Music News

Megadeth's original bassist Dave Ellefson is to rejoin the band for an upcoming tour to mark the 20th anniversary of the act's landmark "Rust in Peace" album. Band frontman Dave Mustaine made the announcement on Monday, February 8, stating he was looking forward to playing with Ellefson again after an eight-year hiatus.

The bass player will perform with Megadeth on their upcoming spring tour, when the group will play their 1990 album "Rust in Peace" in its entirety. Mustaine says, "This shows the power of brotherly love and forgiveness. David Ellefson belongs in Megadeth."

The White Stripes star Jack White has taken exception to a TV ad which aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 7 - because he feels it ripped off his "Fell in Love With a Girl" hit. The rocker and executives at his Third Man Records have complained about the U.S. Air Force Reserve's apparent "re-recording" of the tune.

In an online post, White and the record label bosses write, "We believe our song was re-recorded and used without permission of the White Stripes, our publishers, label or management. The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve's presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support."

A short snippet to show what to expect from Rick Ross' "Mafia Music" music video has hit the web. The clip shows the rapper having a meeting with DJ Khaled and Triple C. Additionally, Chrisette Michele's part is also teased.

A sequel to the song which sparked feud between Ross and 50 Cent, "Mafia Music 2" is confirmed to appear in Rick's next studio album "Teflon Don". He said of the song, "It's real exciting. A lot of people don't know Teflon Don was my original rap name - so it's coming back around full-circle. For me, it makes sense to come back with 'Mafia Music 2' because my hunger is the same from 'Mafia Music 1.' It's a new year."

Carrie Underwood has recorded a song entitled "The Worm Anthem" for TV series "Sesame Street". In addition to scoring a theme song for the small screen project, the country music singer will also make an appearance in the show's several episodes.

Her character known as Carrie Underworm is specifically written for this America's longest running children's television show. She is scheduled to entertain the kids in upcoming episodes slated to air February 11, March 17, April 8, and April 26 on PBS.

The Fray team up with Yahoo! to premiere a music video in support of their latest single "Syndicate". Then, the four-piece band will join forces with AOL this coming Thursday, February 11 to treat fans with a behind-the-scenes look at the video shoot.

"Syndicate" is one of the singles appearing in the band's self-titled studio project "The Fray" which has been in U.S. stores since February 2009. While the song debuted at No. 25 on Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart, the album peaked at the No. 1 spot on Hot 200.

Usher's romance with Grace Miguel reportedly has caused tension in his relationship with his manager mother Jonetta Patton. While the R&B singer claimed he would manage himself with help from Grace, his label said otherwise. Bosses in Jive Records are rumored to have pushed back his album for several times until he gets a new manager.

"She [Jonetta] walked away from the project because Usher had his girlfriend [and former Def Jam executive] Grace Miguel was all in the mix," a source told New York Daily News. "She felt as though if she didn't end things when she did, it would permanently affect their personal relationship."

Norah Jones dreams of indulging her life-long love of country music - by making a "full-on" album dedicated to her favorite genre. The singer, who spent most of her childhood in Texas, recently recorded a duet with Willie Nelson for the veteran singer's "American Classic" standards album.

And Jones admits she's been inspired to fulfill her own musical ambitions by going country. She says, "I love country music. If I listen to Willie Nelson or Hank Williams I feel at home all of a sudden. I'd love to make a full-on country record."

Pop superstar Beyonce Knowles was nearly thrown into the audience at a show in Brazil on Thursday, February 4 - after slipping onstage and skidding dangerously towards the crowd. The "Halo" hitmaker has taken her "I Am..." world tour to South America and was performing in the Brazilian city of Florianopolis last week.

But the show nearly came to an abrupt halt when the singer tripped on a walkway and slid towards her audience. Video footage shows Beyonce crashing to the floor, before picking herself up and continuing her routine.

After going on a joint tour with Young Money crew last year, Drake finally has his own headlining tour across the North America. A part of the 5th Annual Campus Consciousness Tour, the gig dubbed "The Away From Home" will be kicked off on April 6 at Eastern Illinois University.

In this tour, Drake is not just doing a series of live concerts as he will also be promoting the importance of environmental sustainability. Thus, the "half rock tour, half environmental campaign" will have his tour bus equipped with bio-diesel fuel. Eco-village tents, bio-degradable and re-cyclable products will also be used to educate concertgoers at each show.

Wale is joined by a lot of beautiful ladies and partying hard in Chris Robinson-directed music video for his single "Pretty Girls". His collaborator Gucci Mane doesn't make a cameo because he is currently serving behind the bars during the video shoot.

"Pretty Girls" comes from Wale's first studio album called "Attention: Deficit" and is recorded to pay homage to the go-go era in his hometown. He said, "Initially for the record, we wanted to show [Washington] D.C.'s music from a sonic standpoint, as well as have some fun. This was supposed to be my first single; it's actually my second single now. 'Chillin' was a global sound, now I wanna give you my regional sound. It's about having fun."

Taylor Swift has started writing new songs for her next studio album. The first single from the forthcoming release is expected to be released in late summer or early fall with the album to follow later on.

"She was on an amazing writing spree through December and January, and we were able to go in and cut all those things," Big Machine Records executive Scott Borchetta told USA Today. "If she writes something great between now and July, it will go on the record. She's been extraordinarily prolific the last six months."

British rockers The Kooks were forced to take an extended hiatus because their constant arguments nearly resulted in a split. The rockers haven't released an album since 2008's "Konk", which hit the charts shortly after the departure of bassist Max Rafferty, who left the rock band amid rumors of a rift between the musicians.

The "Naive" hitmakers subsequently took some time out to resolve their differences, and frontman Luke Pritchard is looking forward to releasing new material with the group's new bassist Peter Denton.

After peeked through a bunch of on-set pictures, "Blah Blah Blah" music video from Ke$ha is now previewed via behind-the-scene footage. Taken by MTV, the clip previews how this "Tik Tok" hitmaker will have battle of sexes with the guys from 3OH!3 and ridicule them for talking too much.

"The whole concept of the video was a bunch of douche-y guys macking on me as usual, and me making them eat their toupees or other various items," she said. "At one point, I get to be strapped to this harness and bouncing around everywhere, and it was really cool."

Rihanna's forthcoming music video which is filmed to promote her next single "Rude Boy" has been made available for peek through six brand new pictures. From the photos, the video indeed will be different than the previous videos she ever made.

One of the pictures sees her going colorful, two of them have her dressed in gold net outfit, and the other two show her wearing black jumpsuit and proudly standing behind the drums with sticks in her hands. The sixth snap captures her sitting on a zebra statue.

Former "Happy Holidays" singer Rowetta is fuming at Cheryl Cole after the Girls Aloud star asked to use her vocals for an upcoming award show - but snubbed her offer to sing live. Cole wanted to sample Rowetta's dancefloor hit "Be" for a live performance of her single "Fight for This Love" at the upcoming BRIT Awards.

But Rowetta - full name Rowetta Satchell - was furious after record executives informed her that another woman would lip sync her part alongside Cole at the event. Rowetta rants, "Her record company asked to use my sample but wanted an 'anonymous face'. I said I'm happy to perform but they don't want that. Imagine if I wanted to sample Cheryl and got someone to mime her voice. That would never be allowed."