Search Results for: Oprah Winfrey

Nick Haley took just 30 minutes to pluck the Brazilian band CSS from obscurity and hurl it into the national spotlight. In September, Haley paired the band’s dance-pop song “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” with his 30-second amateur video, displaying the capabilities of Apple’s new iPod Touch. The video ends with the lyrics, “My music is where I’d like you to touch.” “I was like, ‘This song is too perfect,’ ” said Haley, 18, by phone from the University of Leeds in England, where he studies politics. “It’s punchy, loud, fast and naughty.” Marketers at Apple headquarters in Cupertino… Read more »

Donda West, the mother of Kanye West and former chairwoman of Chicago State University’s English department, passed away Saturday from undisclosed causes, according to a spokesman for the family. She was 58. According to multiple sources, West was in Los Angeles and her death may have been the result of complications from a surgical procedure; more specific information was unavailable at press time. Although widely known as the mother of Kanye, Dr. West was a noted scholar and an active college professor for 31 years; she left the profession in 2004 to assist with Kanye’s career, according to her biography… Read more »

AJ McLean remembers the conversation well. Kevin Richardson was having doubts about his future in the Backstreet Boys, and one night in the dressing room after a 2005 show, he told his friends in the mega-selling boy band how he was feeling. “There’s some things I need to do first, for me,” McLean recalled Richardson saying. The group had been discussing “when we wanted to start recording again,” McLean said. “Everyone was ready, but that was the first time Kevin put it out in the atmosphere that he wasn’t.” The Boys needed some time to digest Richardson’s news. In June… Read more »

Britney Spears is certainly not the first celebrity to go off the rails in full view of her once-adoring public. But hers is one of the most spectacular falls from grace in recent memory, meticulously documented by paparazzi and bystanders, and uploaded instantly for the titillation of the masses. At 25 she’s certainly young enough to resume her career after she regroups, and for perspective, we’ve compiled some of the most notorious celebrity flameouts of the past 10 years, along with the success (or not) of their efforts to get back on track. We’ve rated these 1-4 in ascending order… Read more »

Los Angeles – Welcome to the best sales week of this still-young 2005. Contributing to this buoyant frame are historic chart accomplishments by Tina Turner, the fastest start for the 10-year-old “Grammy Nominees” line of releases and, nestled between those two albums, a not-too-motley week for Motley Crue. Album volume for the week stands at 11.4 million, and 6.9 million of those units sold were current titles. Both figures are high-water marks for the year. The volume of digital tracks, which slipped to less than 5 million last week for the first time since the week ending Dec. 19, is… Read more »

Los Angeles – After a three-year hiatus, Destiny’s Child is picking up where it left off: at the top. “Lose My Breath,” the first single from the R&B trio’s hotly anticipated album “Destiny Fulfilled,” quickly marched its way to No. 3 on The Billboard Hot 100. Now industry observers are handicapping how the group’s sales destiny will be fulfilled following the release of its first album since 2001’s “Survivor.” The Sony Urban Music/Columbia album debuted this week at No. 19 on the Billboard 200, based on only three days of sales in the week ended Nov. 14. It officially went… Read more »

Eminem and mentor/producer Dr. Dre share the Number Two position on this year’s Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list. The power ranking is based on a composite score created by calculating total income, website hits, press, radio & TV appearances, and magazine covers. The pair earned an estimated $35 million last year, garnered 1.9 million website hits, 27,130 press clippings, and 452 Radio/TV spots, and were the subject of seven cover stories. Jennifer Aniston landed the top spot; Tiger Woods was Number Three; Steven Spielberg, Number Four; Jennifer Lopez, Number Five; Paul McCartney, Number Six; Ben Affleck, Number Seven; Oprah Winfrey, Number… Read more »

Don’t picture little Billy Gilman any more. The kid is 15 now, with a voice that took two years to change and a new CD out. His new release is “Music Through Heartsongs,” an album of songs that are the poems of 12-year-old Mattie J.T. Stepanek. Stepanek battles a rare form of muscular dystrophy, a disease that took the lives of his three siblings and left him dependent on a ventilator that feeds oxygen through a tube attached to his neck. But he has sold more than 1.5 million copies of his inspirational books and has countless admirers including Oprah… Read more »

Oscar-winning singer-actress Cher has announced that her upcoming tour will be the last one of her career. The Living Proof: The Farewell Tour will kick off in Toronto on June 14 and will visit more than 50 cities throughout the United States, according to tour promoter Clear Channel Entertainment. “The road is tough, but the audience makes it all worthwhile,” said the legendary singer, who will celebrate her 56th birthday on May 20. Cher’s final tour is in support of her current Warner Bros. Records album Living Proof, which debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.… Read more »

Madonna, Britney Spears, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Lonestar, Ray Charles, Stone Temple Pilots, Patti LaBelle, Dolly Parton, Michelle Branch, Tim McGraw, Rosie O’Donnell, and Oprah Winfrey are just a few of the stars who have donated autographed items to the American Red Cross Nationwide Virtual Auction. The auction, hosted by the auction website Ebay (ebay.com), features more than 1,500 unique items donated by participating Red Cross chapters across the U.S. The auction will raise funds for disaster relief and other Red Cross humanitarian efforts. Twenty-one of the auction items were personally solicited and donated by country superstar Wynonna Judd. “I… Read more »