W
HEN RANDY TRAVIS
suffered a near-fatal stroke in
2013, it was doubtful the
country superstar would ever
sing again. But his manager, Tony
Conway, had a plan. After seeing the
Nashville Symphony perform the music
of Led Zeppelin, Conway organized what
became The Music of Randy Travis, a tour
of mostly theaters featuring Travis’
original eight-piece band. The Voice
contestant James Dupré, who appeared
with Travis in the 2015 film The Price,
agreed to step in, while Travis, 60,
watched from the front row.
“If [Randy] wants to get up and throw an
‘amen’ in there, he has the opportunity to
do it,” his wife, Mary Travis, told Billboard
weeks before the scheduled tour. “But it
wouldn’t put him on the spot.”
On Oct. 7, all but three of the dates
were canceled due to production issues,
according to a spokesperson. (A week
prior, Ticketmaster’s website showed
hundreds of seats available.) “Nobody
wants to put Randy in an embar-
rassing situation,” one unaffiliated
promoter tells Billboard. Neither
Conway nor the Travises would
comment on the cancellations.
For artists like Travis — career
musicians whose songs
aren’t heavily played on
streaming services, but who
have decades of beloved
albums and deep catalogs
— the ability to play live is more important
than ever. Mature audiences are also more
willing to pay higher prices for tickets, as
well as for merchandise at a venue.
Yet it’s not always that simple. Six years
ago, at age 54, Travis was just approaching
a potentially lucrative live period that could
have alleviated his already-messy financial
picture: In 2010, he and Elizabeth “Lib”
Hatcher, his longtime manager and wife
of 19 years, divorced, with the resulting
settlement splitting his past publishing
royalties in half. In addition, although he
has sold more than 18 million records
during his career, according to the
RIAA, he and Hatcher had taken
cash advances against his sales
royalties from Warner Music, mean-
ing he receives no income from
the label until the advances
are recouped. Three years
later, his stroke sapped his
ability to perform live.
For Travis, a revered
artist of the 1990s with
seven Grammys to his name, this is rock
bottom. But he and his team haven’t given
up on a seemingly impossible conundrum:
how to perform when you physically can’t.
As of now, an Oct. 28 date at Nashville’s
Ryman Auditorium is still on the schedule,
as are dates in Mississippi and Indiana.
And while her husband needs substantial
assistance with daily tasks, Mary says that
he still wants to perform and has a “sparkle
in his eye” when he’s on the road and
interacting with his fans. Earlier this year,
says Conway, he spent entire days signing
copies of his 2019 memoir at book events.
Whatever happens with The Music of
Randy Travis, the artist and his team are
trying other ways to reach his fans. In the
next few months, Travis hopes to release
an album of older vocal performances now
accompanied by a symphony, as well as
13 newly unearthed vocal sessions from
the 1990s and 2000s. But as to whether he
has made money from streaming royalties,
Travis is succinct. “Heh!” he says over the
phone. “Nah.”
Primary Wave acquired a stake in the publishing and master royalties of Styx’s TOMMY SHAW. Country songwriter LIZ ROSE extended her publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music.
Travis Forges Ahead
AFTER A STROKE LEFT HIM UNABLE TO TOUR, COUNTRY STAR
RANDY TRAVIS SEEKS NEW WAYS TO SUSTAIN HIS CAREER
BY STEVE KNOPPER
T
HE FIRST STRAINS
of Pharrell Williams’
2015 single “Free-
dom” play on the
stage of Cirque du Soleil’s new
show Messi10, where a face-
off between two groups of per-
formers begins. As jersey-clad
teammates encourage the
audience to clap to the music,
three soccer players dribble
and spin balls on a stage that
revolves and rises, while four
human jugglers mirror the
freestylers’ moves — only
instead of balls, the acrobats
toss one another in the air.
Messi10, based on the story
of soccer superstar Lionel
Messi, premieres on Oct. 10
in Barcelona, where Messi
and his club team reign over
popular culture, positioning
Sony Music to score big as
well. The country is also home
to many Cirque fans — Spain
is the Montréal-based troupe’s
second-biggest market, after
the United States. Following
its initial run of Spanish dates,
which are already sold out,
Messi10 will head to Buenos
Aires, Argentina, in June
2020 — 10 shows have already
sold out there in the presale
— and continue on a five-year
world tour that will include
the United States. The show
is the first in the billion-dollar
company’s 35-year history to
have a sports theme.
Sony Music Latin Iberia
chairman/CEO Afo Verde
came up with the idea for
Messi10 with Pinto Wahín,
a former Barcelona player
turned artist-producer now
signed to Sony Music Latin.
Sony will license some master
recordings and compositions
for the show.
“Leo is the greatest player
in the history of football and a
world-renowned figure,” says
Verde. “It’s a show that will
tour the world and is created
for the world.”
While Cirque, Sony and the
show’s producers declined to
provide financial details, the
last time the company toured
the globe with a show based on
a singular superstar — Michael
Jackson: The Immortal World
Tour (2011-14) — it grossed
$360.9 million over 501
shows, according to Billboard
Boxscore. At the time, it was
the eighth-highest-grossing
tour ever. Messi10 is slated to
run two years longer than the
Jackson show did.
“I think this is the first time
we collaborated with a music
company like Sony,” says Mes-
si10 writer-director Mukhtar
Omar Sharif Mukhtar, “where
they have been hugely
involved with the production
and selection of the music.”
According to Verde, the
song selection reflects Messi’s
favorites as well as music that
represents moments in his life.
Messi is a consultant for the
show and soundtrack, which
includes versions of songs by
Shakira, The White Stripes
and composer Hans Zimmer,
as well as Argentine artists
Dread Mar-I and Los Cafres.
Verde brought the idea to
PopArt Music, the Buenos
Aires-based promoter that
produced Cirque’s Sép7imo
Día, which was inspired by the
songs of the legendary Argen-
tine rock group Soda Stereo
and sold 1.5 million tickets to
its 2017-18 tour. PopArt then
proposed the Messi show to
Cirque. “Instead of telling
them they were crazy, we
said we would think about
it,” jokes Cirque executive
producer Charles Joron.
Since the 1980s, the com-
pany has expanded with Las
Vegas residencies, acrobatic
spectacles inspired by the
music of The Beatles and Jack-
son, and a movie production
deal. After selling a majority
stake to U.S. private equity
firm TPG Capital and Chinese
fund Fosun Industrial Hold-
ings in 2015, Cirque bought
the Blue Man Group, the Illu-
sionists magic show franchise
and family entertainment
company VStar. “We are al-
ways expanding our universe,
and this show fits that strate-
gy,” says Joron.
Cirque Aims To Score With
Soccer-Themed Messi10
The global entertainment company Cirque du Soleil is teaming with PopArt
and Sony Music to tour the story of Lionel Messi — with a musical twist
BY JUDY CANTOR-NAVAS
A scene from Messi10.
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S.22 BILLBOARD • OCTOBER 12, 2019