Sunday December 19th, 2004
New CD's this past week:
- Ashanti - concrete rose
Music news headlines this week:
Whitney Houston Rear-Ends Bus With Her Porsche
Whitney Houston crashed her Porsche into
the back of a city bus near her
home in Alpharetta, Georgia, on Wednesday (December 15th). According to
the Associated Press, no one was injured, but the accident caused some
slight damage to the bus and crushed the bumper of Houston's sports car.
The incident happened when Houston was trying to make a left turn and
misjudged the clearance between her car and the bus. She was given a
citation for failure to yield while entering a roadway, which is a
low-level moving violation in Georgia, and she'll most likely have to pay
a fine.
Houston and her husband Bobby Brown live about 25 miles north of Atlanta.
Houston will appear in Brown's upcoming Bravo reality series Being Bobby
Brown, which should debut late next year.
Mariah Carey To Launch Lingerie Line
Mariah Carey is designing her own
underwear collection, which is expected
to arrive in stores next year. According to contactmusic.com, a close of
friend of Carey's said, "Mariah will market the sexy undies after her next
album release in June, and she can't wait." The underwear line will be
created for women of all shapes and sizes.
Carey will perform "Joy To The World" and "All I Want For Christmas" on
the two-hour TV special Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade, which airs
December 25th on ABC. Also performing at the Regis Philbin and Kelly
Ripa-hosted event are Stacie Orrico, SheDaisy, and American Idol stars
Diana DeGarmo and Josh Gracin.
Carey will spend New Year's Eve hosting the grand opening of the nightclub
Pure at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Carey's next studio album, The Emancipation Of Mimi, comes out March 22nd.
Janet Jackson’s Next Record Will Be More Dance
Oriented
Top producer Jermaine Dupri plans to work
his hit-making magic on the next
album by his girlfriend and rumored fiancée, Janet Jackson. He's going to
start by going back to Jackson's dance-oriented music heard in her earlier
albums like the 1986 blockbuster Control. He tells MTV News, "I see a void
in music...I think everything (Janet) brought to the table in the
beginnning of her career and throughout her career is missing."
Dupri plans to enlist other top producers to contribute to the album,
which he says will be out in 2005.
Ashanti Says Her Album Shows Growth
Ashanti's new album, Concrete Rose, hit
stores this week. The new disc
features 15 tracks, plus a bonus song -- a "Wonderful" remix featuring Ja
Rule. Ashanti has high hopes for this third album, and plans to tour
behind it in 2005. The singer tells LAUNCH that she thinks that Concrete
Rose really showcases her personal and artistic growth -- but she's not
afraid to give credit to her producers: ["First of all, it's a variety of
producers. We hooked back up with 7 Aurelius, and he did my first album.
We worked with Jimi Kendrix, his brother Jay, Demi-Doc, Chink Santana."]
Ashanti explains to LAUNCH how she thinks Concrete Rose differs from her
last album: ["It's just a little deeper, a little bit harder. I've gone
through a lot in between albums, and I display certain things that I've
never spoken about before."]
Ashanti's first acting role can be seen on January 15th, when Coach Carter
opens nationwide. The film focuses on a rough-and-tumble high school
basketball team, and Ashanti plays the girlfriend of one of the star
players.
Stevie Wonder’s “Early Classics” Released
A collection of Stevie Wonder's Motown
hits from the '60s is out this
week. Early Classics features 18 of Wonder's biggest hits from the
beginning of his career, including "I Was Made To Love Her," "Yester-Me,
Yester-You, Yesterday," "Uptight (Everything's Alright)," and the full
6:24 version of his 1963 Number One smash "Fingertips" -- which was
originally split up as "Fingertips Pt. 1" and "Fingertips Pt. 2" to fit on
both sides of the single.
Also included on the CD is Wonder's version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The
Wind," Bobby Darin's "Beyond The Sea," and album tracks like "Workout
Stevie," "My Baby's Gone" -- which was written by Motown founder Berry
Gordy, Jr. -- and Wonder's duet with Four Tops singer Levi Stubbs on
"Teach Me Tonight."
The album also features selections from his salute to Ray Charles, which
was called Tribute to Uncle Ray, including "Ain't That Love" and "Frankie
And Johnny."