On April 16, 2003, Luther Vandross suffered a near-fatal stroke, and the world held its breath. Inside sources said he might never sing again. He was too weak to receive visitors, but cards and good wishes came from Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, Anita Baker, Halle Berry, Patti LaBelle, Jesse Jackson, Burt Bacharach, Bette Midler, Star Jones, Gladys Knight, a ... Show More
Nov 15
Lucy Caplan, "Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera" (Harvard UP, 2025)
Recently, musicologists and others have started writing about Black participation in opera. Lucy Caplan’s Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera (Harvard UP, 2025) is a major new publication on this topic. Caplan examines what she calls a Black operati ... Show More
59m 59s
Jul 2024
Questlove Supreme: BeBe Winans
<p>Gospel/R&B giant BeBe Winans joins QLS to talk about his 40-plus-year career in music, film, and theater. BeBe details coming from one of the greatest and most voluminous musical families, and breaking off to build a duo with his sister CeCe Winans. The singer-songwriter a ... Show More
1h 40m
Oct 2024
The virtuosity of Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder may be our modern day Mozart. A child prodigy, he joined Motown as a preadolescent where he was marketed as “Little” Stevie Wonder. He wowed audiences with his virtuosic command of the piano, harmonica, drums and of course, vocals. At just 13, he had his first numbe ... Show More
1h 5m
Aug 2022
How Joni Mitchell Became a Millennial and Gen-Z Hero
We celebrate the work of Joni Mitchell, with Cameron Crowe discussing his legendary 1979 Mitchell interview, and guitarist Larry Carlton talking about playing with Mitchell on some of her greatest songs. Angie Martoccio takes us through the peaks of Mitchell's discography, and Jo ... Show More
57m 23s
Dec 2024
Sammy Davis Jr.: Death of the Entertainer | Reviving a Mobit
This week, we’re celebrating the birthday of the legendary Sammy Davis Jr. by revisiting a special Mobit. From the age of three Sammy Davis, Jr. did it all better than anyone else - singing, dancing, acting, even gun spinning. Mo talks to friends and family about what drove him t ... Show More
50m 15s