So devastated to hear that Cuba Gooding, Sr. has passed away at age 72. He was the lead singer of the Main Ingredient, a wonderful R&B group of the 1970s. His hits included “Everybody Plays the Fool” and “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely.” They are mainstays of the pop and R&B canon. I knew Cuba Sr., we filmed him for “Only the Strong Survive.” He was a lovely man. What a shame. Cuba had the same effusive personality as the son (whom younger people will know better) and a lilting R&B tenor that was a staple of AM radio. Reports say he was found dead in his car in suburban Los Angeles. Condolences to our pal Cuba Jr., the famed actor, and all his friends and family.

Everyone is here at Radio City from New York governor Andrew Cuomo to movie stars. And rock stars.

First: the big news is that Apple Music has bought the rights to stream and download “Clive Davis: Soundtrack of Your Life.” A theatrical release plan is forthcoming.

Five thousand people packed Radio City Music Hall tonight to see the film, which is just terrific, full of fun, the history of the pop music business, and the story of Whitney Houston’s rise and fall.

Then– Whoopi Goldberg emceed an hour long show (maybe longer) that had Barry Manilow perform a medley of his hits, Jennifer Hudson slay the crowd with a medley of Whitney Houston songs and Leonard Cohen’s Hallellujah”; Dionne Warwick majestically full-throated and better than ever on hits she had from Arista Records; Carly Simon (with son Ben playing guitar) on “Coming Around Again” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

Plus– Earth Wind & Fire tore through the Beatles’ “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “Shining Star,” and a whirling dervish of “September” that sent the crowd into Nirvana. They also performed a lovely collaboration with Kenny G. And then Aretha Franklin — looking spectacular in a white gown with gold embellishments– gave stunning renditions of “Freeway of Love” and “Natural Woman” like it was 20 years ago. More standing O’s.

All the acts brought their “A” games. I’m not sure if JHud knew it but while she was singing “I’m Every Woman,” Valerie Simpson– who wrote the song with her late husband Nik Ashford– was rocking out. Simpson was sitting behind Peter Fonda. And everywhere you looked there were famous people scattered through the audience. Mostly the people in Radio City were dancing and singing along, underscoring the meaning of the documentary that opened the Tribeca Film Festival.

Later at Tavern on the Green, Miss Franklin took pictures with Robert DeNiro and wife Grace (shimmering in silver) and plenty more A listers turned up including matchbox twenty’s Rob Thomas and his beautiful wife Marisol. Also on hand: Tony winner Cynthia Erivo, Anthony Mackie, Judy Collins, Lee Daniels, Denise Rich, Nikki Haskell, Beverly Johnson, and Ghostbuster himself, Ray Parker, Jr.

I dare say: best Tribeca Fest opening yet. A good omen for the 2017 festival!

More later today…

Prince’s estate has filed suit in federal court against Rogue Media Alliance and producer George Boxill, who worked with Prince from 2004-2006 and now hopes to cash in. RMA announced last night that they were releasing three to six new Prince songs on Friday. One of them, “Deliverance,” was posted to SoundCloud and is now apparently on iTunes.

According to Minneapolis station KSTP, the lawsuit states Boxill signed a confidentiality agreement, which stated that all recordings he worked on with the pop star “would remain Prince’s sole and exclusive property.”

Also:

* The agreement also stated Boxill “would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever,” and “he would return any such recordings or property to Prince immediately upon request.” 

* However, Boxill will not return the masters or recordings, and he has shared the tracks with third parties, which all violate his contract, according to the lawsuit.

* The confidentiality agreement echoes Prince’s concern for privacy. There was a clause in the contract that states Boxill has “no right to give interviews or write books, articles, etc.” 

The estate and Paisley Park claim a release of the so-called “Prince Recordings,” would hurt its interests “permanently and irreparably.” It would hurt business relationships , but more importantly, “it deprives Prince (and now the Estate) from choosing what is released to the public and when,” the suit states.

The suit asks for Boxill and any associates working on this to return the Prince Recordings and refrain from using anything Boxill obtained with his sessions with Prince. The estate and Paisley Park said it would like “any and all masters, copies and reproductions” returned.  The state lawsuit sought civil liability for theft. 

The Estate issued this statement:

The Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson is aware that Mr. George Ian Boxill, in conjunction with Rogue Music Alliance, has issued a press release announcing an intent to distribute previously unreleased Prince master recordings and musical compositions. The Estate has not authorized any such release and is not affiliated with either Mr. Boxill or Rogue Music Alliance. During his unparalleled career, Prince worked with many sound engineers, including Mr. Boxill. Like the other engineers that had the opportunity to work with Prince, Mr. Boxill signed an agreement, under which he agreed (1) all recordings that he worked on with Prince would remain Prince’s sole and exclusive property; (2) he would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever; and (3) he would return any such recordings or property to Prince immediately upon request. Mr. Boxill did not comply with his agreement. Instead, Mr. Boxill maintained copies of certain tracks, waited until after Prince’s tragic death, and is now attempting to release tracks without the authorization of the Estate and in violation of the agreement and applicable law. The Estate is taking immediate legal actions to prevent Mr. Boxill’s continuing violations of his agreement and the rights of the Estate and its partners in Prince’s recordings. Any dissemination of the recordings and underlying music compositions, or fixation of the same in any audiovisual work or otherwise, is unauthorized and in violation of the Estate’s rights to the master recordings and musical compositions.

Six unheard songs by Prince will be released Friday in advance of the 1st anniversary of his death. The first one available to hear is called Deliverance:

The other songs are called “I Am” and “Man Opera,” an 8 minute suite, plus “Touch Me,” “Sunrise Sunset,” “No One Else” and an extended version of “I Am.” (I don’t think “Sunrise Sunset” is a cover of the “Fiddler on the Roof” song but you never know.)

It’s unclear if this with permission of Prince’s estate or it affects the estate’s deals with Universal and Warner Bros. The ‘label’ for these releases is called Rogue Music Alliance. Their press release reads:
The songs were written and recorded when Prince was an independent artist, protesting what he saw as an unjust music industry. In the spirit of that independence, and in supporting Prince’s opinion of major label contracts, DELIVERANCE is being released independently via RMA, a Vancouver, WA based record company. The majority of all sales of DELIVERANCE will benefit Prince’s estate.

Prince, and Ian Boxill (2Pac, Gladys Knight, Janet Jackson, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, multiple award winning Prince albums), co-wrote and co-produced all of the tracks beginning in 2006. After Prince’s untimely passing, Boxill continued their work by spending the past year completing the compositions and arrangements, finishing the production and mixing the songs.