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*NSYNC star and Britney Spears’s former boyfriend Justin Timberlake is now reportedly dating an older woman, Janet Jackson. The new romantic pair is said to have hooked up at a birthday party for rapper Missy Elliott, with other celebrities in attendance, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Spider-Man’s Tobey Maguire, according to the New York Post. An unnamed eyewitness claimed, “Janet and Justin just started making out in front of everyone. It’s like they wanted the whole place to know.” Jackson’s ex, Jermaine Dupri, allegedly first spotted them together two weeks ago at a Los Angeles nightclub. Another source claimed, “Janet was… Read more »

All things must pass-including criminal sentences-and that has the family of the late George Harrison ticked off. The rocker’s wife and son are angrily objecting to the release last week of the deranged fan who broke into the ex-Beatle’s mansion in December 1999 and nearly killed him in a knife attack. An independent panel in England comprising a judge, a psychiatrist and a British citizen determined 36-year-old Michael Abram, a former drug addict who suffers from schizophrenia, was well enough to be released back into the community and set him free on July 4 from the Scott Clinic, a psychiatric… Read more »

Independent online music company Listen.com said on Monday it had clinched a licensing deal with Universal Music, becoming the first Internet song provider to feature content from the five major record labels. Under the latest deal, Universal Music, a unit of media giant Vivendi Universal, will make its digital catalog of titles available to Listen’s Rhapsody service. Both Listen.com and another independent service, FullAudio’s MusicNow, are competing with big-label backed services known as MusicNet and Pressplay. Industry analysts have remained skeptical that any of these services will take off, particularly since until now, none of them, including MusicNet and Pressplay,… Read more »

Trey Anastasio spent 17 years ripping genres apart and sticking them back together at odd angles with the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink uber-jam band Phish. So maybe it’s no surprise he’s whipped up another unusual concoction: a jam/swing hybrid dotted with sugary-sweet love songs and chamber music. The self-titled release has the elements you’d expect from Anastasio, from the drawn-out, frenetic jams to the catchy guitar riffs. But it’s also a departure: It’s got horns, it’s got soul, it’s got more horns. It’s clearly not a Phish album hiding under a different name. “I’ve been listening to a lot of big band music,”… Read more »

German media conglomerate Bertelsmann has agreed to acquire Napster in a deal that will keep the controversial file-sharing service alive for the near future. Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers and Shawn Fanning, Napster’s creator, will remain with the company. On Tuesday Hilbers announced his resignation after Napster’s board of directors rejected a deal for the company to be acquired by the German company. Fanning at that time also decided to leave the company, sources said. Under Friday’s deal, Bertelsmann will pay $8 million to Napster’s creditors to acquire the company’s assets. The transaction opens the door for Napster to file for… Read more »

After 10 months of legal wrangling, the Dixie Chicks are expected to sign a new deal soon with Sony Music Entertainment, according to Billboard magazine. Sony has been home for the Texas trio for the past five years, but recent rumors had the Chicks heading to Capitol Records. Last July, the group’s attorneys served Sony with notice that its contract was terminated “by reason of Sony’s material misconduct and material breaches.” The Chicks still owed five albums, so Sony responded with a lawsuit to keep the group from leaving. The cross-complaint called the Dixie Chicks’ charges “trumped up and baseless,”… Read more »

That new album Mariah Carey has been recording on the down low has finally landed a home… on her own label. The Universal Music Group announced Wednesday (May 8) that they have signed the biz’s most highly touted free agent to a new deal that will see one of its branches, the Island/Def Jam Music Group, distribute the music released by Carey’s yet-to-be-named company. “I’m incredibly happy,” Carey said in a statement. “It’s a tremendous and unprecedented opportunity to be working in tandem with [Universal Music Group Chairman/CEO] Doug [Morris], [Island/Def Jam President/CEO] Lyor [Cohen] and [Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman]… Read more »

Thousands of fans and friends gathered at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, Thursday morning to say good-bye to flamboyant TLC singer/rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. Close to 10,000 mourners – including Lopes’ former TLC-mates Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas – made the trip to the Atlanta suburb for Thursday’s (May 2) funeral service for Lopes, who was killed in a car accident in Honduras last week at the age of 30. Usher, Arista Records CEO L.A. Reid, Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Timbaland, Mack 10, Da Brat, Raphael Saadiq and… Read more »

John Ondrasik and his band Five For Fighting will be touring with the Goo Goo Dolls beginning June 7 in Atlantic City. The Goo Goo Dolls dates come on the heels of Five For Fighting’s headline tour which culminated May 1 with a sold-out show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. John Ondrasik has been winning kudos from critics for his live performances. Dan Aquilante, writing in the New York Post (March 14, 2002) praised Five For Fighting’s “… low-fi, high-energy show at Irving Plaza… this guy has a songbook full of tunes, many of which are as… Read more »

The body of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was shipped by jet Monday (April 29) from Honduras to Atlanta, according to Carlos Bakota, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Honduras. Lopes’ autopsy was completed over the weekend. “The ambassador [Frank Almaguer] made sure that the officials doing the medical work got it done as quickly as possible,” Bakota said. Bill Diggins, who manages TLC, released a statement Monday saying that there will be a memorial Wednesday in Atlanta for the pop star’s loved ones, and that Left Eye’s funeral will be held on Thursday in the New Birth Missionary Baptist… Read more »