{"id":103860,"date":"2025-12-21T15:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T15:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103860\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T15:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T15:36:13","slug":"the-biggest-san-diego-music-stories-of-2025-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103860\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest San Diego music stories of 2025 \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar dominated national and international pop-music headlines in 2025, but some current and former San Diegans had an outsized impact as well.<\/p>\n

Matt Cameron\u2019s Rock Hall two-peat<\/p>\n

Bonita Vista High School alum Matt Cameron this year became just the second drummer in the history of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to be inducted twice, an honor previously held only by Ringo Starr. The first time for Cameron was in 2017 as a member of Pearl Jam. On Nov. 8, he was inducted as a member of his pre-Pearl Jam band, Soundgarden.<\/p>\n

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2025 inductees include Soundgarden, Cyndi Lauper, OutKast<\/a><\/p>\n

On July 7, Cameron announced he had left Pearl Jam \u201cafter 27 fantastic years.\u201d He is now forging ahead as the singer and guitarist in his two-year-old band, Is This Real?
\n\"AliciaAlicia Keys accepts the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award with her son, Genesis Ali Dean, at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, 2025. (Kevin Winter\/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)\n<\/p>\n

The Grammy Awards<\/p>\n

At least a half-dozen current and former San Diegans earned 2025 Grammy nominations.<\/p>\n

They included: jazz-soul vocal great (and SDSU alum) Gregory Porter, sitar master (and San Dieguito Academy High School alum) Anoushka Shankar; blues vocal dynamo (and Oceanside resident) Shemekia Copeland; heavy-metal stalwarts Judas Priest (whose lead singer, Rob Halford, has been a part-time Hillcrest resident for decades); Pearl Jam (whose lineup includes lead singer and San Dieguito Academy alum Eddie Vedder, and lead guitarist and former Del Mar and La Jolla resident Mike McCready).<\/p>\n

2025 Grammy nominees include La Jolla\u2019s Alicia Keys, Oceanside\u2019s Shemekia Copeland and other San Diegans<\/a><\/p>\n

While none of them won when the winners were announced on Feb. 2, La Jolla resident Alicia Keys went home with two 2025 Grammys. She earned Best Musical Theater Album honors for her autobiographical Broadway hit, \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d and became the first female artist to receive the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award in honor of her artistic excellence, philanthropic contributions and entrepreneurial achievements.<\/p>\n

\"TheeThe San Diego band Thee Sacred Souls, featuring lead singer Josh Lane (pictured), has been having another banner year. (Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)
\nThee Sacred Souls\u2019 banner year<\/p>\n

The horizons grew ever larger this year for Thee Sacred Souls, the San Diego-based band that specializes in vintage 1960s R&B and Chicano soul music.<\/p>\n

The group \u2014 which is co-led by singer Josh Lane, bassist Sal Samano and drummer Alex Garcia \u2014 drew enthusiastic crowds at both weekends of this year\u2019s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio. In the summer, they performed at prestigious festivals in Belgium, England, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands and at the famed Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

Thee Sacred Souls reflect on the San Diego band\u2019s heady year: \u2018Sometimes it\u2019s hard to just take it all in\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

In October, Thee Sacred Souls became the first San Diego band in memory to do two back-to-back concerts at the SDSU\u2019s 4,600-seat Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheatre. Both shows were sell-outs.<\/p>\n

\"GuitaristVeteran San Diego garage-rock band The Schizophonics performed on a double-bill with Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jack White in Hollywood this year..(David Wolff-Patrick\/Redferns)
\nHere, there and everywhere<\/p>\n

Thee Sacred Souls are in good company. Other current and former San Diego musicians also appeared on national stages this year.<\/p>\n

The combustible garage-rock band The Schizophonics were handpicked by Jack White to open his May 12 Hollywood Palladium concert in Los Angeles, while guitarist Andrew McKeag did a coast-to-coast tour as the bassist in Vermont singer-songwriter Neko Case\u2019s band.<\/p>\n

Violinist, guitarist and former San Diego indie-rock mainstay Ray Suen, a UCSD alum, is now on a two-year world tour as the music director in Rock & Roll Hall of Famer David Byrne\u2019s new band. And guitarist, saxophonist and flutist Joe Harrison, a Canyon Crest Academy alum, toured this year as the bassist in Black Keys.<\/p>\n

\"Carlsbad-bredCarlsbad-bred singer-songwriter Alex Warren had a breakout year in 2025, a year that saw him score five hits on the national Billboard weekly Hot 100. (Jack Dytrych)
\nAlex Warren\u2019s extraordinary breakthrough<\/p>\n

Carlsbad native Alex Warren was homeless here when he was 18 and slept in cars and on the street. This year, the social media influencer-turned-singer-songwriter was named Billboard\u2019s Top New Artist, thanks to his enraptured power ballad, \u201cOrdinary,\u201d which topped the Billboard charts for a dizzying 10 weeks.<\/p>\n

He also hit the charts in 2025 with his song collaborations with Jelly Roll (\u201cBloodline\u201d) and K-Pop superstar Ros\u00e9 (\u201cOn My Mind\u201d). In February, Warren will be vying for Best New Artist honors at the Grammy Awards, followed by a 28-city North American arena tour that includes a June 8 Viejas Arena concert.<\/p>\n

\"KendrickKendrick Lamar\u2019s Feb. 9 Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans drew 133.5 million viewers, topping the previous record set by Michael Jackson. (AP Photo \/ Frank Franklin II)
\nKendrick Lamar\u2019s Super Bowl halftime show<\/p>\n

A week after he earned five Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar drew a record 133.5 million viewers for his 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.<\/p>\n

With a supporting cast that included singer SZA, actor Samuel L. Jackson, tennis legend Serena Williams and a multitude of dancers, Lamar scored big. His performance was an eye-popping entertainment extravaganza and a marvel of subtle and overt social and political commentary.<\/p>\n

Kendrick Lamar scores knock-out at post-Pulitzer Prize \u2018Championship Tour\u2019 concert in San Diego<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe revolution\u2019s about to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy,\u201d declared Lamar, who was absolutely the right guy at the right place.<\/p>\n

\"NathanBass great Nathan East is shown performing at the 2025 San Diego Music Awards at Humphrey\u2019s Concerts by the Bay, where he received the Lifetime Achievement Award.(Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nFirst bass<\/p>\n

Nathan East, the San Diego Music Awards\u2019 2025 Lifetime Achievement Awards honoree, flew back early from a concert tour of Japan with Eric Clapton to accept his award here in April.<\/p>\n

Nathan East is the the bass great for the greats: \u2018I feel blessed beyond belief.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A graduate of Crawford High and UCSD, East has been featured on albums by Beyonc\u00e9, Daft Punk, Herbie Hancock, Barbra Streisand, George Harrison, Michael Jackson, Wayne Shorter, Whitney Houston and many more.<\/p>\n

This year saw him celebrate the release of the Laney DB-EAST Signature Bass Head amplifier and of \u201cFather Son,\u201d his first duo album with his 24-year-old offspring, keyboardist and singer Noah East.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 2025 San Diego Music Hall of Fame honorees include from left to right, seated, Doriot Lair and Eulogio \u201cThe Soul Man\u201d Fos, and, standing, John Reis, Bob Magnusson and Bart Mendoza. Not pictured are the hall\u2019s two other 2025 honorees, Rosie Flores and Kamau Kenyatta. (Alejandro Tamayo \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nSan Diego Music Hall of Famers<\/p>\n

Since its inception in 2017, the nonprofit San Diego Music Hall of Fame has honored a diverse array of artists. This year\u2019s inductees were especially notable.<\/p>\n

San Diego Music Hall of Fame\u2019s 2025 inductees take a bow: \u2018It\u2019s all about community.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

They included: 2017 Grammy Award-winner Kamau Kenyatta; jazz bass great Bob Magnusson; the pioneering all-woman punk-rock band The Dinettes; Rocket From The Crypt leader John Reis; guiro percussion standout Eulogio \u201cThe Soul Man\u201d Fos; Bart Mendoza, who has championed the scene here for decades as both a performer and music journalist; and 2024 NEA Fellow Rosie Flores, who this year did a national tour with Robert Plant and will rejoin the Led Zeppelin co-founder for another tour in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar dominated national and international pop-music headlines in 2025, but some current…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[54887,56396,28681,28645,56397,74,76,75,44783,56398],"class_list":["post-103860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-alex-warren","tag-alicia-keys","tag-grammy-awards","tag-kendrick-lamar","tag-nathan-east","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-super-bowl-halftime-show","tag-thee-sacred-soils"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}