Blue’s Antony Costa met up with his idol George Michael backstage on a BBC show last week. Blue were there to take part in our webchat and promote forthcoming single, ‘U Make Me Wanna’, while George was to perform his anti-war song, ‘The Grave’.
“I was chuffed to meet him,” Ant told reporters. “We had a good chat and he told me he was a fan of the band. I’d love to get him down to the studio and record some tracks with him in the future. Who knows? That would be great.”
Will Young claims record bosses have told him not to mention he is gay if he wants to crack the US.
He has also been told to have his teeth straightened and whitened before he takes on America.
The singer says he may now turn down the lucrative deal.
He told the press “I’ve been offered a major deal but I’m in a dilemma.”
“They want me to keep quiet about my private life and, worse, they’ve told me to get my teeth straightened.”
“I thought they were joking but that is the bottom line.”
A lot of music fans came away with Norah Jones’ Grammy-sweeping album, the sensational must-have ‘Come Away With Me’ last week, giving the CD a record post-award sales spike, industry tracker Nielsen Soundscan says.
The album surged to the top of US pop album charts, selling 621,000 copies in the week of 2nd of March, up 477,000 copies from the prior week.
The latest sales week reflected consumer activity immediately following the Grammy Awards, which were held in Madison Square Garden on 23rd of February.
Both Blue Note, the EMI Group jazz label that is home to Norah Jones, and Nielsen Soundscan said the spike in sales represented the biggest Grammy boost since Soundscan began tracking US retail record sales in 1991 and possibly the biggest ever.
“The numbers prove what we’ve known all along. Norah Jones is a very special and talented artist and we are thrilled that the Grammys have exposed her work to a whole new audience,” said David Munns, EMI Recorded Music North America Chairman and Chief executive officer.
Global sales for ‘Come Away With Me’ are well past the 9 million mark, making the 23 year old daughter of famed Indian musician, Ravi Shankar one of the best selling artists of 2002-2003, EMI said.
Christina Aguilera is set to become the new face of fashion empire Versace.
Ms Dirrty will front a mult-million pound TV campaign for Italian designer Donatella Versace.
Christina was the guest of honour at Versace’s fashion show in Milan last week where she was spotted furiously making notes as a succession of haughty, stony-faced models sashayed down the catwalk.
India.Arie was amongst the musicians weighing in on the looming war with Iraq with Entertainment Weekly recently.
She says, “This is our platform, this is our vehicle. I challenge all of my peers to do more.”
“Not just in your words, and giving your money, but in your music. That’s what people hear.”
13 March 2003 1432SST – 0800GMT
MELANIE C BELIEVES SHE HAS ALWAYS TAKEN MUSIC MORE SERIOUSLY
Spice Girl Melanie C believes she has always taken singing more seriously than her former bandmates. Melanie is resisting attempts to get the Spice Girls back together while she concentrates on her solo career highlighting the fact she was always more focused on her singing voice.
Melanie C says, “I took things more seriously thaneveryone else because singing was more important to me. I was the only one who put her voice before other things. “I’ve always looked after my voice because I take my singing seriously. That’s why I’ve never smoked, I always warm up, I don’t go out and I don’t drink when I’m singing. I want to be a great singer and sing for the rest of my life.”
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After the Spice Girls’ reunion dinner, the papers were full of talk of reunion tours and greatest hits albums, but these tales were all denied by various band members who insisted they were solo artists now and that was that. However the People claims that they were telling porkies and that the tour and the album are already a done deal.
That paper says that the tour will take place in 2006, ten years after ‘Wannabe’ first hit the charts, and that each Spice Girl will net GBP5 million, plus a chunk of the ticket revenue.
Not only does the paper report the greatest hits album, but it has a tracklist, too. This includes four new songs, and some old songs that were never released, as well as 15 of their biggest single releases. This is pretty specific information, so it kind of lends weight to the story.
Finally they quote a Virgin music source “The company is very excited that comeback plans are underway.”
And another source told them “All the girls have agreed it’s the right thing to do and will announce details later.”
Anyway, you might want to brace yourselves for an avalanche of official denials, because even if the story is true, surely the girls will want to deny it for the time being so it doesn’t take the focus of their solo efforts.
Ex-Hear’Sayer Myleene Klass has signed a record contract worth GBP1 million to relaunch herself as a classical crooner.
Keen to bung her manufactured pop days behind her, Mylster has agreed a three-album contract with Universal Classics and is now getting geared up to launch her debut single.
One of her chums told the press “People forget Myleene is a classically-trained musician and can play harp, piano and violin. She has been busy writing and recording tracks and she hopes to get her debut solo single out in the next few months. Myleene wants to be seen as a sexy classical artist with attitude.”
Madonna has signed a publishing deal to write five illustrated children’s books.
Madge’s first book, The English Roses, will focus on the adventures of a red fox and a little Prince.
The target audience for Madge’s books will be 6 years and older and it’s set to be out in stores sometime in winter which would probabaly make it a nice Christmas gift for that little tot of yours.
The Robster is making one last final push to crack the States by re-releasing his latest album ‘Escapology’ with some new songs added. Robbie has recorded two new tracks, namely ‘Get A Little High’ and ‘One Fine Day’, written specifically to appeal to US audiences.
The revamped album is released in the US on the 1st of April and Robbie plans a blitz of radio and TV shows including Good Morning America and the David Letterman Show.
According to the Daily Star, Robbie is under pressure from his record company EMI to recoup his GBP80m advance and want him to emulate the success of Brit bands Coldplay and Radiohead in America.