Entertainment News:
Eurovision returns to ABBA's homeland with pop and kitsch
By Mia Shanley STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Bare-chested Irish drummers, a Ukrainian giant and a much-discussed lesbian kiss will be on display at this Saturday's Eurovision final in Sweden which - love it or hate it - promises plenty of pop, kitsch and barefoot ballads. Some 26 countries will compete for the jewel in the crown of European pop in the homeland of former Swedish supergroup ABBA, one of Eurovision's most successful winners. ...
CBS announces Grammy dates for next two years
By Brent Lang LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Grammy Awards will return to the Staples Center in Los Angeles next January, the Recording Academy and CBS announced Monday. The annual music honors will be broadcast on Sunday, January 26, 2014, between 8:00 to 11:30 PM. It will air live on CBS for East Coast viewers and will be tape delayed on the West Coast. The network and academy also announced broadcast dates for the 2015 edition. That iteration of "Music's Biggest Night" will air on Sunday, February 8, 2015. Ratings for the show fell from 39 million viewers to 28 million this year. ...
Vocal acrobatics of "La Donna del Lago" an "Olympic" challenge
By Josie Cox LONDON (Reuters) - Even with one of the world's most athletic opera singers at her side and plenty of practice, American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato reckons the latest London production of Gioachino Rossini's "La Donna Del Lago" is the challenge of a lifetime. DiDonato and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez told Reuters at the Royal Opera House production's opening on Friday night that performing their technically demanding roles in the John Fulljames interpretation is almost like an elite sport. ...
Lady Antebellum trumps 'Gatsby' soundtrack for Billboard No.1
By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country group Lady Antebellum scored its third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, staving off competition from Jay-Z's soundtrack for "The Great Gatsby" film. "Golden," the fourth studio album from the Nashville trio, sold more than 167,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, securing the top position on the weekly Billboard chart, which measures album sales across both digital and physical formats. ...
Denmark's folksy ballad wins Eurovision
By Mia Shanley MALMO, Sweden (Reuters) - Denmark's Emmelie de Forest won Eurovision on Saturday before an international TV audience of around 125 million, securing the coveted crown of euro-pop with a folksy ballad backed by flutes and drums. The barefoot 20-year-old stole the show as predicted by bookmakers with "Only Teardrops" in a final that saw 26 countries battle it out in the southern Swedish city of Malmo for the top prize in glitzy European pop music. "I could feel the fans and all the energy in the arena. ... It's a once in a lifetime experience. ...
Conductor Gilbert fights 'Bolero effect' - in a car factory
By Michael Roddy DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - A concert in a car factory using parts of a luxury sedan as percussion instruments is one thing, but a Volkswagen suspended above the New York Philharmonic creates another level of musical drama entirely. The NYPO under its first native New York music director, Alan Gilbert, showed during two concerts this week at the Dresden Music Festival in central Germany why the 46-year-old conductor has a reputation for brushing off the cobwebs at one of America's most distinguished orchestras. ...
Elton John biopic 'Rocketman' to launch foreign sales effort at Cannes
By Jeff Sneider LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Rocket Pictures' Elton John biopic "Rocketman" will be taking off at Cannes, with Good Universe launching the international sales effort at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. Michael Gracey is directing from a script by Oscar nominee Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot"). Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish ("Gnomeo and Juliet") will produce, while Sir Elton John will executive produce. ...
Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio join U.S. 'X Factor' judges panel
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop singer Kelly Rowland and Mexican singer-actress Paulina Rubio have signed onto "The X Factor" judging panel replacing Britney Spears and music mogul L.A. Reid, the Fox television talent competition produced by Simon Cowell said on Monday. Rowland, who rose to fame with R&B group Destiny's Child, and Rubio will be charged with re-igniting the Fox series that failed to stave off falling ratings after giving Spears a reported $15 million salary last year. Rowland, 32, and Rubio, 41, will join Cowell, 53, and pop singer Demi Lovato, 20, on the judging panel. ...
Music's Dr. Dre, Iovine give $70 million to USC academic program
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Dr. Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine have donated $70 million to establish an entrepreneurial undergraduate program at the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles school said on Wednesday. The gift will create a new degree pulling faculty members from the university's business, fine arts, music and engineering departments. The Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation will begin in the fall of 2014 and enroll a first class of 25 students, USC said. Dr. ...
U.S. 'Idol' winner shines light on South's Gullah culture
By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - "American Idol" winner Candice Glover, whose powerful voice clinched the title of the popular TV singing show, comes from a sea island culture made up of descendants of West African slaves. "I speak another language," she said during the Fox TV show. "It's called Geechee." Some 14.2 million TV viewers tuned in to watch Glover beat Kree Harrison to win the season 12 "American Idol" crown on Thursday. Glover, 23, is a native of rural St. Helena Island in the coastal South Carolina Lowcountry. ...
