Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson's personal physician told investigators he was not the first doctor to give the pop star propofol, the powerful anesthetic that was one of the drugs to cause his death, according to court papers unsealed on Friday. Dr. Conrad Murray, a target of the criminal probe into Jackson's death, recounted under questioning by a Los Angeles police detective that Jackson told him he was given propofol by two unnamed doctors in Germany, the affidavit states. Murray, a heart specialist with ...  

RihannaRated RMercury Rated R opens with a creepy Vincent Price soundalike warning listeners of a nervous disposition not to go further. The nod is to Michael Jackson's "Thriller", which featured a voiceover from the real Price, but the advice isn't tongue-in-cheek. Rihanna's violent assault at the hands of pop star boyfriend Chris Brown in February hangs over her fourth album like a dark cloud.  

At a typical karaoke bar, the crowd is lost in chaotic conversation as a brave singer belt sout his favorite tune. When the song is over, a smattering of applause gives way to more chaotic conversation, and the name of the next singer is announced by an emcee - who continually calls only his or her own friends - to the front. A newcomer has virtually no chance of getting a moment in the spotlight, at least not without waiting in frustration for a couple of hours.  

What this series of The X Factor reveals is that the talent gap between the stars and the wannabes is closing fast. Sting and other dissidents of the show claim that it is merely prime-time karaoke for morons. Last week's performance of You Are Not Alone by the massed ranks of The X Factor finalists proved exactly the opposite.  

At what may be the height of her early career, teen sensation Taylor Swift finds herself facing the downside of stardom -- naysayers. The 19-year-old pop/country singer-songwriter heads in to Sunday's American Music Awards with a leading six nominations after a dream year of sold out concerts and the best-selling album in the United States. Swift will compete Sunday against the late Michael Jackson for artist of the year, and is nominated for favourite female artist in the pop/rock, country and adult contemporary categories, along with favourite album for "Fearless".

I have never used Auto-Tune in a live television performance, and I have never used Auto-Tune in any of my concerts. That is a promise   -Britney Spears

 

The King of Pop, in his infinite grace and wisdom, has returned to mortal realm by making his face appear in an ultrasound of a foetus inside a British lady's uterus. Dawn Kelley is pregnant with a girl, who at 20 weeks bears striking resemblance to Jacko. Said father William Hickman: None of us are really Michael Jackson fans.  

Having made Johnny Cash hip again, the producer Rick Rubin applied his less-is-more magic to the squarest crooner of the lot. The result? A set of the most gorgeous, understated, deliciously pained songs you will hear in any decade. 99.

I’m going so fast that I can’t slow down   -Caleb Followill

 

Back in early 1995 when Sheryl Crow won Grammy gold for her debut album, her bank account was hardly glistening. The album, "Tuesday Night Music Club," had already sold about two million copies in the seven months before Crow walked off with honors for best new artist, record of the year and female pop vocalist. But it was not until the following year that the rock singer/songwriter received her first royalty check, she recalled in a recent interview with Reuters.

My manager was still working out of a storage unit   -Sheryl Crow

 

"This is not a show," murmurs Michael Stipe at the start of Live at the Olympia and it's not quite misdirection. R.E.M.'s five-night residency at Dublin's Olympia in the summer of 2007 functioned as working rehearsals for their fourteenth album Accelerate, with the band testing out each of the songs, exploring arrangements, finding breaking points, and pairing them with older songs that informed their back-to-basics move. As rehearsal, it paid off splendidly — road-testing the material made it ...