Backstage Pass

Justin Timberlake is bringing, well, music back.

After announcing his return to recording after six years and then making the world wait for three more days, Timberlake unveiled “Suit and Tie” this morning on his website and on MySpace, the social network he is trying to revive.

“Some people may criticize me for the last three days,” Timberlake writes in an open letter, accompanying...

Jessie Ware is being touted as “the next Adele.” The British singer's American takeover plans begin at Bowery Ballroom Thursday. Intro brings you the week’s hottest videos and shows every Monday. To catch up on all the Intros and watch classic Long Island music scene videos, check out Newsday Music’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/newsdaymusic.

THE LIST JESSIE WARE, “If You're...

While we wait for whatever big project Beyoncé plans to unveil during her Super Bowl Halftime performance, she and her Destiny's Child pals Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams have pulled together a nice little surprise — new music.

The trio will release "Nuclear," their first new single in eight years on Jan. 29, as part of their "Love Songs" compilation. The song is produced...

Macy Gray is in the midst of her own personal Renaissance.   

She spent last year working on an eclectic set of covers ranging from Arcade Fire to Kanye West on her “Covered” album and then masterfully tackled Stevie Wonder's entire “Talking Book” album. Gray kicked off 2013 with another surprise, sitting in as a guest vocalist Friday night with the David Murray Big Band at Iridium....

When California boy band Emblem3 got eliminated from this season's “The X Factor” before the finals, it crystallized the difference between the way the music industry works and the way music competition shows work.

Emblem3 — teenage brothers Wesley and Keaton Stromberg and 20-year-old friend Drew Chadwick — are exactly what the music industry wants these days. They're young, good-looking,...

    As Midge Ure was wrapping up his impressive acoustic set at Page One last night, Michael “Eppy” Epstein stood off to the side and shouted, “History!”     And it very well may have been. Ure, best known as the lead singer of Ultravox as well as the co-writer of the Band Aid holiday classic “Do They Know It's Christmas,” was the first act in Eppy's new concert series...

Today, David Bowie celebrates his 66th birthday. But it's his fans who are getting the surprising presents.

With no fanfare, Bowie released his first single in 10 years, a gorgeous, haunting ballad “Where Are We Now,” on iTunes and debuted its stark, Berlin-influenced video on his website and on YouTube.

He also announced that a new album “The Next Day,” his first since 2003's “Reality,”...

    Midge Ure is pretty zen about the fickleness of the music industry. “It's not really a fair, well-balanced world -- the music industry,” he told me recently. “Maybe it doesn't need to be.”     “You can't depend on radio,” he said. “I'm just thankful for the stations that stuck with Ultravox all the way through.”     Long Island's WLIR was one of those...

Morrissey kicks off his 2013 American tour at the Tilles Center on Wednesday. Intro brings you the week’s hottest videos and shows every Monday. To catch up on all the Intros and watch classic Long Island music scene videos, check out Newsday Music’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/newsdaymusic.

THE LIST

MORRISSEY, “The Last of the Famous International Playboys.” At...

Happy new year! Last week, we counted down the year's best albums. This week, we look at the Top 25 singles of 2012.

1. fun. featuring Janelle Monae, “We Are Young” (Fueled by Ramen): Unconventional, both in form and substance, and yet so catchy that it doesn't matter. In a world too defined by differences, “We Are Young” focuses on similarities, aspirations and possibilities.

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