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Twenty-five years after his death, Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n Roll, is about to do something he never managed in life – debut an album at No. 1 on record charts around the world. According to industry watchers, Presley’s “Elvis 30 Number One Hits” compilation, which was released by Bertelsmann AG’s RCA Records on Sept. 24, is poised to top the charts in at least 12 countries around the world. Sales in the United States alone are expected to hit almost 500,000 units in the last week, said a spokesman for RCA, noting it would be the first… Read more »

Grunge singer-turned-actress Courtney Love and Vivendi Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record conglomerate, announced settlement Monday of their lawsuits against each other with a deal that allows the music firm to release songs by her late husband’s band Nirvana. Universal sued Love in 2000 over five allegedly undelivered albums. She filed a countersuit last year in Los Angeles County Superior Court that sought to break her contract with Vivendi Universal and expose what she called unfair treatment of artists. Love – the widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994 – claimed Universal made about $40… Read more »

Remember when Michael Greene, then-President of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, warned us all about the unlawful evils of Internet file sharing during the Grammy Awards back in February? Soon people will get an earful straight from those who make the music. Britney Spears, Missy Elliott and Nelly are among the artists set to appear in TV spots as part of an awareness campaign to educate people about the legal and financial ramifications of unauthorized file sharing, according to a Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) spokesperson. The ads were first shown Thursday at a congressional hearing… Read more »

Chicago rockers Disturbed have upset the Dixie Chicks’ three-week run as chart champs, selling more than 283,000 copies of their second album to debut atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday. The riff-wielding quartet has come a long way in its short career. Disturbed’s 2000 debut, The Sickness, while eventually selling more than 2.6 million copies, took nearly two months to crack the chart after its release. What’s even more impressive is that Disturbed’s first-place showing came without an unavoidable, playlist-friendly video. The clip for the LP’s first single, “Prayer,” encountered restrictions because it was… Read more »

Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix is having trouble concentrating on the conversation. Interrupting the lead singer’s discussion about the in-your-face band’s latest album is the cry of a baby. “Can you hold on? I’ve got to get the baby a bottle,” he says. It’s the first sign there’s something afoot for the band that burst onto the musical scene in 2000 with the rap-rock triple platinum album “Infest,” which included the single “Last Resort.” First, there’s the name change from the irreverant Coby Dick to the more respectable Jacoby Shaddix. “Call me the artist formerly known as Coby Dick,” jokes the… Read more »

While Joey resurrects Broadway and Lance threatens to blast into space, Justin will have to be content with trying to change the face of pop music – again. Justin Timberlake’s debut solo record, Justified (November 12), is a broad, ambitious step from the clean, blissful pop of ‘NSYNC. Timberlake’s vocals still soar, but there’s a lot more funk in his step and a number of R&B artists influencing his sound, including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Aaliyah and Missy Elliott. “I wanted to do something new that was just completely me,” he said. “I had been so personally drained from… Read more »

No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani, dressed in a white-and-pink silk faille gown by John Galliano for Christian Dior, married Gavin Rossdale of Bush in London last weekend. “She looked very beautiful,” Galliano told Us magazine for its Sept. 30 issue. The wedding took place Saturday at St. Paul’s church, with friends and family attending the hour-long ceremony, the magazine said. Telephone calls to Stefani’s publicist in Los Angeles were not returned Tuesday. Rossdale, 34, proposed to Stefani, 32, on New Year’s Day. Stefani became a staple in the music world with No Doubt’s 1995 “Tragic Kingdom” album. British-born Rossdale made… Read more »

Kid Rock will join Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and others for Saturday’s annual Farm Aid concert outside Pittsburgh. Dave Matthews, who joined Farm Aid’s board of directors last year, will also perform at the sold-out concert at the Post-Gazette Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pa. The concert will be broadcast live on CMT. Nelson, Young and Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. In 14 Farm Aid concerts since 1985, the organization has raised more than $24 million.

Cable TV made some music news Wednesday, with HBO locking up a live performance of the Rolling Stones in January, and VH1 signing Pink, David Bowie and Santana to perform at the 2002 “VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards” Oct. 15. HBO will cover the Stones at one of the last U.S. stops on their current “Licks” world tour, a Jan. 18 event at Madison Square Garden. It will be the Stones’ first live concert for TV. The “VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards” will also be cablecast live, from Radio City Music Hall, with “Will & Grace” star Debra Messing as host. VH1 will announce… Read more »

If music school grades are a barometer of success, John Mayer should be living under a bridge busking for nickels. During an abbreviated tenure at Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 1998, the now platinum singer/songwriter found himself out of his element and overwhelmed. He had no formal musical training and his class marks reflected his lack of preparation. “They were pronounced like ‘d-d-d-f-f-f-f-f ‘ – like static,” he said of his grades during an interview in New York’s Central Park. “So I had to kind of totally burn that bridge because I didn’t know what I was doing. But… Read more »