Will Smith, Michael Jackson, KRS-One & Boogie Down Productions and NWA are among the artists being sued
by bluesman Syl Johnson for allegedly sampling his 1967 song, "Different Strokes." Johnson claims the
performers infringed his song copyright on their songs "Who Stole The D.J.," "Blood On The Dance
Floor," "Criminal Minded" and "Real Nizza Don't Die" (respectively.)
Three people have been arrested in the theft of an Alice Cooper-autographed Gibson Les Paul guitar at the Ontario
Hilton Hotel in December. The guitar was signed during the rocker's stay at the hotel to be forwarded on at a later
date to be sold at a charity auction. Representatives of the hotel notified police when they saw footage of the
alleged theft. The guitar was expected to raise $3,000 for the charity.
According to attorney Buddy Dallas, there are between 50 and 60 previously recorded songs by the late James Brown
in vaults as well as an album the singer recorded the summer before his death. The studio album and songs in the
vaults are being kept from release due to the courtroom disputes over who should benefit from the music royalties.
A lawsuit filed by the estate of Rick James against Brooklyn Music Publishing Group Inc. over the alleged collecting
of money from licensing James' songs without permission has been settled out of court. The terms of the settlement
were not disclosed in court documents.
Stephen Stills' wife Kristen has released a statement about his prostate cancer surgery. "Stephen's procedure
went remarkably well and he couldn't be better." Stills is recovering at home and is expected to attend the
premiere of the Neil Young-directed film, CSNY / Deja Vu, at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25th. A solo tour
by Stills is also scheduled this spring in support of the compilation Just Roll Tape.
A spokesperson for Paul McCartney has confirmed that the singer underwent a coronary angioplasty at a private hospital
last fall to open up his arteries and increase blood flow. He is said to be quickly recovering from the operation.
McCartney was well enough to perform his song, "Dance Tonight," with Kylie Minogue on the BBC's recent
New Year Special. Plans for him to sing "Live And Let Die" with Ozzy Osbourne as a duet at the close
of the 2008 Brit Awards are being finalized. Meanwhile, a 5-day High Court hearing over his divorce settlement
with Heather Mills is scheduled for February.
Original Omen bassist Jody Henry suffered a fractured skull last week in a fall. According to Omen founder/guitarist
Kenny Powell, "While he is doing much better than anyone expected, he still faces a long and costly rehab."
A fund has been set up to help him out on MySpace at www.myspace.com/helpjody to assist with his medical and personal
bills. Henry is expecting a complete recovery and has plans to write new music with the band.
Christopher 'Play' Martin of Kid 'N Play was hospitalized on Dec. 29th after his car was struck by another vehicle.
The driver of the other car was robbery suspect Raul Riva Aldama, who had been shot by police when he lost control
of the car heading towards an officer. Aldama's car continued down the street, colliding with Martin's sports utility
vehicle. Martin and his passenger were released from the hospital on Jan. 2nd. Aldama died from his wounds at the
scene.
Soul II Soul's Jazzie B (a.k.a. Trevor Romeo) will join Kylie Minogue and Ian Anderson in receiving honors from
Queen Elizabeth II receiving an Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal.
The Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden fell two places to #6 on the Billboard 200 Album chart selling 85,000 copies
last week. Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits climbs five spots to #7 on sales of 77,000 copies. Led Zeppelin's Mothership
jumped up three places to #13. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand five spots to #18. Celine Dion's
Taking Chances fell two places to #20. Reba McEntire's Reba Duets plunged thirteen spots to #35.
Depeche Mode vocalist Dave Gahan held the #1 spot on the Hot Dance Club Play chart recently with the single, "Kingdom."
The song fell to #3 this last week. Celine Dion's "Taking Chances" has climbed three places to #7 on
the chart. "Keep Your Body Working" by Tony Moran and Martha Wash dropped three spots to #11. Annie Lennox's
"Sing" retains the #19 position.
"Into The Night" by Santana and Chad Kroeger climbed 3 places on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart
to #30. The song is also #6 on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart.
Sixx:A.M.'s hit single, "Life Is Beautiful," keeps the #2 spot on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks
chart after 26 weeks on the chart.
Jody Watley has scored a #1 hit on Britain's Music Week's Club Chart and #2 hit on that magazine's Mainstream Chart
with "I Want Your Love."
Led Zeppelin's Mothership dropped eight spots on the U.K. Album chart to # 16 last week. The Eagles' Long Road
Out Of Eden fell seven places to #20.
Ireland is feeling the love for Journey as their 1981 classic hit, "Don't Stop Believin'," has returned
to Ireland's Singles chart during the last few weeks and has last week climbed eight places to #6.
Martin Brett (formerly of Voice Of The Beehive) has been recording with his new project, Dollshouse. Several of
the tracks are up on the Dollshouse MySpace page. Meanwhile, former bandmate Melissa Belland has announced the
birth of her daughter, Glory Vivianne.
In 1980, the world saw Olivia Newton-John star in the not-so-successful film Xanadu (which barely broke even at
the box office.) The soundtrack (which featured music by Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra) was a surprisingly
huge commercial success landing 5 Top 20 hits. In 2007, an updated Broadway reinvention of the film became one
of the surprise smash hits of the 2007-2008 season. The original Broadway cast recording for this musical was released
on CD to stores on Jan. 8th.
According to their Web site, Spiritualized have been waiting on Universal Music Group to sort out some things and
have been "sittin' on a finished (and mastered) record" for the last few months. Frontman Jason Pierce
has also contributed some music to the upcoming Mister Lonely soundtrack. (Spiritualized formed in 1990 as a splinter
group of Spacemen 3.)
Former Latin Rascals member Tony Moran has released his new album, The Event 2008, online at MasterBeat.com. The
album features several different featured vocalists including Martha Wash on "Keep Your Body Workin'."
In 1991, Mellow Man Ace and Kid Frost were part of a rap supergroup that released a self-titled album, Latin Alliance.
Fast-forward to 2008, a new Latin Alliance project is in the works from Frost (possibly titled Godfathers.) Mellow
Man Ace is also promoting his La Familia albums (Volume 1 and the upcoming 2 and 3.)
Van Morrison will see his back catalog of 29 remastered albums reissued in the new year in a 4 phase process. The
first series of 7 albums due out Jan. 28th will include 1984's A Sense Of Wonder, 1989's Avalon Sunset and 1999's
Back On Top all including previously unavailable bonus material.
A new retrospective will surface soon for Australia's Matt Finish. Entitled 1978-2008, the disc will feature some
new songs recorded by the current line-up of the band along with classic tracks. Founder/singer/songwriter Matt
Moffitt died in August of 2003.
A double-CD 'best of' is in the works for Dream Theater entitled Greatest Hit & 19 Other Pretty Cool Songs
due out Mar. 18th via Rhino Records.
Emma Anderson (Baby Machines/Lush) and Lisa O'Neill have announced that after 10 years they have called it a day
for their band Sing-Sing. They plan to shut down their Web site at the end of January but keep their MySpace page
active for contact information.
Ice Cube has released a new video for "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" at his MySpace page. His new studio
album, Raw Footage, is due out soon.
Siouxsie Sioux has released a live 4-track EP, Le Tour Eiffel, exclusively on iTunes. The tracks include "About
To Happen," "If It Doesn't Kill You," "Here Comes That Day" and "Hello, I Love You"
but no word on which countries are able to access the download (Japan had a listing but not U.S.)
The Offspring have been nearing completion of recording their new studio effort according to a blog post by frontman
Dexter Holland on their official Web site. They just aren't close enough to know when they'll be finished.
Tiffany has been hired for her first starring role in a feature film. Unknown Productions Incorporated is in pre-production
on the independent psychological horror film, Necrosis. Production begins this month and information on the cast,
crew, production and storyboards are up at www.necrosismovie.com.
k.d. lang will release her 11-track new studio album, Watershed, on Feb. 11th. The album is her first self-produced
set.
Can't wait until March to get Michael McDonald's new studio album Soul Speak? Singles ("Love T.K.O.",
"Walk On By" and "Your Love Is Lifting Me Higher") from the disc are already available at Wal-mart.com
and Amazon.com. iTunes has "Love T.K.O." and will have two other tracks in the middle of the month.
Die Krupps' double-disc career retrospective, Too Much History, which was due out in October will now be released
on Feb. 5th via Metropolis Records. The CDs will separate their music into The Electro Years and The Metal Years
on each disc. The set will have a sampling of tracks from their 25-year career as well as some new tracks.
A 22-track compilation entitled Ricky Nelson: Greatest Love Songs will be released on Jan. 15th. No songs from
the late singer's final studio album, 1981's Playing To Win, made the disc.
Ever feel that there aren't enough dance videos on YouTube? Well, MC Hammer has been involved in a new start-up
site, DanceJam.com, as co-founder and chief strategy officer which is due to launch later this month. Videos of
people dancing are uploaded by user/dancers that will be featured in competitions between individual members and
judged by viewers with dance instructions and demonstrations.
Michael Jackson is rumored to be planning a month-long residency at London's O2 Arena which could net him $1 million
per night. The venue was the site of the recent Led Zeppelin reunion and Prince's own residency last year.
Eddie Vedder will make his first appearance in a music video as a solo artist with the newly filmed video for his
Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated song, "Guaranteed." The video is scheduled to premiere today on VH1.
Sisters Of Mercy co-founder and guitarist Gary Marx will release his solo album, Nineteen Ninety Five And Nowhere,
on Jan. 24th via the D-Monic Records.
Shalamar's Jeffrey Daniel plans to make his Bloomsbury Theatre debut in London on Jan. 30th. Several other shows
have been scheduled as he begins his support of his upcoming single and new studio album.
According to Metalzone.gr, British heavy metal act Tokyo Blade will resurface in a new line-up that includes founding
lead guitarist Andy Boulton. A few festival dates have been booked and hopes are to write and record a new studio
album.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced on Monday that the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony has
been canceled due to the threat of striking writers picketing the event. It will be replaced on Sunday with a news
conference format that will announce the winners.
Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who joined punk act Flipper in 2006, will be releasing an album with the
group (their first in 15 years) later this year. The band plan to reissue their entire back catalog soon as well
as a DVD entitled Flipper Live: Target Video 1980-1981.
The Legendary Pink Dots will see re-releases of their out-of-print 1988 album The Golden Age, 1991's The Maria
Dimension via Caciocavallo Records soon. Their 1998 album, Nemesis Online, will also be reissued by Soleilmoon
Recordings. All the albums can be ordered at Soleilmoon.com.
Lenny Kravitz' new studio effort, It Is Time For A Love Revolution, will be released on Feb. 5th The first single
from what will be his 8th studio album will be "I'll Be Waiting."
With some artists deciding to self-release their albums online, Billboard/Reuters has speculated on what 10 acts
could jump ship from their labels and swim in a sea of independent artists. Among them are Prince, Nine Inch Nails,
Depeche Mode, Chuck D/Public Enemy, Pearl Jam and Underworld.
Rock Of Love 2 with Bret Michaels debuts on VH1 on Jan. 13th. Michaels upcoming solo album has been titled Custom
Built.