According to TMZ.com, African saxophonist Manu
Dibango
has filed a $650,000 lawsuit against Rihanna over the use of a portion
of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Something" in her song "Don't
Stop The Music." Jackson licensed a portion of Dibango's
"Soul Makossa" for use of the "mama se, mama so, ma makossa" line in
the 1983 single and Rihanna reportedly received permission from Jackson
to use it herself but not from Dibango.
The 2-year legal circus that has been the settlement of James Brown's
estate could see a new deal for Brown's family today if approved by a
South Carolina judge.
Former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler was reportedly arrested and
charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance on
Jan. 26th. But, was he was released later that day on $50,527
bail for the misdemeanor offense or something else.
Representatives for the drummer have claimed that he was driving to
register as a drug offender that morning and was arrested for not
finishing his community service in the time specified by the
judge. The "controlled substance" charge would have showed up
as it was the original charge made in July.
According to TMZ.com, Tommy Lee's helicopter pilot was forced to land
at Van Nuys airport in mid-flight by LAPD after they saw it flying
erratically. (It reportedly flew underneath and "too close"
to a LAPD chopper.) Lee was reportedly let go and the pilot
was detained, investigated and released without being
charged. The FAA is expected to investigate.
Classic Rock Magazine reports, UFO founding bassist Pete Way has
announced his hiatus from the band as he recovers from a medical
condition that has damaged his liver. He is currently
undergoing treatment to cure it but the side-effects make recording and
touring too much for him at this time. The band are in a
German studio and hope to release their new album later this year.
The 2009 Juno Award nominees have been announced. Celine Dion
is up for the Juno Fan Choice Award. Dion's "Taking Chances"
is up for Single Of The Year. AC/DC's Black Ice, Guns N'
Roses' Chinese Democracy and Metallica's Death Magnetic are up for
International Album Of The Year. Bryan Adams and k.d. lang
are up for Artist Of The Year. Ron Sexmith's Exit Strategy Of
The Soul is up for Adult Alternative Album Of The Year. Jeff
Healey's Mess Of Blues is up for Blues Album Of The Year.
Daniel Lanois and k.d. lang are up for Jack Richardson Producer Of The
Year. Lanois' Here Is What Is and Celine Dion's Live In Las
Vegas -- A New Day are up for Music DVD Of The Year. The 38th
annual event will take place live on Mar. 29th on CTV.
Bon Jovi are among 13 New Jersey natives that were named to the New
Jersey Hall of Fame on Monday. Meanwhile, Jon Bon Jovi has
partnered with Hard Rock International to be become part of Hard Rock's
Signature Series T-shirt program, which has raised millions of dollars
for charitable causes worldwide.
The Country Music Association has announced that Roy Clark, Barbara
Mandrell and Charlie McCoy a the newest members of the Country Music
Hall of Fame.
A "blue plaque" will be placed at one of the former sites of London's
Marquee Club in honor of The Who's late drummer Keith Moon and unveiled
by former bandmates Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend during a ceremony
in March.
Bruce Springsteen's Working On A Dream debuted at #1 on the Billboard
200 albums chart selling 224,000 copies. The Twilight
soundtrack fell 7 places to #12. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack
dropped a spot to #22.
Bruce Springsteen's Working On A Dream debuted at #1 on the U.K. Albums
chart. Roger Whittaker's The Golden Age Of Roger Whittaker:
50 Years Of Classic Hits climbed two places to #11. ABBA's
Gold: Greatest Hits dropped 3 spots to #31. Bette Midler's
The Best Bette retained the #33 position.
Bruce Springsteen's debuted at #1 on the album charts in Austria,
Canada, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and United
States. The rocker recently condemned Ticketmaster for
sending purchasers to TicketsNow (their secondary market site where
people may purchase tickets from people who already have purchased them
at a usually higher cost) when tickets were still available at their
site. Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff later responded to the
criticism by apologizing to The Boss and has taken links down referring
fans to TicketsNow. Meanwhile, Bruce Springsteen And The E
Street Band are under fire as it has been reported that all the backing
music for their Super Bowl halftime performance was recorded ahead of
time with Springsteen's vocals the only live element. Fans
have also noticed a similarity between the new song, "Outlaw Pete,"
from the new album and Kiss' 1979 hit "I Was Made For Loving
You." Mash-ups comparing the two songs can be found on
YouTube.
Eagle Rock Entertainment have announced that their Eagle Records will
release, One Eye To Morocco, Ian Gillian's first studio album of all
new material in a decade on Mar. 31st.
Al B Sure has been busy working in the studio on a new album entitled
Honey I'm Home. He has also been occupied with his show on
Hot 92.3 in Los Angeles which airs from 10 AM to 1 PM (PT) on weekdays
and 8 AM to noon on Sundays. You can listen live outside of
Los Angeles on Hot923.com.
Helix are currently searching for a new bass player (with a good voice)
for their live show. Those Musician's Union members in good
standing in the Southern Ontario area that are able to learn material
quickly are being asked to email vocalist Brian Vollmer at
bvollm0656@rogers.com with a photo and/or video.
Stevie Wonder will release, Live At Last, his first authorized DVD on
Mar. 10th via Universal Motown which chronicles his performances last
year at London's 02 Arena.
Vocalist Maggie De Monde of Scarlet Fantastic has launched a new
project with Martin Watkins appropriately named Maggie &
Martin. Five samples of their work are up at their new
MySpace page (www.myspace.com/maggieandmartin). De Monde has
been busy recently with the2006 release of the album, Club Silencio,
from her Mighty K project with Lief Kahal (which featured Crabbi of Pop
Will Eat Itself) and a 2007 remix of Scarlet Fantastic's 1987 hit, "No
Memory," released. Mighty K are also working on their second
album.
Metal Mind Productions and MVD plan to re-release U.K. thrash/death
metal act Cerebral Fix's fourth and final album together, 1992's Death
Erotica, in a limited edition release on Mar. 10th. The
digi-pak edition includes 9 bonus tracks and features guest vocals by
members of Napalm Death and Pop Will Eat Itself.
Stevie B has announced that he has released his latest single, "It
Ain't Over," via HotTunes.com and iTunes.com and expects "big things
coming for 2009."
Natalie Cole, 58, recently told Entertainment Tonight that she is
hoping to have a kidney transplant in the near future. "We
just don't know when. My son may be a possible match, which
would be great. It's very sweet and strange to have people
offer something like that. It's a big deal for the recipient
more than it is for the donor, because they've got two kidneys and we
just need one!" Cole has been dealing with health problems
related to hepatitis C since last year.
Eddie Van Halen recently told Spinner.com that he plans to discuss
recording new music and touring with the current line-up of the band
after he and girlfriend Janie Liszewski get married in June and
Wolfgang graduates from high school. Alex, Wolfgang and Eddie
plan to meet up in the next week or so to start jamming and may give
David Lee Roth "a call and see what he's up to."
Spinal Tap have started recording their first new material in almost
two decades. Harry Shearer recently told BBC 5 Live, "It'll
be for download as well as on conventional media later this year."
Portion Control are working on their new studio album, Witness, to be
released via Sigsaly Transmissions in June. Expect some
samples to appear on their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/porcon.
Rhino will release Erasure's four-disc boxed set, Total Pop! -- The
First 40 Hits, on Apr. 7th. The set includes a remastered
version of their 1992 collection, Pop! -- The First 20 Hits, on disc 1,
disc 2 includes their latest 20 singles, disc 3 collects 15 live tracks
and disc 4 is a DVD containing their television appearances.
Meanwhile, Andy Bell has been working on his new solo album.
Diesel (a.k.a. Mark Lizotte) has been working on a new blues album
under the 'working title' Saturday Suffering Fools due out in May.
Garland Jeffreys will star in the upcoming film Black Caesar portraying
Jimmy Style. Several of his songs will be included in the
soundtrack. Jeffreys has also recorded a guest vocal on, "Be
Your Revelator," from Libby Johnson's upcoming album, Perfect View.
Originally signed for only 75 show at the Colosseum theater at Caesars
Palace in Las Vegas, Elton John will end his run in The Red Piano after
241 performances on Apr. 22nd.
Singer/songwriter/producer Martin Bisi releases his latest album,
Sirens Of The Apocalypse, via Contraphonic on Feb. 10th.
Bassist Billy Sheehan recently told MusicRadar that the original
line-up of Mr. Big will reunite for a 20th anniversary tour of Japan in
June. Sheehan also plans to release his third solo album,
Holy Cow!, via Mascot Records on Apr. 14th. ZZ Top's Billy
Gibbons and Kings X's Dug Pinnick are among the guests appearing on the
album.
According to Reuters, Public Image Ltd./Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon
is reportedly responsible for the 83% rise in sales of Dairy Crest's
Country Life butter since appearing in a series of television
commercials for the brand.
The U.K.'s Daily Mirror has mentioned a rumored 30th anniversary
Spandau Ballet reunion tour to take place in November and December of
this year that would be filmed for a live DVD.
Blackmore's Night's "Old Mill Inn," from their 2006 album, The Village
Lanterne, is being used in the Jim Carrey film, Yes Man.
Frontwoman Candice Night also stars in the feature film, Pray For
Light, due to be released later this year.
French new wave act Martin Dupont will see their 3 albums (1984's Just
Because, 1985's Sleep Is A Luxury and 1987's Hot Paradox) reissued with
bonus tracks in a limited edition box set this spring via
Infrastition. Meanwhile, the same label has reissued
Resistance's 1986 album Between Two Lights.
Neil Young has released, "Fork In The Road," a new single that is a
sneak peak from his forthcoming album.
According to a post on his MySpace page, B-52's vocalist Fred Schneider
has started writing a children's book called Petting Zoo Horror and
posted a few of the opening sentences.
A limited edition double-disc version of, Bastard Art, the Andi Sex
Gang documentary has been released on DVD. Sex Gang Children
have also released a new single, Salamun Child, via Snocap as well as
EP under the same name.
Former Jefferson Starship/Journey/Whitesnake drummer Aynsley Dunbar has
released his new studio album, Mutiny, to iTunes and Amazon.
Rob Zombie has announced that he's finished working on his new studio
album but will delay it until he finishes work on the film Halloween 2.
Cramps frontman Lux Interior [Erick Lee Purkhiser], 62, died at
Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California, of a pre-existing
heart condition on Feb. 4th. The "psychobilly" act's shifting
line-up had always included Interior and wife Poison Ivy which leaves
the future of the group up in the air. The band released 7
albums during the 1980s and last released 2004's How To Make A
Monster. Their highest charting single was 1989's "Bikini
Girls With Machine Guns" (a #10 hit on the U.S. Modern Rock chart and
#35 on the U.K. Singles chart.)