R&B singer Toni Braxton filed a $10 million lawsuit against her former personal manager, Barry Hankerson, on Friday.
For a multi-platinum selling songstress, Toni Braxton can’t contract her career to save her life. T.B filed for bankruptcy in 2000 and now, according to the suit filed in the U.S District Court of Manhattan, the singer is blaming B.H of turning her into his own personal puppet.
“Hankerson actively sought to destroy Braxton’s relationship with Arista through underhanded `double-talk,’ telling Braxton that Arista was not interested in working with her anymore, while telling Arista that Braxton no longer wanted to record for Arista,” the official documents claim.
Essentially, she’s blaming her manager for her decision to jump the Arista ship in 2003. A ship that she boarded in 1991 as an unknown gospel singer from Nowheresville, Maryland and departed as multi-Grammy Award winner and nominee.
B.H is accused of creating a hostile environment by pulling stories of creative difficulties out of his rear end when Toni was nonsensical enough to allow him to act as her mouthpiece with record label execs. Barry Hankerson, whose label Blackground Music launched the career of R&B’s princess, Aaliyah, is accused of strong-arming Toni over to his label, where he denied her basic claims to the tracks she recorded.
The once anally-rimmed 50 Cent may have competition for the WTF Award of the week. Aerosmith frontman and musical legend, Steven Tyler was spotted near sand and surf, sporting a startling resemblance to a beach whale. Check out the pics where he is perceived to be diddling himself in front of a female companion.
Geeks, nerds and chatty teenage girls worldwide are rejoycing – Apple has just announced their latest product: the iPhone. According to the company:
“iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.”
Oh Steve Jobs. Is there anything you can’t do???
No, we haven’t lost our minds with that headline – that’s just our clever way of letting you know who’s being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Don’t want to play guess who? Then you’re no fun – but it’s Monday and if you live in NYC you’ve been inhaling toxic gas fumes all day so we’ll let you slide. Here’s who made the cut this year:
• REM
• The Ronettes
• Patti Smith
• Van Halen
• Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Just one question remains – do we even care???
It’s been reported that British graffiti artist Banksy has “reconstructed” 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s debut album. How’d he tamper with the heiresses’s art? He changed pictures on the album cover to include Hilton topless with a dog’s head, as well as placing stickers mocking her “hits” such as “Why Am I Famous?
Not only did he tamper with the album covers, but Banksy replaced the actual CD’s with remixed music that can only be attributed to a musician named “DM.”
Banksy’s rep, Jo Brooks, informs the BBC that he intentionally tampered with albums in 48 record stores across the U.K.
Hilton’s camp has yet to comment on this latest stunt by Banksy.
Read the full story here.
MTV announced today that both Shakira and the band OK Go have just been added to the list of performers at the Video Music Awards. They join an already long list slated to perform that night, including Panic! At the Disco, T.I., The Killers, Ludacris w/Pharrell, The All-American Rejects and The Raconteurs. Jack Black will host the night’s festivities, and among the list of presenters are the names Axl Rose, Lindsay Lohan, Kanye West, Paris Hilton, Diddy, LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, Pussycat Dolls and 50 Cent. And that barely even names a few.
OK Go, from Chicago, plans to perform a live version of their internet hit “Here It Goes Again” at the show which airs August 31st at 8pm ET. The band posted the video for the song, which showcases their unusual (and hilarious!) treadmill dancing abilities, on YouTube.com and have been steadily entertaining viewers ever since. The VMA’s will be their first live performance of the song.
Well I haven’t heard anything about whether OK Go will attempt the treadmills live at the awards or go for something more traditional (and safer), but that video is a total hoot! I love it when people look like they’re having a good time, and I can’t imagine they got through that shoot without at least a few good laughs.
P.S. And someone needs kudos for choreography!
“I, like, cry, when I listen to it, it’s so good.”
That’s what Paris Hilton has to say about her new album, Paris, which will be released this Tuesday. Paris talked about her music and the public’s reactions to it recently in Blender magazine (story via People.com).
Ok, Paris. Just to be fair and objective, I’ll also include a quote from Joerg Colberg’s review of Paris. “Listening to her sing Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, you are gripped by the fear that civilization as we know it is doomed and that brimstone is going to start raining from the sky any minute. It doesn’t, but a sense of terrible foreboding is further stoked by the sleeve notes, which make reference to “all my albums to come”. You might call that another example of the sheer force of will that has got Hilton so far in so many improbable careers, but on the basis of the 11 tracks here, it sounds more like a threat.”
Geez. Now I think I might cry when I hear it too..
The San Diego Street Scene music festival was this past Saturday. The band Tool was the headliner this year, and during their set things got violent in the crowd. Seventeen people were injured when they were crushed against the stage, and one person’s injuries were even life threatening.
Other bands at this year’s Street Scene were Kayne West, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Sean Paul, The Shins, Yellowcard, Queens of the Stone Age, and a ton of others.
I wish I could have been there! (Just not anywhere near stage at Tool.) Here’s a picture of Snoop looking definitely NOT violent during his performance at the festival. Oh, boy. Is that a rhinestone and weed leaf accented microphone? Nice. Just tell me they’re not diamonds.
Set for release August 29th, Jessican Simpson’s upcoming album A Public Affair has many speculating whether it’s about her ex-husband, Nick Lachey.
“A Public Affair is a play on words,” Simpson, 26, reported to MTV News. She understands why people would feel the album might detail the chronicles of her crumbling marriage to Lachey, but insists that isn’t the case.
“It’s not about him at all,” she says.
However, Simpson hints that at least one track was inspired by her ex-husband; Patti Griffin’s “Let Him Fly,” which she covers on her upcoming release.
“It’s about how sometimes you just have to know when to let something go,” Simpson reports. “It was just perfect for that moment.”
Full story here.
Elton John thought now would be a good time to let the American rock music world know that he doesn’t like their style.
He’d like to see more glam, more high fashion, and less tatoos and t-shirts.
“It’s been a thing the British have always been very good at, with Bowie, myself, T.Rex, the Who, Queen. … We all embraced that side of it,” said John. “And I think it’s good that some American bands are beginning to do that, but it’s still very rare for bands to make a real effort. So when you get groups like The Killers and Scissor Sisters who come along, it’s thrilling. I’m so over the tattoos and the T-shirts and rings through the noses. It’s not pretty, it’s not pleasant, it’s not exciting. Please stop it now.”
Oh, Elton. Weren’t you the one talking about the need for tolerance and diversity not so long ago? Maybe these guys don’t want to be “pretty” or “pleasant.” That’s fine if you want to go for the theatrical look, but if you ask me there’s absolutely nothing wrong with t-shirts and jeans on stage.
The full Associated Press story is available at Fox News.
