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The 31st American Music Awards |
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Justin Timberlake, Norah Jones, R. Kelly, Beyonce, Tim McGraw, Celine
Dion, Toby Keith, Avril Lavigne, Jennifer Lopez, Ashanti, Shania Twain,
50 Cent, Sean Paul and Kid Rock are among the artists who received
multiple nominations for the 31st annual American Music Awards (AMAs).
The awards will be given out Nov. 16th in L.A. Jimmy Kimmel will host
the event. The 20 awards will be presented during a ceremony at the
Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Nov. 16, aired on ABC. Talk show host
Jimmy Kimmel is the emcee.
The nominations are based on sales figures and radio play. Winners are
selected by a survey of about 20,000 listeners.
Click Here to See the Full List of the Nominees
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Blue 'Guilty' |
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Chart-topping boyband Blue are to return this autumn with the release
of their brand new single, 'Guilty'.
The track, released on October 20, was co-written by singer Duncan
James (pictured) and production team True North and is described as a
"heartfelt ballad...with lush strings and soaring harmonies".
The new video to the track, filmed in Prague last month, is available
to view on the band's newly updated website - www.officialblue.com.
Meanwhile, Blue's eagerly anticipated third album is to be released in
November, having been recorded by Duncan, Lee, Antony and Simon over
the last six months.
Following the album's release, the band are set to embark upon their a
full arena tour of the UK, taking in Sheffield, Cardiff, Birmingham,
Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester and London's Wembley Arena.
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For Gary Barlows' fans |
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The Gary Barlow's Official Website is no more since March 2003 it was
DETAGGED, which probably means that the official site was removed from the web.
Gary has closed that chapter on his career, but it is a huge disappointment to fans.
Then again, BBC Radio 2 reported in August that a remix of Gary's Love
Won't Wait has been produced for the US market and shortly to be
released there. No mention of date of release, but they did say that it is
expected to do well and reach Top 10 in the US charts.
It is also reported that Gary is working on the album of Donny Osmonnd
(www.donny.com) and acts up as a Producer/ Songwriter. Barlow has been
working during the year with several artists such as the Kittens, Delta
Goodrem, Lisa Scott Lee, Blue and Lara Fabian.
We will keep you posted...
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George joins the Rainbow Trust |
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George Michael has joined a host of other celebrities at a campaign
launch to help raise $30 million for terminally ill children.
The singer lent his support to the charity Rainbow Trust, alongside
well known faces from the worlds of music, TV, film and sport, including
Julie Walters, Gary Rhodes and Linford Christie.
Michael, who is one of the patrons of the charity, said he had been
supporting its work since 1990.
At the launch, he said: "It is an amazing charity. It cares for
children who are potentially terminally ill. Loss is such an incredibly
difficult thing. I bow down to people who actually have to deal with the loss
of a child.
"The Rainbow Trust not only takes care of a child but they also take
very good care of the family and understand the family's situation, and I
think that is an incredibly important thing."
The charity offers care and support to families with a terminally ill
child either at home or at Rainbow Houses in Leatherhead, Surrey and
Fernstone, near Newcastle Upon Tyne.
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R. Kelly's child abuse charges |
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R. Kelly has said and done some questionable things since his arrest on
child pornography charges last year, but this is one for the books. In
a recent Blender magazine interview the R&B star says that people say
things about him without knowing the facts.
"They can criticize you without even knowing you, and hate you when
they don't even know you," said Kelly. "Osama bin Laden is the only one
who knows exactly what I'm going through."
R. Kelly is currently awaiting trial on 21 counts of child pornography,
with charges relating to a videotape that allegedly shows the singer
engaged in sexual acts with a minor. He is scheduled to return to court
on September 26.
However, Kelly released his first ever greatest hits set, the 'R.' In
R&B Collection Volume 1, on September 9 on Jive Records. The first
single from the set is "Thoia-Thoing."
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Kylie's NEW Album |
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Details of Kylie Minogue's upcoming ninth studio album (read article in
archives 17- September) have begun to emerge online.
According to fansite www.kylie.co.uk, 'City Games' will be released in
the UK on November 17 and features the upcoming single, 'Slow',
alongside eleven other new tracks.
Co-writers credited on the eagerly anticipated LP are said to include
Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams (The Neptunes), Cathy Dennis, Dannii
Minogue, Emiliana Torrini and Kurtis Mantronik amongst others.
The full tracklisting, according to www.kylie.co.uk, is as follows:
'Slow'
'City Games'
'You Make Me Feel'
'E-Z St'
'In The Dark'
'How Can You Say No?'
'Second Thoughts'
'Heavy Handed'
'Fly'
'Attention Seeker'
'That Certain Something'
'Beat U'
Reports on the site suggest the sound of the new LP will be more urban
and less commercial than any of its predecessors, incorporating a taste
of R&B into the pop-disco style perfected by Kylie on 2001's 'Fever'.
A spokesperson for EMI said that the label would be revealling Kylie's
full album details next week.
As previously reported, 'Slow' - penned by Kylie, Emiliana Torrini and
Mr Dan - is released in the UK on November 3.
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U2 on film |
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U2 are to release a new DVD featuring footage from one of their 2001
homecoming gigs at Dublin's Slane Castle.
'U2 Go Home', due to reach stores on November 17, is the first ever
release to feature the Irish band performing to a home crowd.
Recorded on September 1, 2001 - the concert marked the 20th anniversary
of the band's first appearance at the venue, when they had performed
live with Thin Lizzy at the inaugural Slane Castle festival.
The concert, which came at the end of the 80-date 'Elevation' world
tour, also marked an emotional return for U2 who in 1984 had recorded
their landmark fourth album at Slane Castle.
The making of that LP was captured on 'The Unforgettable Fire'
documentary, which is released alongside the DVD, re-mastered for the first
time.
The DVD includes a bonus track in addition to a DVD-ROM that features a
calendar, screensavers and weblinks, plus three tracks filmed on
'spincam' allowing fans an interactive 360-degree view of the action.
The DVD tracklisting is as follows:
'Elevation'
'Beautiful Day'
'Until The End Of The World'
'New Year's Day'
'Out Of Control'
'Sunday Bloody Sunday'
'Wake Up Dead Man'
'Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of'
'Kite'
'Angel Of Harlem'
'Desire'
'Staring At The Sun'
'All I Want Is You'
'Where The Streets Have No Name'
'Pride (In The Name Of Love)'
'Bullet The Blue Sky'
'With Or Without You'
'One'
'Walk On'
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Britney feat. Madonna |
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Britney Spears has confirmed plans to release a collaboration with
Madonna as the first single from her long-awaited new album.
'Me Against The Music' - a track debuted at the NFL Kickoff Live
concert in Washington earlier this month - will be released in the UK on
November 3 and features the Queen of Pop on guest vocals.
News of the collaboration comes just a few weeks after Britney and
Madonna stole the show at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, sharing a kiss
during their opening performance at the star-studded event.
As previously reported (read article in archive 17 - September), 'Me
Against The Music' is an uptempo call-to-arms that begins with the
chanted introduction, "All the people in the crowd/Grab a partner/Take it down".
Though much has been made of Britney's new 'mature' direction, the new
single is not drastically different to her older material and is
reminiscent of the singer's 2001 hit, 'I'm A Slave 4 U'.
According to reports, 'Me Against The Music' was co-written by Spears
and produced by Redzone. The new video is set to premiere on MTV on October 13.
Meanwhile, Spears' upcoming fourth album, 'Get In The Zone' has been
scheduled for a November 17 release in the UK (November 18 in the US).
Tracks slated to appear on the new LP include 'Early Mornin',
'Outrageous', 'The Answer', 'Every Time', 'Showdown', 'Breathe On Me', 'Shadow',
'Brave New Girl' and 'Touch Of My Hand'.
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Tori Amos: New compilation to include 2 new songs |
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Tori Amos will encapsulate her decade-long career with the release of a
best-of collection on Atlantic Records on November 18th. Amos, who
first surfaced with 1992's Little Earthquakes, conceived the set -- which
contains two new tracks, ("Snow Cherries From France" and "Angels") --
as a librarian would, in an attempt to remember and restore some of her
early work, presenting it in a cohesive package.
"I'm referring to it more as a 'best-of' because I think to have a
'Greatest Hits' you need like ten Top Ten hits," Amos says from a Columbia,
Maryland, tour stop. "This is more of a chronicle of what we know of
Tori from 1990 to 2003 . . . So it's from her perspective of the last
many years, having traveled around the world and going through her own
personal stuff. And the songs do that. Maybe it's the closest thing to an
autobiography of this woman's life that there's ever been."
The album's track list is informed by Amos' narrative approach as much
as her commercial successes. "It includes things like 'Precious Things'
and of course 'Silent All These Years,' 'Cornflake Girl,' 'Spark,'
songs that people might be familiar with on one level," she says. "And then
there are quite a lot of songs that I felt gave you more story and a
bit of sizzle with variations musically. It had to represent a whole
musical spectrum because that's very much a part of the story. It's not
just the ballads. It's not just what you heard on the radio."
Two songs -- "Mary" and "Sweet Dreams" -- were originally slated for
release on Little Earthquakes, but were cut from the final album. Amos
re-tracked the songs with her current bassist Jon Evans and drummer Matt
Chamberlain. "I don't think they were brought to their zenith," she
says. "And I thought the songs were still valid."
As for the new songs, Amos says she recently finished writing "Snow
Cherries From France," after years of failed attempts. And she describes
"Angels" as being more situated in the present, the culmination of
having played in piano bars for "that whole Washington set" since she was a
teenager. "It's a commentary on now," she says. "The world after what
we've been through the last two years and the state of play."
According to Amos, the hardest part was not selecting which songs from
her oeuvre would make the cut, but rather finding the original mixes.
"Tracking down some of these tapes was an awesome task," Amos says. "I
think they might have been in somebody's dorm room somewhere [laughs] .
. . I'm serious, the libraries that were supposed to be taking care of
the masters were not in tact. So we had people chasing down masters all
over the world. We found some in -- you'd be amazed -- in like the
playroom of their house. It's like, 'What's "Winter" doing there?'"
Amos wraps her Lottapianos tour with fellow piano pal Ben Folds tonight
in West Palm Beach.
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