News round-up: February 2008
Amy Winehouse gets the thumbs-up from the Grammy Awards board, but one soul diva is not impressed. And another soul legend gives Beyonce something to Think about. Punk act Pills From America are unlikely to make it on to next year’s nominations list…
Arctic Monkeys have a few more statuettes for the downstairs toilet. At the Brit Awards, dressed as country gentlemen, the Sheffield fourpiece collect gongs for Best British Group and Best Album, for Favourite Worst Nightmare. Take That also win a brace, nabbing Best British Single, for Shine, and Best British Live Act. Kate Nash wins the Best British Female honour and, despite not being much of a singer, Mark Ronson is named Best British Male. Paul McCartney receives the Lifetime Achievement Award… At the NME Awards, the Arctic Monkeys triumph again, winning Best Band, Best Track for Fluorescent Adolescent and Best Track for Teddypicker, although The Klaxons take the Album Of The Year award for Myths Of The Near Future. Kate Nash wins Best Solo Artist… On a bigger scale, Glen Hansard from Irish band The Frames wins the Oscar for Best Song for Falling Slow from the film Once… Aretha Franklin asks Beyonce for a little more Respect. She calls the Destiny’s Child singer’s introduction of Tina Turner as the “queen of soul” at the Grammy Awards “a cheap shot for controversy”. However, Franklin, long known as the “queen of soul”, ended her statement with “Love to Beyonce anyway”. Visa issues keep Amy Winehouse from attending the ceremony, but she wins five Grammys anyway, including Record of the Year – much to Natalie Cole’s disgust. The Unforgettable singer said rewarding Winehouse while she is having drug issues is setting a bad example. American record buyers are less fussy. The week after the awards, Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black album jumps from outside of the Top 20 to Number 2 on the Billboard album chart… Canadian Feist wins the Shortlist Music Prize for her album The Reminder… Ireland selects its entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest and, frankly, a national legend is not amused. Former Eurovision winner Dana says the public’s vote for singing puppet Dustin the Turkey makes a mockery of the competition. “They love puppets in Europe,” said the All Kinds Of Everything singer. “If, God forbid, he wins, we’ll probably have more puppets than people next year.”… Slapped wrists all round for a bunch of musicians. There’s a rough ride ahead for Grooverider. The BBC Radio 1 DJ, born Raymond Bingham, is banged up for four years in Dubai after he is caught in the emirate with two grams of cannabis… The Game is sentenced to 60 days in jail after a fracas last year. The rapper pleads no contest to possession of a firearm after he allegedly punched a basketball player and then produced a gun and threatened to shoot him… Former Blue boy Lee Ryan is charged with assault for allegedly attacking a taxi driver… Bobby Brown is to carry out a year of community service mentoring youngsters in Brockton, Massachusetts, as punishment for cocaine possession… Boy George pleads not guilty to charges that he falsely imprisoned a male escort at his home and handcuffed him to a wall… Britney Spears’ curiously named manager Lufti is served a restraining order after allegations that he held the singer hostage and gave her drugs… Photos of Lily Allen in a corset clutching a whip have been shelved after she is dropped as the face of Agent Provocateur. She begins filming a new chat show this month and dismisses reports that audience members walked out during the recording. The first episode of Lily Allen And Friends overran, Allen says, so some people had to leave to catch trains… Dave Rowntree is also branching out, with the Blur reunion looking permanently off the schedule. The drummer is selected by the Cities of London and Westminster Constituency Labour Party to stand in the next election… Spice Girls record a video for their fans to end speculation that the group have ended their tour early because of in-fighting. Their families are their priorities, they say… Dolly Parton postpones her American tour because of back pain brought on by her breasts, which she reveals she has nicknamed Shock and Awe. “You try wagging these puppies around a while and see if you don’t have back problems,” she says… An impromptu Frank Black gig in Dublin is stopped by police concerned about overcrowding when 1,000 fans turn up to see the Pixies singer at St Stephen’s Green… Björk fails to amuse Serbia. After dedicating her song Declare Independence to Kosovo at a Tokyo gig, she is swiftly removed from the bill of the Exit Festival in Serbia… Staff at The Cumberland Arms pub in Newcastle won’t be inviting punk band Pills From America back for another gig. Lead singer Mark Wadlaw sparks a brawl after sticking his hand inside his pants and then smearing excrement on the face of a fan, who then punched him. Perhaps the toilet door didn’t have a lock… Fur-browed Oasis singer Liam Gallagher marries Nicole Appleton on Valentine’s Day at Westminster Register Office. The All Saint is no doubt moved that it’s the same venue where the Oasis front man married his first wife, Patsy Kensit… In New York, Jennifer Lopez gives birth to a girl and a boy… Critics Choice Brit Award winner Adele tops the album chart with her debut, 19, while fellow rising star Duffy tops the singles chart with Mercy. Jack Johnson and The Feeling also score Number 1s with Static Through The Silence and Join With Us respectively. Michael Jackson is set to get a bit more in the bank to help with those repayments. A 25-year-anniversary release of Thriller enters the chart at Number 3. Nickelback’s Rock Star finally peaks at Number 2 on the singles chart, a record 17 weeks after it first entered… Mike Smith, lead singer with The Dave Clark Five, dies of pneumonia, aged 64. Buddy Miles, drummer for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band Of Gypsys, dies following congestive heart failure, aged 60. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Beatles’guru and meditation teacher, dies, aged 91.
Posted: February 29th, 2008 under Monthly news.
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