Billy Joel and ex-wife Christie Brinkley issued
a
statement on Thursday to address reports that their 23-year-old
daughter Alexa Ray's pill overdose (that officials classified as a
suicide attempt) on Dec. 5th was over a family dispute. They
said their daughter is "working to recover from the dangerous actions
she took while suffering a devastating heartbreak." Alexa Ray
was released from the hospital on Monday and has canceled all
appearances to promote her new single, "Invisible." She is
reportedly feeling much better and is "looking forward to getting back
on track."
France's biggest rocker Johnny Hallyday, 66, was recently hospitalized
in Los Angeles due to an infection that he had been fighting after
surgery in Paris on a herniated disc on Nov. 26th. According
to his press service, the infection has now been "contained."
He is reportedly on his Route 66 tour which has been billed as his last
ending in February.
Morrissey was forced to end his Las Vegas performance short on Dec. 4th
after less than an hour due to a problem with his voice. His
concert the following night had to be canceled, telling ticket holders
in an e-mail that he'd "blown his voice." His tour resumed on
Dec. 7th in Pomona, California.
Dave Brubeck and Bruce Springsteen were recently celebrated at the
Kennedy Center Honors. The Boss performed while Sting and
Melissa Etheridge were covering some of his songs. The show
will air nationwide on CBS on Dec. 29th.
Michael Jackson, Leonard Cohen, Loretta Lynn, David "Honeyboy" Edwards
and Clark Terry will be honored with lifetime achievement awards at the
52nd annual Grammy Awards on Jan. 30th.
Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack climbed 3 spots to #8 on the
Billboard 200 albums chart on sales of 78,000 copies. Sting's
If On A Winter's Night... climbed 10 places to #19. Glee
Cast's Glee: Season One: The Music Volume 1 dropped a spot to
#20. Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel soundtrack
debuted at #28. Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas: 25th
Anniversary Collection climbed 13 places to #29. Bon Jovi's
The Circle dropped 14 spots to #36. Michael Jackson's Number
Ones fell 7 places to #37. Rod Stewart's Soulbook climbed 7
spots to #39.
Reba McEntire's "Consider Me Gone" climbed one place to #38 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Queen's Absolute Greatest fell 3 places to #7 on the U.K. Albums
chart. Rod Stewart's Soulbook dropped 2 spots to
#16. Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack fell 2 places to
#17. Foo Fighters' Greatest Hits dropped a spot to
#21. Shirley Bassey's The Performance fell 6 places to
#27. Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac dropped 2
spots to #31. UB40's Best Of Labour Of Love fell 2 places to
#32. The Carpenters' 40/40 dropped 8 spots to #34.
Enya's The Very Best Of Enya fell 6 places to #38. Cliff
Richard & The Shadows' Reunited held steady at #39.
Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again: The Very Best Of Vera Lynn held onto #40.
The Pogues featuring Kirsty Maccoll's "Fairytale Of New York" made its
traditional entry onto the U.K. Singles chart at #31. Whitney
Houston's "Million Dollar Bill" dropped 7 spots to #35.
Double's Kurt Maloo has released his new studio album, Summer Of Better
Times, worldwide via iTunes and other digital retailers.
Nitzer Ebb have signed to Alfa Matrix for the the European release of
their new studio album, Industrial Complex. Meanwhile, Mute
Records will release a few collections -- a 43-track 3-CD set, Nitzer
Ebb Compilation, and a 5-disc set, Nitzer Ebb Catalogue, on Jan. 25th.
INXS have confirmed that their new album will feature an assortment of
guest vocalists but a spokesperson for the band would not confirm if
J.D. Fortune was among the singers. A world tour will kick
off with a show at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Kiss have filmed an episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
that saw the band visit Tulsa's Wilson Middle School for a segment and
donate free musical instruments from Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation to
the school. They will be rebuilding the home of a music
teacher and his wife during the show. Meanwhile, the band
have a commercial for Walmart... looks like they got part time jobs
during the holidays. Check out the YouTube video at
http://tiny.cc/d471x.
"Little Drummer Boy," the second video from Bob Dylan's Christmas In
The Heart has premiered exclusively at Amazon.com.
The PBS series Independent Lens will present the film Copyright
Criminals on Jan. 19th which examines the creative and commercial value
of music sampling. The film features Public Enemy, George
Clinton and De La Soul.
David Bowie's career-spanning Reality Tour will be reissued as a
30-track remastered double-CD (including 2 previously-unreleased tracks
from the concert) on Jan. 26th.
It seems that Rob Halford is really feeling the Christmas spirit this
year. He's given away a few songs ("Christmas For Everyone"
and "Christmas Ride") from his new Halford album, Winter Songs, and the
1994 promo single by Fight, respectively. It also looks like
he's dug up his 1992 recording of "Silent Night" and has released that
digitally as a single at his HalfordMusic.com site.
Armored Saint have finished work on their new album, La Raza.
It took 6 weeks to record, should be mastered in the next 2 weeks and
could be out in March via Metal Blade Records.
Cyndi Lauper has said that her new studio album, due out in the spring,
will be a blues album. Meanwhile, Lauper will host Encore's
Big '80s Weekend on Dec. 25th. Included in the event will be
the television premiere of the documentary, Don't You Forget About Me,
about director John Hughes.
Suicide Commando will release their new studio album, Implements Of
Hell, on Jan. 26th on Metropolis Records. Two versions will
be available -- a standard CD and limited edition double-CD.
Sly Stone has signed with Cleopatra Records for the release of a new
album in the summer that will feature new material and re-recorded hits.
Grammy-winning jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny will release his
new album, Orchestrion, on Jan. 26th via Nonesuch Records.
Alice Cooper's 1981 album, Special Forces, 1982's Zipper Catches Skin
and 1983's DaDa will be reissued by Collectors' Choice on Jan. 12th.
Glenn Hughes will release a new DVD, Live In Wolverhampton (Official
Bootleg), early next year. The set was recorded over two
nights in June this year at The Robin 2 and covers a lot of ground --
from his early career in Deep Purple and Trapeze up to 2009.
Bruce Springsteen, Lyle Lovett, Ron Sexmith, John Prine, Nick Lowe,
Levon Helm and Richard Thompson are among the confirmed guests for the
second season of Elvis Costello's Spectacle: Elvis Costello
with... The new season began this week with guests Bono and
The Edge of U2.
A new biography, Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone,
by Nadine Cohodas will be published by Pantheon Books on Feb. 2nd.
The music of Bob Seger will create the soundtrack to CBS' Cold Case on
the Dec. 13th episode entitled "Iced."
Jimmy Barnes has reportedly written and recorded demos for his
follow-up to this year's The Rhythm And The Blues and that he plans to
head into the studio in January.
Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin has released his new
studio album, Smoke, via iTunes.
Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo recently told the BBC that the group
will head back into the studio to work on their follow-up to The
Eternal. They also continue to digitize their audio and video
tape archives for future releases.
People.com has reported that Miley Cyrus plans to cover Poison's hit
"Every Rose Has Its Thorn." Cyrus has been a fan of the group
for a long time and she is now in the studio with Bret Michaels putting
her own spin on the song.
Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick will see his upcoming solo album,
BK3, released a little later than previously expected in North America
on Feb. 2nd via Fanboy/Rocket Science Ventures.
After the passing of founding guitarist Hughie Thomasson in September
of 2007, the Outlaws' new studio album, Once An Outlaw, that they had
just finished work on, was shelved... until now. Once An
Outlaw is due out next year.
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry will be a guest on CBS' Late Show With
David Letterman tonight.
Former Suburbs lead guitarist Bruce C. Allen, 54, was admitted to a
Minneapolis hospital at the beginning of last week for uncontrollable
bleeding and internal organ failure. Allen was taken off life
support on the evening of Dec. 7th. He had reportedly been
dealing with many health issues over the last few years including
kidney stones, symptoms of hemophilia and underwent a triple bypass
surgery last year. After the Suburbs broke up in 1987, Allen
went on to play with the Pilgrims and do graphic art work that would
include the logo for Twin/Tone Records and the album cover of the
Replacements' Let It Be.
Former Prophet and Message vocalist Dean Fasano, 54, passed away on the
morning of Dec. 8th from CAD (clogged artery disease.) A
short message was left on his MySpace page: "To everyone that
has supported Dean Fasano and befriended him, God Bless You!!
Dean passed away this morning. Say a pray for my brotha Dean
and for his family." A memorial service will be held on
Saturday in Avenel, New Jersey. Fasano had recently been
involved in the release of a 9-track Message album, Live, (that
contains 5 unreleased songs) which is available at CDBaby.com.
Former Diesel/The President bassist Frank Papendrecht, 56, died on Nov.
18th from a heart attack. A memorial was held for him on Nov.
23rd.
Dutch drummer Pim Koopman, 56, of Kayak, The President and Diesel (the
band that recorded "Sausalito Summernight") died following a cardiac
arrest on Nov. 23rd. As a songwriter he had 6 entries into
the Eurovision Song Contest. Koopman had since become very
active as a producer and often lent his voice to Dutch versions of
animated films and shows (including Happy Feet, Lilo & Stitch
and Barnyard.)