Etiketter

tirsdag den 31. maj 2011

Lenny Kravitz's new album finally finished

Lenny Kravitz's long-awaited ninth studio album, Black and White America, finally has a release date – August 22.

The new album, a follow-up to 2008's It's Time For a Love Revolution, was originally scheduled for release in 2010, and was pushed back to spring 2011 before being delayed again. Now the album is finished, and will definitely hit shelves this summer.

The album's first official single, Stand, is set to make its radio debut on June 6. The album has a total of 16 tracks, all written, arranged and produced by Kravitz.

The singer-songwriter will make several promotional appearances, including an August 30 performance on The Late Show with David Letterman, a September 1 show on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and a September 2 performance on the Today Show.

Next month, Kravitz will hit the road with Irish rockers U2, for a tour of the U.S. west coast, beginning June 4 in Seattle.

mandag den 30. maj 2011

Sean Kingston Badly Injured In Jet Ski Crash

Hip-hop star Sean Kingston is in critical condition in a Miami Beach hospital after being injured in a bad jet skiing accident Sunday evening

According to Local10.com, the "Beautiful Girls" singer had a female passenger on board his watercraft when it crashed into a bridge around 6 PM local time.

We're told both Kingston and his passenger were rescued from the water by a good Samaritan.

The Miami Fire Dept. responded to the scene and both Kingston and his female passenger were transported to nearby Jackson Memorial Hospital. We're told Kingston's injuries are so severe, he is being treated in the trauma ward.

We're told ... at this moment, officials do not believe alcohol played a role in the crash.

Kingston's rep tells TMZ .... "Sean Kingston was in an accident today. No further details are available at the moment. He and his family thank everyone for the well-wishes."

Officials are investigating the cause of the crash.

søndag den 29. maj 2011

"Godfather of Rap" Gil Scott-Heron dead at 62

Musician, author and poet Gil Scott Heron, well-known for his 1970 single "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," died Friday afternoon (5/27) in a New York City hospital, according to published reports.

The exact cause of death has not yet been revealed, though fans have known about the soul and jazz musician's long-time struggle with drug addiction and his HIV positive status for some time.

The Chicago native made a name for himself in the early '70s with an inventive style of mixing his syncopated delivery and music with his revolutionary poetry, leading to the nicknames "Godfather of Rap" and "The People's Poet." His 1970 debut album, "Small Talk at 125th and Lenox," was recorded in a New York City nightclub on that street corner, leading to the set's moniker.

Over the years, Scott-Heron -- who never bought into his reputation as a hip-hop forefather -- released 14 more albums, including last year's "I'm New Here." A mixture of blues and spoken word, the XL Recordings effort marked the artist's first collection of new material in 16 years. Jamie xx of The xx released a remix of the album in February.

Many in the music world have made mention of Scott-Heron's passing in recent Twitter postings, including Radiohead, Common and Public Enemy's Chuck D. Enimem tweeted, "RIP Gil Scott-Heron. He influenced all of hip-hop," while Usher messaged, "I just learned of the loss of a very important poet R.I.P. Gil Scott Heron. The revolution will be live!!"

torsdag den 19. maj 2011

Lady Gaga first to reach 10 million Twitter followers


NEW YORK POST -- Pop star Lady Gaga was the reigning queen of Twitter on Monday after becoming the first person to amass 10 million followers.


The milestone made her the most-followed person on Twitter, ahead of Canadian teen pop singer Justin Bieber and President Barack Obama.


"10MillionMonsters! I'm speechless, we did it!" Lady Gaga wrote after reaching the milestone just before 12:00am Sunday. "It's an illness how I love you. Leaving London smiling."


Lady Gaga became the first person to reach 9 million Twitter followers on March 28 -- also her 25th birthday. In August 2010, she overtook Britney Spears as the most-followed user by amassing 5.7 million followers on the site.



søndag den 15. maj 2011

Whitney Houston is back in rehab for drug and alcohol treatment.

Whitney voluntarily entered the program to support her long-standing recovery process," her rep confirmed in a statement, TMZ reported Monday.


A source told the website Houston, 47, has been in the program for around 10 days.


The Grammy winner first entered rehab for substance abuse in 2004 and then sought additional treatment in 2005 at the insistence of her mother, the gospel singer Cissy Houston.


The "I Will Always Love You" singer has confessed to using drugs and hard partying during her tumultuous 14-year marriage with R&B singer Bobby Brown. The pair divorced in 2007.


onsdag den 4. maj 2011

Welcome back to the block, Jennifer

(CNN) -- When it comes to her career, Jennifer Lopez is more like Jenny who has been around the block.

From Fly Girl on "In Living Color" to judge on "American Idol," she has taken her talent beyond the triple threat of being a dancer, singer and actress and now helms an empire that includes fragrances, a production company, lucrative endorsements and a place once again atop the charts, having sold tens of millions of records over the years.

Along the way she's managed to shed the diva label, put the failures behind her (remember Bennifer and "Gigli"?) and emerge as "The World's Most Beautiful Woman" for 2011 as named by PEOPLE magazine.

How did Lopez, 41, go from homegirl to the girl you wouldn't mind hanging out with?

It wasn't easy.

'You can't have big ups without big downs," Lopez said last year in her VH1 "Behind the Music" special.

The odds were certainly against her when she left her working-class Bronx neighborhood in the 1980s, turning her back on college to pursue a career in dance.

A gig as one of the Fly Girls dance troupe on the hit Fox sketch comedy show "In Living Color" led to the opportunity to appear as a dancer in the Janet Jackson music video "That's The Way Love Goes." Jackson was one of Lopez's personal idols.

"When I saw (the music video for) 'Pleasure Principle' it inspired me to get into this business," Lopez said. "I was a little girl and I was trying to do every move she does."

After roles on the short-lived television show "South Central" and the film "Money Train," she made cinema history in 1997 when she became the highest paid Latina actress by earning a $1 million paycheck for her critically acclaimed starring role in "Selena."

Lopez followed that with star turns opposite George Clooney in "Out of Sight" and several other movies while also launching a music career with her debut album "On the Six."

Since then she has released six more albums, including the Spanish language "Como ama una Mujer;" been the first actress and singer to have a movie and album hold the No. 1 spots in the same week ("The Wedding Planner" and "J.Lo"); become the highest paid Latina actress in Hollywood (she commanded $15 million for the 2005 film "Monster-In-Law"); and launched a clothing and fragrance line.

"I think at the very core of what it is that makes Jennifer an international global superstar is that she is talented, she's gorgeous and she is inspirational, aspirational and glamorous," her long-time manager Benny Medina told "Entertainment Tonight" in March. "She gives the world a lot of what they want to have in their lives, and at the same time she moves through the ups and the downs with the same sense of integrity that she has exuded now for 15 years."

There certainly have been some troubles, including two ill-fated marriages and legal issues after a nightclub shooting in 1999 when Lopez was present with then-boyfriend Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Lopez told The Daily Beast that in 2002, her heavy workload caused her to have a nervous breakdown while filming the movie "Enough."

"There was a time when I was very overworked and I was doing music and movies and so many things," she said. "I was suffering from a lack of sleep. And I did have a kind of nervous breakdown."

But the star suffered her most public heartbreak in 2004 after a high-profile broken engagement to actor Ben Affleck. The pair had been dubbed "Bennifer" by the press, which covered their relationship relentlessly.

Now happily married to singer Marc Anthony and the mother of twins, Lopez told Latina magazine that she has no regrets about the past and values what she has with her husband.

"Everything is great about my marriage," Lopez said. "First and foremost, we love each other, truly love each other in a way that's very deep and meaningful, not in a superficial sort of way. There's a deep respect, admiration and love for each other."

Anthony can constantly be seen in the "Idol" audience looking on proudly as his wife judges. It's a role that has helped revitalize her career and also recast her. She has gone from a star with a reputation as a diva -- whose backstage demands at concertsreportedly included a white room with white candles, white sheets, white couches, white drapes and white flowers -- to a caring and loving mentor for the "Idol" contestants.

"She looks amazing, she's the heart of the show, she's sincere," Fox reality chief Mike Darnell told USA Today. "It's clear she cares about the kids. She's just doing wonderfully. She's the most emotionally connected judge I've ever seen."

It was Lopez who broke down when she had to deliver the news to an aspiring contestant that he didn't make the show, and every week she takes to the stage to hug and console those who are eliminated, often with tears in her eyes.

Lopez's presence is also felt during commercial breaks on the top-rated show. That's when she can be seen hawking products like Gillette razors and L'Oreal makeup. She also used the show to debut her new single, "On the Floor," which debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Lopez also recently snagged an ad campaign for her and her twins as the faces of Gucci's new children's collection. TruTV recently announced that it had picked up a new reality show, "South Beach Tow," from Lopez's company Nuyorican Productions.

It would seem the singer/actress/entrepreneur is at a good place in her life as a wife, mother, artist and weekly visitor into the homes of millions of "Idol" viewers. She doesn't even mind being called a "diva" anymore.

"I kind of like it," Lopez told PEOPLE. "We've kind of owned it now. But I certainly don't like and I've never been a person who has what they call 'diva behavior,' which is something they tried to pin on me for a long time."