ibloggie

Apart from family, if anyone is feeling the loss of Amy Winehouse, it would be Mark Ronson. The singer/producer had been a long time friend and collaborator of the late jazz artist and his emotional performance at the Greenwich Summer Sessions in London showed just how much of a loss he’s suffered. Mark took a moment to pay tribute to Amy with the love of music that they shared. Along with Amy’s back-up singers and musicians, Mark had the audience join him in a loud and rousing version of “Valerie”. I’m in awe at this. Such power and emotion in one performance.
Mark Ronson – Valerie – Performance Video

No, I don’t mean she’s going on tour with a contestant from American Idol. When Taylor Momsen turned 18, her birthday wish came true in the form of getting a slot to tour with her idol and she decided to share all her happiness with some special announcements on Twitter. The actress turned rock singer said “Lots of bday announcements…#1. One of my first concerts, now we’re [The Pretty Reckless] touring with Evanescence… #2 We’ll be playing in Korea, Japan, China and Australia before Evanescence… starting with Lollapalooza in Chicago Aug 6th. #3…in the studio working on new tracks.” Can you believe she’s only 18?

Taylor Swift is interested in Bruno Mars, but only on a musical level, what were you thinking?
The country music singer appreciates very much Bruno’s hit ‘Grenade’ and hopes to record a duet with him soon.
Taylor is a big fan of Bruno Mars and remembers the excitement she felt when she had first met him at the MET Ball event.
‘We met at the MET gala. I usually lose myself at such events because of the attention that is given to me, so I looked around and suddenly, I realized that at my back was Bruno Mars. I said I would like us to compose something together. In turn, Bruno told me we should do it, to get together sometime ‘, said Taylor Swift recently in an interview to a radio station.

In a new interview with PrideSource, Beyonce opened up about her friend and collaborator Lady Gaga. The R&B singer spoke of the princess of pop, saying “I love Gaga. I mean, if she didn’t perform and she wasn’t a singer, just as a human being I love her to death. But on top of it, she is the most talented pop star right now, and I’m so happy for her. It’s just really inspiring to see someone who just creates their own destiny and comes up with their own looks and writes their own songs and choreographs and is in control and is not contrived. If you took away every bit of costume and she just sat in front of a piano, she would still tear it down. She’s just that talented, and she deserves it all. And I’m just happy to work with her. I love her.”

Everyone dresses up for Comic-Con, some more easily recognizable than others. Justin Timberlake was pretty recognizable when he went. Well, he was recognizable in the fact that the pop singer/actor and an Esquire writer went as Bert and Ernie. However, nobody knew it was them underneath. The writer said “If you were at Comic-Con yesterday, and you took a picture with a sketchy Bert and Ernie… I was Bert. Justin Timberlake was Ernie. I would pay good money to see the faces of the teenage girls who had no idea Justin Timberlake’s arm was wrapped around them.” It was apparently Justin’s idea to do it while there for his “In Time” panel.

Just a week ago, Amy Winehouse appeared on stage for the last time at the iTunes Festival to cheer on her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield. Now, following with British singer’s death, 15-year old Dionne has cancelled all of her shows so she can grieve in privacy. She said “I’m totally devastated…Amy was my inspiration.” Dionne also took to her Twitter to say “Forever in my heart….love you always amy.” Amy’s friend/collaborator Mark Ronson also cancelled a gig to have some time to grieve. I’m sorry to hear how hard they’re taking the loss but I think they made the right move by giving themselves time without the pressure of putting on shows. Keep strong.

Russell Brand wrote a tribute to his late friend Amy Winehouse, who died at age 27 this past Saturday, on his official website. Here’s some of what the comedian wrote on the singer: “To me, with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; ‘Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric,’ I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable… I was myself at that time barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction… Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticized at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease.”

The Saturdays have chosen the trance-heavy song “All Fired Up” as the official second single from their third full-length studio album. The track was written by Xenomania and produced by MNEK. The British pop band plans to release the song on iTunes UK on September 4th. I wouldn’t say that this is my favorite song from The Saturdays but I think it’s their boldest work ever. The song is absolutely fire. It has all the trance/house elements while still keeping a pop sound. It’s not the best lyrically but overall, it’s one big rave party anthem. What do you think?
The Saturdays – All Fired Up – New Song

Taylor Swift recently stopped by Elvis Duran and the Morning Show’s radio station in New York City. The 21-year old country singer talked about how she stays grounded, why she loves Target and who she considers her dream collaboration. On the last topic, Taylor said “[At the MET Ball] all of a sudden there’s Bruno Mars right behind me. I said, ‘would love to write with you sometime.’ He said, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s meet up on the road.’” Why stop at just writing something together? I’m now thinking of the two of them having a duet. What do you think about that?

Following the news that Amy Winehouse had passed away on Saturday, the British singer’s 2007 album “Back to Black” jumped to the number 1 spot on iTunes. The music video for her hit single “Rehab” also reached the #10 spot on iTunes. When the album was released four years ago, it topped the charts in over 15 countries and earned her 5 Grammy awards. Regardless of what you think about her personal life, no one can deny that Amy was such a huge talent and that “Back to Black” was one of the best albums in the last decade. She will be greatly missed.

MTV released the list of nominees for the upcoming 2011 MTV Video Music Awards earlier this week. Suffice to say, there were a few surprises and upsets. Katy Perry leads the pack with nine nominations, including Best Pop Video, Best Collaboration, Best Direction, Best Special Effects and Video of the Year for “Firework”. Adele and Kanye West tied with seven nods, while Bruno Mars got four. Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj each got three nods. Eminem, Chris Brown, 30 Seconds to Mars and Pitbull also got nods. Congratulations to all the nominees but I just have to ask – where are Rihanna’s nods? Snubbing her when she had three number 1 hits is just outrageous.

Demi Lovato has released the official Spanish version to her latest top 10 hit “Skyscraper”. “Rascacielos” was debuted during the pop singer’s live chat with fans on Thursday over at Cambio.com. I love all the emotion, the singing remained top notch and Demi’s Spanish pronunciation is good. However, the English lyrics of the song were just so flawless that I would have not approved a Spanish version. Demi sings literal translations that, while perfectly understandable, just sound so unnatural in Spanish. If you ask me, I would have just written new lyrics with the same feeling of “’rising from the ground when you’re feeling down”.
Demi Lovato – Rascacielos – New Song

Cheryl Cole is currently still in Los Angeles recording a new album. It sounds like it’s going to be hot as the British pop singer is laying down vocals at the famous studios underneath the Sunset Marquis hotel where famous celebrities like Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Cyndi Lauper and Chaka Khan have previously recorded albums. A source said “Cheryl has loved working at the studios. Some of the female singers that have worked there before are her all-time heroes. It’s been the perfect place for Cheryl to plunge head-first back into work again.” Are you excited for some new music from Cheryl?

Pixie Lott has been bombarding fans a lot this month. Not only did the pop singer radio premiere her new single “All About Tonight”, she also recently premiered the official music video for the track via VEVO. Now, Pixie has delivered the first live performance of the song over the weekend. The British singer/songwriter debuted the single live for the first time during her set at the 2011Live music festival in the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Pixie absolutely killed it vocally but I wish she could have hired some dancers and did the video’s choreography. In any case, she fulfilled her mission of entertaining the crowd.
Pixie Lott – All About Tonight – Performance Video

Kate Hudson may only be a few weeks removed from giving birth to her new son Bingham Hawn Bellamy but that’s not going to stop the 32-year old actress from spending some family time with her fiancé Matt Bellamy and her 7-year old son Ryder. Speaking of Matt, the 33-year old Muse lead singer recently revealed how they came up with the name of their newborn son. Matt took to Twitter saying “For those wondering, Bingham is my mum’s maiden name and Bing Russell was Kurt [Russell]’s dad. Family connections all round!” And obviously, his middle name Hawn is in honor of Kate’s mom Goldie Hawn.

There may be another duet coming for us from Chris Brown and Justin Bieber as the two singers, who recently collaborated on “Next 2 You”, were recently spotted arriving at a recording studio in Los Angeles on Monday. With their last duet landing in Chris’ album, maybe a new one could be appearing on Justin’s next studio effort. Or maybe these two were just throwing ideas around and having fun. We may never know until an official announcement is made. But I’m pretty sure I’ve got a few people excited by sharing this bit of news. Don’t go crazy now when I’m wrong.

Justin Bieber is very careful with his girlfriend, Selena Gomez, and makes sure that the cute brunette misses nothing. Recently, Selena Gomez was hospitalized due to a calcium deficiency combined with starvation. Although the incident was not a serious one, Justin Bieber wants to ensure it does not happen again, so he will hire a nutritionist for Selena. The doctor will make sure that Selena eats three healthy meals daily with foods rich in calcium, magnesium and iron. Selena Gomez has a busy schedule and skipped at least two meals a day, or replaced them with unhealthy food. Moreover, physical exhaustion is taking it’s toll, so the nutritionist could adjust Selena’s daily intake of calories. `Justin told Selena that the nutritionist is a gift, to show her how much he cares about her, ’said the American press.

Beloved actress and singer Natalia Oreiro from Uruguay said she is expecting her first child. At age 34, Natalia wished to announce the pregnancy sometimes later, to enjoy quietly the happy event in her life, but the press had another plan. `I want to share with you great news. Yes, I will be a mommy! ‘, she wrote in a message posted on her official website. `I would have preferred to be more careful but it was impossible. I never expected this to remain a secret, as long as I myself could not keep it. Thanks for the messages. Our happiness is enormous’, she wrote in the message. Natalia Oreiro is married since 2001 with Argentine artist Ricardo Mollo. The couple expect their first child now, even if during their marriage they were about to break up several times.

David Beckham is obviously one very happy father with the birth of his newborn daughter Harper. The 36-year old soccer star and his 37-year old wife, former Spice Girls singer Victoria Beckham, welcomed the new addition to their family last Sunday, July 10. Victoria posted a picture of father and daughter on her Twitter account, with David posting a picture of mother and daughter on his Facebook account. David said in the caption “I took this picture of my two girls sleeping.” She looks so cute and precious! Harper is David and Victoria’s fourth child. She joins big brothers Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz.

David Beckham and Harper Beckham – Facebook – Photo

“I’m a Celebrity” couldn’t land Lindsay Lohan so I guess the next best thing would be to get her ex-boyfriend on the show. Fresh out of his rehab stint, Aaron Carter is heading to the jungle. Show bosses lined up the former teen pop singer after failing to land Lindsay to make an appearance on the series. It’s thought that Aaron will have enough Hollywood secrets to spill about his relationship with Lindsay, as well as other former flame Hilary Duffand his older brother Nick Carter’s friendship with the late King of Pop Michael Jackson. I’m not sure if Aaron will just sit and spill but it might be entertaining nonetheless.