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Charges dismissed against country singer John Rich - 11/20/2009
A Nashville judge has dismissed assault and harassment charges against country music singer John Rich. Rich and other witnesses testified Friday before Judge John Aaron Holt that he did not punch aspiring singer Jared Ashley at a private nightclub in March 2008. Ashley, a former contestant on the cable TV music show "N

Warrant: Drug in Jackson case came from Vegas firm - 11/20/2009
Michael Jackson's doctor bought a powerful anesthetic in Nevada and had it shipped to California, where it was found at the pop singer's bedside after he died, court documents released Friday show. Search warrant records released despite objections by Los Angeles police revealed that investigators found receipts in Dr. Conrad Murray's

Britney Spears' ex sentenced to jail - 11/20/2009
Britney Spears' ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib is being sent to jail for 45 days for leaving the scene of an accident. Los Angeles District Attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison says Ghalib was taken into custody immediately after being sentenced Friday. He pleaded no contest last month to leaving the scene of an accident that inj

Jennifer Lopez, Adam Lambert ready for AMA stage - 11/20/2009
Jennifer Lopez plans to include fireworks and an on-stage costume change in her performance at the American Music Awards. "American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert will incorporate leather and chains into his. Lopez and Lambert will be among more than a dozen performers at Sunday's ceremony, and they took time out Thursday to p

Q&A: Debut CD from Wale taps into his emotions - 11/20/2009
Wale wanted to infuse his debut album with a woman's touch, so the rapper recruited singing divas like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Chrisette Michele and Jazmine Sullivan to get that feeling across. "I need a woman to help me convey the message because they're more emotional and my album is 100 percent about emotion," the 25-year-old

Eminem says 'Relapse 2' now will come out in 2010 - 11/20/2009
Eminem's comeback year of 2009 was expected to include the release of two new albums. That turned out to be only partially true. "Relapse," the Detroit rapper's first original studio album in more than four years, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart in May and eventually went platinum. The p

Miley Cyrus tour bus overturns in Va., killing 1 - 11/20/2009
The driver of a Miley Cyrus tour bus was killed Friday when the bus overturned, but the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star wasn't on board, Virginia State Police said. Sgt. Thomas Molnar said the bus ran off the left side of Interstate 85, struck an embankment and overturned. The accident occurred around 8:15 a.m. in Dinwiddi

Swedish Soprano Elisabeth Soderstrom dies at 82 - 11/20/2009
Swedish soprano Elisabeth Soderstrom, an international opera star, has died, her husband Sverker Olow says. Olow says Soderstrom died in Stockholm early Friday morning of complications from a stroke. Soderstrom, who was 82, made her debut in 1947 at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre, singing in one of Mozart's lesser-known w

Chris Brown receives 'extremely favorable' report - 11/19/2009
Chris Brown has received an "extremely favorable" report from probation officials overseeing his felony assault case, a judge said Thursday. Brown appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom to offer a judge his first progress report since being sentenced for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna earlier this year. He talked and laughed wit

Ricky Martin raises money in Germany for kids - 11/19/2009
Latin superstar Ricky Martin said Thursday he is teaming up with a German broadcaster to support his foundation and build a youth center for children in his native Puerto Rico. Multi-Grammy winning artist Martin told The AP he is joining RTL on a telethon to raise money to build the center in Loiza, near the capital, San Juan.

Review: Finally, a true `Idol' emerges in Lambert - 11/19/2009
Adam Lambert "For Your Entertainment" (19/RCA) For reasons still unfathomable six months later, Adam Lambert finished second in this year's "American Idol" competition to Kris Allen. But none of that matters now: With the release of his debut album, Adam Lambert is about to become a huge star. Few human

Music Review: Kris Kristofferson explores truth - 11/19/2009
Kris Kristofferson, "Closer To The Bone" (New West) One of American music's most celebrated songwriters, Kris Kristofferson, continues his renewed commitment to music on "Closer To The Bone," the follow-up to 2006's "This Old Road," his first album in a dozen years. As with the previous album,

Norah Jones experiments with guitars and grooves - 11/19/2009
Indie-rock producer Jacquire King had long been an admirer of Norah Jones' smoky, seductive voice, but the man behind acclaimed albums from Kings of Leon to Tom Waits never thought the two would ever inhabit the same musical orbit, let alone work together on a CD. "I didn't really quite picture myself as being someone who would b

Nicole Richie is hospitalized for pneumonia - 11/19/2009
Nicole Richie has been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital and is being treated for pneumonia. Her representative says she's doing well. Publicist Nicole Perna said Wednesday the 28-year-old actress checked herself into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Richie was in a Los Angeles courtroom earlier this week after asking for a re

2 sites selling Beatles songs to remain shut down - 11/18/2009
Two Web sites that sold songs by The Beatles for 25 cents apiece should remain shut down indefinitely, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge John F. Walter issued a preliminary injunction against BlueBeat.com and Basebeat.com at the request of music company EMI Group. The injunction prohibits the sites and their owner,

Janet Jackson: Michael in denial over drug problem - 11/18/2009
Janet Jackson says she recognized her brother Michael's drug problem, and tried to help him, but that he rebuffed those attempts to intervene. "You can't make 'em drink the water," Jackson told ABC News in an interview airing Wednesday. When asked if her brother was in denial about his addiction, she replied, "Possibly."

Savannah marks 100th birthday of Johnny Mercer - 11/18/2009
Jeepers creepers! Savannah's got a Johnny Mercer statue for tourists' peepers. The Savannah-born songwriter was honored in his hometown Wednesday with the unveiling of his lifesize likeness cast in bronze. About 150 onlookers turned out to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the celebrated lyricist, who gave a poetic grace

Charges dropped in Perez Hilton case - 11/18/2009
Black Eyed Peas manager Liborio Molina apologized to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton as part of an agreement allowing assault charges against him to be dropped, lawyers said Wednesday. Molina allegedly punched Hilton from behind outside a Toronto nightclub after the openly gay blogger called Black Eyed Peas' leader will.i.am a "fa

Taylor Swift to debut greeting card line in spring - 11/18/2009
Fresh off her triumph at the Country Music Association Awards, Taylor Swift has netted a deal to create a line of greeting cards. American Greetings Corp. CEO Zev Weiss says Swift's abilities as a storyteller and songwriter make her a natural for writing cards that will appeal to all ages. The Cleveland-based company said T

Lloyd Webber re-hospitalized after cancer surgery - 11/18/2009
Andrew Lloyd Webber has been readmitted to hospital after developing an infection following surgery for prostate cancer. A statement on the composer's Web site Wednesday said he had come down with a postoperative chronic infection that needed immediate treatment. The 61-year-old artist announced last month that he had been