A Family Court judge has ruled that Paul McCartney will pay Heather Mills $48.6 million to settle their divorce
(a $33 million lump sum plus the $15.6 million in assets she currently holds.) McCartney will also make "periodical
payments" of $70,000 per year (as well as nanny and school fees) in support of their 4 year-old daughter Beatrice.
Mills reportedly plans to appeal to prevent publication of the details of the settlement for the couple's daughter.
Mills had been seeking $250 million.
Warrant vocalist Jani Lane (born John Oswald) has settled his lawsuit against Virgin Records which accused the
label of breach of contract over dealing with his musical compositions. Terms of the deal were not made public.
Michael Jackson reached a last-minute "confidential" deal with Fortress Investment Group LLC to allow
him to retain ownership of Neverland Ranch. The Los Olivos, California, property was scheduled to be auctioned
on Mar. 19th after Jackson fell into default on the $24.5 million estate. Meanwhile, a 60 year-old woman claiming
to be his wife (also claiming the name of Billie Jean Jackson) was arrested for trespassing at Neverland. She had
claimed that the ranch was lawfully hers.
Janice Buxton Davison is gathering support from fans in her quest to squash a cyber squatter. Davison, sister of
late Alice Cooper original lead guitarist Glen Buxton, is trying to gain control of the domain name GlenBuxton.com
which was registered to a Bryan Erickson in 1998. Erickson is reportedly selling unrelated items and displaying
unauthorized videos of Glen at the site. Davison, who is also executor of the Glen Buxton Estate, is hoping to
avoid costly litigation and hope a boycott of the site will help resolve the situation. Meanwhile, Alice Cooper
has signed with Steamhammer/SPV for the release of his next album, Along Came A Spider, due in the autumn.
The Chinese government have announced that Bjork's recent chanting of "Tibet!" during her song "Declare
Independence" will not affect how they treat other foreign acts. Vice Minister of Culture Zhou Heping told
reporters, "(It) won't affect China inviting other countries' artists from coming to perform in China, especially
foreign artists and groups invited to perform during the Olympics."
Janet Jackson was forced to cancel her appearance on Saturday Night Live due to the flu. She was reportedly checked
into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for shortness of breath and the flu.
Guitarist Eddie Van Halen is not in rehab according to his ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli in a recent People.com article.
"The reports about him being in rehab are wrong. Eddie is sober." She declined to say what is ailing
her ex but it is expected that he is undergoing medical tests for an unspecified medical condition. All tour activity
has been postponed for Van Halen until Apr. 19th.
Alan Jackson's new studio album, Good Time, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with sales of 119,000
copies. Janet Jackson's Discipline fell from the top to #3 with 57,000. Michael McDonald's Soul Speak debuted at
#12 with 28,000 copies sold. Jackson Browne's Solo Acoustic Vol. 2 debuted at #24 selling 20,000. Garth Brooks'
The Ultimate Hits fell 4 places to #27. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters climbed 7 spots to #31. Robert
Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand fell 7 places to #36. The Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden dropped 3 spots
to #38.
Janet Jackson's latest single, "Feedback," fell 9 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart to #28.
The song has claimed the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Taylor Dayne's "Beautiful"
climbed 4 places to grab the #5 spot on the chart followed by Shirley Bassey's cover of "Get This Party Started."
Jacksons are topping the charts this week. Alan Jackson's Good Time (Billboard Top 200 #1)also grabbed the #1 spot
on the Billboard Country Albums chart and Comprehensive Albums chart. Janet Jackson holds the top spot on the Billboard
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Her brother Michael holds the #1 on the Billboard Top Pop Catalog chart with
Thriller 25. Not a Jackson but also a #1 is Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters on the Top Contemporary Jazz
chart.
Nine Inch Nails' instrumental 36-track set, Ghosts I-IV, had 781,917 transactions (which includes free and paid
downloads as well as orders for the various physical release editions) in just the first week boasting a take of
$1,619,420. The final numbers will not be reported to SoundScan, so don't expect to see it on the charts.
Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 retained the #7 spot on the U.K. Album chart. The Temptations' Classic Soul Hits
debuted at #8. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand dropped a spot to #18. Joe Brown's The Very Best
Of Joe Brown - 50th Anniversary fell 5 places to #19. Clannad's Celtic Themes: The Very Best Of Clannad debuted
at #20.
Kylie Minogue's latest single, "Wow," fell 6 places on the U.K. Singles chart to #17. The song also fell
3 spots on the Australian Singles chart to #18.
The Tragically Hip have been working on their new studio album. Meanwhile, they will be honored in May with Canada's
National Arts Centre award during a special ceremony.
During the Deejay Hall of Fame ceremony at the recent Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, Charlie Daniels was presented
with a Career Achievement Award.
Donny and Marie Osmond have signed on to host the Miss USA pageant on Apr. 11th from the Planet Hollywood Resort
& Casino in Las Vegas.
Sparks have announced that they will release their new 13-track studio album, Exotic Creatures Of The Deep, on
May 19th. The disc will follow their new single, "Good Morning."
A press release by Journey's public relations people have confirmed that the new album, Revelation, will be sold
exclusively at Wal-Mart stores in North America on June 3rd as a 3-disc CD/DVD package. Disc one will feature 11
re-recorded classics, disc two will contain 11 new tracks and the DVD will be a live in-concert performance. Kevin
Shirley who produced 1996's Trial By Fire (their last studio album with Steve Perry) is producing Revelation. June
tour dates in Europe have been announced and a U.S. leg is expected to follow during the rest of the summer.
Def Leppard's new single, "Nine Lives," featuring Tim McGraw from the band's new album, Songs From The
Sparkle Lounge, will become a featured track in a special opening segment recorded for NBA games that will air
on ABC going into the playoffs.
Mike Peters of The Alarm plans to host a very special one-off concert event at The James Bridges Theatre, UCLA
in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, Apr. 12th 2008 to commemorate the exact anniversary (time and date) of
The Alarm's original Spirit Of '86 concert. Legendary KROQ/Sirius First Wave DJ Richard Blade will host a question
and answer session during a reception and personal acoustic performance by Peters. At the exact time of the original
concert, a full size cinematic screening of the recently released Spirit Of '86 DVD will be shown.
According to a post by Five Star, "Sony have plans to release a CD of Five Star remixes due for release in
the summer."
To coincide with the release of George Strait's new studio album, Troubadour, on Apr. 1st, XM Radio will launch
a new channel dedicated to the 'King Of Country' called Strait Country. Troubadour is his 37th album. Sirius Satellite
Radio is relaunching Rolling Stones Radio until Apr. 18th in honor of the new Martin Scorsese concert film Shine
A Light.
Remastered versions of critically acclaimed hard rock guitarist Joshua Perahia's early albums are due out by Mar.
20th. A 25th Anniversary Re-issue of his 1983 debut, The Hand Is Quicker Than The Eye, as well as 1985's Surrender
and 1998's Chapter One are available at his official Web site, his MySpace page, CDBaby and several mail order
companies. A new DVD, Intense Defense: Live In The Studio, is due out in April. He is also expected to enter the
studio soon to record his next album (tentatively titled Resurrection.)
Daryl Hall has a new concept. He has built studios in his four homes (in New York, upstate New York, The Bahamas
and London) that he will broadcast a live event from each month. The shows are free to watch after signing up and
logging on at LiveFromDarylsHouse.com. Guests will also make appearances (of course, one will be John Oates.)
According to recent MySpace posts by Nikki Sixx, Motley Crue have been going through what they've recorded so far
and have started plotting, planning and designing. To him, he feels the old bite is back and that they plan to
let fans be the judge when its time. "I f***ing love this new Motley Crue album. Tommy's kickin' ass, Vince
sounds insane and Mars is shredding on guitars. It doesn't feel like one song is better or worse than any other.
It feels so good to be excited about something you've worked on so hard." The band are expected to make a
"colossal" announcement on Apr. 15th.
Visage's 1982 album, The Anvil, will be reissued in the U.K. in an expanded package on Mar. 17th featuring 6 bonus
tracks.
Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson has co-written a new horror film, Chemical Wedding, that will premiere at Cannes
in May and be released in U.K. theaters in the summer. Meanwhile, EMI are planning to release, Somewhere Back In
Time - The Best Of Iron Maiden: 1980 - 1989, on May 13th. The new release will be available in an innovative preview
allowing fans to download the entire album from their IronMaiden.com Web site as a high quality WMA audio file
to be listened to at their leisure 3 times before the download expires. When it expires, it will ask you to upgrade
or purchase the album.
The cover of James' new studio album, Hey Ma, has been banned by the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority. The
cover shows a toddler playing on the floor in front of a hand gun and 5 blocks spelling the album title. According
lead guitarist Larry Gott in an interview with XFM, "We talked at length about hitting a problem with the
Advertising Standards Authority, but it's such a strong image we decided to go with it anyway." "We were
looking at lots of ideas with the designers and they came up with an image of a baby and a gun that related to
a story in America of a ten month old child that had been issued a firearms certificate." The band remain
undeterred by the authority's decision.
Barry Adamson will release his new studio album, Back To The Cat, on Apr. 22nd (Mar. 31st in the U.K. and Apr.
5th in Australia/Europe). A high quality, DRM-free MP3 download of the new album can be purchased at BarryAdamson.com.
Curt Smith of Tears For Fears will release his solo album, Halfway, Pleased, in May via his own Kook Media label.
It will initially be sold through online retailers and his own site.
Helloween's Michael Kiske plans to release Past In Different Ways via Frontiers Records on May 9th. The disc will
include fully acoustic reworkings of some classic songs by the band as well as the brand new song, "Different
Ways."
Naomi Judd will be a judge on the first season of CMT's Can You Duet? which premiers on Apr. 14th on the cable
network.
Marillion have titled their new studio album, Happiness Is The Road. This will be their 15th album and will come
as two separate CDs (Volume 1: Essence and Volume 2: The Hard Shoulder.) The albums can be pre-ordered at Marillion.com.
Former Biohazard vocalist/bassist Evan Seinfeld has a new project that he's started called The Spyderz. Meanwhile,
Biohazard have reunited and in April (20 years to the day that they recorded their first demo) they will perform
dates in Australia launching their world tour.
Curious about the new B-52's album, Funplex? AOL is currently streaming the entire album at: http://music.aol.com/songs/new_releases_full_cds?defaultTab=4
Uriah Heep plan to release their first new studio album in nearly a decade, Wake The Sleeper, in June via Universal
Music.
Have a favorite independent record store? That's where you'll be able to find Dave Gahan's special U.S.-only release,
Hourglass Remixes, this week. Don't have a store like that near you? Check out the Release page on his DaveGahan.com
Web site (as Lou's Records offers online sales.)
"More Than Meets The Eye" will be the first single from Testament's new studio album, The Formation Of
Damnation, due out Apr. 29th via Nuclear Blast.
Sheryl Crow recently told Spinner.com that she has definite plans to collaborate with Fleetwood Mac in the future.
She expects the fruits of that work to surface next year. No official announcement has been made by Crow or the
band.
Stryper frontman/guitarist Michael Sweet, who performed with Boston during their tribute concert to Brad Delp,
will join the group on tour during the summer.
Gary Numan plans to follow his current tour (including the Bestival Festival in September) by going into the studio
to finish work on his next album, Splinter, and the Resurrection albums. Splinter is due out next spring and he
expects to hit the road again at that time.
A digipak edition of Flotsam And Jetsam's 2005 album Dreams Of Death will be released in Europe on Apr. 7th.
Nick Cave has other projects following the recent release of Dig Lazarus Dig! He recently told XFM radio that he
has written a follow-up screenplay to 2006's The Proposition and is thinking about penning a novel.
Van Morrison will release his new studio album, Keep It Simple, via Lost Highway Records on Apr. 1st. The first
single from the album will be, "That's Entertainment."
Former World Trade and Yes producer/bassist/vocalist Billy Sherwood has recorded an album with rock DJ Jim Ladd
entitled Headsets Chapter 1: Alone Out Here. The disc is available online exclusively at JimLaddHeadsets.com.
Dionne Warwick will release her second full-length gospel project, Why We Sing, via Rhino on Apr. 1st. The disc
features 12 newly recorded traditional hymns and contemporary gospel songs.
Loudness have released their new studio album, Metal Mad, via Tokuma Communications in Japan (other territories
will be announced soon.)
According to a post by drummer Brian Tichy, "We the [Billy] Idol band, are in the studio recording some new
stuff. We should be on the road this summer as well."
Mudhoney plan to release their new studio album, The Lucky Ones, on May 20th in time for their 20th anniversary.
They also plan to release a double-disc special edition of their debut EP, Superfuzz Bigmuff, that same day via
Sub Pop.
Michael Schenker has been busy working with MSG on their new studio album, In The Midst Of Beauty, due out worldwide
at the end of April.
Shout! Factory will release In The Name Of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 on Apr. 1st. The disc is currently at #6
on the World Music radio charts and features covers of U2 tracks by up-and-coming African artists with a portion
of the proceeds directly benefitting The Global Fund.
Taylor Dayne has digitally released, "Crash," the second single from her Satisfied album.
According to a Civil Guard spokeswoman, former ABBA drummer Ola Brunkert, 61, was found dead on Sunday (Mar. 16th)
in his Arta home on the Spanish island of Mallorca. His death is being investigated but is believed to have been
accidental as police believe he bled to death after having fallen against a glass partition (separating his home's
kitchen from the garden) and the glass broke and fatally cut his throat. According to ABBA's official site, "Together
with bass player Rutger Gunnarsson, Ola is probably the only musician to appear on all ABBA albums -- he was one
of the most frequently used Swedish session musicians during the 1970s."