Katy Perry to Perform at Grammys

Katy Perry will take the stage at the Grammy Awards on February 12. The singer was announced as the latest performer on Wednesday (February 1).

The currently blue-haired pop star is up for Record of the Year for her feel-good empowerment track, “Firework.” The Teenage Dream single is also up for Best Pop Solo Performance. This is not her first time performing on the show.

Adele has also announced her long-rumored Grammy performance on Tuesday. It marks her first performance since a November vocal surgery.

Adele, Beyonce and Chris Brown all up for NAACP Awards

A number of R&B and hip-hop world royalty are among the nominees for this year’s NAACP Image Awards.

Anthony Hamilton, Bruno Mars, Cee Lo Green, Chris Brown and Common will vie for the title of Outstanding Male Artist at the 43rd annual ceremony, while the women’s category includes Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Jill Scott, Ledisi and Mary J. Blige.

In the Outstanding Album category, Beyonce’s “4″ faces Brown’s “Fame,” Hudson’s “I Remember Me,” Lupe Fiasco’s “Lasers” and Scott’s “The Light of the Sun.”

While the awards traditionally celebrate “the accomplishments of people of color,” the unstoppable Adele earned Outstanding Song and Music Video nods for single “Someone Like You.”

Among the non-musical categories, upcoming Grammy Awards host LL Cool J scored a nod for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role on “NCIS: Los Angeles.”

LL Cool J to Host Grammys

Rapper and actor LL Cool J will be the first official host of the Grammy Awards in seven years, the Recording Academy said on Wednesday.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of music’s biggest night,” said the two-time Grammy award winning host. “I will always have fond memories of my first Grammy Awards and to now be hosting the Grammy show, in the company of so many other incredible artists, is a dream come true.”

LL Cool J, who has been the host of the Grammy nominations concert since its first live broadcast in 2008, is the first emcee of the awards program since 2005 when Queen Latifah headlined. Since then, music’s biggest night has not had a host.

The 54th annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12 in Los Angeles, and broadcast live on CBS.

Adele to Break Singing Silence at the Brit’s

After nearly four months of silence, Adele will break the whisper spell on February 21 at the Brit Awards. The Grammy-nominated singer has been off the live performance radar since surgery to stop bleeding from a polyp on her vocal cords
 in November, but organizers of the show confirmed on Thursday that she will sing again at the event where she is nominated for three awards.

“F—ing happy, thank you for the nods xx,” she Tweeted on Thursday in response to the nominations.

While the Brit Awards confirmation is great news for Adele’s fans, there is still no word on whether she’ll take the stage
 at the February 12 Grammy Awards, where she’s up for six honors. She also Tweeted the message, “Looking forward to the @theGrammys on Feb. 12!” a short after her Brit Awards note, indicating that, at the very least, she’ll be in the room for the show.

A recent report claimed that she is in talks to sing on the show now that she’s begun talking again with her doctor’s permission. Since she doesn’t want to rush back and injure her vocal cord again, the singer is reportedly waiting until early next month to decide if she can sing in public again as early as the Grammys.

Madonna Wins Golden Globe, Elton John’s Husband Reacts

At the Golden Globe Awards, Madonna and Elton John were both up for best original song, and traded insults on the red carpet, but after Madonna won, John’s husband David Furnish lashed back on his Facebook page.

“Madonna. Best song???? F**k off!!!” Furnish said on Facebook, according to TMZ. “Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism.”

He also called Madonna’s recent criticism of Lady Gaga “desperate.”

Furnish may have been referring to several aspects of Madonna’s speech, which came after her song “Masterpiece,” from her film “W.E.,” beat out John’s “Hello Hello from “Gnomeo and Juliet.”

Before the night’s festivities, Elton told NBC’s Carson Daly that Madonna “doesn’t have a f***ing chance of winning tonight.” After laughing, Daly asked if those were “fighting words” but Elton called them “accurate words.”

When Daly told Madonna about Elton’s jab, she asked, “Was he wearing a dress?’ … adding, “may the best man win.”

According to Us Weekly, Madonna voiced her hopes backstage that she and Elton could patch things up. “I hope he speaks to me for the next couple of years,” she quipped. “He’s been known to get mad at me so I don’t know. He’s brilliant and I adore him so he’ll win another award. I don’t feel bad!”

Jason Aldean Biggest Winner at American Country Awards

34-year-old Jason Aldean walked away from Monday’s American Country Awards, which were held in Las Vegas, with six awards, including artist of the year and record of the year for My Kinda Party.

“This is getting a little ridiculous now,” he said after he won his second award. “I don’t know what else to say. It’s been a crazy year.”

In addition to the night’s top two honors, Aldean also won for touring artist of the year, male single of the year for “My Kinda Party,” and vocal collaboration single of the year and music video collaboration of the year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” featuring Kelly Clarkson.

Carrie Underwood won three, and another American Idol alumn, season 10 winner Scotty McCreery, earned new artist of the year honors.

Adele, Bruno Mars and Kanye West Lead Grammy Nominations

Announced Wednesday were the Grammy nominations, and leading the lineup was Kanye West with a total of seven nominations, mostly for the song, “All of the Lights.” His album was left off of best album contention.

Following Kanye are Adele and Bruno Mars, each competing for album, record and song of the year. Both singers earned six nominations each.

Rock superstars the Foo Fighters also racked up six nominations, most notably for Album of the Year for “Wasting Light.” Also up for top album honors, aside from Adele’s “21″ and Mars’ “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” is Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Rihanna’s “Loud.”

The surprise artist thrown in the mix is Bon Iver, an indie-folk singer who appeared on much of Kanye West’s album “Twisted Fantasy.” Iver is up for Record of the Year for “Holocene,” which also snagged a nomination for Song of the Year, and is competing against Nicki Minaj, Skrillex, J. Cole and The Band Perry for Best New Artist.

The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles on CBS. Tune in to see all the winners!

Taylor Swift named Billboard woman of the year

Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift was named Billboard’s woman of the year on Tuesday, becoming the youngest artist ever to receive the honor.

The 21-year-old country-pop crossover artist has won four Grammys and her five-time platinum selling album “Speak Now” has been one of 2011′s biggest sellers in the United States. Eleven of the 14 tracks made their way onto the Billboard Hot 100 charts in a single week earlier this year.

Billboard editorial director Bill Werde said Swift’s music and songwriting had transcended all genres of music.

“At the young age of 21, Taylor has already made a major impact on music and has been an incredible role model for aspiring singers/songwriters and young women everywhere.

I look forward to watching her career continue to flourish in the years to come,” Werde said.

Swift’s 2008 album “Fearless” captured both the heartache and thrills of first love and remains the longest-running No.1 album by a female country artist in the history of the Billboard 200 album charts.

Her overall worldwide sales now exceed 20 million albums and 40 million song downloads, Billboard said.

Swift will be presented with the award at the 2011 Billboard Women in Music event on December 2 in New York.

Selena Gomez to host MTV Europe Music Awards 2011

U.S. teen actress and singer Selena Gomez will host this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast on November 6, the music channel said on Monday.

The 19-year-old, who is dating another teenage sensation the 17-year-old Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, will aim to find time to tweet and provide commentary for mtvema.com website as well as her regular hosting duties.

Gomez follows the likes of Justin Timberlake, Eva Longoria, Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg in hosting one of pop music’s biggest nights outside the United States.

Although held in a different European city each year, the MTV EMAs tend to be dominated by U.S. acts.

This year, Lady Gaga leads the list of nominations with six, followed by two other U.S. acts — Katy Perry and Bruno Mars. Bieber has been shortlisted in three categories.

Latin Grammys name Shakira person of the year

Organizers for the Latin Grammys, the top honors for Latin music, on Monday named Colombian superstar Shakira as their person of the year to be feted at the group’s annual awards show in November.

Shakira, who was nominated for three Latin Grammys this year including album of the year for her “Sale el Sol,” will be given the award not only for her songs and performing but for philanthropic work through her Pies Descalzos Foundation.

“We are honored to pay homage to this dynamic, socially conscious woman whose illustrious career has touched so many people around the world, both musically and personally,” Latin Recording Academy president Gabriel Abaroa, Jr. said in a statement.

Shakira, 34, rose to fame as a singer in the early 1990s combining rock, Latin and Mediterranean music with her own original dancing — a feature of Shakira’s that eventually manifested itself in the smash hit single, “Hips Don’t Lie.”

In 1996, Shakira released “Pies Descalzos” with hit singles “Estoy Aqui” and “Se Quiere…Se Mata.” Her first crossover album, Laundry Service, debuted in 2001 and went on to become her most successful album, to date.

Shakira’s foundation focuses on helping impoverished children receive an education.

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