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Alicia Keys Writing "Diary" |
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Alicia Keys (23) has a deal for her memoir to be published later this
year even though she doesn't have a long life to reflect back upon.
The book will be titled The Diary of Alicia Keys and will be published
by Putnam in the fall of 2005, with a paperback edition to follow the
next year. Diary is part of a two-book deal for the singer; Songbook, a
collection of her poems and lyrics, will be published this November.
Diary will offer Keys' reflections growing up in New York City's
Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in the Eighties and Nineties, covering her
musical education and rise to stardom barely out of her teens.
Alicia was 21 when she released her Grammy-winning, multi-platinum
debut album, Songs in A Minor, in 2001. After more than six months of
release, the follow-up The Diary of Alicia Keys remains in the Top Twenty on
the pop charts and has sold more than 2 million copies.
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Best of Van Halen |
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Van Halen have reunited with singer Sammy Hagar. They have recorded
three new tracks that will be included on The Best of Van Halen, due this
summer.
"It's About Time," "Learning to See" and "Up for Breakfast" feature
guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael
Anthony backing Hagar for the first time since his departure from the band
in 1996 after eleven years of service. The songs will be the first new
offerings from Van Halen since 1998's Van Halen III.
The group will have the chance to give the new songs a test-run this
summer when it heads out on a forty-nine-date tour starting June 11th in
Greensboro, North Carolina. Van Halen are planning one final dress
rehearsal for the tour on June 1st at an undisclosed location in the Los
Angeles area.
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Billy Joel following the steps of Madonna |
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Billy Joel is following the steps of Madonna as he is also going to
write books for children.
Billy has signed a major publishing contract with Scholastic Co. (the
world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books), to
create two books for children.
The first book, Goodnight My Angel: A Lullabye is a picture book based
on Joel's hit song written for his daughter, and will be published in
September 2004.
Joel's second book will be based on his classic song "New York State of
Mind" and is tentatively scheduled for release in fall 2005.
Having sold more than 100 million records over the past quarter
century, Billy Joel ranks as one of the most popular recording artists and
respected entertainers in the world. He has had 33 top 40 hits and 23
Grammy nominations since signing his first solo recording contract in 1972.
In 2003, Joel received a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations in "Movin'
Out," a Broadway musical based on his songs and music. Billy Joel is a
member of both the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992) and the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame (1999).
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Morrissey' comeback album |
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There has never been a better time for Morrissey to make his return.
Namechecked by every bright young guitar-slinging band from Franz
Ferdinand to Interpol, he has succeeded Weller as the godfather of modern
Indie. Anticipation for his seventh solo album began early in 2003 and now,
finally, the wait is over and ‘You Are The Quarry’ has arrived.
Although now living and working in California (parts of this album were
also recorded there) ‘You Are The Quarry’ is a very British album.
Opening track ‘America Is Not The World’ brandishes a biting lyric
criticising Americanisation whilst first single ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’
answers the critics who accused Morrissey of jingoism in a celebration of his roots.
‘You Are The Quarry’ stands up as one of Morrissey’s most essential
albums. Probably his best work since ‘Vauxhall & I’; it is an album that
confirms his reputation as a living legend in modern music. ‘Irish
Blood, English Heart’ is a full on rock anthem whilst ‘First Of The Gang To
Die’ is the kind of summer tune that they just don’t make anymore.
Rumoured to be the second single it is the sort of track that will unite
ageing Smiths fans and new converts alike. Album highlight, though, is
‘How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel’; a wonderful throwback to
prime Smiths and perfect fodder for indie-discos across the land. The
closing trio of ‘All The Lazy Dykes’, ‘I Like You’ and ‘You Know I
Couldn’t Last’ ends the album on a terrific high. Three of the best songs
Morrissey has ever written and proof that the Moz-father is well and truly back.
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Madonna to shock on stage |
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Madonna's Re-Invention tour will be her most shocking show yet because
it will be frazzled in an electric chair. It seems that the show will
also feature simulated lesbian sex when she tangos with a female dancer.
If the rumours are to be believed fans can expect to see scantily clad
pregnant women parading around on stage for 'Papa Don't Preach' and the
electrocution scene will come in a blaze of fireworks at the end of the
song 'Lament' from the musical 'Evita'.
John Lennon's 'Imagine' will also get the Madonna treatment, with the
star breaking down in tears in front of pictures of starving children
while she sings the track.
Madonna recently added another date to the UK leg of the tour, with a
performance at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 15 August.
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Andre 3000 first leading role |
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Andre 3000 will be making its way onto the big screen, with a leading
role in a new movie for the outlandish OutKast star.
The rapper will play in a tale of romance set against race and class
struggles in the 1970s. Andre will play Valentine, a rich musical prodigy
in love with a lower-class white woman whose brother shoots a cop.
Valentine is put in the frame for the crime so the star-crossed lovers go
on the run.
The film was originally called 'Love Hater' and inspired Andre to write
a track of the same name for his 'The Love Below' album. It's currently
known as the 'Untitled Andre Benjamin Project' and will begin
production in September.
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Abba Get Funked |
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Abba are about to get an upgrade. One of Europe's biggest jazz names
Nils Landgren is about to release 'Funky Abba', a collection of Abba
tunes with a jazz and soul feel.
'Funky Abba' comes with the blessing of at least one Abba member. Benny
Andersson is a close friend of Nils. 25 years ago, Nils played trombone
on Abba's 'Voulez-Vous' and Nils asked Benny along to perform on the
new version of "When All Is Said and Done'.
Warner Music will release Funky Abba on July 2.
The tracklisting is:
1 Money, Money, Money
2 Knowing Me, Knowing You
3 Voulez-Vous
4 Thank You For The Music
5 Super Trouper
6 Summer Night City
7 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
8 The Name Of The Game
9 Dancing Queen
10 Take A Chance On Me
11 SOS
Bonus track:
12 When All Is Said And Done
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Sugababes & Mis-Teeq try to break US market |
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The Sugababes and Mis-Teeq are the latest British pop bands to enjoy success in the US chart.
The Sugababes' UK No. 1 Hole In My Head this week entered the US Top 100 at 98 while Mis-Teeq are climbing the chart at 51 with their 2003 UK No. 2 hit Scandalous.
The Sugababes' Keisha, Mutya and Heidi will undertake a five-day promotional visit to the States later this month and are also due to perform at three radio sponsored roadshows, in Minneapolis on June 25, Kansas City on June 26 and in Seattle on June 27.
Remixes of Hole In My Head on Universal Records' Interscope Records label have already topped the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart based on radio and club plays.
This month's US visit is the second by the group so far this year in support of the single.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros in the US are due to release a self-titled album by Mis-Teeq next month made up of tracks from their two UK albums, Lickin' On Both Sides and Eye Candy.
And, Busted, who last month visited the US on a short promotional visit also have high hopes of making it big in America.
Their debut British hit, 2002's What I Go To School For, was released last month in the US by Universal Records.
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NEWS [Round-Up]
T.A.T.U, 3 Doors Down, Black Sabbath, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Jessica Simpson,
Mario Winans, Gunther and the Sunshine Girls...
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* T.A.T.U are not lesbians. T.A.T.U. recently sacked their manager Ivan
Shapovalov who came up with the idea of presenting the two girls as a
couple. Julia Volkova is having a baby with karate champ Pasha Sidorov,
who already has a wife and child. Volkova announced that her "lesbian"
partner, T.A.T.U. member Lena Katina, is willing to wait for her before
they continue their pop career.
* Rockers '3 Doors Down' have launched the Better Life Foundation, a
charity to benefit children and young adults with special needs.
The Mississippi-based band has primed the non-profit organization's
coffers with $90,000 it raised for Gulf Coast charities at a March 26
concert.
* Black Sabbath will reunite for Ozzfest, in July in Hartford,
Connecticut, according to the Ozzfest Web site. Three original Black Sabbath
members, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommiand Geezer Butler, and Mike Bordin, a
member of Osbourne's band, will perform 26 shows.
It will be their first live appearance since 2001. Ozzfest also will
include a reunited Judas Priest, Slayer, Dimmu Borgirand Superjoint
Ritual, featuring Phil Anselmo.
* The official song for the England team in Euro 2004 will be a new
version of The Farm's classic 'Altogether Now'. Peter Hooton from the band
and Radio 1's very own Spoony are collaborating on the remix.
* Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has teamed with cosmetics company Estee Lauder to
create and market a new line of fragrances for men under Combs' Sean John brand name.
* Jessica Simpson and her sister Ashlee will star in commercials for the
new Hershey's breath mints Ice Breakers Liquid Ice, according to a press release.
* Producer Mario 'Yellowman' Winans steps from behind the console up to
the mic. Mario is probably best known for the incredibly catching track
on the hit by Usher, 'I Need A Girl pt. 2' . Son of gospel songstress
Vicki Winans, Mario took five BMI Urban Music awards last year,
including Producer of the Year (his second year in a row). Now he is set to
release his second but first album under Bad Boy Records which is fronted
by his amazing single 'I Don't Wanna Know' that is currently tearing up the airwaves.
* The sound of summer is here with the awesome ‘Ding Dong Song’ from
Gunther and the Sunshine Girls. Effortlessly cheesy (but in a good way) the
‘Ding Dong Song’ will soundtrack beer fuelled holidays and Club Rep reality TV shows throughout 2004.
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