A bumper 40 million U.S. viewers watched Sunday’s Grammy Awards, drawn in by the death of Whitney Houston and the performance comeback of Adele, and kept watching by a controversial religious stage act by rapper Nicki Minaj.
The telecast drew 39.9 million viewers — the second-largest Grammy TV audience ever and the biggest since 1984, ratings data showed on Monday. Last year’s Grammys show drew 26 million viewers. (more…)
Whitney Houston’s body arrived in her home state of New Jersey on Monday night, ahead of a funeral expected later this week for the pop superstar whose blockbuster career was often overshadowed by drug and alcohol abuse.
A plane owned by actor-producer Tyler Perry landed at an airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, where security was tight. A gold hearse left the airport and arrived just before midnight at the Whigham funeral home in Newark, the city where Houston was born. A crowd of about 50 fans had gathered outside. (more…)
Singer and actress Whitney Houston, winner of six Grammy Awards including record of the year for “I Will Always Love You” and album of the year for “The Bodyguard,” has died at age 48, a spokeswoman for the singer said.
“Unfortunately it is true,” said spokeswoman Jill Fritzo.
A Beverly Hills police officer told reporters at a briefing that emergency assistance received a call from the Beverly Hilton at around 3:20 p.m. PST, and the singer was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. (more…)
Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney racked up yet another honor on Friday when he received the MusiCares’ 2012 Person of the Year award at a star-studded ceremony hosted by Grammy organizers ahead of this weekend’s major music awards.
The line-up of artists celebrating the former member of the Fab Four at the charitable affair included veteran artists Neil Young and James Taylor, singers Katy Perry, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys and Diana Krall, and pop rockers Coldplay and Foo Fighters, (more…)
Adele wowed fans on Friday in her first public singing outing since throat surgery in November, putting to rest fears that her distinctive husky voice may have been damaged.
The soulful British singer, 23, is due to make her official performance comeback at the Grammy Awards on Sunday where she is expected to take home an armful of trophies following the worldwide success of her album “21″. (more…)
“Tey,” a Senegalese modern fairy-tale which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday, depicts a young man who wakes up inexplicably knowing today is the last day of his life.
“Tey,” meaning “today” in the Wolof language, is one of three films in the competition set in Africa, which festival director Dieter Kosslick has described as “an almost forgotten continent in film.” (more…)
Actress Naomi Watts will play Britain’s Princess Diana in a new feature film about the last two years of her glamorous life that ended in tragedy, Britain’s Ecosse Films said on Thursday.
Called “Caught in Flight”, the movie is thought to be the first big screen film about Diana, whose death in a Paris car crash in 1997 has been chronicled in several, mostly U.S., television movies. (more…)
Adele may be a safe bet to clean up at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, but if music fans think that means a night of few surprises, they should ask Justin Bieber.
The Canadian teen idol left the Grammys empty-handed last year after losing the best new artist award to jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding — the first jazz artist to clinch the coveted prize.
Sunday’s new artist race is just as diverse and could again have jaws dropping, but it won’t be the only spectacle at the music industry’s biggest awards show that will draw the attention of millions of fans watching on TV. (more…)
Angry musicians will protest outside Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony over a decision to cut 31 ethnic and minority musical categories from the music industry’s top awards.
Organizers said on Wednesday they hoped dozens of music artists and fans of Latin jazz, gospel and blues music would join in the demonstration, and attend an alternative concert.
Some 23,000 people have signed a petition demanding that the Recording Academy reinstate Grammy awards for Native American and Hawaiian music, and reverse cuts in categories for Latin Jazz, Gospel, R&B and Blues that were axed in a major overhaul last year. (more…)
Britain’s Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa have bumped Lady Gaga off the international fashion map.
The wife of Prince William, now formally known as the Duchess of Cambridge, topped a fashion buzzword list for a second year running while outrageous pop star Lady Gaga disappeared from sight.
The Global Language Monitor (GLM), which tracks print, electronic and social media for top words and phrases, said on Wednesday that “The Duchess Effect” was its top fashion word for 2012. The proclamation comes as New York begins its Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week of runway shows and celebrity parties. (more…)
February 5th, 2012
February 5th, 2012
