INXS has a new lead singer, announcing that Ciaran Gribbin will be taking the reigns. Gribbin has experience behind the scenes in the business, writing Madonna's Celebration, for which he was nominated for a Grammy, singing backup on Snow Patrol's Eyes Open and producing the music for the recent film Killing Bono.
The band will tour in November and Gribbin told Rolling Stone "A baptism of fire is the best way to describe the live shows, I think. In a way I’m slightly nervous, and in another way I’m unbelievably excited. It’s a wonderful, proud moment for me. It’s a real feeling of achievement to have a band of INXS’ stature believe in me as a performer and a singer. It’s genuine dream-come-true, fairy-tale stuff for me. I’m still waking up in the morning here in Australia going, ‘How did I get here?’"
Robert Plant will appear on the next album from West End star Alfie Boe (Les Misérables) which is due on October 31. The pair have recorded a duet on Tim Buckley's Song of the Siren, which Plant had previously recorded on his 2002 album Dreamland.
Clear Lake, Iowa, the location of the final performance by Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper before their death in a plane crash, is continuing to find ways to salute the three stars. They already had a Buddy Holly Place and are now adding Ritchie Valens Drive and J.P. Richardson Avenue onto their map, along with the new Three Stars Plaza.
Justin Timberlake has singed to play Neil Bogart, the man who started Casablanca Records, home to such stars as Donna Summer, Parliament and the Village People. Spinning Gold is being written by Tim Bogart and is being made by Boardwalk Films which just happens to be a partnership between Bogart's son and Timberlake.
Gospel singer and songwriter Jessy Dixon passed away on Monday in his Chicago home at the age of 73.
Dixon gained a large following after recording and touring with Paul Simon, most notably on the hit Loves Me Like a Rock. His songs were performed by the likes of Diana Ross, Cher, Natalie Cole and Amy Grant.
Country star Randy Travis passed out mid-song during a show in front of a room of doctors over the weekend. He was performing at the Crystal Heart Gala in Nashville when he went down on the stage from what is being described as over-the-counter medications that he was taking for laryngitis.
Doctors came to his rescue and he was able to walk off the stage to be examined. He is now at home resting. A statement on the incident said "Mr. Travis was overcome by a combination of dehydration, over-the-counter allergy medications, and caffeine use. This, combined with the heat of the stage lights, caused him to pass out."
More from
VVN Music