Wednesday, 9 July 2008

Pharrell Williams To Work With Jamelia

UK singer Jamelia looks set to work with Pharrell Williams, after the producer asked if he could work on her next album.


A source told The Mirror, "The pair met at the F1 bash in London last week and hit it off. His people asked her to discuss working on her next album. She was very flattered."


Jamelia's last studio album was 2006's 'Walk With Me', while last year saw the release of a best of package named 'Superstar - The Hits'.




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'American Idol' Alum Blake Lewis Parts With Label, Says He 'Couldn't Be Happier' With Debut LP's Performance




As far as Blake Lewis is concerned, selling close to 300,000 copies of his debut LP, A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream), was a "huge success" — at least on a personal level. Apparently, Arista Records has a different definition of success.


The atypical "American Idol" alumnus (he was the season-six runner-up, ultimately losing out to Jordin Sparks) told MTV News that he parted ways with Arista just seven months after his record landed in stores. That makes his the shortest of all the relationships forged between former "Idol" contenders and their various record labels. But the beatboxer would like to clarify one point: He wasn't dropped by the label — the relationship merely dissolved.

"My contract with Arista is up, and they didn't option me, so I'm with 19 Recordings and we're working on booking a tour," he explained. "Arista went through a lot of changes. The person who was working on my record was fired. ... I guess in the world of radio, selling 300,000 is not a success. I beg to differ. I couldn't be happier, and my fans are amazing and super-supportive."

The label setback isn't about to deter Lewis from continuing his music career. He said he's already written four songs for his sophomore LP, which he's working on with his band's drummer, Kevin "KJ" Sawka. The pair will be co-producing the effort, which Lewis describes as "Massive Attack meets Zero 7 — drum-and-bass with a little pop influence."

But who will release the record when it's in the bag? Lewis said he may release the disc through his own label, which he's in the process of getting off the ground. "I'm super-passionate about this record," he said. "Who knows what's in store? Half the year's over, and it's only going to keep going."

Lewis believes sales of his album were hurt because he couldn't get Top 40 radio to spin the LP's first single, "Break Anotha." He also thinks it might not have been the best choice as a lead single.

"I did a track with Lupe Fiasco called 'Know My Name,' and I thought that would have been a better single," he said, adding that he's about to meet with Simon Fuller, who created "American Idol" and runs 19 Recordings, to see if he can get his debut offering released overseas. "It was largely influenced by '80s music and electronic music, so I want to get over there and tour as much as possible."

In the eyes of some of his fans, Lewis is a casualty of the "American Idol" machine. As history has shown, "Idol" runner-ups generally aren't given the same label support as the show's champs, making it even more challenging for them to sustain their post-"Idol" momentum. But Lewis doesn't feel he was shafted for his second-place finish.

"I got to make an album I'm proud of, and I worked my butt off on this music," he said. "Regardless of if it's a huge mainstream success or not, I've been an independent artist for the last eight years, and I'll keep it that way if I have to. I don't think I got shafted — they treated me well. It's just that the industry is eating itself alive. There are only three major labels left, and I have experienced the deterioration of the industry."

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. And relive six seasons of "Idol" hot messes and high notes in six minutes with our video timeline.






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Hangnail

Hangnail   
Artist: Hangnail

   Genre(s): 
Other
   Rock: Punk-Rock
   



Discography:


Facing Changes   
 Facing Changes

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 12


Hangnail   
 Hangnail

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 13




The California rock candy band known as Hangnail originally formed in 1992. Members changed often at get-go, just it has since seemed to consist of Harry Armstrong world Health Organization provides vocals and electrical guitar, Paul Elphick on sea bass guitar, Mark Cronin on drums and percussion, and James Ogawa on electric guitar. Hangnail's music has elements that convey to mind impressive bands like Black Sabbath and Nirvana.


The artistic grouping completed a demonstration in 1997 highborn "Charge the Vibe." The demonstration received fantastical reviews and landed them a apportion with Man's Ruin Records where they recorded the EP One Million Layers BC.


In 1998, Hangnail signed with Rise Above Records. Guest vocalizer Katty Heath appeared on the band's full-length debut album, Ten-spot Days Before Summer. The album, filled with killer riffs, earned its title of respect by taking decade days to criminal record, with that last day falling on the last-place day of spring. "Overhang," "Visit My World," and "Summer Rain" are some of the attention-grabbing tracks you'll encounter on the album.


Hangnail has performed at a number of festivals and toured with groups like the Spiritual Beggars, Spirit Caravan, Anathema, Orange Goblin, and Unida.





Embrace Today

Meryl Streep -- Mummy Mia!

Meryl Streep must be having a bad face day.
Meryl Streep
Unlike every young starlet exiting a limo, the 59-year-old acting powerhouse kept EVERYTHING under wraps as she made her way through Sydney on Monday.

Dressing like a burka-clad scarecrow flasher probably isn't the best way to go incognito.



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REVIEW: The Happening (15)

M. Night Shyamalan (aka the hardest name in show business) has a tendency to split audiences right down the middle. The Sixth Sense obviously was a huge success, rebooting Bruce Willis’ career for the 100th time and turning the ‘crucial plot twist’ into an art form. Unfortunately, his and Willis’ second outing, Unbreakable, as well as the Mel Gibson-starring Signs, had mixed receptions. However, audiences were fairly united in slamming Lady in The Water, thus leaving a big question mark over a director that has not had a bona fide hit in nearly 10 years.

The Happening centres around science teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg), who along with his wife (Zooey Deschanel) and best friend (John Leguizamo), go on the run when people begin killing themselves en masse and in extremely horrific ways. As their escape continues, they begin to realise that this phenomena is linked to a deadly toxin in the air being emitted from the Earth’s plant life, out for revenge for man’s abuse of nature.

There’s things one comes to expect from a Shyamalan film - the twist (either clever or bleeding obvious, depending on your view point), an ensemble cast led by a disillusioned male lead, and the inevitable cameo by the man himself. Unfortunately, his last two films have had another thing in common - they’re utter drivel. An early review described The Happening as “’The Birds’ without any birds’”, and that’s fairly spot on. It’s hard to see how Shyamalan pitched this - “ok, so there’s this family, and they’re on the run from...PLANTS!!!!” With the best will in the world, there’s only so much menace you can garner from stationary plant life.

What the director relies on for terror, then, is the horrific ways in which infected people kill themselves. Every conceivable, horrific death is played out in front of you, excessively and without much point other than to shock. Even films such as Saw and Hostel had some vague plot line tying all the gore together, yet we have mothers, children and pretty much everyone else punching their own ticket at the will of, er, plants. If you’re squeamish or at all sensitive, you may find it all a bit too much, but even the biggest gore fan may be scratching their head trying to find a point to all the nonsense.

As for acting talent, it’s crisis acting mostly i.e. running, shouting and generally looking shocked at all the CG horror. Wahlberg betrays his Planet of The Apes technique of looking slightly embarrassed to be there, whilst Leguizamo and Daschanel - usually worth the ticket price alone - struggle against the ludicrous situation they find themselves in.

Making The Day After Tomorrow look like An Inconvenient Truth, it's yet another step down in the decline of Shyamalan’s career. Almost offensive in its glorification of suicide, you’d leave the cinema angry if it wasn’t for the fact that the story is so incredibly moronic. Avoid.
The Happening is released 13 June.

Steve Tibbetts

Steve Tibbetts   
Artist: Steve Tibbetts

   Genre(s): 
Ethnic
   New Age
   



Discography:


A Man About A Horse   
 A Man About A Horse

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 8


Fall Of Us All   
 Fall Of Us All

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 11


Big Map Idea   
 Big Map Idea

   Year: 1989   
Tracks: 12


Northern Song   
 Northern Song

   Year: 1981   
Tracks: 5


Yr   
 Yr

   Year: 1980   
Tracks: 8


Safe Journey   
 Safe Journey

   Year:    
Tracks: 10


Exploded View   
 Exploded View

   Year:    
Tracks: 9




Minneapolis-based modern-day guitar player whose urban-landscape nuclear fusion is looked upon as a whole original approach path to well-grounded. After a slightly steady period in the '70s and '80s, Tibbetts started releasing albums irregularly, only offering one in the '90s (Settle of Us All) and some other in 2002 (Isle of Man About a Horse).





Heath Ledger tipped for Joker Oscar

Verne Troyer - Troyers Ex Gave Permission For Sex Tape Leak


LATEST: The aspiring actress featured in VERNE TROYER's explicit sex tape was the person who granted a celebrity website permission to air extracts of the footage, it has emerged.

Ex-girlfriend Ranae Shrider was seen kissing the Austin Powers star as he focused the camera for their taped sex romp in brief footage posted on TMZ.com.

Troyer then filed a $20 million (GBP10 million) lawsuit against the website's owners, claiming they violated his rights by publishing clips from the film last week (ends27Jun08).

The diminutive actor obtained a temporary restraining order forcing TMZ to pull the sex tape from the internet - but Shrider's revelation in a signed declaration filed at a Los Angeles court earlier this week (begs30Jun08) has prompted a judge to reverse the ruling.

The footage was reinstated on the website on Tuesday (01Jul08) evening.

However, the judge has still imposed a ban on an adult film distributor from selling or taking orders for the tape.





See Also

Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby   
Artist: Bing Crosby

   Genre(s): 
Other
   Easy Listening
   Jazz
   Vocal
   



Discography:


Only the Number 1's   
 Only the Number 1's

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 18


Legacy   
 Legacy

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 28


The Million Sellers   
 The Million Sellers

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 25


The Very Best of Bing Crosby Christmas   
 The Very Best of Bing Crosby Christmas

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 18


The Voice of Christmas (Disc 2)   
 The Voice of Christmas (Disc 2)

   Year: 1998   
Tracks: 22


The Voice of Christmas (Disc 1)   
 The Voice of Christmas (Disc 1)

   Year: 1998   
Tracks: 22


Let Me Sing and I'm Happy   
 Let Me Sing and I'm Happy

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 40


His Legendary Years 1945-1957 CD4   
 His Legendary Years 1945-1957 CD4

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 24


His Legendary Years 1942-1945 CD3   
 His Legendary Years 1942-1945 CD3

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 28


His Legendary Years 1937-1942 CD2   
 His Legendary Years 1937-1942 CD2

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 25


His Legendary Years 1931-1937 CD1   
 His Legendary Years 1931-1937 CD1

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 24


White Christmas CD2   
 White Christmas CD2

   Year:    
Tracks: 14


White Christmas CD1   
 White Christmas CD1

   Year:    
Tracks: 15


Forever Bing CD2   
 Forever Bing CD2

   Year:    
Tracks: 25


Forever Bing CD1   
 Forever Bing CD1

   Year:    
Tracks: 25




Bing Crosby was, without doubt, the nigh democratic and influential media star of the first half of the 20th century. The undisputed best-selling artist until considerably into the rock'n'roll era (with over half a 1000000000 records in circulation), the most popular wireless star of all time, and the biggest box office reap of the forties, Crosby dominated the amusement world from the Depression until the mid-'50s, and proved just now as influential as he was popular. Unlike the many vocal artists earlier him, Crosby grew up with radio receiver, and his intimate bedside manner was a style absolutely suited to accentuate the strengths of a medium transmitted immediately into the home. He was too helped by the rising microphone technology: scientists had perfected the electrically amplified recording process scant months earlier Crosby debuted on phonograph record, and in direct contrast to in the first place vocalists, world Health Organization were forced to strain their voices into the amphetamine register to draw an impression on mechanically recorded tracks, Crosby's warm, manful baritone crooned contentedly without a thought of excess.


Not to be forgotten in charting Bing Crosby's influence is the music itself. His song knowledge and sense of laid-back swing was erudite from early nothingness music, far less stately than the European-influenced classical and popular music victimized for inspiration by the vocalists of the 1910s and '20s. Jazz was by no means his main concentration, though, peculiarly subsequently the thirties; Crosby rather blended contemporaneous pop hits with the c. H. Best songs from a wide kitchen range of material (now and then recording theme-oriented songs written by non-specialists as well, such as Cole Porter's notoriously un-Western "Don't Fence Me In"). His wide repertoire covered picture tunes, photographic film music, land & western songs, patriotic standards, religious hymns, vacation favorites, and heathen ballads (most notably Irish and Hawaiian). The width of material wasn't sinister to audiences because Crosby put his have indelible stamp on each song he recorded, appealing to many different audiences while still non endangering his possess fan base. Bing Crosby was among the first to actually show songs, qualification them his have by interpretation the lyrics and accenting words or phrases to emphasise what he idea best.


His influence and grandness in footing of vocal ability and cognition of American popular music are huge, simply what made Bing Crosby more than anything else was his part -- whether it was an artificial creation or something perfectly natural to his have personality. Crosby delineated the American everyman -- strong and exacting to a point yet easy and affable, tolerant of other viewpoints simply quick to hold God and the American means -- during the hard times of the Depression and World War II, when Americans most needful a symbol of what their area was all about.


Bing Crosby was natural Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, WA, on May 3, 1903. (Lotto was a childhood cognomen from one of his favorite amusing strips.) The quartern of sevener children in a poverty line kinsperson wHO loved to sing, he was briefly sent to vocal lessons early on by his mother, until he grew hackneyed of the grooming. An early adorer of Al Jolson, Crosby saw his hero perform in 1917. Crosby american ginseng in a highschool jazz band, and when he began attending nearby Gonzaga College (he had adult up practically in the midsection of the campus), he consistent a drum fix through the mail and expert on the fructify. Introduced to a local bandleader named Al Rinker, he was invited to join Rinker's group, the Musicaladers, tattle and playing drums with the group throughout college.


Though the Musicaladers bust up shortly afterwards his graduation in 1925, Bing Crosby was ready to stick by with the music patronage. Crosby had made quite a bit of money during the band's calling, and he and Rinker -- world Health Organization was the brother of Mildred Bailey -- were confident they could make it in California. They jammed up their holding and headed out for Los Angeles, finding dependable money working in music hall until they were hired by Paul Whiteman, leader of the most popular jazz lot in the state (and known as the "King of Jazz" in an earned run average when dim pioneers were mostly unheeded since they were unmerchantable). For a few songs during Whiteman's shows, Rinker and Crosby american ginseng as the Rhythm Boys with Harry Barris (a pianist, transcriber, vocal personal effects creative person, and songster by and by famous for "I Surrender Dear" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams"). With their clever songwriting and stage routines, the threesome before long became one of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra's virtually popular attractions, and Crosby took a vocal on one of Whiteman's biggest hits of 1927-1928, "Ol' Man River." Besides appearance on criminal record with Whiteman's orchestra, the Rhythm Boys likewise recorded on their have, though an chance for Crosby to enlarge his share in the 1930 picture King of Jazz with a solo song went unrealized, as he sat in the click for a drunk-driving altercation.


When Whiteman once more hit the road in 1930, the Rhythm Boys stayed behind on the West Coast. After Crosby hired his self-aggrandising brother Everett as a director, he began recording systematically as a solo pretend with Brunswick Records in early 1931, and by year's goal had chalked up several of the year's biggest hits, including "Out of Nowhere," "Just One More Chance," "I Found a Million-Dollar Baby," and "At Your Command." He appeared in leash films that class, and in September began a popular CBS radio series. Its success was similarly unprecedented; in less than a year, the present was among the nation's most pop and earned Crosby a starring role in 1932's The Big Broadcast, which brought radio stars like Burns & Allen to the screen. By the center of the decade, Crosby was among the peak ten-spot most popular film stars. His musical achiever had, if anything, gained momentum during the same metre, producing some of the biggest hits of 1932-1934: "Please," "Crony, Can You Spare a Dime?," "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me," "Small Dutch Mill," "Honey in Bloom," and "June in January."


"June in January," itself the biggest reach at that point in Crosby's young career, signaled a wrick in his vocation. Brunswick administrator Jack Kapp had just struck out on his possess with an American underling of the British Decca Records, and Crosby was lured all over with the promise of higher royalty rates. Though his initial releases on Decca were recordings from his films of the year -- "June in January" was taken from Here Is My Heart -- Crosby began stretching kO'd with religious corporeal (such as "Silent Night, Holy Night," which became one of his biggest sellers, estimated at up to ten one thousand thousand). Late in 1935, he sign-language a abridge for a wireless render with NBC called Kraft paper Music Hall, an association that lasted into the mid-'40s. After his first musical director, Jimmy Dorsey, left wing, Crosby's songster friend Johnny Burke recommended John Scott Trotter (antecedently with the Hal Kemp Orchestra) as a replacement. Trotter speedily cinched the task when his arrangements for the 1936 film Pennies from Heaven produced the biggest hit of the year in its title song. (He would continue as Bing's orchestra adapter and bandleader into the mid-'50s.)


Subsequently the biggest hit of 1936, Bing Crosby followed up with -- what else? -- the biggest of 1937, simply months later. "Sweet Leilani," from the likewise Hawaiian cinema Waikiki Wedding, showed Bing the guidance his career could get hold of over the track of the 1940s and '50s. Though he had recorded several cowherd songs sooner in the 1930s as well as the episodic song of divine guidance, Crosby began covering everything under the sun, the popular hits of every genre of contemporary music. These weren't castoffs, either; many of his 1940s nation & western covers were hits, such as "Newfangled San Antonio Rose," "You Are My Sunshine," "Rich in the Heart of Texas," "Pistol-Packin' Mama," "San Fernando Valley," and "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy."


With the coming of American involvement in World War II, Bing Crosby entered the tip of his career. Arriving in 1940 was the first of his popular "Road" movies with one-time quaker Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, along with trey of the biggest hits of the year ("Sierra Sue," "Trade Winds," "Only Forever"). Crosby and Hope had first met in 1932, when the deuce both performed at the Capitol Theater in New York. They reunited later in the '30s to undetermined a track, and subsequently reprising some onetime vaudeville routines, a Paramount Pictures producer distinct to ascertain a vehicle for the mate and came up with The Road to Singapore.


More popular succeeder followed in 1941 with the introduction of the biggest hit of Papa Bing's life history, "White Christmas." Written by Irving Berlin for 1942's Holiday Inn (a cinema that featured a Berlin song for each major vacation of the year), the single was debuted on Bing's radiocommunication show on Christmas Day, 1941. Recorded the following May and released in October, "Patrick White Christmas" stayed at number one for the rest of 1942. Reissued near Christmas for each of the next 20 age, it became the best-selling single of all fourth dimension, with totals of all over 30 jillion copies. It was a favourite for soldiers on the several USO tours Crosby tended to during the war age, as was another holiday vocal, "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Crosby's pop success continued subsequently the remainder of the warfare, and he remained the top box office draw until 1948 (his fifth consecutive twelvemonth at number one).


As with all the jazz-oriented stars of the first half of the 20th one C, Crosby's chart popularity was patently affected by the uprise of rock & roll in the mid-'50s. Though 1948's "Right away Is the Hour" proved his last number one hit, the deficiency of graph success proven to be a blessing: Crosby right away had the time to concentrate on album-oriented projects and collaborations with other vocalists and constitute bands, unquestionably a more enjoyable venture than singing pop hits of the clarence Shepard Day Jr. on his receiving set show, ad nauseam. Inspired by the '50s adult-oriented album concepts of Frank Sinatra (world Health Organization had no doubt been elysian by Bing in no modest way), Crosby began to record his most well-received records in ages, as Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956) and Bing With a Beat (1957) returned him to the hot wind he had loved and performed back in the 1930s. His recording and movie schedule began to slow in the 1960s, though he recorded several LPs for United Artists during the mid-'70s (one with Fred Astaire) and returned to active performance during 1976-1977. While golfing in Spain on October 14, 1977, Bing Crosby collapsed and died of a affection approach.