Jacko was too scared to sing
MICHAEL Jackson pulled out of a huge TV comeback ‘ with stagefright.
Jacko, 49, was to sing live on the final of American Idol in front of a TV audience of 27 million.
But 24 hours before the show in Los Angeles he bottled out, saying: …I cant do it. Everyone will hate me. A source said: …This was his big chance but he got stage-fright. Spice Girls guru Simon Fuller is helping Jacko with his comeback, say insiders.
“Idol” winner Cook scores digital hit with “Life”
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – It’s the first time songs performed on “American Idol” have been made available for immediate download on iTunes — and the audience’s ability to make an instant-gratification purchase has paid off handsomely for winner David Cook.
“I loved my time on the show, but I’ve been looking forward to just being able to get back to the creative process of writing and recording, ” he says. “It’s going to be interesting to be able to play a song and not have to wonder where ‘camera A’ is.”
For most of June, Cook will focus on rehearsals for the American Idols Live tour, which features the top 10 finalists and runs for almost three months. The trek begins July 1 in Glendale, Arizona, and wraps September 13 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
‘Idol’ Cook Dating, Having ‘Time of My Life’
Cook says that before going on stage during “American Idol, ” he would listen to the Imogen Heap song “Hide and Seek” to relax. He added that the last song he performed on “Idol” ‘ Collective Soul’s ‘The World I Know’ ‘ summed up the “exciting uncertainty” of the experience.
American Idol: National Enquirer examines Jason Castro
The National Enquirer is telling us something most know about Rockwall’s Jason Castro — that he’s cool under pressure. But it’s funnier reading it in the Enquirer. In Mike Walker’s Gossip column, his “My Spy-dol” tells him that Jason needed very little post-American Idol “therapy.” According to the Enquirer, Idol’s therapy sessions are “hush-hush, ” but Jason “zipped in and out in under 10 MINUTES!”
Conversely, in the case of Brooke White, the “therapy” took 90 minutes, according to the Enquirer. Walker concluded that “Jason’s the ‘Joe Cool’ of American Idols!’ ”
John Paul George Ringo and Cookie
Just how big a deal is the arrival of American Idol’s Season 7 winner on the charts? It’s unprecedented on a number of levels, but many of the records it sets have to do with the way the charts are tabulated and in the way the Idol producers have chosen to release recordings this season. (The full list of best-selling tracks by Cook, along with those of his fellow Idol competitors, was run down by Maura yesterday.)
The most obvious impact is near the top of the Hot 100, where Cook’s finale song, “The Time of My Life, ” debuts at No. 3. He’s behind Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” and Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love, ” both of which have the advantage of months of radio airplay. Cook’s hit is nearly airplay-free (a few stations likely played it on their morning shows, as a news item), and his chart position is entirely the result of his sales haul at iTunes, where “Time/Life” sold more than 236, 000 downloads in the four days after the confetti came down.
Carly Simon: Coming around again with ‘This Kind of Love’
CARLY SIMON isn’t the first name you’d expect to find on a list of classic-rock superstars who keep tabs on ” American Idol.” “I tune in whenever I get a chance, ” she says in that signature dusky voice. “How could I not, when this season Brooke White sang ‘You’re So Vain’ and did such a nice job on it, and Carly [Smithson] was named after me?”
But even two recent manifestations of the sincerest form of flattery aren’t enough to make a complete “Idol” believer out of the woman who long ago defined female rock-star cool and who helped usher in a new era for female singer-songwriters in which they were no longer simply attractive voices and faces for music largely written and produced by men.
“There’s no question that through ‘American Idol’ we’ve gone back a couple of eras into the Berry Gordy/Supremes pulling-the-strings kind of thing, ” said the jet-setting onetime paramour of Warren Beatty and Kris Kristofferson who later married — then divorced — folk-rock star James Taylor. This is the same woman who won a Grammy for best new artist after her conventional-marriage-questioning 1971 ballad “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” and who went to No. 1 with one of pop music’s most hotly gossiped-about celebrity comeuppances ever, the 1973 hit that turned up prominently on celebrity-worshiping “American Idol.”
Celebrity Parade With Jeanne Wolf
Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar for her show-stopping performance in “Dream Girls.” But that didn’t stop her from taking a juicy supporting role in the big-screen version of “Sex and the City.” She plays Carrie Bradshaw’s new assistant. Jennifer wasn’t a regular viewer of the series. So to get ready she watched old episodes ¦ And now she confesses, “I cant stop watching.”
New “College” in Town
Every summer big feature films take over the silver screens ‘ movies that are full of action and superheroes flying around a concrete metropolis. But this summer, there a movie that will tell the story of what we all know best ‘ college. Directed by Deb Hagan, College is the story of a group of three high school seniors who embark on a weekend visit to a nearby college. On their trip, the trio become the …pre-frosh pledges of a fraternity, become involved with some sorority singles and get themselves into some sticky situations.
Idol and Texas Stars Light Up CMA MusicFest
The names just keep on comin’. Recent ACM Award Winner Jack Ingram was added to the Friday night lineup for the 2008 CMA Music Fest Nightly Concert series. The Texas Country singer will be joined by fellow singer-songwriters Luke Bryan, Jason Michael Carroll, Jennifer Hanson, Jamey Johnson, Jake Owen, Phil Stacey, John Stephan, Ashton Shepherd, Chuck Wicks, and Darryl Worley.
This year’s Fan Fair festivities will kick off at the VAULT concert stage at LP Field with season six American Idol finalist Phil Stacey singing the national anthem. Fans will then be greeted by Nashville’s mayor, Karl Dean, who will open the 37th annual event.
Phil Stacey’s Christian Roots Anchor His Country Album Debut
American Idol alumnus Phil Stacey has combined his Christian upbringing and a passion for country music on his new self-titled album for Lyric Street Records. As a consequence, the album is being worked in both musical formats.
“If You Didn’t Love Me” has already climbed to No. 32 on Billboard’s country singles chart, while “Identity, ” an introspective album cut, is being programmed on several contemporary Christian radio stations. EMI Christian Music Group is distributing the album to Christian music outlets.
“I sing Christian songs on my country record, ” Stacey says, a point rendered apparent by a close reading of the lyrics, many of which could allude equally well to earthly or spiritual love.
British TV viewers will decide who really has got talent
Has Britain really got talent? Packed houses or a swift return to obscurity beckon tonight as millions of viewers cast their votes in the climax of rival star-making shows.
After weeks of weeding out dancing ferrets and off-key singers, ITV1 viewers will choose the winner of Britain Got Talent, Simon Cowell latest lucrative series. In the final episode of Id Do Anything on BBC One, Lord Lloyd-Webber will finally reveal the public choice to play Nancy and star in a new West End production of Oliver!
Cowell on fixing broken Britain
But as he talks on the set of the smash hit ITV1 show, his thoughts drift towards the problems facing this country.
Simon nationwide talent search showcases all that is good in Britain. But the promising performers are merely a silver lining to the dark cloud of knife crime and violence hanging over us.
PM Gordon Brown is under severe pressure to tackle the knife epidemic blighting Britain ‘ but Simon believes he could step in and solve the crisis.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, the 48-year-old music and TV mogul says: …I wouldnt stand as an MP but I would like to be PM for one day ‘ with Jeremy Clarkson as my deputy!
Simon Cowell: The five acts that can win Britain’s Got Talent
Just five acts have any chance of winning Britain’s Got Talent, according to judge Simon Cowell.
The public will decide who triumphs in the final at 6.50pm on ITV1 tonight, with the results at 9.30pm.
But, out of the 10 who have battled to the end, Cowell reckons the five favourites are: Faryl Smith, Andrew Johnston, George Sampson, Signature and the dog act Kate and Gin.
New season of Idol starts this Tuesday!
When the sixth season of Canadian Idol premieres this Tuesday, Jake Gold doesn’t even know what to expect.
“I haven’t seen the show. They don’t show us so I’ll be just as surprised as everyone else when I see it so that’s a good thing, ” said the Idol judge of the country’s most watched summer program.
With the show promising to have some of the best talent viewers have ever seen, Gold said this isn’t just Idol hype and is definitely true if you look at the group as a whole.
“There may have been individuals who were better than some of the individuals we have but our best individuals are better than anybody we’ve ever seen and more mature, ” said Gold. “The key word for me is there seems to be, on an overall basis, we have a lot of really confident people that seem, almost like less of an amateur kind of vibe.”
