a kiss until the lips are gone.” That’s how Bootsy Collins describes making music by himself, ever since Covid-19 forced him and the musicians he wishes he could jam with into quarantine. “I think we took for granted the freedom that we had to be together and do things together,” he says. “I think that taking that away for now made everybody realize what we’ve been missing.”

That longing to collaborate is what fueled Collins during the creation of his upcoming new album, The Power of the One,...

This summer, Shalfi Edu went viral without singing a note. The 25-year-old guitarist posted a video of his playing — full of flitting fingers, though the mood remains insistently tranquil — on the app TikTok, which now functions as music’s primary discovery engine. Edu added a caption out of a teen romcom, a stamp of emotion on all the casual showmanship: “You’ve hurt someone who’s hurt you. Seeing them suffer causes you pain, but you’re too angry to apologize or stop. You feel conflicted.” The clip has earned...

One year ago this week, Eric Church celebrated the final moments of his 2017 tour on the Las Vegas Strip, where he played an outdoor show to 22,000 attendees at the Route 91 Harvest festival.

“You guys have fun tonight in Las Vegas!” he shouted from the front row, after leaping from the stage to the ground during the final moments of “Springsteen.” Then, while casinos like the Mandalay Bay glittered in the distance, he grew emotional, telling the crowd that “this song, 100 percent, is about nights like tonight, when the weather is...

Dez Dickerson spent five years as Prince's guitarist, and though they stopped working together in 1983, Dickerson has stayed in contact with legendary musician. "For me the things that will be most special and significant are the times that he gave me a call and needed to talk," Dickerson tells People. "I had the opportunity to have more of a big brother relationship with him." Dickerson last spoke to Prince on the phone just three weeks before the singer was found dead at his his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota on Thursday. However, he wouldn't elaborate on what the two talked about.

Dez Dickerson spent five years as Prince's guitarist, and though they stopped working together in 1983, Dickerson has stayed in contact with legendary musician. "For me the things that will be most special and significant are the times that he gave me a call and needed to talk," Dickerson tells People. "I had the opportunity to have more of a big brother relationship with him." Dickerson last spoke to Prince on the phone just three weeks before the singer was found dead at his his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota on Thursday. However, he wouldn't elaborate on what the two talked about.

The Jehovah's Witness Church has released a statement following the untimely death of Prince, who officially converted to the religion in 2003. "We are saddened to hear about the death of Prince Rogers Nelson, who was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2003," the church said in a statement obtained by People. The church said that Prince "found fulfillment as a Witness and in sharing his faith with others." The statement added: "We do not have any details regarding his medical condition or the cause of his death. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, particularly his fellow worshippers...

The Jehovah's Witness Church has released a statement following the untimely death of Prince, who officially converted to the religion in 2003. "We are saddened to hear about the death of Prince Rogers Nelson, who was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2003," the church said in a statement obtained by People. The church said that Prince "found fulfillment as a Witness and in sharing his faith with others." The statement added: "We do not have any details regarding his medical condition or the cause of his death. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, particularly his fellow worshippers...

Prince's conversion to the Jehovah's Witness religion actually started, in a roundabout way, with Sly & the Family Stone. Well, that's not entirely accurate: It started with Graham Central Station, the funk group started by Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham after his tenure in that band. "I was on tour with Sinbad, Graham Central Station, Earth Wind & Fire and Teena Marie," Graham explained in 2013. "We did a show in Tennessee and we were playing the amphitheater and Prince was playing the big arena there in Nashville. He heard I was in town and invited me to one of his famous after-shows.

Prince's conversion to the Jehovah's Witness religion actually started, in a roundabout way, with Sly & the Family Stone. Well, that's not entirely accurate: It started with Graham Central Station, the funk group started by Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham after his tenure in that band. "I was on tour with Sinbad, Graham Central Station, Earth Wind & Fire and Teena Marie," Graham explained in 2013. "We did a show in Tennessee and we were playing the amphitheater and Prince was playing the big arena there in Nashville. He heard I was in town and invited me to one of his famous after-shows.

Two of the most prominent gay Puerto Ricans in the world are Ricky Martin and Orlando Cruz. What you didn't know was the connection between the two men, born in tragedy, providing both strength.

In marriage equality news, the Rhode Island House has passed the marriage equality bill, sending it to the Senate for a much tougher fight. Hawaii has introduced a marriage equality bill, bringing the fight full circle, as it began in many ways in Hawaii. And in the UK, the marriage equality bill has been formally introduced in the House of Commons.

In other news, Vicki Jackson, the Harvard law professor the Supreme Court asked to argue if Scotus had jurisdiction in the Windsor case since the administration had stopped defending it says that it does not. She argues that the House Bipartisan Legal Group doesn't have standing to intervene, "any injury that might arise from nondefense...

In with a whisper. Out with a bang. Thousands of Prince fans who attended the third and final show of his recent Chicago engagement were not quite sure what they were in for. After a not-so-regal start with Monday's show that was reportedly riddled with sound problems, technical issues, and timing turmoil, the word was not good. Tuesday's show, however, contained all of the elements one would expect from the veteran entertainer, who rebounded nicely for night two. When legions of fans poured into United Center for night three, many wondered if the positive momentum would continue. As it turns out, it did. And he started with a little Controversy. The song that is. The energy level was high and Prince was feeling it. "Hello, my name is Prince," he announced. Within minutes fans were on their feet as "His Purple Highness" delivered a memorable (and youthful sounding) medley of hits including "Let's Go Crazy,...

Aug. 12: Actor George Hamilton is 73. Actress Jennifer Warren is 71. Singer-guitarist Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits is 63. Singer Kid Creole is 62. Actor Sam J. Jones ("Flash Gordon") is 58. Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny is 58. Actor Bruce Greenwood ("Thirteen Days") is 56. Country singer Danny Shirley (Confederate Railroad) is 56. Guitarist Roy Hay of Culture Club is 51. Rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot is 49. Actor Peter Krause is 47. Actor Michael Ian Black ("Ed") is 41. Actress Rebecca Gayheart is 41. Actor Casey Affleck is 37. Actress Maggie Lawson ("Psych") is 32. Actress Imani Hakim ("Everybody Hates Chris") is 19.

Aug. 13: Actor Pat Harrington is 83. Actor Kevin Tighe is 68. Actress Gretchen Corbett ("The Rockford Files") is 65. Actor Danny Bonaduce is 53. Actress Dawnn Lewis ("A Different World," "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper") is 51. Actor John Slattery is 50. Actress Debi Mazar is 48. Actress Quinn Cummings ("Family") is 45. Country singer Andy Griggs is 39. Drummer Mike Melancon of Emerson Drive is 34. Actress Kathryn Fiore ("Reno 911!") is 33. Singer James Morrison is 28.

Aug.

In the midst of music's most decadent eras during the '70s and '80s, Nile Rodgers was at the forefront of pop music. With his dynamic ear for producing top-ten records and with his finger on the pulse of American culture, Rodgers has not only had multiplatinum success, but he has also redefined pop music as we know it today.

Crafting hits for the likes of Diana Ross ("I'm Coming Out"), Madonna ("Like A Virgin"), Chic ("Good Times"), David Bowie ("China Girl"), Mick Jagger ("She's The Boss") and Grace Jones ("Inside Story"), among countless others, Rodgers had plenty of experience to draw upon for his new autobiography, "Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny." Four and a half years in the making, the personal memoir details the former Honeydrippers and Chic member's rise to stardom and the many hurdles that he faced. It wasn't until...

'It's definitely one of the things that I wanted to do in my career,' pop/soul singer tells MTV News.

By Jocelyn Vena

Janelle Monáe

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/ Getty Images

With the dates announced for Prince's Welcome 2 America Tour, one of the touring acts, Janelle Monáe, spoke to MTV News about hitting the road with the legendary musician. To sum it up, she's pretty stoked to tour with someone as iconic as Prince.

"Well, I'm excited. We're great friends," Monáe told MTV News on Monday at the Glamour Women of the Year event in New York City. "I'm honored that he had chosen me to be a part of the tour."

Monáe may be somewhat of a rookie compared to Prince, but long before stardom came her way, touring with him was on her to-do list.

"It's definitely one of the things that I wanted to do in my career,...

Pop superstar Prince has sold out his two upcoming Madison Square Garden shows in New York in just 30 minutes. Tickets for the "Purple Rain" hitmaker's Welcome 2 America Live shows went on sale on Monday, November 1 and the two concerts sold out almost immediately.

Prince is also planning three December concerts at the Izod Center in New Jersey. The shows will be his gigs on America's East Coast since 2004.

Holding a press conference at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York last month, Prince announced that performers including Maceo Parker, Janelle Monae, Mint Condition, Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Sinbad, Lalah Hathaway, Sheila E. and Graham Central Station will accompany him at different dates to help him play his hits.

Singer will play series of shows in New York and New Jersey beginning December 14.

By Gil Kaufman

Prince

Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images

Prince is all about the teasing, slow reveal. Less than two weeks after the enigmatic singer took the stage at Harlem's Apollo Theater to announce that he would be launching the Welcome 2 America Tour, he finally made public the initial string of dates on the all-star outing.

For his first run on the East Coast since 2004, Prince will hit the stage for three consecutive nights at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on December 14, 15 and 17, and follow that up with two dates at New York's Madison Square Garden on December 18 and 29, with enough time between those shows to indicate that more could be added depending on demand. Tickets for the shows go on sale on Saturday, October 30.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has...

Religious singer Prince often dons a disguise when he embarks on door-to-door preaching campaigns in a bid to stop fans recognizing him. The "Purple Rain" hitmaker famously became a Jehovah's Witness in 2001, and admits he often "freaked out" householders when he arrived on their doorstep to talk about his faith.

But Prince now changes his appearance so his superstar status is not detected. He tells Britain's Daily Mirror, "Sometimes people act surprised but mostly they're really cool about it... My hair is capable of doing a lot of different things. I don't always look like this."

And the star's mentor, former Sly & The Family Stone star Larry Graham, admits Prince has become so interested in the word of God, he can pore over details of the Bible for up to eight hours every day. He says, "Prince is a spiritual man. Sometimes we study for hours - six, seven, eight hours a day.

Last night, I was having a conversation with commenter Ian over text message. I got a new phone a couple weeks ago, and have been waging a battle against its predictive text feature that seems intent on censoring me at every foul-mouth turn. Anyway, last night I went to type "boobs" and predictive text auto-corrected it to "noonday" and I didn't notice it before the text went out. The resulting message ended up sounding like something the saucy aunt in a Jane Austen novel would say, like "Well, the ball was going marvelously until I dropped a crumpet down my noonday and Lord Nosewhistle tried to fish it out!" so I'm now going to try and make this catch on. The ideal usage would be a kind of catch-all term for both boobs and cleavage, but adapt it to your purposes as you see fit. Because it amuses me. Here's...