Search Results for: the voice

The MTV Movie Awards are raunchy and irreverent, and while they have a reputation for being outrageous, they’re also quite canned. When Tom Cruise’s publicist was spotted nervously pacing outside the Shrine Auditorium, gossip fans knew the 2001 Movie Awards would be rich with fodder. It was more than an hour into the show, and the star still hadn’t appeared.   When Cruise finally showed up in a chauffeur-driven SUV, he was dateless and slumped in the passenger seat, looking glum and listless. When he got out, his publicist Pat Kingsley gave him a long, affectionate hug. “How are you,… Read more »

Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland has plenty of memories from the British group’s last North American tour earlier this year – and not all of them good. “The one that overshadows everything was going on for one song in New York and having to leave the stage ’cause Chris [Martin] had lost his voice,” Buckland says. “We did ‘Yellow’ with someone from the crowd singing. It wasn’t the best experience. And the gig we did in Chicago, the biggest indoor gig we ever headlined, there was a bucket by the side of the stage ’cause I was so sick. Guy [Berryman]… Read more »

Thanks to the thumping, Britney-like hit “I Wanna Be Bad,” Willa Ford has made the transition from one of the most hated figures in pop music to one of its fastest rising stars. A child prodigy as a singer, the 20-year-old Ford – whose real name is Amanda Williford – first claimed fame as the girlfriend of Backstreet Boys cutie Nick Carter. For that she was vilified by jealous fans, who spread rumors about her mistreating Carter physically and emotionally. At one point before their breakup last October, there were more nearly four dozen anti-Willa chat groups operating on Yahoo!… Read more »

Alanis Morissette has returned to the jagged little sound that made her famous. The Canadian singer debuted eight new songs during a show Friday night, providing a generous preview of her next album, which is sitting in limbo while she fights a contract dispute with Maverick Records. Much of the new material harked back to the edgier pop-rock of Morissette’s 1995 smash, Jagged Little Pill, and steered away from the moody, Eastern-influenced sound of its follow-up, 1998’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Accordingly, the two-hour performance – the first of two consecutive nights at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre – was… Read more »

Ike Turner may be one of the more influential figures in rock music. He created what many see as the first rock ‘n roll record, “Rocket 88”; his guitar licks on classic blues recordings are considered masterful; he helped launch the careers of Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf, and Otis Rush, among others; and he discovered one of the most dynamic female rock stars ever. But that is not the Ike Turner most people know, or think they know anyway. In the public mind, he remains the man who allegedly broke Tina Turner’s nose and abused her for years, until she… Read more »

Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson may have just married a famous actress, but the man at the helm of America’s “most rock ‘n’ roll” rock band has not gone Hollywood just yet. Yes, that is the lanky, longhaired Robinson accompanying his wife, Kate Hudson, to the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Yes, he does hobnob with famous actors and directors, but they discuss obscure records and movies, not box office grosses. “I’ve met so many cool people in my lifetime, but… just because you’re famous and wealthy doesn’t make me want to sit down and have dinner with you,” he… Read more »

Bob Dylan, who gave voice to the youth revolt of the 1960s and revolutionized rock ‘n’ roll in the process, turns 60 on Thursday with many arguing that he was the most influential musician of the second half of the century. With his entry into the world of senior citizens, one thing remains certain: Dylan’s inner core and personality remain as elusive today as nearly 40 years ago when he burst onto the folk music scene in New York City’s Greenwich Village. “What he achieved was a reinvention of popular music – a maturation of postwar popular music,” said David… Read more »

Christina Aguilera filed a lawsuit on May 18th in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the singer’s one-time producers and New York City-based Warlock Records, among other defendants. The suit seeks cost of suit damages and an injunction to stop the release of Just Be Free, a compilation of demos Aguilera recorded when she was fourteen. The album features twelve tracks, including the title track, which Aguilera worked on with defendants, producers Michael Brown and Robert Allecca at BAM Records, Inc. Included in the charges are breach of contract and appropriation of name, voice and likeness for commercial use.… Read more »

In what will mark her first regular TV involvement since she began her career dancing in the Flygirl ensemble of the Fox comedy series “In Living Color,” Jennifer Lopez has made a deal with NBC to star in and produce a special this fall. She will produce three additional specials for the network and also develop a half-hour sitcom based on her family and upbringing in the Bronx. At the same time, Lopez, who returns to theaters on Friday in the Luis Mandoki-directed drama “Angel Eyes,” is in talks to star in “One,” a Nick Kazan-written romance with supernatural overtones.… Read more »

The plot was spoiled well before Eric Clapton even took the stage of Dallas’ Reunion Arena for the maiden performance of his 2001 Reptile tour. Opening act Doyle Bramhall II and his band Smokestack may have kicked off Thursday night’s show with a thunderous roar reminiscent of Clapton in his Cream days, but the three chairs brought front and center before the main event was a tell-tale sign that there would be no more of that tomfoolery. Not that Clapton didn1t receive an honest-to-god, three-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, guitar hero’s welcome when he walked out on… Read more »