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Suspected George Michael Stalker Wanted |
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British police are searching for a woman suspected of breaking into the home of pop star George Michael . Police said this week they were called
to the singer's house in London's Hampstead neighborhood on Nov. 4 after reports of a break-in. The intruder had gone by the time they arrived.
In a similar incident on Oct. 27, a 28-year-old woman was found inside the mansion in possession of a book from the house, the Metropolitan Police said.
Police said Michael "did not wish to pursue the burglary matter, but reported harassment from the same woman."
The suspect was given a warning and released, police said. She was arrested again near the house later the same day, given an official warning for
harassment and released.
Former Wham! star Michael recently claimed a female fan had hidden under the floorboards of his house for four days last year.
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Ozzy Osbourne Says No More Reality Shows |
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Ozzy Osbourne says he's done with reality shows after wrapping up the final season of the smash series, the Osbournes, according to Reuters.com.
Ozzy told reporters at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Rome, "When you watch a 25-minute episode, I've been filming all day...at the end of it I
didn't like having cameras around the house all the time." His wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, agreed: "Now everybody's doing (reality shows).
He's done it, he's been there, he's got to do something else."
Ozzy and Sharon were also asked if they would have more children, to which Ozzy replied, "Are you f--king mad?"
A four-CD, 52-song box set called "Bible Of Ozz" will be released on February 8. The first two CDs will contain studio, live and demo versions of
Osbourne's hits, while the third disc, titled "Oddities And Duets", will feature Osbourne collaborations with celebrities like Frank Zappa's son
Dweezil Zappa, Muppets star Miss Piggy, and rappers the Wu-Tang Clan, DMX, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. CD Four is a newly recorded collection
of cover songs called "Under Covers".
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50 Cent Says His New Album Is Twice As Good As His Debut |
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Rapper 50 Cent is going to have a hard time topping his 2003 debut album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin', which has already sold more than seven million
copies in the United States. The rapper recently explained that his new CD, due out February 15, is twice as good as his first. He said: "I feel
like this record is twice as good as my last record. I know people are listening and I got a chance to be a little more articulate when I wrote my
material because I know they gonna take the time to understand what I'm saying. I just hope they can appreciate it as much as they did the first."
The rapper added that the pressure of having to top the last album forced him to stay in the studio. He said: "What made me go back into the studio?
Knowing that I would have the pressure of coming back with another record. I didn't want to wait until you know I'm going back in cold like I gotta
come up with something so I continuously worked the entire time. If you watched I released a record every three months since my album came out,
Beg For Mercy then Straight Outta Cashville with Young Buck and Hunger For More from Lloyd Banks."
50 Cent is currently featured on G-Unit rapper Game's debut single, "This Is How We Do." The song was produced by Dr. Dre.
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Pink Floyd's Chorus Owed Royalties |
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Members of the children's chorus who sang on Pink Floyd's anti-authoritarian 1979 hit, "Another Brick in the Wall," are owed thousands of dollars
in payment, a royalties agent said.
Peter Rowan said he was representing one of the group, Peter Thorpe, in a bid for unpaid royalties. Rowan said he hoped other members of the group
would join the claim for royalties from a fund set up in 1997 to compensate session musicians.
Two dozen students from Islington Green School in north London sang on the chart-topping track from the album "The Wall," which was recorded at a
nearby studio in 1979.
The song attracted controversy for the chorus sung by the children: "We don't need no education/ We don't need no thought control/ No dark sarcasm
in the classroom/ Teachers, leave them kids alone."
"It was seen as being quite improper," said the school's present head teacher, Trevor Averre-Beeson.
"The Wall" has sold more than 23 million copies and is the third best-selling album of all time, according to the Recording Industry Association of
America .
The school received a platinum disc and a payment in return for the children's efforts, but the pupils weren't paid.
"It's a legal right and the money is building up," Rowan said Friday.
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Nirvana's Box Set Finally Released |
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After years of legal tussling, Nirvana's much-anticipated box set is finally introducing hundreds of thousands of fans to rare recordings and even
living-room video of the groundbreaking grunge rockers.
"With the Lights Out" includes 81 tracks, 68 of them previously unreleased. It was initially planned for release in 2001 — the 10th anniversary of
the album "Nevermind" — but a dispute between Courtney Love , widow of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, and the surviving bandmates delayed the
project. The sides resolved their issues in September 2002, allowing work on the box set to resume.
The set, which came out last week of November, features three CDs, beginning with a Led Zeppelin cover recorded in 1987, and a DVD of rare performance
and rehearsal footage — including nine songs rehearsed at the home of bassist Krist Novoselic's mother when Cobain was only 20. The DVD also includes
the first performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the song that launched Nirvana and Seattle's grunge scene onto the national stage in 1991.
"It is a true Nirvana fan's dream," said Seattle disc jockey Andrew Harms, whose station devoted an entire weekend to the rare tracks. "You get to see
how the band progresses. The whole box set tells a story, and it goes all the way to the end."
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Pop Doesn't Define Vanessa Carlton |
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It's hard to imagine a more pop debut than Vanessa Carlton 's. Her piano-infused "A Thousand Miles" became an anthem of 2002, garnered her three
Grammy nominations and helped her sell more than 2 million copies of "Be Not Nobody," her first album. But as she releases her sophomore set,
"Harmonium," Carlton prefers to define herself as out of the mainstream.
"I am kind of an alternative to kind of the very popular hip-hop stuff and other really mainstream pop artists," says the 24-year-old singer-songwriter,
sitting in a studio at New York's famed Hits Factory. "I'm an alternative to the Simpson girls."
Carlton has done well by defining herself as the alternative to commercialize pop; with her first album, the brunette was cast as one of the emerging
anti-Britneys — female artists who wrote their own material, played their own instruments and rejected the role of pop's oversexed vixen.
Carlton hopes to cast herself next as a career artist, instead of the hot singer of the moment.
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Bon Jovi marks milestones: 20 years, 100 million albums sold |
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The New Jersey rockers roared on the scene two decades ago with power-chord-driven guitars and working-class sensibilities that elevated the group,
once considered the quintessential '80s pop-metal band, to multiplatinum status.
But as many of their music counterparts fell by the wayside, Bon Jovi managed to retain its status and audience by sticking to straightforward rock
music. Along the way, they racked up one multiplatinum album after another, captured a remarkable number of hit singles and managed to stay together
when so many other bands of the era fell apart.
This year, the band -- headed up by 42-year-old Jon Bon Jovi -- marks two milestones: Their 20-year anniversary and the sale of 100 million albums
worldwide.
To celebrate, the band released "100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong," a four-CD box set of 50 songs, including 38 never-before-heard songs
the band wrote during its career. It also includes a handful of rarities, such as songs from obscure movie soundtracks, and a DVD featuring band
interviews.
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LeAnn Rimes Releases First Holiday Album |
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LeAnn Rimes says she's glad she waited this long to make her first Christmas album, "What A Wonderful World."
"It's really just classical and beautiful," she told reporters at a recent news conference.
Rimes collaborates with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, which Rimes said gave a "big-band feel" to the seven traditional holiday songs on the CD
and three tracks she penned herself.
Also, Rimes said that everyone who has seen her at the start of her career can see how much she has grown.
"I'm evolving and changing all the time," she said. "I've been in this business for 10 years, and that's been a great 10 years to let me experiment
and really let me become the artist I am now."
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NEWS [Round-Up]
Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, U2, Jon Stevens, Delta Goodrem, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Lopez...
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* Less than six months after his death, Ray Charles may be more popular than ever with a movie about his life and a posthumously released album.
Charles, 73, died June 10 of liver disease. His final studio recording, "Genius Loves Company," is an album of duets that was released this year.
His life story is told in the movie "Ray" starring Jamie Foxx that is now in theaters.
* Attorneys for Michael Jackson asked a judge to order mental evaluations for his accuser and his family, alleging they could not effectively
cross-examine a psychologist if denied access to his reviews. In court documents, defense attorneys for the singer also argued that details of the
alleged abuse contained in the complaint filed by prosecutors significantly differ from those contained in the grand jury indictment.
* U2 tipped off members of the news media that it would perform a surprise concert, but it kept details under wraps until the eve of the release of
its new album. Riding in the back of a flatbed truck, the band serenaded New York streets and snarled city traffic as a film crew captured the action
for a music video. The tour ended at Brooklyn's Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park to the delight of an estimated 3,000 people who had spent hours waiting
for the rock stars to arrive. The fans were treated to a set that lasted more than 45 minutes and covered songs from the band's new album, "How to
Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," as well as old favorites.
* Jon Stevens has beaten his former INXS bandmates to the punch, releasing a new solo album. Stevens' departure as frontman for the band has also
inspired the album's title track Ain't No Life For The Faint Hearted. Lyrics including: "Promises were made but now I know your game/All those battles
that we fought were never won" suggest the split proved to be inspiring for Stevens. "I think it's pretty self-explanatory," Stevens said about the song.
* Delta Goodrem is banking on fans having deep pockets with a family ticket for her debut tour costing $349. Goodrem's ticket prices, which include
an upmarket $199 seat, were revealed yesterday when internet sales for the July 2005 concerts went online. Her VIP deal includes premier seating, a
cushion, a glossy laminate and private bar privileges. Fans outside Delta's red carpet zone will pay $99, or a $349 deal for two adults and two children.
* Pop bad boy Robbie Williams claimed to have slept with four of the five Spice Girls on radio yesterday, but failed to reveal which one missed out
on his "charms". It is no secret that Robbie has had saucy liaisons with both Geri Halliwell and Melanie Chisholm - Ginger and Sporty Spice
respectively. But mystery now surrounds the trio of Mel Brown (Scary), Emma Bunton (Baby) and Victoria Beckham (Posh), two of whom have been on the
Angels singer's bedtime menu, he claims.
* Speaking on a radio show last night, Kylie was talking about what's on her Christmas list - mugs, hot water bottles and other "exciting" goodies -
when out of nowhere she mentioned a giant diamond. "I like really daggy things normally," she told the show's host. "But if a huge diamond was to come
my way, I certainly wouldn't say no." Whether Kylie, who was being interviewed via satellite from London, was making a direct plea to her current
beau Olivier Martinez only she knows.
* Jennifer Lopez's ample bottom reportedly caused havoc on the set of a drink advertisement because the Latin diva couldn't squeeze it into a
tight-fitting costume. The 'Shall We Dance' actress and chart-topping singer failed to get into her sexy, leather outfit for a multi-million dollar
Pepsi ad being filmed in England. British tabloid the Daily Star reported staff had to hurriedly stitch an extra piece of material onto the outfit
to cover the 35-year-old star's protruding rear end. The thrice-married diva stars alongside England captain David Beckham and R&B pop babe Beyonce
Knowles in what will be the world's most expensive advert.
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BluePink 