Washington (ANI): Singer Amy Winehouse is reportedly scooping a lucrative deal with top fashion designer Roberto Cavalli to wear his outfits. According to the contract, the 24-year-old singer would be receiving continuous supply of his garments on a condition that she wears them to all public functions and her shows.

A report in British newspaper the Daily Mirror says that the decision came after Cavalli’s close friend Victoria Beckham told him she was a fan of Winehouse’s style.

“Cavalli was suitably taken in by what Victoria had to say that he’s now determined to get Amy on board,” Contactmusic quoted a source as saying. However, Winehouse’s spokesman said: “Amy is considering many offers at the moment.”

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London (ANI): Amy Winehouse’s forthcoming album has been described as ‘very dark’ by friends who have heard it, with many songs themed around the subject of death. Winehouse has recently been suffering from a bad skin condition as well as battling her drug addiction and has apparently become a recluse.

According to her friends, Winehouse has hit new lows in her personal life, and her emotions are being reflected in her new songs. She has been working with her producer pal Mark Ronson and ‘writing sinister song lyrics about death.’ The pals also said that some of the lyrics are so bleak that it is even being described as ’suicidal music’.

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London (ANI): Heather Mills’ plans to star in a George Harrison documentary have left her estranged hubby, Sir Paul McCartney furious, it has been revealed. According to reports, the ex-Beatle is not too happy with her estranged wife’s plan to be a part of the documentary, to be directed by Martin Scorsese.

Mills is quite keen on appearing in Scorsese’s factual film about the late Beatle and believes that she could provide a “different perspective” on George’s final days, as she was among the last few people to visit him before he died in 2001. George passed away at the LA mansion McCartney reportedly gifted Heather on their engagement- and that was where the ex-couple visited him. And the 40-year-old former model is eager to meet Scorsese for a discussion over the documentary.

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NASHVILLE — WMA has signed country singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
for representation in all areas.



Her rep team includes WMA president Dave Wirtschafter and
Nashville-based senior vp Greg Oswald, along with Jason Trawick in
the film area and about a dozen agents who will work on the various
aspects of Swift’s career. She had been repped by CAA.



“Her future is limitless. She is the kind of person that I think
can clearly go for decades and decades,” Oswald said. “All of the
God-given gifts and tools are there. She writes ‘em, she sings ‘em,
and she backs it up from a very real place, which means what
happens down the line is pretty much in her control.”



Added Trawick: “Taylor is genuinely a multifaceted artist. She will
bring the same charisma and passion that she brings to the stage
and her videos to all aspects of her career.”



Swift, 18, has topped the 43 million mark for music streams on her
MySpace page. Her self-titled debut album is double platinum, has
been on the Billboard 200 for 75 weeks and has been a fixture in
the top 10 for months.

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Sir Paul McCartney and his ex-wife Heather Mills recorded a rap song.

Heather laid down lyrics for the track she named Disability Rap soon after she began dating Paul in 1999.

In the song, Heather says: “It’s been hard, other children can be cruel. Teasing and tormenting - freak, weirdo, retard. What do they know?”

Disability Rap also features Paul’s vocals and Heather wanted the song to be released to raise money for disabled children.

A source told Britain’s News of the World newspaper: “Her brassy voice is sometimes technically altered as she awkwardly raps over techno music. Then Paul takes over with sweeping orchestral backing, but not even his talents can save it.

“Paul hated the idea, but Heather thought it was the greatest record she had ever heard.”

In the song, Heather - who lost her left leg below the knee in a motorbike accident in 1993 - also blasted the British health service, the NHS, for failing to provide adequate prosthetic limbs.

She raps: “So you go to the NHS and they do their best with their limited budget. They make her limbs but she can’t wear them - they’re painful. And every step you take is even more painful to you. So you thank them because it’s the best they can do. No Mr. Minister. It’s not. And you know it.”

- BANG! SHOWBIZ

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U2 have signed a 12-year deal with the world’s biggest concert promoter, Live Nation, to handle the band’s merchandising, digital and branding rights.

The move follows an agreement the company made with Madonna in October 2007 to look after all her rights with the exception of music publishing.

The contracts indicate the direction in which the music industry is heading. As income from CD sales declines and pirate downloads eat up profits, artists are starting to realise that the money lies in touring and merchandising. U2 will continue to release music through Universal Music.

The latest deal cements an already long standing partnership between the rock group and Live Nation, which has managed U2’s tours since 1980.

A subsidiary of Live Nation already manages U2’s website and fan club.

The band’s front man Bono said: “We’ve been dating for over 20 years now. It’s about time we tied the knot.”

Live Nation signed a 10-year deal with Madonna, believed to be worth $120m ($150m).

Financial details of the deal with U2 have not been disclosed, but the promoter is believed to have paid Madonna in the region of $70m ($89m) for similar rights, as part of its wider-ranging agreement.

“U2 has created some of the greatest rock music of all time,” said Live Nation chairman Michael Cohl.

“It has long been our intention to consolidate and extend our relationship.”

In 2007, Live Nation, which owns 170 venues of various sizes around the world, including 40 in the UK, made 2.2bn pounds ($5.5bn).

U2’s manager Paul McGuinness said: “U2 are doing their best work right now, on record and in concert. The opportunity to integrate U2 and Live Nation’s vision of the future is a great extension of our established business.”

Live Nation promoted U2’s most recent tour, which was the second highest-grossing concert tour in history, making $389.4m, according to data from Billboard magazine.

The highest-grossing ever was the Rolling Stones’ Bigger Bang tour in 2005 to 2007, which was also managed by Live Nation, earning $558.3m.

There has been speculation that Live Nation could also woo the Rolling Stones when their current contract with EMI expires in June.
- INDEPENDENT

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DENVER - At first glance, Nokia’s Tero Ojanpera and Dave Stewart might seem like an odd pair.

As executive vice president of entertainment and communities for Nokia, Ojanpera oversees all of the company’s music, gaming, video and social networking initiatives, including the Nokia Music Store and Comes With Music.

Stewart is a musician/producer best known as one half of the Eurythmics.

In February, Stewart was named founding member of Nokia’s new Artist Advisory Council, an initiative created to foster an artist-friendly environment within the company.

But the two have more in common that meets the eye. Stewart has strong ideas on how technology and digital business models should benefit acts and their fans, and, in fact, was the driving force behind the council’s creation.

Ojanpera, meanwhile, aims to combine Nokia’s entertainment content services with its social networking capabilities to help fans and artists better connect and communicate to promote and distribute new content.

For Nokia, the effort is central to its reinvention from a handset vendor with 40 percent of the global mobile phone market share to a web services company.

For Stewart, the technologies of today and tomorrow represent a new stage of creative and professional development he hopes to share not only with musicians but also with filmmakers and others in the creative community.

Q: Can you give us a better idea what the vision of the Artist Advisory Council is?

Dave Stewart: It’s a vision of the future where people would want to dig deeper in the world of an artist and where artists would be willing to be more experimental because the payment systems would be more transparent and different than they are today. It’s about artists linking together and being collaborative.

Tero Ojanpera: If you think about the artist’s point of view, it’s not about selling one track or selling a ringtone or wallpaper. It’s about how you create a discovery mechanism (that) represents the artist in a way that gives justice to their work. It’s not just putting something online in a digital format - the technology will enable us to make a rich world where things come together in a really new fashion.

Q: How do you plan to achieve this?

Ojanpera: At this point it’s about understanding the artist and understanding the consumer and making that connection. The rest will sort itself out. It may need some facilitation, but we should worry about those two things first. If you can bring value to the consumer and to the creative talent, I’m sure we will do well.

Stewart: Imagine a future where you have a little cloud above your head and in that is everything you think is groovy, and you can carry that along with you and pull it down to either watch or share… and it’s all controlled by this little device in your pocket.

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Mariah Carey hung up during a radio interview following a dispute over her record sales.

The singer appeared to hastily end the conversation yesterday, when BBC Radio 1 DJ Reggie Yates suggested she had only sold 80 million albums worldwide.

Just before the phone went dead, Mariah said: “Is that the right quote? I don’t know. I have to ask someone I don’t know if that is accurate.”

Reggie said: “I think she took that as an insult. That is how the conversation ended with me and Mariah! She took 80 million albums as an insult. She is mad cool.”

Mariah has sold around 165 million records worldwide, and is the second-best selling female artist of all time behind Celine Dion.

The interview had started well, with Mariah laughing and joking and speaking in a British accent.

She happily talked about her favourite movies, her new single Touch My Body and her upcoming album E=MC2.

Earlier this month, Mariah revealed she loves being called a diva because it means she is successful, but insists isn’t a demanding person.

The singer said: “The actual definition is ‘a talented female singer.’ Definition two is ‘a difficult woman who is successful,’ I believe. So I take it as a compliment.

“I guess I am a diva in many ways! When it comes to certain things, yes, I can be difficult and a little bit rigid about what I want. Am I demanding? I don’t think I’m demanding enough.”

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Keith Richards has admitted he still “smokes weed all the time”.

The Rolling Stones guitarist - who was treated for heroin addiction in the late 70s - admits he still loves getting high on cannabis, but no longer dabbles in hard drugs.

He said: “I smoke my head off. I smoke weed all the time. There, you’ve got it.

“But that’s all I take, all I do. I do smoke and I’ve got some really good hash.”

Referring to his heavy drug use in the 60s and 70s, he added: “People thought I was going to die. I never did - as you can see. The drugs? Oh yeah, they were great.

“Now I’m on medication. Drugs now? It’s a dodgy subject.”

Keith’s substance abuse earned him a notorious reputation as a hell raiser.

The 64-year-old rocker was arrested on five separate occasions for drug-related offences, and at one point was believed to have regular full-body blood transfusions to clean out his system.

Last year, Keith claimed to have snorted his late father’s ashes.

- BANG! SHOWBIZ

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LOS ANGELES - Kylie Minogue has dismissed reports she will wed French actor and former love Olivier Martinez on stage during a concert in the Czech Republic in May.

Minogue appeared bewildered when quizzed about the reports during a live interview on US TV today.

“News to me,” Minogue, a guest on NBC’s Today morning variety show, said.

“Noooo!”

Australia’s pop princess also dismissed rumours she has rekindled a romance with Martinez following their split just over a year ago.

The Today interview marked the beginning of Minogue’s new assault on the US music charts, with her album, X, released in America tomorrow.

When Today host Matt Lauer asked Minogue about the Czech wedding report, she referred to Martinez in the past tense.

Minogue told Lauer she had “dated” Martinez.

Lauer, noting her answer, replied: “Dated - past tense?”

“Yes,” Minogue answered.

“So there’s no rekindling and no engagement in the future that I need to know about?” Lauer, continuing the probing questions, asked.

“No,” Minogue replied.

Minogue, who turns 40 in May, has dominated album and singles charts in Australia, Britain, Europe and Asia, but has not had the same success in the US.

Over the next week she will blitz the US media, singing two songs live on America’s version of Dancing with the Stars, which has an audience of more than 20 million viewers, tomorrow night.

Minogue also has interviews booked on TV talk shows, including NBC’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show and CBS’ Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Lauer asked Minogue why it was so difficult for her to translate her Australian, British, European and Asian chart dominance to the US.

“It’s a notoriously difficult market,” Minogue said. “You have so many denominations with radio. To know where I fit within that market is sometimes difficult.”

Minogue, who also spoke during the interview about her 2005 battle with breast cancer, joked about being honoured by Queen Elizabeth II with the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

“It’s a major deal,” Minogue said. “My parents are coming over (to London) for the ceremony. I thought I already had enough vowels in my name and now I have OBE on the end.”

Lauer asked if the OBE meant he would have to curtsy the next time she arrived at the Today studios for an interview.

“You could curtsy,” Minogue laughed. “You could bow … No, you don’t have to do anything.”

The Today interview was conducted inside an NBC studio in Manhattan visible to pedestrians from a street outside.

About 30 paparazzi lined up outside with long lenses during the interview, shooting Minogue through a window.

When Lauer pointed to the photographers Minogue jokingly asked if the seat Today had given her offered the best profile.

“I do hope you’re giving good angles for the cameras,” Minogue said.

- AAP

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