Percy Sledge, the R&B singer whose soulful ballad of eternal love and rejection, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” topped the charts in 1966, died on Tuesday in Baton Rouge, La. He was 74.

His death was confirmed by Artists International Management, which represented him. Mr. Sledge had liver cancer, for which he underwent surgery in 2014, Mark Lyman, his agent and manager, said.

Mr. Sledge, sometimes called the King of Slow Soul, was a sentimental crooner and one of the South’s first soul stars, having risen to fame from jobs picking cotton and working as a hospital orderly while performing at clubs and colleges on the weekends.“I was singing every style of music: the Beatles, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Motown, Sam Cooke, the Platters,” he once said.

Here Comes the Sun — it’s one of George Harrison’s contributions to Abbey Road (1969). And, among the many great Beatles’ songs, it’s my sentimental favorite. While we’re feeling sentimental, let me bring you this — Dhani Harrison, the son of the late guitarist, returns to the recording studio (presumably at Abbey Road) with George Martin, the Beatles’ legendary producer, and Martin’s son Giles. Together, they play with the mix of “Here Comes the Sun,” and then the wondrous little moment of discovery happens. They stumble upon the long lost guitar solo that never made the final cut. Enjoy….

See the video below

When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. What's going on? Anita Collins explains the fireworks that go off in musicians' brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout.

I watched the trailer of Liam Neeson's upcoming movie, "A Walk Among The Tombstones" and I fell in love with the song I heard in the trailer. The color of the song reminds me with Lana Del Rey's songs.

After browsing here and there in the internet, I found out that the song I heard is "Black Hole Sun" the cover version of Soundgarden. It is sung by Nouela.

Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village 1967.

“Just got here from the West,” the gangly 19-year-old told Manny Roth, owner of the Greenwich Village nightclub “Cafe Wha?” “Name’s Bob Dylan. I’d like to do a few songs? Can I?”

Sure, Mr. Roth said; on “hootenanny” nights, as he called them, anybody could sing a song or two, and this was a hootenanny night, a bitterly cold one, Jan. 24, 1961. And so Mr. Dylan took out his guitar and sang a handful of Woody Guthrie songs.

The crowd “flipped” in excitement, Mr. Dylan later said.

 Next to Beyonce, the musical surprise of the 2013 holiday shopping season so far is the limited iTunes release of "The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963." It's a potential gold-mine excavation: fifty-nine previously obscure tracks, unknown outside the subculture of obsessive collectors.

Over on the bookshelves, the recently published first volume of biographer Mark Lewisohn's three-part "The Beatles: All These Years" takes up considerable space. Titled "Tune In," the first book offers 944 pages on the iconic group, concluding in 1962 -- before they were famous. Beyond serving as baby boomer stocking stuffers, do these kinds of archaeological digs enhance the Beatles' legacy? Or is pop-culture nostalgia starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel?

click to enlarge

Whether you are religious, spiritual, or atheist, you probably can appreciate the profound insights of the “Serenity Prayer.” With slight variations, the prayer is usually recited like this:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

The prayer is attributed to American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892 - 1971) and is often used to begin and end 12-Step Meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Al-Anon.

Amar Bose, the founder and chief executive of the audio company that bears his last name, died last Friday (July 12, 2013) at his home in Massachusetts at the age of 83.

Prior to Mr. Bose—or, more specifically, the Bose 901 Direct/Reflecting Speaker, his first major product—high-end audio was something obsessed over by finicky audiophiles: men and women (but let’s be honest here—mostly men) who were on a never-ending quest to recreate the absolute sound. Audiophilia, to that point, required deep technical knowledge, a monastic-like discipline in researching and assembling your rig, and lots of cash.

The 31-year-old, who played Finn Hudson in the Fox TV hit, was found dead at the Pacific Rim Hotel in the city centre on Saturday, said police.

The cause of death was not immediately apparent, but police have ruled out foul play.

Monteith, who had been in the musical comedy since its 2009 start, was treated for drug addiction in April, and had a history of substance-abuse.

Why do we like to listen to tunes when we exercise? Psychologist Tom Stafford searches for answers within our brains, not the muscles we are exercising.

Perhaps you have a favourite playlist for going to the gym or the park. Even if you haven't, you're certain to have seen joggers running along with headphones in their ears. Lots of us love to exercise to music, feeling like it helps to reduce effort and increase endurance. As a psychologist, the interesting thing for me is not just whether music helps when exercising, but how it helps.

While female artists rule the pop charts, many still conform to long-held music industry stereotypes. Miranda Sawyer asks if change is on its way.

This is an era where female performers dominate music as never before: I give you Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Jessie J, Adele, Florence and her Machine – not to mention poor, sad Britney and the never-ending saga that is Madonna. These are women whose music tops charts across the world,

At Carnegie Hall, gospel singer Wintley Phipps delivers perhaps the most powerful rendition of Amazing Grace ever recorded.

He says, "A lot of people don't realize that just about all Negro spirituals are written on the black notes of the piano. Probably the most famous on this slave scale was written by John Newton, who