Bruce Springsteen to Perform at Grammys

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at the 2012 Grammy Awards, joining the star-studded lineup of Adele, Paul McCartney, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj.

Springsteen announced last week the release of his new album, “Wrecking Ball,” on March 6 and his first U.S. tour with the E Street Band since the death last June of saxophonist Clarence Clemons. “We Take Care of Our Own” is the first single from the album.

Also scheduled to perform are Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson, Glen Campbell, Coldplay, Rihanna, Bruno Mars and Blake Shelton.

The Grammys will be broadcast on CBS on February 12.

Florence + The Machine Announce Tour

After a successful October release of “Ceremonials” and several sold-out tour dates in 2011, Florence & the Machine has announced a series of spring tour dates.

Florence & the Machine will kick off its 15-city tour on April 14 in Santa Barbara. The tour, presented by MSN, includes stops at Coachella, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and Radio City Music Hall. The shows wrap on May 12 in Atlantic City.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 27th at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster.

Full list of tour dates:

April 14: Santa Babara, Calif. (Santa Babara Bowl)
April 15: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Festival)
April 17: Reno, Nev. (Grand Sierra Resort)
April 18: Davis, Calif. (Mondavi Center: UC Davis)
April 20: Phoenix, Ariz. (Comerica Theatre)
April 21: Las Vegas, Nev. (The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas)
April 22: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Festival)
April 27: Minneapolis, Minn. (Hennepin Theatre)
April 28: Milwaukee, Wis. (Eagles Ballroom)
April 29: St. Louis, Mo. (Peabody Opera House)
May 1: Dallas, Texas (Palladium Ballroom)
May 2: Houston, Texas (Verizon Wireless Theatre)
May 3: New Orleans, La. (New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival)
May 8: New York, N.Y. (Radio City Music Hall)
May 11: Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun Arena)
May 12: Atlantic City, N.J. (Borgata Spa & Resort Event Center)

Bruce Springsteen to Release “Wrecking Ball” on March 6th

Bruce Springsteen will release his 17th studio album, entitled “Wrecking Ball,” on March 6th. The album will be released by Columbia Records and will be featuring 11 new songs. A deluxe edition of the record will include two bonus tracks along with exclusive artwork and photography.

The album announcement ramps up the next round of activity from Springsteen, who will make a rare public speaking appearance as the keynoter at SXSW in Austin on March 15. Springsteen and the E Street Band will be touring extensively in the U.S. and Europe in 2012. European tour dates have been announced at brucespringsteen.net.

“Bruce has dug down as deep as he can to come up with this vision of modern life,” says his producer. “The lyrics tell a story you can’t hear anywhere else, and the music is his most innovative of recent years. The writing is some of the best of his career and both veteran fans and those who are new to Bruce will find much to love on ‘Wrecking Ball.’”

Three of the songs on ‘Wrecking Ball’ will be familiar to Springsteen fans from past concert performances, including the title cut, performed live since 2009; “American Land” from the tour in support of Springsteen’s 2006 ‘Seeger Sessions’ album and since with the E Streeters; and “Land of Hope and Dreams,” which dates back to the late 1990s. Fans can stream “We Take Care of Our Own” and pre-order ‘Wrecking Ball’ at brucespringsteen.net.

‘Wrecking Ball’ will be Springsteen’s first album release since the death of saxophonist Clarence Clemons

Springsteen has been unusually prolific in the past decade, releasing seven albums (one, ‘The Promise,’ as part of an ambitious project around landmark 1978 album ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’). His last studio album of new material was 2009′s ‘Working On a Dream,’ which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 224,000 units, and has sold a total of 594,000 copies in the U.S., according to SoundScan. His touring efforts behind ‘Dream’ and 2009′s ‘Magic’ were hugely successful, grossing nearly $400 million and selling more than 4.2 million tickets worldwide to 177 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore.

‘Wrecking Ball’ track listing

1. We Take Care of Our Own
2. Easy Money
3. Shackled and Drawn
4. Jack of All Trades
5. Death to My Hometown
6. This Depression
7. Wrecking Ball
8. You’ve Got It
9. Rocky Ground
10. Land of Hope and Dreams
11. We Are Alive

Lady Antebellum Singer Ties the Knot

The lead female singer of Lady Antebellum, Hillary Scott, wed her fiance Chris Tyrell. Tyrell is the drummer of Love and Theft. The couple wed in a ceremony in upstate New York on Saturday. Scott, 25, announced the marriage to her fans with a video on the Lady Antebellum website. “We got married! We just wanted you to hear it from us first,” Scott gushed to fans after showing off her wedding ring.

No Glee Spinoff for Lea Michele

There will be no spinoff of the hit show “Glee” for Lea Michele, Fox revealed yesterday. Rumors had been stirring that a spinoff was in the works, as Michele’s character is set to graduate from high school next season.

“There will not be a Glee spinoff, but those characters will graduate and it’s led to a really interesting idea that I think is going to give us something really cool to dig into next season,” Fox president of entertainment Kevin Reilly said at the Television Critics Association panel in Los Angeles.

Van Halen Confirms Reunion Tour

Van Halen confirmed the long-standing rumor that they will be reuniting for a tour with original madcap lead singer David Lee Roth.

The announcement came via a video released on Monday on the band’s official site in which Roth is seen unleashing some of his classic high-kicking stage moves alongside his former bandmates guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen, as well as the group’s current bass player, Eddie’s son, Wolfgang.

The site promises that the first tickets for the reunion tour will go on sale on January 10.

Van Halen’s original bass player and backing vocalist, Michael Anthony, was kicked out of the band in 2006 after 32 years and replaced by teenager Wolfgang. After parting ways with Roth in 1985, Van Halen rebooted with singer Sammy Hagar in 1985, enjoying a string of hit albums and songs through 1996, when Hagar was shown the door and briefly replaced by former Extreme singer Gary Cherone, who only lasted three years in the slot. After bringing Hagar back in from 2003 to 2005, Van Halen invited Roth back into the fold several years ago and toured with him in 2007 and 2008.


In addition to the tour, the group are working on their first album of new material with Roth in 27 years. They recently signed to Interscope Records after spending their entire career on Warner Bros. Records.

Justin Bieber Releases New Song, “Be Alright”

Justin Bieber is treating his fans to some new music right in time for the holiday season. On Wednesday night, the pop superstar debuted a new track called “Be Alright” to a jam-packed crowd during his Toronto-based TV concert special, “Justin Bieber: Home for the Holidays,” which airs Thursday night (December 22) on MuchMusic and CTV.

“You might hear this on my next album, you might not, but it’s a song I’m working on. I still haven’t really finished it,” Bieber told the screaming crowd, before unveiling the acoustic tune. “Basically, the concept is: Even though when times get hard with your girlfriend or boyfriend, when times get hard, you gotta just let them know that in the end, everything’s gonna be alright.”

Sitting beside his guitarist, the young singer soothed the audience with the new slow jam. “Across the ocean, across the sea/ Starting to forget the way you look at me now/ Over the ocean and across the sky/ Starting to forget the way you look in my eyes,” he sang.

After the holiday special, the teen singer took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the memorable evening, writing, “Tonight was special. No rules. Music, family, friends, fans, charity, and music. Thank you. #HomeForTheHolidays.”

“Be Alright” is just a taste of what may come from the singer’s next album release.

Lady Gaga Tops Forbes List of Highest Earning Women

Lady Gaga crushed her female musician competitors in 2011, at the top of a list of highest earning women with an estimated $90 million in income, according to a Forbes.com survey.

Gaga made more than double her nearest rival, country/pop artist Taylor Swift, thanks to multiple endorsement deals and an estimated $1.3 million nightly gross ticket sales from her concert tour.

Swift earned about $45 million, thanks to her hit album “Speak Now”, perfume line, and other deals, just ahead of “Teenage Dream” singer Katy Perry with $44 million.

Forbes.com drew up its list from data on pre-tax income compiled through record sales, touring data and interviews with music lawyers, managers and concert promoters.

Beyonce’s 2011 income dipped to an estimated $35 million, mostly because of her relatively small amount of touring this year, but her new album “4″, fashion line, and two fragrances helped to put her in 4th place.

Rihanna rounded out the top 5, earning an estimated $29 million from sales of her album “Loud”, and endorsements from cosmetics company CoverGirl.

Katy Perry Ties Billboard Record

Katy Perry joins Janet Jackson and George Michael to tie for the record for having six top-five hits from a single album on the Hot 100 chart in Billboard history.

Thanks to Katy’s latest Teenage Dream single, “The One That Got Away,” jumping five spots from #9 to #4, she tied the two pop stars.

It’s been a while since anyone matched George and Janet. Michael did it in the mid-’80s with his album Faith, which included hits like the title track, “I Want Your Sex” and “Father Figure.” Jackson followed him several years later with Rhythm Nation 1814, which launched hits like “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” “Escapade” and “Black Cat.”

This is hardly Perry’s first Billboard record. She previously tied with Michael Jackson and his Bad album when she notched five #1 singles from her 2010 album. Those five chart-toppers are “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework” and “E.T.” And now, she’s set her latest record with “The One That Got Away.”

“This song shows a very different side of me that I haven’t shown with my past singles on this record,” Perry has previously said about the Teenage Dream midtempo track. “I think that everyone can relate to this song. I wrote this song about when you promise someone forever, but you end up not being able to follow through. It’s a bittersweet story — hopefully, the listener learns from hearing it and never has to say they had ‘The One’ get away.”

Madonna Signs Deal with Interscope

The Queen of Pop Madonna has signed a deal with Interscope Records. Madonna will reportedly work with the label on three records for $1 million each.

Madonna will also remain with Live Nation, with whom she signed a deal in 2007. Currently she has a 10-year, “360 deal” worth upwards of $100 million that covers touring and merchandise. Live Nation CEO Irving Azoff hinted back in February that a merger could happen for the star sometime this year. Live Nation always had intended to partner with a record label for the release of her next album.

“Live Nation, prior to the merger, entered into some of these all-rights deals, so there are certain artists, Madonna being one of them, that there is a recorded-music strategy,” Azoff said. “Once she gets the album recorded, we’ll sit down with her and her manager, Guy Oseary, and figure out what’s best for the record. It has to start with the music.”

A source says, “It’s just about keeping relevance so that she can tour. She is still in the demo phase, but the idea is to get the first album out early next year.”

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