Kitty Wells, country music trailblazer, dies at 92

Country singer Kitty Wells, the most successful and influential female country singer of the 1950s and early ’60s and one of a handful of women to have significant impact at a time when the music was overwhelmingly dominated by men, died Monday in Madison, Tenn. She was 92.

“The history of country music can’t be written without calling attention to her great achievements,” said John Rumble, senior historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. “She really has left an indelible mark on American music history.”

Singer Marty Stuart called her “the undisputed queen of country music. There’s more to being a queen than just calling yourself a queen — it’s a title that goes with an entire lifetime of service and influence. You check the careers of anyone in [Nashville], and you won’t find anyone with a more spotless career than Kitty Wells.”

Wells set a template for female singers in country music that started a shift in traditional male-female roles in rural America with “Honky Tonk Angels.” Her recording delivered a strikingly assertive response to Hank Thompson’s 1952 hit “The Wild Side of Life,” in which a man laid all blame on a woman he met in a honky tonk for breaking up his marriage and then leaving him to go “where the wine and liquor flows, where you wait to be anybody’s baby.”

Pink Plants a Big 'Kiss' in Hot 100's Top 10

P!nk rockets into the Billboard Hot 100's top 10, as "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" vaults 58-9 in its second week on the chart. Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," meanwhile, holds at No. 1 for a sixth week, Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" crowns the Digital Songs tally and Flo Rida reaches the Hot 100's top 10 with "Whistle."
 
"Kiss," the first single from P!nk's sixth studio album, "The Truth About Love," due Sept. 18, makes its monster Hot 100 move as the chart's top Digital and Airplay Gainer. On Digital Songs, it lunges 41-4 with a 259% increase to 171,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. On the Radio Songs ranking, "Kiss" pounces 56-23 with a 76% gain to 39 million all-format audience impressions, according to Nielsen BDS.

"Kiss" is P!nk's 12th Hot 100 top 10, a history that began with "There You Go" in 2000. Since the turn of the millennium, she boasts the third-most top 10s among women, trailing only Rihanna (22) and Beyonce (14). (She passes the 11 top 10s each totaled by Lady Gaga and Katy Perry in that span.)
 
"Kiss" logs the largest leap into the Hot 100's top 10 since Drake's "Make Me Proud," featuring Nicki Minaj, bounded 97-9 the week of Nov. 5, 2011.
 
Jepsen's "Maybe" continues its Hot 100 command, although it drops 1-2 after eight weeks atop Digital Songs (203,000, down 17%). It spends a fifth (nonconsecutive) week at its No. 2 peak on Radio Songs (126 million, down 5%), while leading On-Demand Songs (857,000 on-demand streams, down 13%, according to BDS) for a fifth week.  


Maroon 5's "Payphone," featuring Wiz Khalifa, holds at No. 2 on the Hot 100 for a fifth frame; it's spent all 13 of its weeks on the chart between Nos. 2 and 3. The cut tops Radio Songs for a third week (138 million, up 2%), while dipping 2-3 on On-Demand Songs (799,000, down 14%) and 3-5 on Digital Songs (155,000, down 16%).
 
Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" rises 4-3 on the Hot 100 and assumes the top spot on Digital Songs (2-1; 205,000, down 2%). Now with eight Digital Songs No. 1s (passing Eminem's seven), Perry trails only Rihanna (11) for the most toppers in the chart's archives. "Awake" remains bulleted at No. 5 on Radio Songs (97 million, up 11%) and darts 9-6 on On-Demand Songs (626,000, up 12%).
 
Gotye's former eight-week No. 1 "Somebody That I Used to Know," featuring Kimbra, slides 3-4 on the Hot 100, while Ellie Goulding's "Lights" holds at No. 5 in its 30th week. While dropping in digital sales (150,000, down 6%) and on-demand songs (757,000, down 1%), "Lights" gains on Radio Songs, where it maintains its No. 6 rank (86 million, up 12%).
 
Rihanna's "Where Have You Been" stays at No. 6 on the Hot 100 (after reaching No. 5 earlier this month). The track pushes 4-3 on Radio Songs (120 million up 4%), inches 18-17 on On-Demand Songs (408,000, down 4%) and slides 9-13 on Digital Songs (82,000, down 20%).
 
Flo Rida flies to his eighth Hot 100 top 10, as "Whistle" jumps 12-7 with top Streaming Gainer honors. It soars 39-16 on On-Demand Songs (440,000, up 53%), while climbing 4-3 on Digital Songs (191,000, up 11%) and 53-34 on Radio Songs (32 million, up 40%).
 
With the ascent of "Whistle," Flo Rida makes it three consecutive top 10s from his new album, "Wild Ones." "Good Feeling" reached No. 3 in January and the title cut, featuring Sia, rose to No. 5 in May.
 
Surrounding P!nk's "Kiss" in the Hot 100's top 10, David Guetta's "Titanium," also featuring Sia, descends 7-9 and Usher's "Scream" holds at No. 10 for a fourth week. With 76,000 sold in the chart's tracking week, the latter song passes 1 million in digital sales since its release.

Russell Brand Opens Up About Katy Perry Divorce

Comedian Russell Brand went on Howard Stern's Sirius/XM radio show thinking he was going to promote his new FX show "Brand X."

Instead, Stern peppered the funnyman with dozens of questions about the details of the divorce as Brand tried to resist the classic Howard charm with self-deprecation and honesty about the split.

"I loved her so much, it just seemed like the sensible thing to do [when we got married] ... I just loved her so much," Brand said about the "overwhelming" sense of affection he had for the singer when they tied the knot in India
 two years ago. But once they were husband and wife, Brand admitted that he realized, "this isn't really working out, it's a difficult situation ... I was really, really in love with her, but it was difficult to see each other ... We were together when it was right to be together, and when it wasn't we worked it out ... It was a lovely relationship ... it mostly didn't work for practical reasons ... We did work it out, she's happy, I'm happy." With Brand working on movies and Perry in the studio and on the road, the long distance relationship thing just took a toll on the couple. "She's young, successful and dedicated," he said of his former wife's ambition and drive. "[The reality is] you can't fully understand it until you do it. I was really into the idea of marriage and having children."

Brand said he's still dedicated to the idea of being a dad and revealed that he and Perry did discuss starting a family, but he declined to give any details about those talks in order to avoid bruising feelings. "I don't want anything to hurt her," he said. "She's younger than me, she's a young woman and she's beautiful and she's sensitive and I care about her deeply ... I don't want to be too glib," he said about fears that Perry would read second-hand tabloid accounts of his Stern interview that will twist his words around. "She'll read it and she'll be sad and I don't want that."

'Glee' Season 4: Darren Criss on Blaine, Who He'd Like to Return, His Music

Glee will be back on Fox this fall for its fourth season with a bit of a different look. Some of the series will be taking place in New York with Rachel at NYADA, while the rest of it will follow those still at McKinley. One of the students who hasn't graduated yet is Darren Criss' Blaine, and he was on hand in the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con press room Gather.com attended.

In the video below, Criss, sporting a beard (which will, of course, not be part of his character) previews a bit about season 4, including what he wants to see, who he wants to see back, and how he feels about perhaps having his music on the show.

Though Criss doesn't know much about what's coming up, he does point out, "Blaine's now a senior and his boyfriend is now long-distance or away, [Kurt] graduated, so that's always an interesting story element, for better or for worse. I don't know if it's going to go in a positive or a negative way, but it's different, so that's a good thing to have to kind of the old married couple." The season 3 finale did see them discuss a long-distance relationship when they assumed Kurt would be heading for NYADA in the fall, and even though that's not the case, Kurt is still going to be in New York in season 4. They were preparing themselves for it, but how will that all play out?

Criss goes on to say, "I know that glee club always has to have 12 members, and now we're short quite a few people." That means they'll be bringing in new characters, and that could include someone from The Glee Project. Since they did lose those who graduated, it should also give some of the other cast a chance to shine in solos this season, so that should be an interesting dynamic to see play out. Will there be a future Rachel who shows up wanting to keep all the solos, or will one of the now-seniors, such as Tina, get the chance to stand out?

Darren Criss does want to see Matt Bomer return, and since he was so good when he first appeared as Blaine's brother, even though Cooper's acting class was a joke, and he could obviously sing, there's no reason to not want to see more of him. With Blaine set to graduate this season, it is possible they could bring him back at some point, even if it just to see him get his diploma. He could also show up as Blaine is making his own decisions about his future.

If the subject of his music on the show came up—he wouldn't ask, but if they asked him—Criss says, "I'd probably write a song for Glee," but not for his own character. He'd rather see one of the other characters, old or new, sing his work.

One Direction want more male fans

One Direction wish they had more boys as fans.

The British group - Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson - all appreciate the support they get from their countless female admirers but the lads wish more guys were into their music.
Niall told Tumblr blog Storyboard: "We want to see more boy fans, as seeing them in the crowd is cool. It's 90 percent girls, but we want to expand our fanbase. We want different people to like us."

The 'What Makes You Beautiful' hitmakers - who were formed on the UK version of pop star search show ' The X Factor' in 2010 - never cease to be overwhelmed by the success they've had and adulation they receive.

And Liam is still shocked when he meets girls who are in tears to catch a glimpse of him and his bandmates.
The pop heartthrob said: "It's very flattering obviously as we can see how much they care for us. We just hope they're crying tears of joy! None of us could obviously ever have imagined this just two years ago. I don't think anyone could have seen this coming to be honest.

"I don't think there is anything hard about having such a dedicated fanbase. It is actually great to know that there are people out there that love what we do since we put so much hard work into it."

Marilyn Manson on Lady Gaga: 'I have a hard time liking her music'

 

 

Marilyn Manson has given his opinion of Lady Gaga and has said that though he admires her, he "has a hard time liking her music".

The singer, who collaborated with Lady Gaga on a remix of her 2009 single 'Love Game', said that he wasn't keen on her musical output, though he did quite like Kylie Minogue and Justin Timberlake.

  Asked what he thought of Lady Gaga, he told Digital Spy: "I like the general idea of what she's about. I have a hard time liking her music. It's not my style of music that I like, and I like a lot of music that is in that vein. I like Kylie Minogue sometimes - I like a lot of unusual stuff, I like Justin Timberlake over Lady GaGa, just musically."

Manson then added that he thought having someone like Lady Gaga in pop music was a good thing, but that he thought she tried too hard to keep people's attention with her constantly changing look.

He added: "I get the whole idea of what she's doing and I appreciate that. I don't think it's a bad thing, I think it's a good thing. At the same time, I don't try to have a different look every single moment because I think it's more ephemeral, it becomes less permanent."

He continued: "People like to identify with one single thing. I'm not one to knock her, she's obviously succeeded in what she's doing. It's not exactly the type of thing that I find myself listening to, but that doesn't mean I don't like her."

'The X Factor's' Britney Spears 'would have loved' judging 'American Idol'

Britney Spears says if she wasn't already engaged for the coming TV season, she'd happily have entertained an "American Idol" judging spot.

"I would have loved that," the music superstar tells Zap2it as she prepares to debut as a judge for Season 2 of FOX's "The X Factor" starting Wednesday, Sept. 12. Just as "Idol" is in for another big overhaul, having lost Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez in the past week, the "X Factor" judging panel will be half-new ... with Spears and Demi Lovato joining series mentor Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid.


"I feel like it brings a whole new energy to the show, definitely," reasons Spears, who already has been involved in contestant auditions for several weeks. "Nicole [Scherzinger] and Paula [Abdul] were really great, but to have such a dramatic change, I'll bet this even made Simon and L.A. nervous.

"That was what they had been used to, then these two new girls come in. I don't know how it'll be perceived, but it's been fun for us. I've been having a blast."


Spears empathizes with "X Factor" contenders, since the competition "Star Search" was part of her own career beginnings. "I would be extremely nervous, probably, if I'd really never done anything before and it was my first time to perform in front of 4,000 people," she reflects of watching auditions in such cities as San Francisco and Providence (R.I.). "I'm sure it's pretty nerve-racking."

As for herself, the artist behind such hits as " ... Baby One More Time," "Oops! ... I Did It Again," "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and "Gimme More" certainly is no stranger to being in the spotlight. Her "X-Factor" stint is certain to amp that up, and she admits, "I hope I'm ready. I don't really know what to expect at this point, so I'm just taking it one day at a time."