Music News Headlines

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has been released from a hospital after suffering minor injuries when his SUV was involved in a traffic accident early Tuesday morning in New York, according to Jackson's publicist. Jackson's bullet-proof SUV was rear-ended by a Mack truck on the Long Island Expressway …

LONDON (Reuters) - The Spice Girls reunited for a few hours on Tuesday to launch a new musical based on songs that made them one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, but there was time for plenty of laughs, avowals of mutual love and even the odd catty aside. "Viva Forever!", written by British comedian Jennifer Saunders …

MARGARITA ISLAND, Venezuela (Reuters) - At 2 years old, he was given his first musical instrument: a "cuatro," or small four-string guitar. At 8, he cried with emotion at a brass band concert. Now, at just 14, Jose Angel Salazar is Venezuela's youngest orchestra conductor - the latest prodigy from his nation's famed El …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Thanks to the magic of Broadway, Cher is going to turn back time on her journey from variety show host to Oscar-winning actress. Fear not - it's not a stage version of her big-screen turkey "Burlesque." Instead, the "I Got You Babe" songstress tweeted that she is collaborating with producers …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Richard Adler, the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist renowned for his songs for such Broadway hits as "Damn Yankees" and "The Pajama Game" and who organized President John F. Kennedy's birthday with Marilyn Monroe, died Thursday in New York. He was 90. Adler's widow Susan A. Ivory said …

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Trust a Hungarian Jewish conductor to look beyond Richard Wagner's notorious anti-semitism and infamous personal life to mount a Wagner festival on a tight budget that has become a magnet for Wagner lovers the world over. "I don't know any other composer who had this intense effect that makes people …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Good Ship Lollipop has just sent out a distress signal. The granddaughter of the tunesmith who wrote "On the Good Ship Lollipop" and "Hooray for Hollywood," among other musical chestnuts, filed a lawsuit against Warner/Chappell Music on Wednesday, claiming that she's been stiffed on royalties …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - You can definitely say one thing about will.i.am - he's generous. The Black Eyed Peas frontman has donated $780,000 to The Prince's Trust, the charity organization run by Prince Charles. The money, donated through the musician's i.am.angel Foundation, will go toward providing the U.K.'s disadvantaged …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Even when the man they called "Jimmy Henchman" was on trial earlier this month for running a cocaine ring, his ties to the feud that led to the murders of two hip-hop legends preceded him. On Friday, Manhattan officials charged James Rosemond with arranging the murder of an associate of the rapper …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - American country singer Wynonna Judd has tied the knot for the third time, marrying her drummer fiance Cactus Moser. Judd, 48, told Us Weekly magazine on Wednesday that the wedding took place on June 10 on her farm at Leiper's Fork in Tennessee. "I felt a joy that hasn't been there before," Judd …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - American R&B; star Usher scored his fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday with "Looking 4 Myself," topping new releases from Rush, Josh Turner and Ed Sheeran. "Looking 4 Myself," the seventh album from 33-year-old Usher, sold 128,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen …

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - As The Beach Boys travel the world on their 50th anniversary reunion tour, a musical about a surfer's adventures featuring the band's hit songs is hoping to catch a wave in the desert casino city of Las Vegas. "Surf the Musical," a 90-minute production showcasing 35 Beach Boys songs that embody the …

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Stitcher, the leading mobile app for news and talk radio, has launched an update aimed at impacting talk radio as Pandora has done for music radio. Stitcher is personalized internet radio for everything but music, offering on-demand and live shows including NPR, Rush Limbaugh and 10,000 more. Available …

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Three members of Russian women's punk band Pussy Riot, who derided President Vladimir Putin in a protest in Moscow's main cathedral, were denied bail on Wednesday despite calls for their release by hundreds of supporters at the hearing. Police hauled away more than 15 people when a crowd of about 300 …

(Reuters) - American singer Bobby Brown has remarried in Hawaii, four months after the drowning death of his ex-wife Whitney Houston, People magazine reported on Tuesday. Photos of Brown, 43, a member of the New Edition band, his new wife and manager, Alicia Etheridge, and their wedding party were posted on Instagram by …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The National Music Publishers' Association has negotiated a far-reaching licensing deal with Universal Music Group on music videos, the group announced on Tuesday. It is the first major-label deal to pay royalties to songwriters and music publishers for videos. The pact also could end up providing …

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators have formally set out their objections to Universal Music Group's $1.9 billion bid for EMI's recorded music unit, the music company said on Tuesday, a step that could force Universal to offer concessions to get the deal cleared. The European Commission is examining the proposed …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - KCRW-FM (89.9) became the first American radio station Thursday to launch an application on the music-streaming program Spotify. The popular Santa Monica public radio station's "KCRW Music Mine" app resembles the iPad app it launched last September. Though KCRW already streams online through …

LONDON (Reuters) - A live tour tied to the BBC's "The Voice UK" singing contest has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales, Britain's publicly funded broadcaster reported on Tuesday. The cancellation is a further blow to a series which opened to strong viewer ratings at its launch in March but lost popularity during its …

LONDON (Reuters) - British actor Victor Spinetti, who befriended the Beatles while working on three of their biggest films in the 1960s, has died of cancer at the age of 82, his agent said on Tuesday. The Welsh-born entertainer was caught up in the frenzy of Beatlemania after appearing with the Fab Four in "Help!", "A Hard …

BRUSSELS (Reuters Life!) - Light-headed and fading, a Belgian radio DJ has set a new world record for the longest ever hosting of a radio show, stretching over eight days and seven nights. "It feels great, but now I can only think of one thing - sleep, sleep, sleep," a baggy-eyed Peter Van de Veire said at the end of his …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - He helped bring Nirvana to the mainstream, co-founded DreamWorks SKG, and backed seminal Broadway shows like "Cats" and "Dreamgirls." Now David Geffen is receiving the "American Masters" treatment courtesy of PBS, joining the likes of Woody Allen, Martha Graham, Norman Rockwell and Johnny Carson. …

(Reuters) - British rock band Radiohead said they were shattered by the death of a member of their road crew, who was killed after the roof of an outdoor stage collapsed during sound checks before the group's planned weekend show in Toronto. "We have all been shattered by the loss of Scott Johnson, our friend and colleague. …