Former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and wife
Camile
Bidault-Waddington have decided to end their 6-year marriage.
The couple have a 6 year-old son, Albert, together.
Depeche Mode's Sounds Of The Universe debuted at #3 on the Billboard
200 albums chart on sales of 80,000 copies (becoming their highest
debut since 1993's Songs Of Faith And Devotion opened at #1.)
The Twilight soundtrack fell 2 places to #6 on sales of 40,000
copies. Prince/Bria Valente's Lotus Flow3r/MPLSoUND/Elix3r
dropped 4 spots to #19. U2's No Line On The Horizon fell 6
places to #22. Pet Shop Boys' Yes debuted at #32.
Carrie Underwood's "I Told You So" featuring Randy Travis climbed a
place to #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Depeche Mode's Sounds Of The Universe debuted at #2 on the U.K. Albums
chart. Annie Lennox's The Collection dropped a spot to
#9. Chris De Burgh's Footsteps fell 7 places to
#11. Dusty Springfield's Just Dusty dropped 5 spots to
#23. ABBA's Gold: The Greatest Hits fell 5 places to
#30. U2's No Line On The Horizon gained one to #34.
AC/DC's Black Ice dropped 9 spots to #37. 10cc's The Very
Best Of 10cc debuted at #39.
Depeche Mode's 12th studio album, Sounds Of The Universe, climbed 66
spots on the European Top 100 Albums chart to take the #1
spot. The album also topped the German, Swiss, Austrian,
Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian, Danish and Finnish
charts. The group will release "Peace" as their next single
from the album in June.
Bryan Adams will be taping an upcoming episode of CMT Crossroads in May
with Jason Aldean that will premiere on June 26th.
Stacey Q has announced that "Trip" will be the first single from her
new studio album, Color Me Cinnamon, due out this summer.
Former Cars guitarist Elliot Easton has a new 9-piece instrumental
group named Elliot Easton's Tiki Gods. "There isn't really a
word to describe that band's sound," explains Easton. "Think
martini lounge, space age, Exotica, with lush, romantic themes from
Hollywood's 60's movie soundtracks like Pink Panther and James
Bond. It's the hybrid sounds of the Tiki culture and
Polynesian dance and a combination of surf rock and instrumental mood
music."
Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash will serve as the contestants'
mentor this week on American Idol for Rock Week.
.38 Special keyboardist Bobby Capps and Lynryd Skynyrd bassist Ean
Evans have a new side-project called Evanscapps and will see their
debut album, Last Time, released on May 12th via Rock Ridge Music.
Steve Coy has announced his return to managing Pete Burns / Dead Or
Alive. Burns and Coy have started working on new material to
be released later this year as well as a new single that could be out
as early as this summer.
Golf fanatic/Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing has been putting money
into building a golf course around the mansion he bought near
Bridgnorth. Don't expect to try it out for cheap,
though. "I'm not cutting corners. I'm aiming at
golfers who are passionate about the game and appreciate five-star golf
and a five-star clubhouse. I'm not after the
£20-a-day-including-lunch market. It takes a lot of
money, and I mean a lot of money, to provide a great golf course but as
long as I can attract enough money to pay for it I'll be
happy." Meanwhile, Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford will
launch Metal God Apparel -- a clothing line designed for men and women
with a metal edge -- on June 15th.
Previously, former Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball mentioned a new project
he was working on. Kimball, keyboardist Tony Kaye (of Yes),
bassist Billy Sherwood (of Yes), guitarist Jimmy Haun (of Yes) and
drummer Jay Shellen (of Asia) have announced the formation of AKA and
the launch of their new Web presence at
http://www.myspace.com/akabobbykimballcirca
Anthrax plan to release, Worship Music, their first new studio album in
6 years this fall. The album will mark the debut of new
singer Dan Nelson.
Bjork's last two years of Volta activities will be collected in a very
special DVD/CD/Vinyl recording, Voltaic, on June 23rd
worldwide. Nonesuch Records will release it in the U.S.
Level 42's 1991 album, Guaranteed, and 1994's Forever Now will be
reissued this month in the U.K. as double-CD editions containing
non-album tracks, alternate versions, remixes and live tracks.
Former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman has finished work on his 9th
album, Tokyo Jukebox, due out May 20th in Japan via AVEX.
Prince was a guest on PBS' The Tavis Smiley Show recently and opened up
about his childhood, state of the music industry, song lyrics and
voting. He also revealed how he dealt with epilepsy at an
early age. "I've never spoken about this before, but I was
born epileptic, and used to have seizures when I was young."
He continued, "My mother and father didn't know what to do or how to
handle it but they did the best they could with what little they
had." "Early in my career I tried to compensate for that by
being as flashy as I could and as noisy as I could."
Former Rough Cutt/Quiet Riot vocalist Paul Shortino has been
collaborating with producer Michael Voss on Shortino's new album,
Chasing My Dream, due out June 26th.
Former Beautiful South/Housemartins vocalist Paul Heaton has released
his new studio album, The Cross Eyed Rambler. Meanwhile, the
Housemartins will see the release of a special double-CD version of
their 1986 album, London 0 Hull 4, on June 8th in the U.K. containing
B-sides, rehearsals, alternate versions and radio session tracks.
Dinosaur Jr. have made, "I Want To Know You," the first single from
their upcoming album, Farm, available as a free download at their
www.DinosaurJr.com Web site. The album is due out in the U.S.
on June 23rd.
The Pet Shop Boys have announced the second from their new studio
album, Yes, will be "Did You See Me Coming?" The single
release will include 2 remixes and 3 non-album tracks.
The Allman Brothers Band will celebrate their 40th anniversary with the
release of a Beacon Box live CD package which will contain 45 CDs
capturing all 15 of their sold-out March shows at the Beacon Theatre in
New York City. Expect many guest appearances on the set as
they are too numerous to list here. Due out in May, the box
set can be ordered at HittinTheNote.com.
Erasure have started work on their next studio album and Andy Bell has
started working on songs for his next solo release.
Faith No More have plans to release a double-disc retrospective
compilation, The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits
Collection, on June 8th which collects hits and rarities.
A-ha have been working on their new studio album, Foot Of The Mountain,
due out in June. The title track will be released as a single
this month.
Been looking for that one 'must have' song for when you go
jogging? De La Soul's first new music in 5 years will appear
on Apr. 28th as part of the NIKE+ campaign. The 45-minute
track is a mix of 8 or 9 songs that were mixed together by
Flostradamous and will be released in partnership with Apple.
The trio are also celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut
album, 3 Feet High And Rising, and are working on their next
full-length release.
Die Form will follow up last year's single, "Her(t)z Frequenz," with
the release their new studio album, Noir Magnetique, on May 29th.
Kansas plan to celebrate their 35th anniversary of their self-titled
debut album on Aug. 4th with a new live DVD, There's Know Place Like
Home.
Peter Christopherson (of Coil and Throbbing Gristle) has a new project
named Soisong with COH's Ivan Pavlov. Soisong's debut album,
xAj3z, will be released via Threshold House on May 11th.
Howard Jones has been recording in Swansea with the Morriston Orpheus
choir for a particular song on his upcoming album, Ordinary Heroes, due
out later this year.
Seminal punk/grunge act Flipper plan to release, Love, their first new
studio album in over 16 years and, Fight, a new live album to celebrate
their 30th anniversary on May 19th.
Aerosmith's Steven Tyler will be releasing his highly-anticipated
autobiography, Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?, on Oct. 27th.
Gordon Gano & The Ryan Brothers will release their debut album,
Under The Sun, this fall. Check out some of the songs at
their MySpace page (via http://ganoryan.com).
Deluxe editions of Def Leppard's 1983 album, Pyromania, and 1992's
Adrenalize will be released on June 16th in North America.
Circle Jerks' Greg Hetson has announced that the band are hoping to
record material for their next album in June.
Soft Cell's Marc Almond will release his new studio album, Orpheus In
Exile, in September supported by a short tour starting in October.
Robin Trower will release his new 11-track studio album, What Lies
Beneath, on July 14th.
Drummer Reg Isadore, 59, died of a heart attack on Mar. 22nd.
Isadore was the original drummer for The Robin Trower Band's first two
albums, played with Peter Green and the late Richard Wright of Pink
Floyd and appeared in the line-up on the 1982 Trower and Jack Bruce
album Truce.
Country singer/songwriter Vern Gosdin, 74, died on Monday night in
Nashville following a stroke he suffered a few weeks ago.
Gosdin's career began in the early 1960s with the Golden State Boys,
then becoming the Hillmen who would later become the Gosdin Brothers
with the departure of Chris Hillman who left to join the
Byrds. He signed a solo recording deal in 1976 landing 41
singles and 8 albums on the country charts until 1993 including the #1
hits: 1984's "I Can Tell By The Way You Dance," 1988's "Set 'Em Up Joe"
and 1989's "I'm Still Crazy." In 1989, his hit "Chiseled In
Stone" he wrote with Max D. Barnes earned the CMA Award for song of the
year. Gosdin also held the nickname "The Voice" for his
expressive baritone.