Monthly Archives: August 2002

Pregnant Singer Impressed Popstars’ Judges

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This one’s interesting.

A pregnant woman has got through to the second round of Popstars: The Rivals.

Hazel Kaneswaran from Dublin is seven months pregnant, but sources claim she impressed the judges tremendously and immensely at her audition in Glasgow.

The show is to end around Christmas 2002 when the two winning bands go head to head for the Christmas No 1 slot. That means that she is due to give birth while the series is filming. Cute!

A spokesperson for the show said that it makes ‘no difference’ to them that she is pregnant.

“So what, she’s pregnant? It makes no difference really. Hazel was selected for the next rounds because she had a dazzling voice” said an insider.

It’s definitely an episode not to be missed.

Well – all the best to you Hazel, with regards to your singing and your baby.

Human Conditions With Brian Wilson And Richard Ashcroft

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Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson guest stars on the second solo album from ex-Verve singer Richard Ashcroft, ‘Human Conditions’, scheduled to drop into stores on the 22nd of October.

The new album follows Richard’s 2000 solo bow, ‘Alone With Everybody’ and features 10 new songs, with Brian singing harmony vocals on ‘Nature Is The Law’. The first single in the UK will be ‘Check The Meaning’, said to be available on the 7th of October, but no US single had announced at press time.

Musicians on the album include former Verve drummer Pete Salisbury, who played with Brian on ‘Alone With Everybody’, keyboardist Chuck Leavell, a veteran of tour and session work with the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, the Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and his own band, Sea Level plus Mercury Music Prize winner Talvin Singh on tablas.

Richard co-produced the album with Chris Potter, and Will Malone handled the string arrangements.

NEW show on VH1 wants YOU!

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My name is Jason Beistle and I’m currently putting together a new reality show for VH1 about normal everyday people who have met, hung out and partied with their favorite band or singer. The name of the show is “A Night With…” We want to take viewers on a fun, nostalgic and insightful ride into the quirks, passions, fetishes and hang-ups of their favorite rock stars as told by YOU, the person that saw it first hand! If you or someone you know has had the amazing opportunity of hanging with a rock star, we want to hear from you! Again, this show will air on VH1 and being Produced by Camera Planet. Please call me right away at 800-668-9376 x230 or email me at VH1@cameraplanet.com or jason.beistle@cameraplanet.com

Thanks, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Jason Beistle

VH1

PS- sometime within the next couple of days you’ll be able to find the show at VH1.com under “casting call”

U2 And Their Electrical Storm In France

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U2 shot video footage for its forthcoming single, ‘Electrical Storm’ on a French Beach in Eze, near singer Bono’s home there last week.

According to an eyewitness report posted on U2France.com, Bono and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. were both dressed in black, with Larry standing at the edge of a tub filled with water and a bathing mermaid. Scenes were also shot of the mermaid on a garden swing.

The Irish Echo newspaper identified the mermaid as 25 year old actress Samantha Morton, who co-starred with Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell in the film ‘Minority Report’ as a futuristic oracle.

Recorded in Dublin, London, and France, ‘Electrical Storm’ is one of the new tracks slated for U2’s ‘Greatest Hits’ 1990-2000 collection, scheduled for release on DVD and CD in November.

Ace of Base Climb Radio Charts With “Beautiful Morning”

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Ace of Base are turning heads in the music industry as their comeback effort is already surpassing the expectations of critics and fans alike.

On August 5th, the band released their debut single, “Beautiful Morning,” and the song is making serious noise on European radio – finding a home in the Top 20 on an increasing number of stations.

The song was written by band members Jonas, Jenny and Linn Berggren and is from their new album “DaCapo” (the single “Beautiful Morning” goes on sale September 9th with the album “DaCapo” expected to be released on September 30th). To hear the song you can log on to www.AceOfBase.info.With just a little more than two weeks under its belt, “Beautiful Morning” is already Universal Germany’s fastest chart-climbing single of the year. Besides Germany the song is now charting in Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Switzerland, Syria and Denmark.

Today Billboard Radio recognized the initial success of the Ace of Base comeback by featuring “Beautiful Morning” as their “Hits of the World” track on their weekly Billboard countdown. It marked the American radio debut for the uplifting pop smash song which combines influences of the band’s previous hits “The Sign” (which soared to #1 across the world in 1994) and “Life is a Flower” (which earned the distinction of being the #1 song for 1998 for all of Europe in both radio and video airplay).

Billboard Senior Editor Chuck Taylor announced to listeners that, ” We think you’ll love ‘Beautiful Morning’ … a fantastic new single.”

[To hear the Billboard Radio program featuring Ace of Base’s comeback logon to BillboardRadio.com and click the “listen here” banner at the top of the page.]

In the coming week the video for “Beautiful Morning” will be sent to radio stations in several European territories.

Harvey Goes Mushy With Love Song For Aleesha

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It’s you girl / You make me feel true girl/ I see you 10 years time / By my side/ Girl give me the key to your heart/ I’ll never tear it apart.

He likes to pretend he is a pop bad boy, but underneath the scowling exterior So Solid Crew’s Harvey is a big softie and the lines above are an excerpt from his new song.

The singer has written a love song for fiancee, the Miss India-pretty Aleesha of R&B/garage girlband Mis-Teeq. The sentimental ballad called ‘My Girl’ is also collaboration with boyband Blue.

Harvey, together with his Aleesha, are considered one of UK’s beautiful couples. He proposed to her earlier this year.

His debut single ‘Get Up And Move’ should be out in shops already.

Nice work Harvey. Way to score points.

Will Young To Release Self-Penned Charity Single

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Pop Idol winner Will Young is set to donate all the profits from his new single, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ to the Children In Need charity. Will wrote the track himself and it will be the Pop Idol winner’s first self-penned tune since the singles ‘Evergreen/Anything Is Possible’, ‘Light My Fire’ and his new duet with Gareth Gates, a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Long and Winding Road’.

Will’s new single is due for release in November and will be performed by Will at the Children In Need telethon on 15th of November. Will co-wrote the track with songwriters Richard Stannard, who has the Spice Girls listed in his work credits and Julian Gallagher, after telling his label bosses that he didn’t want to release another cover version. Good for him.

Will said “Since Pop Idol I have wanted to spend as much time as possible writing with some great songwriters in the studio. I have chosen to do this single for Children In Need as I know there is a huge demand for it so hopefully I can raise as much money as possible for such a good cause.”And a source close to Will added “He is determined not to be pigeonholed as a karaoke cover version singer and that is why fans have had to wait for this song.”

“It’s a fresh and cool laid back jazzy ballad plus he was adamant that he wanted the money to go to charity. It, hopefully, should raise millions and he wants to give something back to the community.”

S Club 7 were the last band to reach No 1 with a Children In Need single ‘Never Had A Dream Come True’.

‘Don’t Let Me Down’ will come out just six weeks after Will and Gareth’s Beatles duet is released.

Linkin Park Explains The Whale

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It’s not always a good idea to put a musician behind the camera. Sometimes what shows up when a rock star directs his own video is nothing but ego driven slop.

But when Linkin Park’s DJ Joseph Hahn stepped behind the lens, the band ended up with a clip that had people scratching their heads. That’s what you get when you fly a whale through a desert.

“Any criticism I have ever gotten for that video, has always been, ‘What’s up with the whale, dude?'” co-director Nathan “Karma” Cox joked with MTV. He says the whole thing was Joseph’s idea.

“It’s more of an elemental thing” Joseph went on to explain. “Where when you think of a whale, you automatically associate it with water, but it’s a contrast to the environment, because there’s no water in the environment. So it was basically a way to visually connect the ground to the sky to the tower, where we were.”

Puddle Of Mudd’s CD/DVD Coming Soon

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Puddle Of Mudd has a real treat in the works for you.

Frontman Wes Scantlin says they’re hoping soon to put out a CD/DVD.

And you can count on the fact that the whole package will cover eveything. Wes has been shooting footage ever since they signed a record deal. He’s got fifty plus tapes to sift from to get just the right footage for all their fans.

Interesting.

Internet’s Most-Searched Norah Jones Discovers Ear Plugs

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You know, this is not the first time that Norah Jones is climbing charts in that special effortless way of hers. It’s not the first time also she’s topping internet charts as one of the most searched and sought-after smooth jazz/soul artist around. She’s done that like three or four times already.

According to figures derived from search engines, the beautiful Norah Jones with her exotic features and all remains one of the hottest artists around, possibly fueled by sales of her classic of an album ‘Come Away With Me’.

What’s next up, then, for the quiet girl who’s managed to capture the attention of all without even trying? Norah Jones rocking out, perhaps?

She tells Blender magazine “I sure want to. I don’t know. Mostly, I just want to write more songs, and I don’t really know how to do it. I never got a routine down. The past few months, every time I get a free moment I just catch some snoozers.”

“I have” she concludes, “discovered the beauty of earplugs. They’re good.”

Catch Norah at her official space and preview some of her songs off that cult classic must-have LP at http://www.norahjones.com.