Sugababes With Dirty Faces

Sugababes have announced the details of their next single, ‘Round Round’, and eagerly-anticipated second album, ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’.

‘Round Round’, which has been described as sounding like a melancholy Bananarama track, has been produced by remixers Xenomania and will hit the racks on the 12th of August. The single is set to be followed by the trio’s second album, ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’, out in record stores on the 26th of August that will also feature their No. 1 single, ‘Freak Like Me’.

Blue To Train To Be Thin And Face Band Name Lawsuit

Record chiefs have told Blue to shape up. They have told the band they are getting fat and fear that their extravagant lifestyles could eventually leave them unattractive to fans.

Lee, Duncan, Antony and Simon are all regular showbiz partygoers, prompting execs at their label Innocent to draft in a personal trainer.

The lads made a dramatic entrance at Sunday’s Party In The Park as they were hoisted onto the stage on wires.

The trainer will enforce a strict regime of healthy eating and daily exercise on the boys. A close friend of the band told the papers “Blue are supposed to be heartthrobs but their management were worried fans will lose interest if they turn chubby. Plus, their bosses reckoned all those booze sessions and late nights were beginning to take their toll” added the source.

As you would’ve probably heard already, Blue are not the first boyband to face enforced physical regimes in order to be thin.Westlife recently spent a portion of a million pounds to be thin, especially Bryan McFadden who apparently has been training to be skinny after Simon Cowell told him he was too fat.

In other Blue-related news, Blue is facing legal action from another band labeled as Blue, which claims that the name-based confusion is ruining its recording career.

Members of the lesser-known Scottish band Blue, made up of Hugh Nicholson and Ian MacMillan, along with their record company The Record Label, have launched a High Court action against the London-based Blue as well as their recording label, Virgin Records and parent company EMI Records.

The action seeks to prevent London-based Blue from using the name Blue for the purpose of records and recording. It also claims damages from the members of the band for using the name previously.

Hugh and Ian formed the Scottish Blue in the 1970s and it’s said the band still records.

Christina May Have LP Delayed, Plus Seen Snogging Spider-Man

Christina Aguilera may have her next album delayed as she is allegedly battling her record company RCA at the moment.

Christina considers herself older, and hence wants a more mature sound to her songs. However, RCA are reluctant to let Christina give up on her teenage pop and turn to a more rock based sound.

Meanwhile, Christina has been secretly dating Spider-Man movie star Tobey Maguire, according to reports last week.

The singer and Tobey have supposedly been seeing each other in secret for several weeks, but went “public” at Tobey’s 27th birthday celebrations in Hollywood.

A chummy friend of the popstar said “They’re really in love. They couldn’t be more different but you know what they say about opposites attracting.”

The unusual pair-up is the latest in a string of romances for Christina. She was freshly linked with Foo Fighters frontman David Grohl just a while back so am thinking that didn’t go down too well.

Tobey Maguire and Christina Aguilera announced their romance to Hollywood partygoers, including Justin Timberlake and British actress Minnie Driver.

The ‘Come On Over’ vocalistress spent the night snogging her man, and eventually serenaded him with a Monroe-esque rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’. A close friend of Tobey’s also said “He has gone head-over-heels for Christina. She’s unlike any girl he has ever met and he’s totally intrigued.”

Holly Valance P***ed Off Her Soap Co-Stars

Holly Valance’s decision to become a fully-fledged popstar didn’t go down as well with her cast. It seems her ‘Neighbours’ co-stars weren’t quite so happy when they found out she was planning to quit, once and for all.

According to Stephen Hunt, who plays Matt in the Australian soap, Holly kept her musical plans secret from the rest of the cast and only told them about her desire to pursue a full-time pop career when she revealed to her bosses that she was quitting the soap.

Telling Sneak magazine, Stephen said “A lot of people in ‘Neighbours’ got really p***ed off. I reckon Holly wanted to keep it a secret from the producers because she didn’t get on with them. It’s a close-knit family and they would have expected her to be a bit more forthcoming about what she was doing so they could share the excitement with her.”

Holly is set to follow-up her No. 1 Bollywood-ish single, ‘Kiss Kiss’, with the release of ‘Down Boy’ on 23rd of September.

George Michael’s Single No.2 Snubbed By Radio

BBC Radio 1 have decided not to playlist George Michael’s new single, which I think is brilliant, named ‘Shoot The Dog’. London’s Capital Radio and Heart FM have also snubbed the single making its chances of hitting the Top 20 very slim.

George’s controversial single attacks the relationship between PM Tony Blair and US President George Bush. American audiences have seen it as an attack on America and radio stations across the US have refused to play the single although it is not scheduled for a US release.

The chosen singles on Radio 1’s A List are played at least 30 times a week. Songs on the B list are aired at least 15 times with C list records being played at least 5 times a week. So far, Radio 1 has played George’s track just 2 times.

Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman said “George is trying to be too trendy. He should go back to songs like Careless Whisper.”

Uncle Kracker Won’t Kiss Willa Ford In His New Video

Not many men would turn down an opportunity to kiss the ‘I Wanna Be Bad’ hitmaker Willa Ford. Leave it to the unconventional Uncle Kracker, however, to prefer keeping his lips to himself to swapping spit with the lovely pop singer.

Before you start thinking “Oh, maybe he’s gay”, he’s not. Read on to find out why he won’t pay lip service to Willa.

See, Willa Ford plays Kracker’s love interest in the video for his new single, ‘In A Little While’ from his forthcoming album, ‘No Stranger to Shame’, due 27th of August. Besides being labelmates, the two are best friends, and the modest and shy Kracker felt more comfortable acting all romantic with someone he knew rather than a complete stranger.

“They wanted me to be all lovey-dovey with somebody – maybe smooching or holding hands or something like that – and I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do that,'” Kracker said. “But me and Willa are best friends, and I figured as long as I had somebody that I knew to do it with, it wouldn’t be so bad.”

“And because I can get really awkward when it comes to stuff like that” he admitted. “I thought that we could bring the same chemistry to screen without having to hold hands or kiss, just by being good friends. You know, we could give the same idea probably. She’s a cool chick.”

So Foxy

There’s been lots of debate recently about whether rapper Foxy Brown would release her next new album on her old label Def Jam or Puff Daddy’s label Bad Boy as it was rumoured he was trying to lure her away from Def Jam.

Foxy has made her decision by compromising. It’s reported that she’s staying with Def Jam but Diddy will exclusively produce the music for her new stuff.

Apparently, the card are on the table that imply that there will also be a duet with pop star Nelly Furtado on Foxy’s new album, titled ‘Ill Na Na 2; The Fever.’ If that really does happen, then that should be a particular attention-grabbing track, shouldn’t it?

Claire Richards Piqued By Dress Disaster

Former Steps chanteuse Claire Richards was apparently none-too-pleased when filming SM:tv on July 6th, as former Five star Abs Breen’s video was screened during the show.

According to an insider, the bubbly singer was left reeling after she noticed that the saucy, crocheted dress worn by one of Abs’ dancers in his promo for ‘What You Got’ was the very same outfit Claire can seen be sporting in the video to her and H’s next single, ‘Half A Heart’, which was broadcast just 30 minutes later by SM:tv’s sister show, CD:uk.

“Claire’s usually smiley chops took a sudden a downward turn the minute she saw the girl in the same dress” the source revealed, explaining further “She just couldn’t believe that the videos were being shown so soon after each other.”

What makes matters even worse, both singles are released on the same day, 12th of August.

Beyonce Knowles Warns Pop Wannabes

Stay out of showbusiness!

That is the message from Destiny’s Child singer Beyonce Knowles to tomorrow’s wannabe stars.

The 20 year old said the industry is full of backbiters who “can drive you crazy and mess with your head. You have to be super-strong because people say things about you.”

Beyonce Knowles, interviewed by the Radio Times, said she and fellow group members Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland would “remain together as long as we have fun on stage and make good records. But I wouldn’t suggest this as a career for anyone.”

The singer, who is to co-star as Foxxy Cleoptara in the new Austin Powers movie, said “Sharks are all around and if you can survive them once you’re successful, that’s when the true you comes out.”

Geri Halliwell And George Michael Are Friends Again

Remember all the stories and reports that spread across the papers when George Michael confirmed that he did fall out with Geri Halliwell since she’s one who likes to court the press and all?

Well, reports have now surfaced that suggest the two singers are friends again.

Apparently, Geri has been spotted staying at George’s pad in LA where she is completing the second volume of her autobiography.

Also, it seems that a source close to the both of them revealed to the papers that we can expect two new tracks on Geri’s next studio album from George which is due out early next year.