Did Kara Try To Quit ‘Idol’ Two Months Ago?
Kara DioGuardi spoke with Access Hollywood just a few weeks ago about looking forward to Season 10 of “American Idol, ” but according to a source close to the star, she tried to quit the reality program earlier this summer.
A source told Access that Kara attempted to quit the show two months ago, confirming news first reported by E! News.
Read more at Access Hollywood
FANTASIA ON THE RECORD
FANTASIA-TASTIC: Early, early one-day retail reports have Fantasia Barrino’s third J/RCA album, Back to Me, exceeding expectations in the marketplace. The former American Idol winner has been in the news after recovering from a purported suicide attempt. Could the album actually challenge Katy Perry for #1 next week?
Read more at Hits Daily Double
More Headlines after the JUMP…
Fantasia Barrino: Why I Attempted Suicide
The fallout over Fantasia Barrino’s relationship with Antwaun Cook wasn’t the only reason the singer felt driven to suicide recently. In fact, her depression dates back to her stint on American Idol in 2004, the singer now says.
“When I was on Idol … they weren’t really looking at my gift, ” Barrino, 26, who was named season 3 champ, told Gayle King on her radio show Tuesday.
Read more at People
Fantasia’s ‘Back to Me’: A track-by-track review
“I won’t let your drama hold me down, ” Fantasia sings to a man on Back to Me. That’s just the sort of thing the album, the former American Idol winner’s first in nearly four years, ought to be saying to Fantasia. Without recent allegations of an affair and a suicide attempt, Back to Me would complete a comeback driven by her VH1 reality show and hit single Bittersweet. With them, however, it sounds like sweet fiction, where the singer can portray herself as more self-assured and in control than she really is.
Here’s a track-by-track look at Fantasia’s new album:
Read more at USA Today
Fantasia Tears Down MTV Headquarters With The Power Of Her Voice … During Soundcheck
It was a special show for MTV/VH1 employees, taped for VH1.com’s awesome “1515 Live” series. Typically, the performances are of the acoustic variety (it’s filmed in the small reception area of the 20th floor of the building — seriously), but Fantasia brought a six-piece band and her signature pipes. She was ready to make a grand statement.
I have heard a lot of cynics crying foul over the “convenience” of a headline-grabbing suicide attempt happening just weeks before her first album in four years is about to drop. (Her manager’s icky post-suicide statement that crudely promoted said album didn’t help, either.) But damned if Fantasia’s struggles weren’t real and on full display during her brief-but-powerful four-song set.
Read more at MTV
Adam Lambert visits Donors Choose in NYC
Adam Lambert stopped by the DonorsChoose.org offices in New York City today. He taught some lucky band students a few tips and tricks.
Bianca Marroquin, Jordin Sparks, Tom Wopat, et al. Set for To Mexico From New York with Love Concert
An initial lineup of performers has been announced for the benefit concert To Mexico From New York with Love, to be offered on Wednesday, September 1 at 8pm at the Merkin Concert Hall in the Kaufman Center. The event, organized by Bianca Marroquin, will raise funds for Casa Cemex and Solo por Ayudar (Just To Help), two local Mexican charities working to build new homes for the people affected by Hurrican Alex in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.
Read more at TheaterMania.com
Five ‘American Idol’ Contestants Who Could’ve Used The ‘X Factor’ Auto-Tune
With news that producers on the British version of “X Factor” used Auto-Tune software to help sweeten the voices of a few contestants, I can’t say I’m that surprised. Like “American Idol, ” Simon Cowell’s “X Factor” aims to find the music industry’s next big superstar. If the singers on “X Factor” and “Idol” are going to have to compete with contemporary pop acts — many of whom barely do an interview without a little audio sweetening in post-production — can you blame producers for a little tweaking here and there to polish their product?
Read more at MTV
Lily Allen Attacks Simon Cowell, ‘X Factor’ On Twitter
“X factor: FAIL. Too set up/scripted in my humble opinion, ” Allen wrote on her account. “It’s sh–. FACT ! It’s everything that I detest about modern western culture. Cowell is the only one who really benefits.”
And after jousting with a few “X Factor” supporters, she turned her ire back to Cowell, accusing him of cornering the market on televised talent contests for his own nefarious purposes. “I don’t know how Simon Cowell has managed to get away with essentially copywriting [sic] the talent contest. It’s beyond me, really, ” she wrote.
Read more at MTV
‘Glee’ Newcomer Shares Unfulfilled Britney Spears Dream
Good news, Chord Overstreet! You’ve joined Fox’s red-hot ‘Glee‘ in the recurring role of Sam, a new student at McKinley High.
The bad news? There’s no tune for you in the much-ballyhooed Spears-centric “Britney/Brittany” episode airing September 28.
“I’m not singing in it, unfortunately, ” the actor laments to Fancast in the red-carpet video below. “I wanted to sing ‘Slave 4 U.’”
Regardless, Overstreet avows the Britney tribute will be “pretty intense.”
Read more at Fancast
Michael Bolton In Talks To Join Dancing With The Stars
Michael Bolton is making a comeback – on the dance floor!
RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal that the 57-year-old Grammy Award winner is in negotiations to join the cast of Dancing With The Stars
“Michael’s management company had been in talks with the show for over a month, ” an inside source told RadarOnline.com. “They’re all very excited about it, especially Michael.”
Read more at Radaronline
‘The X Factor’ Rocked By Second Scandal As Simon Cowell Bans Use Of Auto-Tune
The UK show’s bosses are debating whether to drop a contestant from this season’s first episode after it emerged she already has a record contract in the U.S. Katie Waissel, 24, sailed through to the next round after Saturday night’s opening show, not telling producers Syco and Talkback Thames that she already has a two-record deal on a jazz label.
Read more at Deadline London
Glee Season 2 Photoshoot
X Factor axes singer Shirlena
TV bosses have axed contestant Shirlena Johnson from The X Factor over fears about her health.
The wannabe singer caused a stir during her first appearance on the hit ITV1 talent show on Saturday evening with an eccentric routine.
And show chiefs have now decided that she should not continue in the series, in the interests of her welfare.
But now programme bosses acted to stop her continuing after fears about her mental health were raised.
Read more at Press Association
X Factor bosses knew my girl was a mental health risk says mother of show hopeful Shirlena Johnson
The mother of X Factor hopeful Shirlena Johnson hit out last night after the singer was axed because of fears over her mental health.
Furious Carmen Stanley, 53, claimed show bosses knew all along her daughter was at risk. She stormed: “It’s cruel the way they have built up her hopes only to dash them again.”
But X Factor sources claim Shirlena’s medical reports arrived late because her GP was on holiday. An insider said: “We acted as quickly as we could to do the right thing in a responsible way.”
Read more at the Daily News
