Search Results for: ashlee simpson

Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz is far more recognizable than the average rock band bassist. With jet-black asymmetrical bangs, slightly smeared eyeliner and a toothy grin, Wentz certainly makes for a memorable image, but it’s his public antics that have created such an unforgettable impression. “I honestly don’t care what the perception is of me to the world,” says the 27-year-old, while sipping on a Starbucks’ vanilla latte on a rainy day in New York City. “It’s a weird thing to have come to, but after you’ve gone through the ringer so many times you don’t care. But I do… Read more »

MuchMusic has announced their list of nominees, performers and celebrity guests for the 16th Annual MuchMusic Video Awards. The Awards take place June 19 in Toronto. The big event snagged The Killers, The Black Eyed Peas, K-OS, Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Ciara and lip-synching wonder Ashlee Simpson to perform. The Backstreet Boys won’t actually sing at the show, but they will attend the MMVAs in the company of other celebrity guests Sum 41, Kalan Porter, Keshia Chante, Jully Black and Kelly Osbourne. TV stars Maggie Grace (from Lost), Everwood’s Chris Pratt and Survivor/Amazing Race contestants Rob and Amber will also attend.… Read more »

New York power-pop combo Fountains of Wayne will give fans a musical travelogue of their near-decade together with the release of Out-of-State Plates. Due on June 28, the double-disc set contains a whopping 26 non-album tracks recorded at various stages during the band’s career. Intended to appeal to both die-hard fans and newbies snared by the hit “Stacy’s Mom,” the set is a motherlode of rarities and unreleased tracks; there are also five covers and two brand-new songs. The title might seem to continue the automotive theme that the band used on its last two albums, 1999’s Utopia Parkway and… Read more »

New York – As U.S. pop radio stations begin to embrace the Backstreet Boys single “Incomplete,” Jive Records has set June 14 as the release date for the vocal group’s fourth studio album, “Never Gone.” The new album features the writing and production talents of Five For Fighting’s John Ondrasik, Savage Garden’s Darren Hayes, Max Martin, Billy Mann (Pink, Sting), Dan Muckala (Jump5, the Afters) and John Fields (Switchfoot), as well as John Shanks, who in February won the Grammy Award as producer of the year for his work on releases by Sheryl Crow, Clarkson, Hilary Duff and Ashlee Simpson.… Read more »

Classic-rock fan George Petersen doesn’t need another copy of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” or Cream’s “Disraeli Gears.” He has spent the past four decades buying and re-buying his favorite music in a succession of new formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassette, compact disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio. Enough is enough. The basement is full. “We as consumers have been trained by the music industry to go out and buy a new piece of plastic every few years,” said the 51-year-old Petersen, editorial director of Mix, a San Francisco-based magazine that covers professional sound recording. “Why do we keep buying… Read more »

Not only does Usher win, like, every single award at every single awards show, he’s also sold almost eight million(!) copies of his disc Confessions – easily sliding him into first place among the year’s top sellers. While the top slot on the Brit list was only won by about 500 sales, Usher dwarfed his competition, with #2 going to Norah Jones, who sold just under half as many copies of her latest effort, Feels Like Home. Eminem’s Encore made an impressive entrance at #3, not bad considering it only hit the streets in November, while Usher and Norah have… Read more »

Washington – Members of the rock band The Donnas were kind of glad when Ashlee Simpson was caught lip synching on Saturday Night Live. They were hoping it would show the world the difference between acts like them who never use backing tracks and acts who are all style over substance. Boy, were they disappointed. “We thought, ‘Finally she got caught and she’s going to get punished an everyone’s going to figure it out and it would be like Milli Vanilli, and everyone would return her CDs,’” said guitarist Allison Robertson. Sales of Simpson’s album “Autobiography” dipped for a week… Read more »

Eminem apparently learned to be nice this holiday season because Santa gave the usually naughty rapper another number one. Previously ruling the charts for the last two weeks of November, the Shady One’s Encore encored at number one for the week ended Sunday, selling 430,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. Em has a record of reentering the top slot, having done it with both The Eminem Show and the 8 Mile soundtrack. His is the fifth album to regain the number one position in 2004, joining discs by OutKast, Ashlee Simpson, Usher and Now That’s What I Call Music!… Read more »

Los Angeles – To his eight Grammy nominations and slew of No. 1 singles, R&B singer Usher has added the honor of most-shipped U.S. album of 2004 for “Confessions,” according to year-end certifications from the Recording Industry Assn. of America. With 8 million units shipped to retailers (but not necessarily sold through to consumers), the set is the highest-certified album in the star’s catalog. His previous best was 1997’s “My Way,” which is six times platinum. Usher also picked up three honors under the RIAA’s new digital awards program. “Yeah!” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, which spent 12 weeks atop… Read more »

If you came anywhere near a radio this year, it should be no surprise that Usher’s Confessions was named the most-shipped album of 2004. The Recording Industry Association of America gave the singer credit for shipping (but not necessarily selling) 8 million copies of his third album, two million more than his six-times platinum My Way from 1997, according to Billboard magazine. The smash single “Yeah!” also took honors in the RIAA’s digital-awards program, earning a digital platinum certification for more than 200,000 downloads. “Burn” and “My Boo” were awarded digital gold for more than 100,000 downloads. Country star George… Read more »