AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS
Celine Dion will honour the victims of the attacks in Paris at Sunday's American Music Awards.
ABC and dick clark productions say that Dion will perform a rendition of Edith Piaf's ``Hymne a L'Amour'' in French at the ceremony to pay tribute to those affected by last week's attacks.
American Music Awards producer Larry Klein says the ceremony's producers wanted to show solidarity.
``Hymne a L'Amour'' was written by Piaf as a tribute to lover Marcel Cerdan. He died in a plane crash in 1949.
Jennifer Lopez is set to host and perform at Sunday's fan-favourite ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Other performers include Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, One Direction and Carrie Underwood.
The awards air Sunday night at 8 p.m. on ABC.
(The American Press)
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OBIT MUSIC Ron Hynes
Atlantic Canadian musicians are remembering acclaimed singer-songwriter Ron Hynes as a prolific storyteller who poured his heart into his music.
Hynes, Newfoundland and Labrador's ``man of a thousand songs,''died Thursday in St. John's at the age of 64 after a brief battle with cancer.
Nova Scotia singer-songwriter Bruce Guthro, who knew Hynes for more than two decades, called him one of the world's greatest songwriters.
Guthro described Hynes as a confident and humorous person who could evoke the emotions of the carefully crafted characters in his songs.
Hynes long referred to himself as the ``man of a thousand songs,'' a moniker he coined in an endearing folk song that speaks of the lonely, shabby side of being a singer.
He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2012, but he kept the disease at bay until this fall when he confirmed it had returned, this time to his hip and lung.
(The Canadian Press)
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DAVID BOWIE - ALBUM TITLE
David Bowie's next album has a title you can say but you might find it hard to locate in an alphabetical list. The title is pronounced ``Blackstar,'' but officially the title is just a black star. The first single has the same name and it comes out today. It's the same music that will be used in the opening credits for the new T-V series, ``The Last Panthers.'' It's currently airing in Europe and will air in the U-S on Sundance T-V in the spring.
Bowie's ``Blackstar'' album comes out January 8th.
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ADELE
There are celebrities who have other celebrities who are fans of them. But when it comes to Adele, it's almost an obsession. Among those who have been singing her praises include diverse talents ranging from John Legend to Sylvester Stallone and Edie Falco to Selena Gomez. Legend calls Adele ``one of the best artists out right now.'' Falco says Adele is ``a very unique talent'' and she is looking forward to hearing her new album. The wait is over. Adele's new project ``25,'' drops today.
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ADELE - SPOTIFY
What's likely to be the biggest album of the year will not be on Spotify. The music streaming service says Adele's ``25'' album will not be available for streaming when it comes out today. Spotify says they love and respect Adele and they hope she will let fans listen to ``25'' on Spotify alongside her other albums, ``19'' and ``21.'' An Adele representative declined comment.
The ``25'' album is predicted to move at least a million units in its first week.
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AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS - PREVIEW
Leon Bridges will be going to his first awards show with Sunday's American Music Awards. He has no idea how to act.
Bridges will perform a song with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, but he's nervous to be in a roomful of celebrities. Bridges says he's a low-key guy and he'd rather be at a dirty bar with his friends. As for the awards themselves, Taylor Swift could become the most-awarded female artist in A-M-A history if she wins all six awards for which she's nominated. She leads the nominations, while Ed Sheeran and Scarborough, Ontario native The Weeknd have five each. The A-M-As will be shown live on A-B-C.
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CHRIS YOUNG - LOVE
Chris Young can write songs that are not about love. It's just that the ones that are seem to be the ones people like. Young says he writes party songs or sad songs, but he finds that eventually he comes back to writing about love. He was a big Boyz II Men fan growing up, and he says it's hard to find a group who sings more about love than them. Young says both guys and girls can relate to love songs, and if he needs to bridge the gap, he can ``sing love songs about tequila.'' Young's new album is called ``I'm Comin' Over.''
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MISSY ELLIOTT - PANIC ATTACK - SUPER BOWL
Missy Elliott nearly did not make it to the Super Bowl. Elliott performed with Katie Perry at the Super Bowl halftime show in February but her anxiety issues nearly got the best of her. Elliott tells Billboard magazine she had a panic attack the night before. She says nobody knew about it and she had IV's in her arm. Elliott says she trusted God to get her through it. Elliott says she knew if she could get over the first step, then all her dance steps would be on point.
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BILLY GIBBONS - DEPECHE MODE
ZZ Top have been compared to many bands, but the one that guitarist Billy Gibbons likes the most is Depeche Mode. Gibbons tells U-K's The Guardian he is ``really fanatical about those cats.'' He says they met in 1985 and they've been friends ever since. Gibbons calls guitarist Martin Gore an underrated player and says he's ``quite the six-string slinger.''
Gibbons says singer Dave Gahan called him last year and said they needed ``a little Texas mud'' sprinkled over a remix of their song ``Soothe My Soul.'' Gibbons told him, ``I'm your guy!''
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(The Associated Press)