Tonight, it’s Hometown visits on American Idol, plus the Top 3 are revealed. 8/7c PM FOX. Survivor continues on CBS 8/7c PM. Don’t miss the thrilling soapy musical saga of Nashville at 10/9c PM ABC.
Billboard and dick clark productions announced today a mix of television, music and film stars slated to present on the “2015 Billboard Music Awards.” Presenters include 10-time Billboard Music Award winner 50 Cent, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Britt Nilsson from ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” Laverne Cox, six-time Billboard Music Award winner Celine Dion, the cast of “Entourage” (Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Adrian Grenier), Taraji P. Henson, Miss America 2015 Kira Kazantsev, 2012 Billboard Music Award winner NE-YO, 2015 Billboard Music Awards finalist Rita Ora and Ellen Pompeo. They join previously announced must-see musical performers Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Hozier, Nick Jonas, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Van Halen, along with special duet performances by “Empire” recording artists Jussie Smollett and Bryshere “Yazz” Gray with Estelle, Fall Out Boy featuring Wiz Khalifa, Little Big Town and Faith Hill, Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea and Meghan Trainor featuring John Legend. The “2015 Billboard Music Awards” will be hosted by Ludacris and Chrissy Teigen and broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 17, on ABC from 8:00 PM–11:00 PM ET. – via dc productions pr
Justin Guarini and Deborah Cox Will Host Times Square Simulcast of Tony Awards – Broadway stars Justin Guarini and Deborah Cox will host the seventh annual simulcast of the Tony Awards, June 7, in Times Square, presented by Clear Channel Spectacolor in partnership with the Times Square Alliance. Guarini’s Broadway credits include Wicked, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, American Idiot and Romeo and Juliet. He co-hosted last year’s Tony simulcast. Cox appeared on Broadway in Aida and Jekyll & Hyde. – Read more at Playbill.com
When ‘American Idol’ Hits Home: A Tribute to Jax and East Brunswick, New Jersey – This year, four have been granted the trip home, and one of them — 19-year-old Jax — happens to be from my hometown: East Brunswick, New Jersey. In fact, should Jax win season 14, she’ll be the first Northeasterner ever to do so (fellow finalist Nick Fradiani hails from Connecticut), as the Fox show’s voting audience has traditionally looked towards the South for finalists. She certainly deserves to make the finals. Jax’s dramatic flair both in her performances (among the highlights: her audition with a moody, piano-led “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and her take on Dido’s “White Flag”) and her look, a mix of goth and glam (she even wore #thedress) with a hint of punk rock courtesy of an ever-present X on her left cheek, made her a standout from the start. And while she’s had a couple of bumpy turns (namely, Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”), Jax has persevered through a combination of music smarts, likability and, yes, talent. – Read more at Billboard.com
Concord Continues Acquisition Binge with Fearless Records, Wind-Up Deals (Exclusive) – Concord Bicycle Music continues its acquisition spree by buying in separate deals Fearless Records and the rest of Wind-up Records, giving the company more than $140 million in annual revenue. Terms of the deals with the two rock labels were not disclosed. The deals adds about 150 albums from Fearless and about 25-30 albums from Wind-up to the company’s portfolio that already consisted of about 10,000 albums and a music publishing catalog with 60,000 songs. In addition, the Fearless acquisition also includes Fearless Records’ Fearmore Music Publishing, which includes the evergreen copyright “Hey There Delilah,” along with the company’s highly successful in-house merchandise operation. – Read more at Billboard
Kelly Clarkson Calls Jay Z ‘Hot,’ Sings Along to ‘Drunk In Love’ – When Jay Z’s part came up in “Drunk In Love,” Jackie O asked Clarkson if she finds the hip-hop mogul “hot.” She answered with a resounding, “Yes.” “Any kind of confident dude is hot, right?” she added. Inquiring as to whether this comment applies to Kanye West, Clarkson quipped, “He’s a little too confident.”
Read more at ETOnline
Carrie Underwood Posts a Vacation Selfie
Carrie instagrams, “Vacation selfie. #IKnowImLame”
Adam Lambert fan gets biggest surprise of her life – One of his biggest fans works in the KFMB Financial Services department and on Tuesday she got the surprise of her life. Adam Lambert visited Sharon Roffman’s office. Upon entering Sharon’s work space and looking around, he said it was like Googling himself. – There’s a video at the link. You have to see this woman’s office. Wow. – CBS8.com
How Carrie Underwood Helped Me Realize My Child With Autism Will Be OK – Music is therapy for Zoey; most people may not understand her when she sings, but I do. She can sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” all day. Her calm down “meltdown song” is “I Will See You Again” by Carrie Underwood. I gotta be honest — out of all the songs for her to love, this is the most heartbreaking one for me. Here Zoey is loving a song by a woman singing, “I will see you again, this is not where it ends, I will carry you with me, until I see you again.” Tough lyrics for a mom who blamed autism for stealing her child, for a mom who doesn’t know if she will in fact “see her again.” – Read more at The Mighty.com
Dancing with the Stars’ Noah Galloway: How Pretending He Was Invincible Actually Made Him Depressed – “I had this mentality that this isn’t a big deal. I can make this happen,” Galloway told PEOPLE. “I can make it my own. Everyone kept telling me I was going to go through some stages of depression whether I realized it or not. I was like, not me. I portrayed myself as this invincible person to everyone I knew.” Even when his facade started to crumble, Galloway said he couldn’t confess the depth of his despair – even to his then-wife, Tracy. – Read more at People
Robert Herjavec, Kym Johnson’s Relationship Is “Kym-plicated” After DWTS Boot – “It’s ‘Kym-plicated,'” Herjavec joked, when asked by reporters about the status of his relationship with Johnson. The two have been dodging romance rumors for weeks, but heated things up on Monday, May 4, when they shared a passionate kiss in the middle of their last dance. They performed a contemporary dance to Jessie Ware’s “Champagne Kisses,” that included one intimate embrace amongst the footwork. – USMagazine.com
Chris Soules: I’m Ready to Begin My Life with Whitney Bischoff – Soules told PEOPLE that his next step is to join Bischoff in his native habitat. Though his 29-year-old fiancée has previously attended DWTS tapings, the fertility nurse remained at home in Chicago Tuesday to honor the anniversary of her mother’s death. “Eventually she will be moving to Arlington and we’ll be beginning our life there,” said Soules. “I’m excited to just get back to what I’m good at. Dancing is not what I’m good at. I got as good as I could possibly get, but I’m going to go do things that come natural to me.” – Read more at People
Nashville’s Charles Esten on the Line in Deacon’s Cancer Arc That Nearly Did Him in (Hint: Rayna Said It) – Nearly every night for the last week or so, Nashville‘s Charles Esten has tuned his guitar, stepped into the spotlight and lived the dream.As part of the ABC series’ second live tour, which kicked off April 29 in New York, the actor performs several of his own compositions — some of which happen also to be Deacon’s. For a longtime songwriter who only recently has had tunes embraced by the public, watching people sing along with his lyrics is a heady thing, he says. – Read more at TVLine
