Quick Hits: Kelly Clarkson, Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Chris Brown, SXSW, The Fray, Carrie Underwood ...
Left to Right: Narvel Blackstock (manager), Clarkson,Tom Corson (President & COO, RCA Records),Peter Edge (CEO, RCA Records)Photo Credit: Brad Barket
RCA Records and Kelly Clarkson recently celebrated the success of her latest album, Stronger, with a plaque commemorating 1 million albums sold worldwide during a stop on her 2012 Stronger World Tour at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Saturday, January 21. This honor comes after Clarkson's latest single, also called "Stronger," reached #1 on iTunes last week. The singer is currently still on the road and her tour is scheduled through April 10 in San Diego.
A star-studded cast will come together to honor 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year Paul McCartney at a gala on February 10 in Los Angeles, two days prior to the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. Artists set to perform include Tony Bennett, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Diana Krall, James Taylor and Neil Young with Crazy Horse. The evening will also feature a special performance from McCartney. Proceeds from the dinner and concert will provide essential support for MusiCares, which ensures that music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical and personal need. Meanwhile, the Grammy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 12 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS. Additionally, Sir Paul will join the Hollywood Walk Of Fame alongside his fellow Beatles' stars in front of the Capitol Records building. The ceremony will take place next Thursday, February 9 in Hollywood, giving McCartney the 2,460th star on the Walk Of Fame.
Kanye West might be making another short film in the ve! in of hi s 30-minute "Runaway" movie. West recently sent representatives to the Persian Gulf region to scout locations for the project, which is to be filmed in March, according to the New York Observer. Sources told The Observer that 'Ye sent members of his team to meet with film companies and government officials based out of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha Qatar to explore the idea of a production. The plot of the movie was conceived by the rapper explicitly to take place in the Gulf, after he fell in love with the region after performing in Abu Dhabi last year.
Young Jeezy is hitting the road for the CTE Presents the Hustlerz Ambiton Tour, a 25-city jaunt that begins on March 3 in Washington, DC, and wraps on April 6 in Montreal. Jeezy is supporting his fourth studio album, TM: 103: Hustlerz Ambition, and his next single will be "Leave You Alone" feat. Ne-Yo.
Chris Brown has set a new record, with one billion streams of his videos through VEVO. Brown's most-viewed video is "Look At Me Now," with 146 million streams, while 15 different Brown videos has passed 20 million streams each.
NPR Music has announced the lineup for its annual showcase at SXSW in Austin, TX next month. Andrew Bird, Alabama Shakes, Dan Deacon and Sharon Van Etten will perform at Stubbs on Wednesday, March 14. As always, the concert will be simulcast on multipleNPR stations across the country.
Target is partnering with The Fray for the release of an exclusive deluxe edition of their third album, Scars and Stories. The deluxe edition is available now for pre-order at Target.com and will be offered at Target stores beginning on February 7. It will include four bonus tracks: an acoustic version of "Streets of Philadelphia," and three live tracks: "The Fighter," "You Found Me" and! "How to Save a Life."
Carrie Underwood has set May 1 as the release date for her upcoming new album. The as-yet-untitled release will be produced by Mark Bright, who also worked on Underwood's first three albums. Last week she announced that "Good Girl," the first single, will be hitting airwaves on February 23.
Macy Gray is set to release an album of cover songs, aptly titled Covers, on March 27. Gray chose to record mostly indie rock tracks from the last decade that she has been performing live in recent years. Arcade Fire's "Wake Up," My Chemical Romance's "Teenagers," Radiohead's "Creep" and AWOLNATION's "Sail" all made the cut. Gray plans to embark on a world tour to support the album, and she recently finished filming the movie The Paperboy with John Cusack, Zach Efron, Nicole Kidman and Matthew McConaughey.
DragonForce is set to return with The Power Within, their fifth studio album and the first with new singer Marc Hudson. It will be released on April 17 by Roadrunner Records in the U.S. DragonForce guitarist Herman Li stated, "The last two years have been the most fun we ever had making an album. Through writing, jamming and touring together, we have built this incredible energy and it has been fully captured on the new album." Look for U.S. tour announcements coming soon.
A day after Leslie Carter, the 25-year-old sister of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter and singer Aaron Carter, was found deadin upstate New York, the autopsy has come back as inconclusive. The Chautauqua County Coroner's Office is now awaiting toxicology tests to determine what caused her death, and that could take four to six weeks. E! Online reported that coroner Richard Mackowi! ak said there were no visible signs of trauma to Leslie Carter's body and that toxicology test results are pending. "The body has been released to the family," he said on Wednesday. "Results of the toxicology test are made public at the discretion of the family."