CNN is reporting that Grammy-nominated  singer and Rick James protegée Teena Marie has died at age 54.

The multi-talented vocalist, who was born in Santa Monica, got her break at Motown Records in 1979, and went on to be one of the most prominent R&B  female vocalists of the 1980s, a white singer who, somewhat improbably, managed to cross over to black radio and retail through songs such as "Lovergirl," "It Must Be Magic," "I'm a Sucker for Your Love" and "Square Biz."

Pop & Hiss will update as we learn more.

[Updated 8:37 p.m. Twitter is alive with remembrances and 140-word-or-less kudos to Marie, who, though she'd been out of the spotlight for many years, continued to have a remarkably devoted fanbase.

Chicago rapper Common tweeted: "R.I.P. Lady T! Your rhyme in Square Biz is and will always be classic material!"

Singer Mary J. Blige, who has long cited Marie as an influence, has been writing heartfelt notes for the last half-hour: "Tina Mari inspired me vocally as a child. Her songs I sang in the mirror with a hair brush. I'm so hurt."

She continued: "I'll love u forever Tina Mari. Portuguese Love, Casanova Brown, Square Biz, I need your lovin, all of your music."

And DJ and Stones Throw records kingpin Peanut Butter Wolf gave her a shout-out, as well: "RIP Teena Marie. Can't believe it and don't wanna hear it," he wrote, followed by: "Remembering how good I felt when I heard @Spindeezy play Square Biz & Gigolette back to back."

Missy Elliott just posted: "My Prayers go out to Teena Marie family. Teena created music that is Timeless! Songs sung with soul and conviction a True LEGEND!"

Alicia Keys was nearly speechless: "Teena Marie??????Why???? how??? ;-("

Questlove, drummer of the Roots: "again the mark of a TRUE ARTIST is when their album cuts get more love than the hits. Marie's magic was defined by her album cuts."

More tributes as they arrive.

-- Randall Roberts

 
The surviving members of the Doors and members of singer Jim Morrison's family are saying "Thanks, but no thanks" to Florida officials for their recent pardon of Morrison for his actions during a 1969 concert in Miami for which he was convicted of indecent exposure.

Outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist arranged for the pardon early this month from the state's Office of Executive Clemency, but Wednesday, band members Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore said in a statement, "We don't feel Jim needs to be pardoned for anything."

 
Reason No. 785 that “there will always be an England”: The U.K. pop singles chart this week is topped by the latest winner of Simon Cowell’s hit show “The X Factor,” coming to U.S.  TV screens soon. But on his way to No. 1 with his single “When We Collide,” newly crowned pop star Matt Cardle got a surprise challenge from a nearly 50-year-old U.S. surf-rock classic.

The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird’’ -- the one boasting the Shakespearean refrain, “Bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word” -- debuted at No 3, right behind Cardle and the No. 2 single, Rihanna’s “What’s My Name,” and ahead of the Black Eyed Peas’ “The Time (Dirty Bit),” last week’s No. 1 place holder.

“Every Christmas, the No. 1 single has been by the person from that show,” said Tim Livingston, director of sales and publicisty for Sundazed Music, the New York-based reissue specialty label that has the rights to “Surfin’ Bird” in the U.S. “Evidently, a bunch of people over there got fed up with that, and last year they had a grass-roots campaign to try to get Rage Against the Machine to No. 1.”

It worked: Rage’s 1992 song “Killing in the Name” outsold 2009 “X Factor” winner Joe McElderry’s “The Climb” and wrested the No. 1 slot from Cowell’s talent-contest victor during Christmas week.

Aretha Franklin has been released from a Detroit hospital following recent surgery for an undisclosed condition, according to a statement issued Thursday by the singer’s spokeswoman, Tracey Jordan.

Since she entered the hospital, Detroit news outlets have widely reported that she has been battling pancreatic cancer. The statement said that her doctors deemed her surgery “highly successful,” and that she is expecting to spend the holidays at home with her family.

“I’ve been at home for almost three days now,” Franklin said in the statement. “My family and friends who brought me home are taking great care of me. I also have a private nurse who visits on a daily basis.  I’m hoping to be strong enough to go out and see the upcoming Sam Cooke play at the Music Hall in downtown Detroit before January 2, as well as a performance of ‘Dreamgirls’ at the FOX before it closes.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Aretha Franklin performs in 2008. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

 
Bon Jovi fans, take heart.

New Jersey rocker Jon Bon Jovi may have missed the boat for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction this time around, but he’s in da club as far as President Obama is concerned.

Bon Jovi is one of 25 people newly tapped by the president for the White House Council for Community Solutions, his initiative that seeks to bring together individuals, nonprofit organizations, businesses and government to identify and address community needs.

Obama selected the rocker to be part of the group because of his work through his Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which has helped create affordable housing for low-income families and individuals. In 2008, the singer and songwriter hosted a fundraiser for Obama at his Garden State home during the presidential campaign.

"These impressive men and women have dedicated their lives and careers to civic engagement and social innovation,” Obama said in a statement the White House issued Tuesday. “I commend them for their outstanding contributions to their communities, and I am confident that they will serve the American people well in their new roles on the White House Council for Community Solutions.  I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."

The other council members include educators, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and religious leaders.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Jon Bon Jovi performing in Nashville in 2007. Credit: Peter Kramer / Getty Images.

 
 
Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, the Alice Cooper Band, Dr. John and Darlene Love will be welcomed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next spring, the organization will announce Wednesday.

All five had been long eligible for induction under the hall’s criteria that acts wait at least 25 years after releasing their first recordings. In addition, Jac Holzman and Art Rupe, the founders of Elektra and Specialty Records labels, respectively, are entering the hall as co-recipients of the annual Ahmet Ertegun Award bestowed on influential record executives.

Demonstrating that when Elton John speaks, Rock Hall voters listen, Leon Russell has been selected as the honoree for the new Award for Musical Excellence, previously known as the Sideman category. John had been exceptionally vocal this year when promoting their duet album “The Union” in saying that his Oklahoma-based fellow pianist, singer and songwriter deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.

Of the nominees who were on the final ballot for induction, Bon Jovi, Donna Summer, Chic, Laura Nyro, the Beastie Boys, Donovan, the J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, Joe Tex and Chuck Willis were left to wait for another year to be voted in.

As much as Waits’ induction will be cheered by critics and fans who have long admired his idiosyncratic songs, which often deal with the denizens of seedy bars and low-rent hotels, this year’s choices won’t help mollify those who have criticized the hall for the scant attention it has given rap music since its earliest proponents first became eligible in the last few years.

Dr. John’s selection can be seen both as a vote of confidence in his richly regional gumbo of New Orleans R&B, jazz and rock as well as for his prominence in recent years as an outspoken champion of the Crescent City’s status as a wellspring of musical and cultural riches following the devastation to the region in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Mainstream rock fans are also likely to grouse about the snub of Bon Jovi, even though many music critics have been lukewarm to New Jersey’s catchy but cliché-ridden brand of Springsteen-lite pop-rock.

When cartoonish rock band KISS made the nominee list last year, many fans objected, saying that Cooper, a.k.a. Vincent Furnier, had established the template for outrageously theatrical hard rock and deserved to be voted in first.

The induction ceremony will be held in March in New York.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Tom Waits in concert at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles in 1999. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Madison Square Garden, which owns the landmark New York venue of the same name, as well as Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater, among others, "is in the process of finalizing the purchase" of the Forum sports arena in Inglewood, according to Billboard.com. The venue, which was at one point the home to the Lakers and the Kings, was once the preeminent large concert venue in the city. That changed with the opening of Staples Center in 1999.

The Forum has been owned since 2000 by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which has struggled to keep the venue profitable. The concert bookings have slowed to a trickle in the last year. The Times' Richard Verrier wrote about the church's goals when purchasing the property a decade ago:

More ambitiously, church officials envisioned a family entertainment venue with concerts, shops, restaurants and a hotel that would create hundreds of jobs in an underserved area while generating income for the church and its mission.

The dream, however, never came to pass. Today, the Forum sits mostly vacant and silent, a monument to a bygone era when it was known as the Fabulous Forum and hosted such acts as the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. The shops, restaurants and hotel never materialized.

"We're in a challenging situation right now,'' [Bishop Kenneth] Ulmer acknowledged in an interview.

If indeed the purchase comes to pass, it could change the landscape of the concert business in Los Angeles. The Forum holds 18,000 people, compared with the 20,000-capacity Staples Center, which, like the neighboring Club Nokia and Nokia Theatre, is owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group. AEG also owns concert promoter Goldenvoice.

The Recording Academy has chosen Barbra Streisand as its MusiCares Person of the Year in conjunction with the 2011 Grammy Awards, and will salute her musical and philanthropic achievements Feb. 11 with an all-star fundraising dinner and concert featuring Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Barry Manilow, Diana Krall, Kristin Chenoweth and others.

Along with such pop, jazz and Broadway veterans, the event also will bring in a new generation of singers with an appearance by cast members from Fox TV’s hit series “Glee,” including Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison and Darren Criss. Eight-time Grammy winner Streisand also will perform at the close of the program.

Previous MusiCares honorees include Bennett, Wonder, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Brian Wilson, Bono, Bonnie Raitt, Luciano Pavarotti and Neil Young.  Proceeds from the annual event benefit various MusiCares programs for musicians in need.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Barbra Streisand singing at the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony in 2001. Credit: Los Angeles Times 

 
 
When Apple Inc. announced last week that the Beatles’ catalog would at long last be available for legal downloading on iTunes, many skeptics groused that the two entities had come together too late: Everyone who cares about the group’s music long ago found a way to store it on their PCs, laptops or MP3 players.

Apparently not.

Apple announced Tuesday that 450,000 Beatles albums and 2 million individual tracks were downloaded during the first week they went up online. That translates to well more than $8 million spent on Beatles downloads out of the gate, using the single album download price of $12.99 and $1.29 per song. It doesn’t take into account several double albums priced at $19.99 or the digital Beatles box set that iTunes offers for $149.

At the same time the Beatles finally joined the digital world, Amazon began discounting the remastered physical CDs that were released last year, with individual albums now selling for $7.99, double sets for $11.99 and $12.99 and the 16-CD stereo box set priced at $129.99, making the tangible versions cheaper than the virtual ones. Consequently, six Beatles titles are in the Top 100 of Amazon’s ranking of its bestselling music titles as of Tuesday.

-- Randy Lewis

 
Taylor Swift’s 2011 “Speak Now” tour will encompass 87 shows in 19 countries on four continents starting Feb. 9 in Singapore and reaching Los Angeles for a pair of shows, on Aug. 23 and 24. She’ll also play in California on Sept. 1 and 2 (San Jose) and Sept. 3 (Sacramento).

U2 is pitching in with other acts that are offering special releases in conjunction with "Black Friday" promotions Nov. 26 that support independent record stores. The Irish band will be offering  a  limited-edition three-song live EP on vinyl  titled “Wide Awake in Europe.”

“Mercy,” the freshest of the tracks and recently added to the European leg of the "U2360° Tour," was recorded Sept. 22 in Brussels and is being released for the first time in any form on the new EP. The other two -- “Moment of Surrender” and “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” -- were recorded at earlier stops on the tour. Only 5,000 copies of the EP will be pressed and sold, primarily in North American indie record stores, although some copies will be shipped for sale in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Black Friday releases from U2, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Metallica, the Gaslight Anthem, the Black Crowes, Grinderman, the Doors, the Black Keys and others are an extension of national Record Store Day, an event each April that a  coalition of indie music store operators cooked up to highlight brick-and-mortar stores that still specialize in selling physical CDs and vinyl.

"We all wanted to get behind Record Store Day,” U2 bassist Adam Clayton said on behalf of the band in a statement released Monday. “My local record shop introduced me to music I didn’t know and I might never have discovered."

-- Randy Lewis

The Ray Charles Foundation has filed a lawsuit charging the late soul singer’s eldest son, Ray Charles Robinson Jr., with copyright infringement stemming from the use of a photograph and several of Charles’ songs in the son’s recent book “You Don’t Know Me: Reflections of My Father,  Ray Charles.”

The Foundation, which Charles assigned as the owner of his copyrights and intellectual property rights upon his death in 2004, alleges that Robinson’s book used a copyrighted photo, the titles and  lyrics of four of his songs without permission.

The action filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles seeks $150,000 for each copyright violation and also names as defendants the book’s publisher, Crown Publishing, and Crown’s parent company, Random House, and Robinson’s co-author, Mary Jane Ross. Random House officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The dedication page of Robinson Jr.’s book, which was published in June, reads, in part, “To the memory of my father, Ray Charles Robinson, and all that you were to be and all that you dreamed you wanted to be. I love you come rain or come shine.”

-- Randy Lewis