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Music News

• Grammy-winning composer Clare Fischer dead at 83 (AP)

  AP - Clare Fischer, a Grammy-winning composer who wrote scores for television and movies and worked with legendary musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, has died. He was 83.

• Screen Actors Guild votes to approve merger plan (AP)

  AP - The Screen Actors Guild national board of directors has voted to approve a plan to merge with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

• Jesse Jackson adds voice to Grammy protest (Reuters)

  Reuters - Civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday urged Grammy organizers to reinstate 31 ethnic and minority musical categories that have been cut from the music industry's top awards.

• Peter, Paul and Mary bassist Dick Kniss dies at 74 (AP)

  AP - Dick Kniss, a bassist who performed for five decades with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary and co-wrote the John Denver hit "Sunshine on My Shoulders," has died. He was 74.

  
  

• Jay-Z, Beyonce make Billboard industry power list (Reuters)

  Reuters - Power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce joined a list of top music executives, led by Live Nation Entertainment chairman Irving Azoff, on Billboard magazine's first Power 100 chart on Friday.

• Doctor convicted in Jackson death seeks release (AP)

  AP - The doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death asked a judge Friday to release him from jail pending his appeal.

• Hawaii musician pleads no contest in molestation (AP)

  AP - Cecilio Rodriguez, one-half of a popular and longtime Hawaii musical duo, pleaded no contest to molesting two young California girls in the 1990s and was sentenced Friday to a year in jail, prosecutors in Los Angeles said.

• Loved and loathed, Lana Del Rey set to face the music (Reuters)

  Reuters - Rarely has a pop star just starting out been so loved and loathed as Lana Del Rey, the 25-year-old who has filled acres of newspaper column inches even before her debut album "Born to Die" hits shelves next week.

• Country music star Merle Haggard home from hospital (Reuters)

  Reuters - Country music singer Merle Haggard was resting at home in Northern California on Friday after a long stint in a Georgia hospital, his publicist said.

• Country star Merle Haggard home from hospital (Reuters)

  Reuters - Country music singer Merle Haggard was resting at home in Northern California on Friday after a long stint in a Georgia hospital, his publicist Tresa Redburn said.

• After 45 years, Paul Plishka says goodbye to Met (AP)

  AP - Paul Plishka thought back to Sept. 21, 1967, when he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Monk in Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" alongside Renata Tebaldi, Sherrill Milnes and Rosalind Elias.

  
  

• Stars cover Dylan songs for Amnesty International (AP)

  AP - Anyone who ever doubted the transformative power of Bob Dylan's music need only look to Ke$ha.

  
  

• Michael Jackson's legacy cemented by children (Reuters)

  Reuters - Late pop star Michael Jackson was immortalized in cement on Thursday when his three children stamped the "Thriller" singer's glove and shoe prints in the hallowed concrete courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

• Leonard Cohen's new take on "Old Ideas" (Reuters)

  Reuters - Sitting in a dimly lit New York City bar wearing a trilby hat and a dark suit, no tie, singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen pauses before responding to a question about how his ideas have changed over his lengthy career.

• Kenny Chesney leads Academy of Country Music nominees (Reuters)

  Reuters - Kenny Chesney grabbed the lead with nine award nominations on Thursday from the Academy of Country Music, which hands out its prizes on April 1 in Las Vegas.

• APNewsBreak: Jackson enters fray over Grammy cuts (AP)

  AP - The Rev. Jesse Jackson is entering the fray over The Recording Academy's cuts to its Grammy categories: He's asking to meet with the president of the organization and has raised the possibility of protests with the awards less than two weeks away.

  
  

• Adele reigns Billboard chart in slow week (Reuters)

  Reuters - British singer Adele continued her reign atop the Billboard 200 album chart and the Hot 100 songs chart on Wednesday, in a week of low album sales and a lack of new releases, music industry analysts said.

• Unreleased ABBA track on new album (AP)

  AP - Mamma Mia, here they go again.

  
  

• ABBA to launch revamped final album, with new track (Reuters)

  Reuters - Swedish pop group ABBA are to release a new version of their last album, featuring a previously unreleased track for the first time since 1994, the group's website said on Wednesday.

• AP Interview: Chris Isaak makes Memphis album (AP)

  AP - Chris Isaak is returning to the roots of rock 'n' roll and doing it old-school: All in one take.