Rosanne Cash, 52, is expected to undergo brain surgery for the rare yet benign condition chairi I malformation
in New York. The congenital malformation of the skull affects the brain and spinal cord. This will also force her
to cancel the last 4 dates of her current tour. She is expected to make a full recovery allowing her to head back
to the studio to finish work on her debut album for Manhattan Records, resume her tour dates and complete work
on a new book due out in early 2009.
Meat Loaf has denied media reports that he may quit performing but has been forced to cancel his European tour
after developing a cyst on his vocal cords. It could take 4 to 6 weeks to determine if surgery will be required
but the singer has claimed that he will be back in 2008.
Prince has denied reports that he is suing fan Web sites and, according to his U.K. promotion company, he is going
after pirate sites. According to a statement released by U.K. promoter AEG, "Prince is not suing his fans,
is not looking to penalize fans and nor is he looking to or inhibiting freedom of speech in any way. In fact, he
is simply looking to provide Prince fans with exclusive music and images entirely free of charge, and bypassing
unofficial and unauthorized phoney fan sites that exploit both consumers and artists." He has reportedly been
working with Web Sheriff and have filed lawsuits in Sweden, France and the U.S. against the Pirate Bay and their
advertisers. Retaliation by "fan sites" was met with the registration of the web domain name princefamsunited.com
(fan sites created princefansunited.com) on which he places a new song entitled "PFUnk" which hit on
some of the current topical issues.
According to his spokesperson Raymone K. Bain, "Mr. Jackson is in the final stages of refinance and will not
lose Neverland Valley Ranch." According to a notice from Alliance Default Services in San Francisco, Jackson's
home could still be in jeopardy because he owes $23,212,963 on a $23 million loan.
We've had children coming out of the woodwork claiming to be sired by James Brown but 73 year-old Velma Warren
Brown has made another claim to the estate of the Godfather of Soul. Velma, who had 3 children with the singer,
claims that there was never a divorce from her 1953 marriage to Brown although court records show their marriage
ended in 1969.
Kenny Lattimore and Chante' Moore have been nominated for Best Contemporary Group/Duo of the Year for their Uncovered
Covered album at the 23rd Annual Stellar Awards. The event will be taped on Jan. 12th for airing at a later date.
The couple are also on the cover of Gospel Today magazine's November/December issue and featured an article called
The Power Of Love.
Sales auditor Nielsen SoundScan have consulted with Billboard magazine and will now allow exclusive album titles
that are available via only one retailer to appear on the Billboard 200 and other charts effective last week. With
the new changes, The Eagles take the #1 spot on the chart selling 711,000 copies of Long Road Out Of Eden. 24 hours
prior to the decision, Wal-Mart announced that they would be willing to share the data for that title with Nielsen
SoundScan. This revision also places the album on the top of the Top Country Albums chart. Don Henley has said
that the album is their final statement and there will not be another Eagles album after this. Meanwhile, Robert
Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand dropped four spots to #6. Bruce Springsteen's Magic fell two spots to #14
and Reba McEntire's Reba Duets dropped down a rung to #15.
The Eagle's Long Road Out Of Eden fell one spot to #2 on the U.K. Album chart followed by Whitney Houston's The
Ultimate Collection (at #3), Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand (at #5), Van Morrison's Still On Top
- The Greatest Hits (#15), Eric Clapton's Complete Clapton (#16) and Phil Collins' Hits (#20).
Kylie Minogue's new single, "2 Hearts," has made its debut on the U.K. Singles chart at #12. Minogue
also recently reunited with Jason Donovan to film a segment for an ITV U.K. special, The Kylie Show.
George Strait's It Just Comes Natural was named Album of the Year at the 41st annual Country Music Association
Awards on Wednesday night (Nov. 11th.) This becomes his 6th win in that category and 18th CMA Award. Bill Anderson,
Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson were honored for Song of the Year for Strait's hit single, "Give It Away."
Tracy Lawrence's single, "Find Out Who Your Friends Are," featuring Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney won
Musical Event of the Year. The Eagles made their first ever award show performance that night playing their hit
single, "How Long."
Sergio Mendes was awarded Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album at the 7th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on Thursday
night for his latest album, Timeless. Ricky Martin performed during the night and won for Best Male Pop Vocal Album
(for MTV Unplugged) and Best Long-Form Music Video for the Unplugged special.
Annie Lennox was honored with the Good Woodie award at the 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards on Thursday night, which is
given to acts for their commitment to a social cause.
Jam Master Jay's foundation will honor artists with "outstanding efforts in promoting social justice, arts
and music" with the first annual J.A.M. awards on Nov. 29th.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, sales of Garth Brooks latest collection, The Ultimate
Hits, has helped him reclaim the crown as best-selling solo artist of all time from Elvis Presley. Brooks first
gained the title in 1999 but lost it 5 years later.
Duran Duran's planned historic run of 10 shows on Broadway has been squashed due to the announcement by the International
Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees which authorized a Local One strike against the League of American Theaters
and Producers. This forced the band to reschedule their performance that night (Saturday), Monday and Tuesday for
dates early next week at the Roseland Ballroom. The group release their new studio album, Red Carpet Massacre,
on Tuesday.
Prosthetic Records has announced plans to reissue 1997's Demonic and 1999's The Gathering from Bay Area metal legends
Testament on Jan. 8th. Both albums are currently out of print and were previously released through Spitfire Records.
The band are currently readying their new studio album to be released via Nuclear Blast.
During a radio interview with Alan Colmes, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx talked about the success of his new book,
The Heroin Diaries, and the accompanying soundtrack by his band Sixx: AM. Sixx already has plans to release another
book which will be science fiction and will also have an accompanying soundtrack. He also mentioned that Mick Mars
and he have already started working on material for the next Motley Crue album. Sixx has also said that Sixx: A.M.
has no touring plans. "This is a very magical project to us and we do plan on making other albums and the
dream would be to tour someday, but that day is not as close as radio and press is announcing."
Frank Stallone believed he was ready to leave the film business behind about a year ago after appearing in nearly
60 films. He recently has been receiving calls about his recent performance in Fred Claus including discussions
about getting his own television series. Fred Claus opened in theaters on Nov. 9th.
Ozzy Osbourne plans to release a special limited-edition tour package double-disc version of his Black Rain album
on Nov. 20th that will include live versions of the singles, "I Don't Wanna Stop," "Not Going Away"
and "Here For You" as well the rare B-sides "Nightmare," "Can't Save You" and "Love
To Hate."
My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields confirmed during a video interview with Ian Svenonious for Soft Focus,
that a new album (started in 1996) is 75% finished, compilation material from 1993-1994 is in the pipeline and
"a little bit of new stuff."
A new edition of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride And Joy video set is now in stores via Epic/Legacy. Nearly two decades
after it was originally released, Pride And Joy has been upgraded to stereo and 5.1 surround-sound mixes as well
as expanded to twice its original length.
Lizzy Borden has released their new CD, Appointment With Death, to stores, Amazon.com and iTunes in North America.
Guitarist George Lynch (formerly of Dokken) makes an appearance on the album.
We recently heard from Andy Summers about possibly recording new Police material but until recently Sting has been
quiet on the topic. "Perhaps we will stay together after the tour. You can't predict. I'm sure the other two
would love for us to record some new material." said the singer. "It's just really a question of whether
I feel inspired."
The Fleshtones plan to release their new studio album, Take A Good Look!, via Yep Roc on Jan. 22nd. A biography
of the band, Sweat: The Story Of The Fleshtones, America's Garage Band, by Joe Bonomo has been released and a film
documentary, Pardon Us For Living, But The Graveyard Is Full, is in the works for next year.
Andy Rourke of The Smiths and Paul Weller are among the artists that have formed an indie supergroup called Crisis.
The charity of the same name has aligned itself with Drinkaware in an effort to raise money to fight homelessness
and alcoholism.
Female recording artist Tovah will release her new album, Escapologist, next year which features guest appearance
and production work by drummer/percussionist Pat Mastelotto (of Mr. Mister and Tuner.)
Originally released on home video in 1985 and largely unavailable for the last 20 years, New Door Records/UMe plan
to release the double-DVD of Iron Maiden's Live After Death on Feb. 5th. The performance was recorded during the
band's 4 night stand at Long Beach Arena in 1984.
According to a post by It Bites' John Mitchell, the band are in the enviable position of having too many songs
to choose from for their new studio album. They are currently wrapping up work on 3 other tracks as they wind down
the writing process.
VH1 Classic plans to air Rock Band-themed countdown shows (Greatest Front Men, Greatest Guitarists, Greatest Bassists,
Greatest Drummers and Greatest Rock Bands) starting tonight (Nov. 12th) with the others following each consecutive
night. The event goes to promote the new video game Rock Band.
"Saw Something / Deeper And Deeper" will be the second single to be released from Dave Gahan's new solo
studio album, Hourglass.
Hazell Dean has recorded a new song, "Trade Him For A Newer Model," for inclusion on the Disco 2008 compilation
due out Dec. 3rd. The disc can be pre-ordered at www.goldsoul.co.uk. A video for Dean's song can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keHYX-jWI2Y
Gene Simmons has been busy writing his next book, Ladies Of The Night -- A Historical And Personal Overview Of
The Oldest Profession, due out in the spring.
The long-delayed White Zombie box set may possibly be in the works for Rob Zombie next year. He has hopes to collect
everything possible for the collection as a means to put White Zombie in the past. Also in the works is a remake
of C.H.U.D. for 2009 and work on his animated comedy, The Haunted World Of El Superbeasto, nearly done.
Keith Sweat has announced plans to release his first-ever holiday album, A Christmas Of Love, on Nov. 20th.
XM Satellite radio has announced that they will launch of XM LED, their Led Zeppelin channel, on May 8th which
will feature previously-unreleased material, interviews and the remastered version of The Song Remains The Same
soundtrack.
The Cure and David Sylvain are among the artists that have contributed tracks to the compilation Causes 1: Darfur
due out Nov. 27th via Waxploitation. 100% of the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and
Oxfam America. More artists (including Bjork, the Flaming Lips and Deftones) have partnered with the label for
a Darfur support initiative charity auction via MissionFish. Further causes are expected to be announced.
Country Music Hall of Fame member Hank Thompson, 82, lost his battle with an aggressive lung cancer on Nov. 6th
at his Keller, Texas, home. Thompson's career began in 1946 and he continued recording into the 1980's.