More than 700 artists have been added to the growing list of talent who lost their masters in Universal’s disastrous 2008 fire. According to The New York Times, the names were culled from a series of internal lists by Universal Music Group as part of a 2010 recovery effort dubbed “Project Phoenix.”
The latest round includes an eclectic if not jaw-dropping spate of artists, specifically The Who, The Police, Dolly Parton, Iggy Pop, Weezer, Blink-182, Beck, Common, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave, Sonic Youth, Primus, Boston, Cher, Sublime, The Wallflowers, Limp Bizkit, The Damned, Bell Biv Devoe, Chaka Khan, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cat Stevens, and even late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
They join the previously reported Buddy Holly, John Coltrane, Etta James, Al Green, Ray Charles, Elton John, B.B. King, The Four Tops, Nirvana, Snoop Dogg, Chuck Berry, Tom Petty, Joan Baez, Nine Inch Nails, Neil Diamond, Cat Stevens, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Eric Clapton, R.E.M., and the list goes on.
You can consult the full list here if you’re in for a heart attack.
Universal Music Group is facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it failed to report the full extent of damage caused by the fire. Last week, Hole, Soundgarden, Steve Earle, and the estates of both Tupac Shakur and Tom Petty filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles in Federal District Court seeking upwards of $100 million in damages.
