Dr. Dre [a.k.a. Andre Young] filed a lawsuit in
Los
Angeles federal court on Feb. 11th against WIDEawake Death Row Records
and its parent companies alleging they failed to pay royalties and
released a new version of his album, The Chronic, without his
permission. Young claims that since his split with the
original Death Row Records in 1996, he hasn't been paid royalties on
the album or on The Chronic Re-Lit and greatest hits collection they
released without his permission or the proper rights. The
lawsuit seeks unspecified damages of more than $75,000 for claims that
include breach of contract, false advertising, trademark infringement
and misappropriation of publicity.
Michael Jackson's doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, was charged on Monday with
involuntary manslaughter in the singer's death and faces up to 4 years
in prison if convicted. Officials are saying that in an
effort to get the insomniac Jackson to sleep, Murray administered the
powerful general anesthetic propofol and two other sedatives.
It seems that Madonna's plan to build a $15 million school for girls in
Malawi, near the capital of Lilongwe, has placed her and the local
government against about 200 African villagers. Lilongwe
District Commissioner Charles Kalemba addressed them about the
move. "Government allowed you to occupy this land because
there was no project yet. But now that Madonna wants to build
you a school you have to give way. You are lucky that Madonna
has compensated you for your houses, gardens and trees." Each
reportedly were paid $115,000 for their mostly mud-and-thatch
homes. Due to open in 2011, the Raising Malawi Academy for
Girls will reportedly be constructed with modern environment-friendly
techniques, including solar panels for generating electricity and serve
500 girls, mainly from underprivileged households.
This year's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Leonard Cohen has
been forced to delay his European tour due to a back injury.
According to his publicist, he has been instructed by doctors to
undergo 4 to 6 months of physical therapy.
Ronnie James Dio's wife/manager has issued an update on Ronnie's
condition. "We met with Dr. Ajani, Ronnie's oncologist, on
Monday, and he was very pleased with the treatment so far.
Some tumors have gone and some have shrunk. He says we have a
long road to travel, but we are on the right path." She also
talked about all the cards and letters fans have been
sending. "Thank you all so much - it keeps our spirits up
knowing you all love Ronnie so much and wish him well."
Guitarist Gilby Clarke has updated fans to his recovery from a major
hit-and-run accident last month. "My second surgery was last
week & I'm home from the hospital now. They put in a
rod, plate & lots of screws. Everything is healing
well, it's a good thing I was healthy going in. I had my
check up on Friday (Feb. 5th) & they took off my cast &
removed the staples. In a month I can start trying to
walk. Once again, all the support from my friends has made
the bad days good."
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has announced that
April Wine will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on
Apr. 18th during the 2010 Juno Awards.
Ringo Starr was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday
marking the 50th anniversary of the 'walk' and becoming the 2,401st to
be unveiled. ZZ Top are due to receive a star this year.
Ozzy Osbourne's new autobiography, I Am Ozzy, debuted at #2 on the New
York Times best seller list (for hardcover non-fiction.)
The 2010 Grammy Nominees compilation climbed 3 spots to #5 on the
Billboard 200 albums chart on sales of 71,000 copies. Rob
Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe 2 debuted at #8 on sales of 49,000
copies. Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack fell 5 places
to #11. The Hope For Haiti Now compilation dropped 17 spots
to #19. Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel soundtrack
fell 3 places to #26. Michael Jackson's Number Ones dropped 5
spots to #36. Barry Manilow's The Greatest Love Songs Of All
Time fell 35 places to #40.
Sade's "Soldier Of Love" is the highest placing 80s act on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at #80 (falling 6 spots.) Her
album, of the same title, is expected to take the top spot on the chart
next week.
Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel soundtrack dropped a spot to #7
on the U.K. Albums chart. Journey's Greatest Hits debuted at
#12. Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac climbed 9
places to #22. Celine Dion's My Love: The Essential
Collection debuted at #28. George Benson's Classic Love Songs
debuted at #30. Del Shannon's Runaway: The Very Best Of Del
Shannon dropped 11 spots to #36. Marvin Gaye's Love Marvin:
The Greatest Love Songs Of Marvin Gaye debuted at #38.
Jedward's cover of "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)" featuring Vanilla
Ice debuted at #2 on the U.K. Singles chart. Glee Cast's
"Don't Stop Believin'" dropped 2 spots to #4. Journey's
original "Don't Stop Believin'" fell a place to #9. Glee
Cast's "Somebody To Love" debuted at #26.
Billboard magazine has released their list of the 50 sexiest songs,
based on the popularity of the tracks, since 1958. Taking the
top spot... Olivia Newton-John's 1981 hit, "Physical."
Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri have finished work on her new song,
"Nothing," which is the theme song to the new film, Why Did I Get
Married Too. The film heads to theaters on Apr. 2nd.
To coincide with Go West's nationwide U.K. tour, the band will release
a re-recorded version of their 1985 hit "Call Me" coupled with brand
new song "Skin Deep." The single will be available as a CD
and digital download.
Celine Dion has signed a new 3-year residency deal at the Colosseum at
Caesars Palace to begin Mar. 15th of 2011. Dion ended a
5-year residency there at the end of 2007 grossing $385 million with
her A New Day show.
Former Jam frontman Paul Weller has announced that his upcoming 10th
solo album, Wake Up The Nation, will be released on Apr. 5th via Island
Records in the U.K. and include guest appearances by former bandmate
Bruce Foxton and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. Weller
will also be honored on Feb. 24th with the Godlike Genius accolade at
the Shockwaves NME Awards 2010.
Andy Bell's new single "Will You Be There?" was released in the U.K.
this week (March in the U.S.) and is available to download now from
iTunes and all major online retailers. The single was to be
released under the pseudonym Mimó (after his friend Tomeau
Mimó) but a musician already working under the name Mimo has
posed a legal challenge to Bell's right to use the variation of that
name for the project.
Roky Erickson will release his new studio album, True Love Cast Out All
Evil, on Apr. 20 via Anti-Records.
Salt-N-Pepa's Cheryl "Salt" Wray, Sandy "Pepa" Denton and DJ
Spinderella have announced they are reforming for an exclusive
performance at Club Skirts Presents The Dinah on Apr. 3rd at the Palm
Springs Convention Center. The trio abruptly split in 2000.
Former Pantera bassist Rex Brown has a new project called Arms Of The
Sun. The band have completed work on 13 tracks for their
debut album.
Devo will make their first network broadcast performance in two decades
as one of 15 headlining acts performing during the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Vancouver on Feb. 22nd. The band have also traded in their
classic red safety hats for blue ones.
INXS' publicist has confirmed that J.D. Fortune will "do a special
guest appearance" with the band during their performance on Feb. 24th
at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will see the deluxe double-disc Surround
Sound remastered reissue of their 1988 album, Tender Prey, 1990's The
Good Son and 1992's Henry's Dream on Mar. 30th.
Former Wolfsbane/Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley has released his new
studio album, Promise And Terror.
A new documentary, The Music of Ireland - Welcome Home, featuring
interviews and performances by U2, Sinead O'Connor, the Chieftains, Bob
Geldof, Pete Seeger and the late Liam Clancy debuts on New York public
television station WLIW on Feb. 17th before heading to PBS affiliates
in March. A CD and DVD entitled Music of Ireland (the CD
containing new music by O'Connor, the Chieftains, Shane MacGowan,
Clannad's Moya Brennan and several others) will be exclusively
available at Barnes & Noble on Mar. 2nd and the CD tracks will
become available digitally exclusively at Amazon.com that same day for
45 days. A sequel is planned for later this year.
Kurt Maloo of Double has released his new studio album, Summer Of
Better Times, worldwide. For those looking for the physical
CD, it can be ordered at Grooves-Inc.com.
Megadeth have announced that original bassist David Ellefson has
returned to the band and James LoMenzo will be departing. The
reunion is timely as the band launch their Rust In Peace 20th
anniversary tour on Mar. 1st.
Asia have been working in the studio on, Omega, their follow-up to
2008's Phoenix which is due in April via Frontiers Records.
Hip-Hop pioneers Whodini have been in the studio working on new
music. They recently told The Riverfront Times, "We're going
to come back out, we feel we need to do another album." Hopes
are to release a new single this summer.
Nitzer Ebb's new studio album, Industrial Complex, has officially been
released via the Belgian Alfa Matrix label in Belgium, France, Italy,
the Netherlands and Luxemburg (with Major Records). The
special "Belgian" edition features several exclusive remixes of the
Martin Gore-backed "Once You Say" track.
Extreme will see the release of a new CD & DVD entitled Take Us
Alive via Frontiers Records which they recorded live in Boston last
year.
Billy Bragg and his band are involved in a new production, Pressure
Drop, which is a new play from On Theatre running for a limited time
from April to May. According to Bragg, "I have never done
anything like this before; mixing songs with theatre is a totally new
experience for me. Given that music makes a significant
contribution to many people's sense of who they are, I am very excited
to be working with On Theatre and Wellcome Collection as part of the
Identity Project."
Stryper have announced that they are starting pre-production for their
new studio album at the end of the month and recording will begin in
early March. Plans are to finish the album in May and release
the new album later this year. According to Michael Sweet,
"...it won't be what anyone expects and it will show a completely
different side to Stryper that the world has never heard
before. Let the controversy begin..."
U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. will reportedly be a guest voice on the
Fox television animated series The Cleveland Show. Meanwhile,
the band's 360 Degree tour was named live production of the year at the
Total Production International Awards.
Dollar frontman David Van Day has been working on an autobiography that
is scheduled for publication next year.
Due out this week is a new 5-CD 100-track collection, 100 Hits: Mum,
which contains songs that are supposedly 'perfect' for Mother's Day by
artists including Simply Red, World Party, Faith No More, Everything
But The Girl, Sister Sledge, the Communards, Bananarama, Debbie Gibson,
Aztec Camera, Fine Young Cannibals, Laura Branigan, Shakespears Sister,
Jason Donovan, Blancmange, Club Nouveau, Karyn White, The Bluebells,
They Might Be Giants, ZZ Top, Chaka Khan, Sister Sledge, McFadden
& Whitehead, Randy Crawford, Carly Simon, Rickie Lee Jones,
Peter Cetera, Christopher Cross, Foreigner, Chris Rea, The Cars, a-ha,
Leo Sayer, Marti Pellow, Aswad, The Ramones, Terry Hall and many others.
Raisin' Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter, an
authorized biography by Mary Lou Sullivan, is expected to be published
in May.
John Foxx has raided the vaults of his Shoreditch recording studio, The
Garden, and pulled together an album's worth of material recorded
between 1981 and 1987. Entitled My Lost City, the disc will
be released via Metamatic Records on Mar. 1st.
Duran Duran, the Steve Miller Band, Albert Hammond and Galaxie 500 are
among the acts contributing songs to the soundtrack to the Noah
Baumbach film Greenberg. The soundtrack is due out on Mar.
22nd in the U.K. via DFA/Parlophone.
Robyn Hitchcock is celebrating the launch of his new Web site with the
release of a 'phantom 45' featuring 2 all new songs ("To Be Human" and
"Belly Full Of Arms And Legs" from the forthcoming film Elektra
Luxx.) To download the songs, visit
http://www.robynhitchcock.com/phantom45s/
Dokken have released their new single, "Almost Over," which is
available now at Amazon.com and iTunes. The song is off their
upcoming Greatest Hits CD due out later this year via Deadline
Records. The disc includes new versions of their classics
"Breaking The Chains," "Dream Warriors" and "Just Got Lucky" as well as
several new songs.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts will release their new 21-track
double-disc Greatest Hits on vinyl and CD on Mar. 9th via
Amazon.com. The album contains the hits remastered from the
original material, the previously-unreleased "I Want You" and
Blackheart versions of the Runaways songs "You Drive Me Wild," "School
Days" and "Love Is Pain." Meanwhile, a new book entitled Joan
Jett written by her and author Todd Oldham heads to stores on Apr. 15th
via Ammo Books. The book follows her multi-decade career and
unveils many never-before-seen photos.
Skinlab are still working on their DVD. Despite working on it
for the last few years, they are looking to film an upcoming show with
the new line-up to be added to the footage. Plans are to
release it the DVD this year.
According to Sammy Hagar's manager John Carter, Chickenfoot plan to
head into the recording studio in April to work on their sophomore
album. Hagar and Satriani have already begun the writing
process.
Legendary British jazz saxophonist John Dankworth, 82, died on Feb. 6th
after a brief illness. Dankworth became famous for his work
with Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald but would appear
on several albums during the 80s including some by his wife Cleo
Laine. From 1984 to 1986 he was a professor of music at
London's Gresham College and founded the London Symphony Orchestra's
pops programme in 1985. Dankworth was nominated for a Grammy
for Best Instrumental Arrangement for a version of Ellington and Juan
Tizol's Caravan with the London Symphony Orchestra. Dankworth
was the first British jazz musician to be knighted.