The Death of a Legend

 Legendary singer Whitney Houston passed away Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, CA.  She was discovered unresponsive in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel and pronounced dead shortly after.  Cause of death has not been established or announced and will be pending a toxicology report which could take weeks.  The Neward, New Jersey native was born August 9, 1963 and began singing early on in childhood with her mother, the famous Gospel singer, Cissy Houston.  She made an impression in her early 20's as a back up singer and her first album Whitney Houston which was released in 1985 was a smash hit, producing several hit singles.  She went on to star in the movie The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner and the soundtrack to that movie was named one of the best selling albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.  Houston went on to have many other hit albums. She won six Grammys, 50 Billboard Awards, and numerous others.  She attained the status of international superstar. She met and married ex-husband Bobby Brown of New Edition at the height of her career.  The couple had one daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown and divorced in 2008.  Houston reportedly suffered from drug addiction during her marriage to Brown.  She reportedly suffered relapses, but was thought to be clean during the days leading up to her death.  Her sweaty, disheveled appearance was noted as she left a party a few nights before her death, but many people at that event reported she had been dancing all night in the hot, crowded party.  The body of the singer was flown back to New Jersey yesterday and a private funeral service will take place Saturday.  No public memorial is planned at this time.

Here is Whitney Houston singing "I Have Nothing"

One Direction to Appear on iCarly, Madonna's List of Superbowl Guest Performers, Justin's Fans Give

     Super-hot British band One Direction will make their push for U. S. stardom by appearing on Nickelodeon's hit show iCarly.  They were on set this week and are reported to be performing their British hit "What Makes You Beautiful".  They will play themselves on the show and the plotline involves Harry become ill and Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) taking care of him.   The band came in second on the British version of X-Factor and immediately shot to stardom.  They will debut their first album Up All Nite in the U.S. on March 20.

    Madonna is rumored to be hosting a lot of guest performers during her Superbowl appearance on February 5.  So far, we know the halftime show will feature M.I.A., Nicki Minaj, Cee Lo Green, and Canadian super-troupe Cirque du Soleil.  Now the latest rumored performers are LMFAO.  Madonna will perform a mix of old and new music.  Can't wait!



    Justin Bieber is no stranger to giving.  He's reportedly given away over a million dollars and has made more Make-A-Wishes come true than any other celebrity.  Now in an interesting twist his fans are giving in his name by creating and releasing a video and song tribute with the proceeds from sales  going to Bieber's Believe Foundation to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Pencils of Promise, Musicians on Call, Project Medishare for Haiti, City of Hope, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Grammy Foundation.  The idea was conceived by Justin Crew (mega fans) on Twitter and other large fan groups have joined to make it all happen.  Great work!

Time to enjoy some great choreography....

Madonna VS Gaga?

    A feud may be brewing in pop musicland.  Madonna tells Newsweek magazine she's upset about similarities between her '90's hit "Express Yourself" and Lady Gaga's recent hit "Born This Way".  The pop diva was quoted as saying, "I thought, this is a wonderful way to redo my song ["Express Yourself"]," she said. "I mean, I recognized the chord changes. I thought it was... interesting."   Lady Gaga responded with an angry defense.  She believes the only similarity is the chord progression.  Others in the media have noted the similarities.

    Madonna then went on to tell Cynthia McFadden of ABC she believed Gaga is "reductive" (repetitive in her music-presumably repeating Madonna's work).  This is rather shocking considering just a year or so ago Madonna was escorting her daughter Lourdes to Lady Gaga shows and singing the singer's praises.  Little Monsters have come Gaga's defense (as have Elton John and his husband, who've also had their feuds with Madonna) and Madonna may suffer the backlash from

her remarks.  Madonna seems to have a penchant for starting fights.

Here's MC Watkins doing a "Born This Way"/"Express Yourself" mashup.

    

People's Choice Awards Line-up, Madonna Announces Name of 12th Studio Album, Rihanna Ready to Release Title Track

    

The People's Choice Awards are tonight and the musical line-up will include country superstar Faith Hill and teen favorite Demi Lovato.  Up for People's Choice awards tonight will be Favorite Male artists Justin Bieber, rap megastar Eminem, and relative newcomer Bruno Mars while Adele, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga make up the Favorite Female category.  Katy Perry tweeted her rsvp yesterday, announcing she regrets she will not be attending the awards, speculatively because of her recent split with husband of one year, Russell Brand.  Up for Song of the Year will be Maroon 5's " Moves Like Jagger", Adele's " Rolling in the Deep", Katy Perry's "E.T.", LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem", and Lady Gaga's truly anthemic "Edge of Glory".  The People's Choice Awards airs tonight at 9:00EST on CBS.

In other music news, Madonna announced today via Twitter that her 12th studio album will be entitled M.D.N.A. and the first single will be "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and feature Nicki Minaj and M.I.A,  Madonna will perform at the upcoming Super Bowl where she is expected to perform the sinle.

Rihanna will release her next single "Talk That Talk" this upcoming week from the album of the same name.

Here's Drew Tabor's cover of "Talk That Talk" by Rihanna.

David Lee Roth Joins Van Halen For New Video

Singer David Lee Roth and supergroup of the '80's Van Halen have apparently put aside their much-publicized feud to work together again.  The band recently performed at the Roxy in New York City and Club Wha? where they did a few new songs from their upcoming LP.  They have released a stripped-down video for their new song "Tattoo" and David Lee Roth sang, making it seem like old times.  Check it out.

Jay-Z and Beyonce Baby, Justin Bieber on V Magazine and New Releases

Singer Beyonce Knowles and hip-hop artist Jay-Z welcomed a baby girl believed to have been born  Sunday night or Monday morning.  The power couple named the baby Blue Ivy-blue for Jay-Z's favorite color and Ivy for the Roman numeral four, a significant number for the couple. 

The birth was not without controversy, however, as other parents in the neonatal unit were apparently blocked by security from seeing their own newborns in the the same unit.  The couple paid for an entire birth suite in the hospital.

Singer/musician Justin Bieber will be featured on the first music issue of V magazine, hitting newstands this week.  The singer told the magazine he knows he's handsome, but hopes he'll be remembered in the long run, for his music.  He turns 18 in March and told the magazine drinking, drugs and sexually-explicit lyrics are not in his future.

Snow Patrol releases their latest album Fallen Empires today.  The band will begin their North American tour in March, in Tampa, FL.

Here's Austin Mahone with a cover of "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol.