Search Results for: Sam Carter

The Backstreet Boys are in sync again. “It’s been like three years since we’ve all been in the studio together, so it’s like the fire was rekindled,” is how Nick Carter described the reunion during a recent break from recording. “We’re in there experimenting and really cool stuff’s coming out. It’s not gonna be the same Backstreet. I mean, you’re always gonna have Backstreet Boys, but the music’s gonna change.” The group plans to update the teen-pop sound it mastered in the late ’90s with a more mature approach to production and songwriting. “We’re just not doing it like we… Read more »

Beyonce Knowles may be “Crazy in Love,” but she kept her cool Sunday at one of the more sober Grammy Awards shows in memory. She was the night’s big winner, taking home a record-tying five trophies to join recent Grammy queens Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones with the most wins in a single year by a female performer. OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won Album of the Year, giving the eccentric Atlanta funk/rap group three wins, including Best Urban Alternative Performance and Best Rap Album. British band Coldplay took home the prize for Record of the Year for “Clocks,”… Read more »

If Sting wins a Grammy for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance this year, it will be the fourth time he will have had the honor bestowed upon him since 1992. Eric Clapton didn’t release a studio album in 2003, but if he had, you could wager with confidence that he’d be up for the award too, having won three times since 1992. As usual, most of the Pop Male Vocal playing field this go-round is dominated by old-timers: Sting, Michael McDonald, Warren Zevon, who died of lung cancer last September, and George Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001. One… Read more »

She can score whatever interview she wants. She can send a book to the top of the best-seller list. She can even inspire the Backstreet Boys to reunite. Thanks to Oprah Winfrey, the Backstreet Boys have decided the timing is right to finally hit the recording studio for the follow-up to 2000’sBlack & Blue. “We’re all excited,” Kevin Richardson said soon after the group taped an upcoming episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last month. “All of us hadn’t been together in the same room in like six months, so it was wild. It was good to be back together… Read more »

These days, try putting on a CD by your favorite rapper without hearing an endless series of plugs for Burberry, Air Force Ones, Alizé, Maybach, you name it. But are hip-hop’s ubiquitous product mentions just about artists chronicling their high-rollin’ lifestyles, or have the forces of marketing worked their way into your favorite rapper’s tunes? What’s next, a hit track written about Hummers paid for by the car’s manufacturer? Well, maybe. “Unless someone is paying me a billion dollars or offering equity, we don’t play that,” Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash said of writing products into a song on request.… Read more »

John Mellencamp has posted a new song from his forthcoming album online. “To Washington,” which is available at mellencamp.com, is a politically themed track that was inspired by Woody Guthrie and the Carter Family. In a statement, Mellencamp notes, “I think the song is relevant, irrespective of the ticking of a ‘war clock.’” The “To Washington” lyrics include: “Eight years of peace and prosperity/Scandal in the White House/And election is what we need/From coast-to-coast to Washington/So America voted on a president/No one kept count/On how the election went/From Florida to Washington/Goddamn, said one side/And the other said the same/Both looked… Read more »

‘Tis the season for holiday radio shows. As much a tradition as eggnog, mistletoe and broken resolutions, December always brings a bumper crop of all-star shows in which bands give back to their fans (and the radio stations that play their music) by jetting around the country and serving up short hit-heavy sets. The month of December will be especially star-packed for those living near Indianapolis, San Diego or Philadelphia. If you love Good Charlotte, Coldplay, Destiny’s Child and Queens of the Stone Age, you might want to cash in some frequent flyer miles, because those bands are among a… Read more »

BT is hesitant to reveal that his new album features a collaboration with JC Chasez, but not because he’s worried about ruining his dance-music credibility. “I’ve been playing it in my sets and I’m top secret about who it is, ’cause I want people to judge it on the song, not the whole ‘NSYNC affiliation,” the DJ/producer explained Friday at his home studio. “People go f–ing nuts, even my super cool friends that would never admit to [liking ‘NSYNC]. They’re like, ‘Wow, this is such a great tune.’ And I’m like, ‘It’s JC.’ And they’re like, ‘Shut the f– up,’… Read more »

For every Joey McIntyre and Jordan Knight, there is a D-Fuse. If you’ve never heard of the now-defunct solo venture from their fellow New Kid on the Block Danny Wood, that’s proof enough that no matter how famous your boy band is, a solo career is never guaranteed. So with ‘NSYNC’s Justin Timberlake, Backtreet Boys’ Nick Carter and 98 Degrees’ Nick Lachey all releasing albums this fall, the pop world is wondering who will be “Larger Than Life” and who will go “Bye, Bye, Bye.” We asked a few former boy band stars who’ve enjoyed solo success to lend advice… Read more »

As Justin Timberlake works on his solo album and Lance Bass prepares to go into space, Joey Fatone isn’t about to be the odd man out of ‘NSYNC. For his downtime during the boy band’s hiatus, Fatone’s broadening his acting résumé to include the Great White Way – as the lead in “Rent”. “It’s very exciting,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to do Broadway…. About a year ago I went and saw ‘Rent,’ and it was really cool, and I thought it would be a cool show to do. It’s so edgy and so based on real life. It’s something… Read more »