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Ruben Studdard outsang Clay Aiken to become the new “American Idol.” The cuddly mountain of soul aced out his lanky, spikey-haired rival for the title in viewer voting. The results were announced during Wednesday’s conclusion of the wildly popular Fox amateur hour. “I feel great, man! Thank y’all!” said Studdard, 24, of Birmingham, Ala. Then, filled with emotion, he sang a song of gratitude, “Flying Without Wings,” as the crowd roared “RUU-ben, RUU-ben!” As expected with the two highly appealing performers, the margin dividing them was slim. Of 24 million phoned-in votes, 50.28 percent were for Ruben, putting him 130,000… Read more »
Avril Lavigne concludes her first ever North American headlining tour on Sunday (May 18) with a concert at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. The “I’m With You” singer has performed more than 30 concerts since the tour began on April 9 in Toronto. Lavigne’s tour was to promote her multi-platinum debut album Let Go. The singer said that when she began to write the album, she didn’t have any set messages she wanted to convey. “I don’t ever plan, ‘Ok, I’m gonna write a song about that ex-boyfriend,’ It’s not like that, or ‘I’m gonna write a song… Read more »
After rocking Austin’s SXSW and blowing away the crowd at last month’s Coachella Festival, Blur is all revved up to hit the States touring in support of their new album Think Tank. Just released May 6th, Rolling Stone gave Think Tank four stars citing, “The old Blur have died, but the new, more open Blur come startlingly alive,” and with “Crazy Beat” in heavy rotation on MTV2, its time to show the rest of America what the critics are raving about. 6/9 Long Island Field Day Festival 6/11 Phoenix Marquee Theatre 6/12 Las Vegas House of Blues 6/14 Los Angeles… Read more »
Even the most heartbroken among us would benefit from distancing themselves from the pain every once in a while. For Tyson Ritter, a reprieve from his songwriting muse helped make “The Last Song” such a pleasure to pen. “I got inspired to write something that wasn’t about an all-girl topic,” the All-American Rejects singer/bassist said. “Every other song [on the band’s self-titled debut] is about one girl, so to put a song on the album that wasn’t about her, that made it a little extra special.” The second single off The All-American Rejects is one of Ritter’s favorite tracks, inspirational… Read more »
Look for the next Grammy Awards and the American Music Awards (AMAs) to move from their traditional annual calendar slots. For 2004, the Grammys are switching from their usual late-February date to Sunday, Feb. 8, sources tell Billboard. The move is taking place to avoid a head-on collision with the Academy Awards, which will be moved next year from their usual late-March perch to late February. Additionally, the 2004 Grammys are expected to return to L.A. after this year’s stint in New York. The Recording Academy declined to comment. Taking a bigger leap forward are the AMAs. That show is… Read more »
Arista recording artist Wakefield hit the road opening for All-American Rejects starting May 4th in Portland, Oregon. Two days later on May 6th, Wakefield’s debut album, American Made, will officially arrive in stores, it was announced today by Antonio “L.A.” Reid, President and CEO, Arista Records. Set to impact at radio on May 19th at modern rock, “Say You Will,” is described as a love song inspired by the movie Scream. “Get your heart broken a few times and the tragedy begins to unfold,” says Ryan the band’s frontman. The video for “Say You Will” was directed by Marc Webb,… Read more »
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. announced today that five additional major recording artists have agreed to provide music and video content for the upcoming rhythm-action game, Amplitude, developed exclusively for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system. Expanding upon a top-tier music roster covering hip-hop, rap, electronica and rock, the newly signed bands include blink 182, P.O.D., Mekon, Freezepop and Dieselboy. These artists will join other major recording artists on the Amplitude roster that include David Bowie, Garbage, Weezer, Quarashi and Logan 7. Developed by Harmonix Music Systems, Amplitude allows players to become a rhythmical DJ and jam with more than 20… Read more »
Multi-platinum recording artist/skater girl Avril Lavigne has called upon fellow Canadians Simple Plan to join her on her first-ever, North American headline tour. Dubbed the “Try To Shut Me Up” tour, the dates kick off April 15th in Cleveland and will continue through May 17th in Philly. The tour, also featuring pop-punkster’s Gob, is expected to be one of the hottest tickets in town and shows are already selling out. Simple Plan will perform songs off their debut album “No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls,” featuring the massive hit single and MTV staple “I’d Do Anything.” The band’s album, which entered… Read more »
After scoring a hit in 2000 with their first single, “Flavor of the Weak,” American Hi-Fi were showered with praise and press. The experience of playing stadiums and landing mainstream radio play influenced frontman Stacy Jones to write the title track of the band’s new album, The Art of Losing. “We started out playing these sh-ty little clubs all over the country, and it was f-ing great,” explained Jones. “Then when ‘Flavor of the Weak’ started getting played, we found ourselves on these bills where we were playing between Dream and the ‘Moulin Rouge’ chicks. I just remember looking at… Read more »
