Jordin Sparks gets ready for her next record. She tweets, “Meeting with my A&R today about the next record. Are you guys excited for new material?”
***
Kris Allen’s hit single, “Live Like We’re Dying” was officially certified platinum by Jive Records on October 15. Check out the official certification HERE.
***
Katie Stevens promises good things to come. She tweets, “Hey! Meetings all went really well this week, so you’re all definately going to be seeing and hearing more of me!”
***
More Headlines after the JUMP…
***
‘American Idol’: Yoko Ono wishes people would just give her a chance
Yoko Ono, avant-garde when The Beatles were mainstream, remains current with music as a fan of Green Day and “American Idol.”
“I was surprised that it was a very stimulating program, ” she tells Zap2it.
“Young people are doing some very courageous things, ” she says. “When you think about it, there are so many courageous musicians. When John (husband John Lennon) started, most people were saying, ‘You are not doing enough, ‘ even when John did it.
Read more at Zap2it
***
Photo gallery: Carrie Underwood at Oklahoma City’s Ford Center
Country music superstar Carrie Underwood wowed the sold-out crowd Wednesday night at Oklahoma City’s Ford Center. Check out these photos of the first two songs of Carrie’s home state show by The Oklahoman‘s Bryan Terry
See the photos at NewsOK
***
David Archuleta featured in a Funny Or Die Video
This was taped during the SU2C benefit. David enters at about the 2 minute mark.
***
Indiana Home Builder Celebrates One Year Extreme Makeover Anniversary
Today marks the one year anniversary of an Indiana home builder demolishing a deserving family’s mold-infested dwelling for ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Only 106 hours later, the Cowan-Brown family joined Ty Pennington in yelling those famous words, “Move that bus!” just before the family captured their first glimpse of their new home, built by Hallmark Homes and thousands of community volunteers, including American Idol winner, David Cook.
The Cowan-Brown family desperately needed a new home that was free of an extreme mold infestation, but Andy and Heather Cowan were unable to rebuild their home on their own, as they were already struggling to support their four children on wages earned as factory workers. Their youngest child, Kori, battles a congenital blood disease, which was aggravated by the environmental conditions in the family’s former home, and had already received 17 invasive operations before Ty Pennington knocked on the family’s door last October.
This summer, Kori underwent another surgery, but this time she was able to come home to a place of peace and healing. “This time it was different, ” says Heather Cowan in a recent thank-you letter to Hallmark Homes, “there was no keeping her quarantined from parts of the house that wouldn’t let her heal. It was a wonderful thing just to be able to focus on her.”
Read more at Benzinga.com
***
Major League Baseball’s ‘World Series of Costumes’ Gives Fans Chance to See Their Kids on FOX During World Series
Major League Baseball today launched a unique campaign encouraging fans to upload pictures of their kids in Halloween costumes, with the best of them chosen to appear during the FOX broadcast of Game Three of the World Series on Saturday, October 30. Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest of the number one show on television, FOX’s AMERICAN IDOL will act as celebrity judges who are involved in helping to determine the winners. Game Three is scheduled for a 6:57 p.m. ET start, the earliest start for a World Series game in more than 20 years.
Beginning today, fans can go to MLB.com/Halloween and enter the “World Series of Costumes” promotion by uploading photos of their kids (12 and under) in their Halloween costumes. Fans will be able to vote for their favorites among all the photos uploaded, and those who enter will have the opportunity to encourage family and friends to vote through social media platforms. The three winners will be revealed during the FOX broadcast, and MLB.com will feature an additional six runners-up.
Read more at TV By The Numbers
***
J.D. Fortune back to fronting INXS
Canadian singer J.D. Fortune says that he’s back on his feet and is reuniting with INXS for an upcoming Australian tour.
Fortune shot to stardom when he won the television reality contest Rock Star: INXS in 2005 and became the new frontman for the band. Later that year, he sang on the group’s record, Switch, which reached No. 1 on the Canadian charts.
But after nearly two years of touring behind the record, Fortune claimed the band dumped him at a Hong Kong airport, leaving the Mississauga, Ont., native to live out of a truck.
While it seemed then that Fortune was on the outs with INXS, he’s back in the fold now and says he’s ready to move forward, calling the earlier conflict “ancient history.”
Read more at The Star
***
NBC Brings Back “The Sing-Off” on December 6
NBC will premiere a second season of The Sing Off on Dec. 6. The show hosted by Nick Lachey will air over five nights and feature 10 a capella groups competing for the $100, 000 prize and a Sony Music recording contract.
The episodes will air Dec. 8, 13, 15 and 20. The groups are Committed from Alabama.; Eleventh Hour from Ohio, Pitch Slapped from Massachusetts; Groove For Thought in Washington; Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town from California; Men of Note from New Jersey, The Backbeats from California; On the Rocks from Oregon; Street Corner Symphony from Tennessee; Yale University from Connecticut.
