It's gearing up to be a major February for John Legend. The "All of Me" singer is nominated at the Grammys and the Oscars, but those are only small fry compared to the audience Legend had to take on tonight: tens of millions of fans at Super Bowl XLIX. Ahead of performances from Idina Menzel and Katy Perry, Legend kicked off the music at the Seattle Seahawks-New England Patriots game by performing "America the Beautiful" Read this

It's been a whirlwind year for Idina Menzel. The Broadway actress broke into the mainstream spotlight thanks to the smash hit Disney film Frozen and her surprise top 10 hit from the soundtrack, "Let It Go." To cap off a 12 months that included a performance at the Oscars, a Christmas album, a Grammy nomination and a planned world tour, the If/Then actress was on hand for a big honor tonight (Feb. 1): to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XLIX. Read this

The Super Bowl had an unspoken band on guest acts for six years following the infamous Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction." How have backing musicians fared since being welcomed back during 2011? We look back at Destiny's Child, Slash, M.I.A. and more while looking forward to Katy Perry's performance with Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. Read this

Taylor Swift made the full switch from country to pop in 2014, and now the "1989" singer is adding a bit of rock 'n' roll to her résumé. The Nashville superstar just announced the addition of rockers HAIM to her forthcoming world tour as her opener. Read this

The Super Bowl Halftime Show often benefits from a great performance onstage. Sometimes. But knowing the much of the audio is prerecorded kind of takes some of the fun out of it. That's why more often than not our final verdict on the big game's big entertainment (especially in recent years) had revolved more around the stage-show than the music itself. Nothing is more important to a stage-show than a stage. Music Times went back and checked out the last ten Super Bowl performers and more importantly, what they were playing on, and ranked them accordingly (including Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Madonna and more). This isn't a ranking of the performances, but of the platform that held it. Read this

Deadmau5 has a penchant for nice cars. Whether it is his recent Mclaren P1 or a Porsche he had for driving around Toronto, the Canadian producer caught the bug for sports cars and does not appear to be giving it up anytime soon. He announced on Twitter that he is now acquiring a new Lamborghini, the Huracan LP 610-4 and will be fitting it with his favorite car design: the bright and bold colors of Nyan Cat, dubbing it a "Purracan." Read this

Over the past week, Richard D. James -- better known as Aphex Twin -- has unloaded a treasure trove of previously unheard music onto SoundCloud under the username "user48736353001." In total, 110 demo songs were eventually uploaded to the account, and James has made them available for free download for a limited time only. Through the user, he left the following note via "Resident Advisor," "***hello humans, hopefully im gonna start making all these tracks downloadable from 6pm next Saturday 7th Feb, [if I can find some internets] - user48736353001." Read this

Canadian producer deadmanu5 -- real name Joel Zimmerman -- is known for his impressive collection of studio hardware that includes a variety of different analog, modular synths and sequencers. Deadmau5 recently took to his Instagram to show off the hardware he has installed in his new studio and for any gear head it is mighty impressive, via "Mixmag." Read this

Insomniac's Beyond Wonderland has announced its 2015 lineup. The southern California electronic music festival is bringing together a wide variety of different sub-genres, with an emphasis on the underground. The two-day festival will be headlined by your big names like Tiësto, Hardwell, Knife Party, Carl Cox and Dillon Francis. Insomniac will feature their two signature stages -- the Discovery project for new and upcoming acts and the Bassrush Experience for all things low-end. Carl Cox will also be curating his own Carl Cox & Friends stage that has become a mainstay at festivals around the world, including Ultra Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival and Tomorrowland. Read this

Berlin underground house music performer Max Graef will be coming to North America for his first appearances in the United States and elsewhere, and fortunately he's doing more than just the handful of gigs in New York and Los Angeles, as many are wont to do in his line of work. He'll kick off the tour during March in Chicago and then play another nine gigs across the continent, including one in Mexico and two in Canada Read this

The Super Bowl had an unspoken band on guest acts for six years following the infamous Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction." How have backing musicians fared since being welcomed back during 2011? We look back at Destiny's Child, Slash, M.I.A. and more while looking forward to Katy Perry's performance with Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. Read this

Taylor Swift made the full switch from country to pop in 2014, and now the "1989" singer is adding a bit of rock 'n' roll to her résumé. The Nashville superstar just announced the addition of rockers HAIM to her forthcoming world tour as her opener. Read this

The Super Bowl Halftime Show often benefits from a great performance onstage. Sometimes. But knowing the much of the audio is prerecorded kind of takes some of the fun out of it. That's why more often than not our final verdict on the big game's big entertainment (especially in recent years) had revolved more around the stage-show than the music itself. Nothing is more important to a stage-show than a stage. Music Times went back and checked out the last ten Super Bowl performers and more importantly, what they were playing on, and ranked them accordingly (including Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Madonna and more). This isn't a ranking of the performances, but of the platform that held it. Read this

James Blunt was on the receiving end of a nasty Noel Gallagher comment this week, but he appears to be taking things in stride with a surprise response to the verbal beatdown. Read this

Slash's new girlfriend Meegan Hodges received an unfortunate welcome to her new neighborhood recently. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, some uninvited guests invaded the couple's privacy at the Guns N' Roses guitarist's California home and set off some security alarms. Hodges blamed the recent privacy invasion incident on TMZ, which posted a picture of the house last month along with a story about the couple getting matching tattoos. Read this

One of the constant struggles facing fans and producers of classical music is how to keep orchestras on their feet. No form of music is more expensive to carry out than orchestral-between the cost of paying for so many musicians and the time needed to train such a large "staff" accordingly-and those costs become more and more worrisome as younger generations have largely lost interest in the form. Ticket prices are rarely enough to keep orchestras afloat so very often they rely on hefty charitable donations. Politicians in the UK may have the right idea however, having introduced legislation to grant orchestras tax reliefs. Read this

Earlier this evening, Anna Netrebko's title performance in the Metropolitan Opera's brand spankin' new production of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta was interrupted at the very bitter end by a man Classicalite has identified as one Roman J. Torgovitsky--founder/CEO of Wounded Warrior Ukraine. Read this

Chance the Rapper's upcoming album with his band The Social Experiment, titled Surf, was slated for release in 2014, though it never ended up coming out. Save for a censored tracklist posted to Instagram and an interview with Billboard three months ago, the Chicago rapper has remained mostly silent about the new project until yesterday, when he unveiled a teaser video starring supermodel Cara Delevingne. Now he and his band are featured on the latest cover of The Fader. In their cover story, Chance clarifies that Surf is not a Chance the Rapper album, rather it's a Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment project. Chance is just another member of the four-member group. The rapper also dishes on his come-up, why he hasn't signed with a label, the Chicago hip-hop community, and his band's approach to making music, among other topics. Here some things we learned: Read this

Multi-Grammy winner, head of the studio at both Juilliard and Aspen, responsible for more new works than any other player, yes, Sharon Isbin is the very model of a modern, major guitarist. Not only does Ms. Isbin reign supreme as thee international heavyweight of the classical guitar, clearly, she's a woman--the XX-chromosomed champion of, regrettably, an all too often hyper-masculinized instrument and repertoire. To boot, Sharon Isbin is also gay. Read this

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will take their show on the road, traveling to Central and South America for the first time in nearly 10 years. The JALC last travelled to our nearest neighboring continent during 2005. Read this

Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg are hard at work on their own respective albums, and it appears there may be some collaboration being done between them. Snoop Dogg posted on his Instagram a simple photo of him and fellow West Coast representative K. Dot in the studio with the caption "Work." It is not clear what they are working on, but speculation says it could be a feature on Snoop's upcoming album "Bush" that is being produced by Pharrell. Read this

The Super Bowl had an unspoken band on guest acts for six years following the infamous Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction." How have backing musicians fared since being welcomed back during 2011? We look back at Destiny's Child, Slash, M.I.A. and more while looking forward to Katy Perry's performance with Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. Read this

It is a good thing Waffle House did not drop $50 billion on a Super Bowl commercial for Sunday, Feb. 1's big game, because the company got gobs of free publicity Saturday night, Jan. 31, when Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen strolled through its doors for a nice, late-night meal. Read this

The Super Bowl Halftime Show often benefits from a great performance onstage. Sometimes. But knowing the much of the audio is prerecorded kind of takes some of the fun out of it. That's why more often than not our final verdict on the big game's big entertainment (especially in recent years) had revolved more around the stage-show than the music itself. Nothing is more important to a stage-show than a stage. Music Times went back and checked out the last ten Super Bowl performers and more importantly, what they were playing on, and ranked them accordingly (including Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Madonna and more). This isn't a ranking of the performances, but of the platform that held it. Read this

Rapper 50 Cent recently called out A$AP Rocky on Instagram for reaching out to his ex-girlfriend Tatted Up Holly. This comes after recent remarks she made about the "In Da Club" rapper being a "manipulating women beater." Curtis Jackson is not happy about Rocky reaching out to his ex-girlfriend, likening the whole ordeal to Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose after the model split from Kanye West. Read this

It's gearing up to be a major February for John Legend. The "All of Me" singer is nominated at the Grammys and the Oscars, but those are only small fry compared to the audience Legend had to take on tonight: tens of millions of fans at Super Bowl XLIX. Ahead of performances from Idina Menzel and Katy Perry, Legend kicked off the music at the Seattle Seahawks-New England Patriots game by performing "America the Beautiful" Read this

The Super Bowl had an unspoken band on guest acts for six years following the infamous Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction." How have backing musicians fared since being welcomed back during 2011? We look back at Destiny's Child, Slash, M.I.A. and more while looking forward to Katy Perry's performance with Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. Read this

Fans have waited on a new D'Angelo album for more than a decade, and he finally returned to the mainstream with "Black Messiah" at the end of 2014. Despite the lengthy wait, several reports indicated that he rushed the album out in order to provide as swift a response as possible in the aftermath of the "Black Lives Matter" protests spurred by the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. During the second song of his Saturday Night Live performance this weekend, the R&B legend rocked a hoodie in memory of Trayvon Martin while his band The Vanguard sported shirts reading "I CAN'T BREATHE" and "BLACK LIVES MATTER." Read this

Stevie Wonder will be performing with some of the biggest pop acts in the world at his Grammy tribute show, Songs in the Key of Life - An All-Star Grammy Salute, which will air Feb. 16 on CBS. Read this

Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" was one of the biggest songs of 2014 and this week's big news was that Tom Petty would receive a songwriting credit for the song due to its similarities to his own "I Won't Back Down," a coincidence that Petty referred to as a "musical accident no more no less." Although Petty has appeared in all of the headlines, an equal amount of the songwriting credit was also awarded to Jeff Lynne, the frontman for the Electric Light Orchestra, who has been behind the scenes on many a track. Check out a list of Lynne's other surprise songwriting credits, not counting work with band's he's a part of, including the Traveling Wilburys. Read this

Avert your eyes, fellas: Brantley Gilbert recently shared his proposal story, and it is tough to top. The 30-year-old country star finally popped the question to longtime on-again/off-again flame Amber Cochran. According to Gilbert, the two have known each other for 10 years, but went five of those years without speaking to each other. He wrote a special song before proposing to his fiance. Read this

Music Times made an attempt several weeks ago to predict the winner of the Super Bowl based on quality of albums coming out of the regions represented in the AFC and NFC Championship Games. So far so good: Seattle is facing New England, as we predicted, but will the Seahawks triumph? Who knows? Not Spotify. The music streaming service did use its numbers-tracking technology to create two playlists of songs representing the performers that listeners in the respective regions listen in far greater numbers than their foes on the opposite coast. Read this

Lambert is nominated for eight awards, the most of anyone. She is the reigning Female Vocalist of the Year, and will try to take that honor one step further with an Entertainer of the Year win. Read this

Katy Perry will headline the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday night, with some help from Missy Elliott and Lenny Kravitz. The decision to bring Perry in as the star was nearly a year in the making, as the NFL and its various sponsors had a big say. Read this

Everyone has had those fantasies as a kid, in the midst of a parental argument, of running away and making everything better. And now, in the gorgeous new music video for Carrie Underwood's "Little Toy Guns," those have been brought to life. Today (Jan. 30), the top-earning American Idol alumna released the new music video for her Greatest Hits: Decade #1 single "Little Toy Guns," featuring stunning imagery and a plot filled with escapism. Read this

Bob Dylan has been to the top of the charts numerous times. Just not on record. Check out the list of performers who have earned Dylan a no. 1 as a songwriter with their covers: The Byrds, Guns N' Roses, Gabrielle and more. Read this

This week we look at Leonard Cohen's new album 'Opus Collection,' the newest edition of Starbucks' exclusive greatest hits collections. Read this

Actor Jeff Bridges is no stranger to the music community. He won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a country singer in the film "Crazy Heart" and has even released two country albums, but his latest project is something that pretty much nobody expected. According to "The Wall Street Journal," Bridges has released an album of ambient music titled "Sleeping Tapes" and, as its name suggests, it is designed to help its listeners fall asleep -- that is the album cover above. Read this

In anticipation for his massive concert at New York's Madison Square Garden tomorrow, Jan. 30, Jack White has sat down for an interview with The Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper to discuss the importance of the venue, and how he prepares for concerts. Read this

Good news out of the Sundance Film Festival for all you Flight of the Conchords fans. The New Zealand duo -- Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie -- are planning to hit the road in the United States this year. Clement announced the news during a press event for his new film "People, Places, Things." According to the actor/musician, the tour would occur in late 2015, "Billboard" noted. Read this

Music Times made an attempt several weeks ago to predict the winner of the Super Bowl based on quality of albums coming out of the regions represented in the AFC and NFC Championship Games. So far so good: Seattle is facing New England, as we predicted, but will the Seahawks triumph? Who knows? Not Spotify. The music streaming service did use its numbers-tracking technology to create two playlists of songs representing the performers that listeners in the respective regions listen in far greater numbers than their foes on the opposite coast. Read this

The 73-year-old accordionist pioneered the modern conjunto genre, an American-born style of music has reached many spheres of Latin America over the past 200 years. Along the way, Jiménez made friends in high places, including Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Read this

Iggy Azalea, despite all of her controversies, is clearly one of the most sought-after featured rappers in the game these days. After features with Ariana Grande and Jennifer Lopez hit it big, it seems as though the "Beg For It" rapper now has a single in the works with none other than Shakira. Read this

Is Ricky Martin "Living La Vida Loca" no more? According to a new YouTube video, the Latino pop star succumbed to a major car crash over the weekend and passed away. But, as it turns out, Martin is just the latest celebrity to fall victim to a morbid death hoax, and now he's poking fun at the death rumors on his Instagram. Read this

All Jennifer Lopez wanted was her happily ever after with Marc Anthony, and when that fell apart, none of her fans knew her secret pain... until now. On Wednesday (Dec. 31), the "Booty" singer's HBO documentary Dance Again premiered and the mother of two finally opened up about the end of her marriage. Read this

Today, January 8, 2015, music legend, the Grammy and Dove award winning Andraé Crouch died in California. The gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor had been hospitalized since January 3, 2015 for unspecified, yet "serious" health issues. He died at approximately 4:30pm PST at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area. Read this

The Martin Luther King, Jr. film Selma hit a limited number of theaters on Christmas Day to positive reviews. The soundtrack to the film features John Legend and Common's new song "Glory," which they performed today on Good Morning America to promote the film as part of the GMA Winter Concert Series. Legend handled vocals and keys supported by a string quartet, a timpani player, and three background singers. Common came in with some socially conscious verses referencing the unrest in Ferguson and the civil rights movement. Both men sported black suits as they delivered the gospel-tinged anthem, ringing in 2015 with a call for change. Read this

Christian rockers Cloverton gave Leonard Cohen's timeless classic "Hallelujah" a Christmas makeover last year and the result is a truly moving cover. The boys take Cohen's iconic melody and infuse it with lyrics chronicling the birth of Jesus Christ. Regardless of your religious orientation, this song hits an emotional chord as vocalist Lance Stafford gives it his all. Read this

Christmas music is typically the territory of Christian artists, country singers, or pop singers looking for a quick cash-in between proper studio albums (though that doesn't mean these cash-ins can't be great). However, there have been some strange cases where artists in other genres, such as rap, metal, and indie rock, have tried their hand at Christmas music as well. Here are eight Christmas songs or albums from unexpected artists. Read this

In a shocking, 16-minute video posted to his Facebook page, Creed frontman Scott Stapp debunked some rumors about him that have been circulating in the press and over the Internet, while also revealing that he has been homeless for the last few months and is currently living at a Holiday Inn. According to Stapp, his current financial situation is the result of unpaid royalties, an IRS audit and unnamed people who are stealing his money from his bank accounts.

"I'm sure you've heard the many rumors and slanderous, libelous accusations over the last few weeks," Stapp says at the beginning of the video. "First, I was dead ... Then there were rumors that I'm on drugs and drinking and relapsed and in rehab, all these other things. That's also a lie ... I'm sober as can be."

After addressing these rumors about his sobriety, Stapp then reveals that he is "penniless" and that "there are people who have taken advantage and stolen money" from him. "They're trying to discredit me, slander me," he says. "Someone had used my information and changed my online passwords to my bank accounts and transferred all the money out of my bank accounts so I had nothing."

To make matters worse, Stapp reveals that the IRS has frozen his bank accounts due to a "clerical error" and will be returning his money in "nine to 10 months," which he plans to battle in court.

"I'm gonna fight every single individual that is responsible for this," he says. "Right now I'm looking for an honest, good attorney that's ready to fight and take it all the way to the top." Read this