Feb 16 2012 11:52 AM ET

Jay-Z and Beyonce both reportedly working on new music

Filed under: Music and tagged: Beyonce, Hip-Hop/Rap, In the Studio, Jay-Z, New Stuff, R&B
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Image Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/Getty Images

Though they skipped the Grammys for date-night pizza in Brooklyn, Beyoncé and Jay-Z haven’t completely become those friends of yours who have a kid and fall off the planet. In fact, according to various sources, there will be more music from both Carters in the near future.

Songwriter and producer Ryan Tedder says Beyoncé is at work on a pair of projects: “The conversations about her next album literally just started and there [are] two projects happening,” he told AOL’s The Boom Box. “All I can say is you kind of feed her the best that you have and she’s this phenomenal filter and she takes it all in … She’s not interested in 2012, [she's interested in] what’s [going to sound good for] 2013,” he gushes. “Without question she steers the ship. [With] Beyonce, you just let her go — she’s ridiculous, she’s the best.”

Meanwhile, Jay-Z is hard at work on “something crazy,” says Pharrell Williams. Previously, Jigga had noted that 2012 had the potential not only to bring another solo album but also a sequel to 2011′s Watch the Throne, his album-length tag-team with Kanye West. Williams didn’t offer any more details about his work.

What would you like to hear from them in the coming months? And with some time as a buffer, how are Watch the Throne and 4 holding up for you?

Read more on EW.com:
Blue Ivy Carter makes her photo debut. Commence your freak-out now.
Jay-Z and Kanye West release official video for ‘N*ggas in Paris’: Watch it here (at your own risk)
Jay-Z plays Carnegie Hall, brings Alicia Keys, Nas, and ‘Glory’ with him

Feb 16 2012 10:24 AM ET

Whitney Houston's funeral to be broadcast and streamed online: EW to live-blog the service

Filed under: Music, TV and tagged: Music, Whitney Houston

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Image Credit: Matt Sayles/AP

The private funeral service for Whitney Houston, which is set to take place at the late star’s childhood church in Newark, N.J. on Saturday, will be broadcast on television and streamed online for fans around the world, CNN reports. EW.com will be live-blogging the ceremony, which will begin at noon.

Gospel singer Marvin L. Winans, a longtime family friend of Houston’s, will give the eulogy. It’s been confirmed that “nearly a dozen celebrities and personalities will be in some of the 1,500 coveted, ‘invitation-only’ seats.” After the service, Houston will be buried in the Fair View Cemetery in Westfield, N.J., which is where her father, John Russell Houston Jr. was laid to rest in 2003.
READ FULL STORY »

Feb 16 2012 07:23 AM ET

NJ governor defends decision to lower flags for Whitney Houston

Filed under: Music, News and tagged: Whitney Houston

Gov. Chris Christie has strongly defended his decision to have flags flown at half-staff Saturday for Whitney Houston despite receiving emails and other messages disparaging the singer and criticizing him.

The Republican governor said Wednesday that he rejects complaints that Houston “forfeited the good things that she did” because of her struggles with substance abuse.

“What I would say to everybody is there but for the grace of God go I,” he said. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 15 2012 01:40 PM ET

Chris Brown's post-Grammys media maelstrom: What does it say about us?

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Image Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

By now, the world is well aware that Chris Brown’s two performances and televised win at Sunday night’s Grammys marked his first appearance on the show since he was forced to miss the 2009 ceremony after assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

His showing there seemed to confirm that this guy was a superstar, at least in the minds of the people curating the Grammys, and that everything he had done—from the initial assault to his various temper tantrums—was water under the bridge.

Recording Academy president Neil Portnow was defensive about the amount of attention Brown’s appearance garnered: “If we’re going to get in trying to personally evaluate artists in terms of their personal lives, that’s a slippery slope that we wouldn’t want to get into,” he said the following day. “That’s really where the judgment comes from: music professionals listening to the music of other professionals. Clearly, our voting membership rated highly Chris’ musical work this past year.”

Show producer Ken Ehrlich also defended Brown. “I just believe people deserve a second chance,” he said to ABC News Radio on Feb. 7. “The year he had this year, really brought him back into the public. If you’ll note, he has not been on the Grammys for the past few years and it may have taken us a while to kind of get over the fact that we were the victim of what happened.” (No really. He said that.) READ FULL STORY »

Feb 15 2012 01:23 PM ET

Album sales: Adele gets a big Grammy boost, Whitney Houston's 'Greatest Hits' returns at No. 6

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Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Thanks to an endless amount of Grammy buzz leading up Sunday night’s big award show, Adele’s smash album 21 topped the Billboard 200 once again this week, selling 237,000 copies.

That figure marks a 95 percent increase over last week — almost entirely as a result of buzz, not necessarily her six Grammy wins. (Soundscan tracks album sales through Sunday night, so the real effect of the Grammy boost will be seen next week.) All told, 21 has topped the chart for 20 weeks (coincidentally, the same amount of time that The Bodyguard soundtrack did) and has sold over 6.6 million copies. The set should blaze right past the 7 million mark over the next few days.

Van Halen’s A Different Kind of Truth started off in second place with 187,000 copies, just a touch behind the band’s last record 1998′s Van Halen III which started its run with 191,000 units. Now 41 debuted one slot lower, moving 141,000 discs — a consistent result for the veteran franchise.

In fourth, the Fray’s Scars and Stories sold 87,000 copies, less than half of what the band’s last album achieved in its first week. Their 2009 self-titled collection moved 179,000 in its first week, though that album’s lead single “You Found Me” caught on with listeners much more than Scars‘ first single “Heartbeat” has. Paul McCartney’s latest album Kisses on the Bottom opened in fifth place with 74,000.

Following her tragic death on Saturday night, Whitney Houston reentered the Top 10 at No. 6 with Whitney: The Greatest Hits, which sold 64,000 units, an increase of 5,994 percent. Consumers took to digital retailers to revisit Houston’s catalog.  Collectively, her albums sold 101,000 total copies — 91,000 of which were digital. Again, though, since Soundscan only counts sales through Sunday, Houston will likely receive a much bigger bump next week.

Dierks Bentley debuted in seventh place with his new album Home, which sold 55,000 units this week, a better result than his bluegrass effort Up on the Ridge, which moved 39,000 copies in its first frame.

The Civil Wars also received a notable Grammy bump. Their debut disc Barton Hollow jumped from No. 121 to No. 41 after their buzzy minute-long performance on Sunday night. It will be interesting to see how high they climb on next week’s chart.

Check out the full Top 10 below: READ FULL STORY »

Feb 15 2012 01:17 PM ET

Private funeral for Whitney Houston set for Saturday

Filed under: Music and tagged: Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston’s funeral service will be held Saturday in the church where she first showcased her singing talents as a child.

The owner of the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, N.J., said Tuesday that Houston’s funeral will be held at at noon at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark. The funeral home said that no wake would be held and that there would be no public memorial at Newark’s Prudential Center, the sports arena that the family had discussed as a possible venue.

The 48-year-old Houston died Feb. 11 at a hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., just hours before she was set to perform at producer Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy Awards bash. Officials say she was underwater in a bathtub and apparently unconscious when she was pulled out.

After an autopsy Sunday, authorities said there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma on Houston. It could be weeks, however, before the coroner’s office completes toxicology tests to establish the cause of death.

Los Angeles County Coroner’s assistant chief Ed Winter said there were bottles of prescription medicine in the room. He would not give details except to say: “There weren’t a lot of prescription bottles. You probably have just as many prescription bottles in your medicine cabinet.â€

Her body was returned to New Jersey late Monday.

READ FULL STORY »

Feb 15 2012 12:05 PM ET

Dave Matthews Band announce 2012 summer tour

Filed under: Music and tagged: Dave Matthews Band, Music, Tours
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Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Daveheads, lend me your ears! (And your car, because I’m gonna need a ride.) The boys will, once again, rightfully be back in town.

After the Dave Matthews Band‘s unprecedented touring hiatus in 2011 (which resulted in a four-stop Caravan mini-tour, instead of the road-happy group’s typically packed summer schedule) the Grammy-winning jammers announced they will be embarking on a 39-stop tour across North America. DMB bassist Stefan Lessard tweeted to fans early Wednesday morning, “Start getting excited!”
READ FULL STORY »

Feb 15 2012 10:31 AM ET

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation to launch this month, with the support of Oprah

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Image Credit: Shareif Ziyadat/ABC

Lady Gaga is taking the next step in her ongoing efforts to put an end to youth bullying: On Feb. 29, the chart-topping singer, alongside her mother Cynthia Germanotta, is launching the Born This Way Foundation at The Berkman Center at Harvard.

Through education, research, and advocacy efforts, the nonprofit foundation — which is in partnership with the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment, and The Berkman Center — is aimed at teaching anti-bullying and mentoring youths in building self-confidence. (The mission statement on the foundation’s website reads, “This way, towards bravery, where youth are empowered. This way, towards a acceptance where humanity is embraced. This way, towards love where individuality is encouraged.”)
READ FULL STORY »

Feb 15 2012 06:09 AM ET

Whitney Houston estate seeing post-mortem boost

Filed under: Music, News and tagged: Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston‘s career is getting a post-mortem boost, but it isn’t likely to be as big as the one that enriched the King of Pop’s estate after his death.

Like the late Michael Jackson, Houston was in the midst of an attempted career revival. She was found dead at age 48 on Saturday in her Los Angeles hotel room on the eve of the Grammys, a stage she once ruled.

It could be weeks before the coroner’s office completes toxicology tests that could establish the cause of death. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 14 2012 05:23 PM ET

Bill O'Reilly on Whitney Houston: 'Some people will always want to destroy themselves' -- VIDEO

Filed under: Music, News, TV and tagged: fox news, Whitney Houston

Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly took the road less traveled when he addressed the tragic death of  Whitney Houston on The O’Reilly Factor last night. “Nobody takes drugs for that long if they want to stay on the planet,” said the conservative hardliner. Houston was a drug addict, said O’Reilly — “everybody knew that.” He noted, “She follows in the footsteps of Elvis, Janis Joplin, Michael Jackson, and scores of other entertainment figures. The hard truth is that some people will always want to destroy themselves, and there’s nothing society can do about it.” Houston wasn’t the only one in O’Reilly’s sights. See what he had to say about legalized-drug advocate Tony Bennett after the jump. READ FULL STORY »

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