MUSIC NEWS: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2015
PATTI SMITH - YOKO ONO - CALENDAR
Patti Smith is posing for the famous Pirelli calendar, but instead of being scantily clad, she's wearing a long-sleeved shirt, a black vest and pants. Smith is one of the professional women photographer Annie Leibovitz chose for the modern version of the Pirelli calendar, which usually features women nude or scantily clad. Comedian Amy Schumer and tennis star Serena Williams are the exceptions -- they're in their underwear. Yoko Ono, film mogul Kathleen Kennedy and director Ava DuVernay are among the other women in the calendar.
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PAUL McCARTNEY - NAME
Paul McCartney is Paul McCartney because his father didn't want people to confuse them. McCartney's given name is James Paul McCartney, and his father has the same name. A fan wrote to McCartney's website asking why he didn't go by James. McCartney says he was told that if letters came to the house for James McCartney, they wouldn't know which one they were for. McCartney says his younger brother is Peter Michael McCartney and always went by Michael, which makes no sense because there was no other Peter in the house. McCartney says he figures it's an Irish thing.
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CMT - ``NASHVILLE''
C-M-T will honour the T-V show ``Nashville'' during its ``Artists of the Year'' special, even though ``Nashville'' runs on A-B-C. Kellie Pickler will present the ``Nashville'' cast with the International Impact Award. C-M-T President Brian Philips says ``Nashville'' is an international ambassador for country music. The special will air tomorrow. Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt and Little Big Town have been named artists of the year.
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PINK - UNICEF
Pink got to see firsthand the severely malnourished children of Haiti. She also got to see the amazing way they were able to bounce back with the help of a vitamin-rich peanut paste. Pink says within a week, she could see a difference in the children who ate it. Pink has been named a UNICEF ambassador and the national spokeswoman for the UNICEF Kid Power Band. It's a fitness band for kids that encourages exercise. Kids can earn points, and UNICEF's corporate partners will convert the points to money to send food packets to places like Haiti. Pink says the bands help get kids motivated and turn them into global citizens.
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WORLD AIDS DAY - BONO
Bono wants to raise money to fight AIDS so badly, he'll even go on a bike ride with you. People who donate at least 10-dollars to his RED organization to fight AIDS will get a chance to win a bike ride with Bono. He says he'll even visit the spot in New York's Central Park where he had his devastating accident last year. Scarborough, Ontario native The Weeknd is offering a chance to hang out with him backstage and sit in the front row of his Miami concert. The Backstreet Boys are offering to do a video with you and let you be the first to post it on Instagram. Snoop Dogg is offering a day of ``good music and legal relaxation'' in Colorado. Other celebrities offering unique meet-and-greets include George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Matthew McConaughey, James Franco and Ryan Seacrest.
Details are at Omaze-dot-com/Red .
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BONO - PARIS CONCERTS
Bono predicts the U2 concerts in Paris next week will be ``joy as an act of defiance.'' U2 were scheduled to play Paris on November 14 and the show was going to be broadcast that day on H-B-O. U2 cancelled because the attacks at the Eagles of Death Metal concert and at other sites in Paris that left 130 dead the day before. U2 will play Paris on Sunday and Monday. Bono says the gunmen ``took a lot of lives we're not going to get back, but they're not going to change the character of the city of Paris.''
Bono says he expects the audience at the concerts to drown out the band, and he says U2 is ``very loud.'' The concert will be shown on HBO on Monday.
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ADELE - ``25'' - PERSPECTIVE
Forty-one per cent of the albums sold in the U-S last week were Adele's ``25'' album. Billboard has broken down the sales numbers that show ``25'' did way more than just shatter the first-week sales record with 3.38 million. The ``25'' album sold
335 copies per minute. It also broke the record for most albums sold digitally in a week, with 1.64 million downloads, beating Lady Gaga's ``Born This Way,'' with 662-thousand. The ``25'' album made up 49 per cent of all digital albums bought in the U-S in the last week. It's no surprise it's the number-one album, and it sold more than twice the combined total of numbers 2 through 100.
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PSY - NEW MUSIC
Psy has a new album coming out and he's not even thinking about another runaway hit like ``Gangnam Style.'' Psy says he plans to focus on his job, not the Billboard charts. OK, he admits he will probably check how many YouTube views he gets every day, but he will try not to focus on rank or numbers. ``Gangnam Style'' was the most-viewed YouTube video ever, with 2.46 billion views. Psy will do a Christmas concert in Korea, and some shows in Asia in the coming month. After that, he'll play wherever people will have him. His seventh album is called ``Chiljip Psy-Da,'' which is Korean for ``This Is Psy's Seventh Album.'' It comes out today.
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``THE VOICE'' - TOP 10 PERFORM
Madi Davis is Team Pharrell's last hope on ``The Voice.'' The 16-year-old Texas native is the only singer Pharrell Williams has left in the competition. Last night, she performed a highly stylized version of ``Girls Just Want to Have Fun,'' which she also arranged. Williams says she's a phenomenal talent, with great potential. Team Blake's 17-year-old Zach Seabaugh had the girls going wild again. Blake Shelton says he's never heard screaming like that on the show before. Team Gwen's Korin Bukowski hopes she's able to stay out of the bottom two this week. She's already survived two instant Twitter votes. Tonight, the Top 10 is cut by one on The Voice.
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ADELE BLOWS AWAY FIRST-WEEK SALES RECORD
Selling a million albums in a week is impressive. Selling two million is jaw-dropping. Adele sold more than three million copies of her ``25'' record in the past week.
Nielsen Music reports ``25'' sold 3.38 million copies, setting a new record for first-week sales. The previous record-holder was ``No Strings Attached'' by 'N Sync, which sold 2.42 million copies in a week in 2000. Adele had broken 'N Sync's record in just four days.
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Eric Carmen of The Raspberries is accusing his brother of mismanaging his money. Cleveland.com reports Eric Carmen has filed court documents accusing his brother, attorney Fred Carmen, of transferring money without permission, failing to keep proper documentation and paying himself $600,000 in attorney's fees.
Eric Carmen wants to strip his brother of his position as trustee of his trust fund. Fred Carmen says he loves his brother very much and ``there's not a lick of truth'' to the accusations. He plans to file a motion requesting a dismissal.
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CHRIS BROWN WILL DONATE PROCEEDS FROM ``ROYALTY''
Chris Brown will be charitable with the royalties from ``Royalty.'' Brown has posted a video on Instagram saying from now until Christmas, he will donate a dollar from the sale of each copy of his ``Royalty'' album to the Children's Miracle Network Hospital. Brown says, ``The holidays are all about giving back.''
''Royalty`` is also the name of his baby daughter.
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HALSEY CAN'T BELIEVE SHE SINGS WITH JUSTIN BIEBER
Years ago, Halsey had a toothbrush that played a Justin Bieber song. Now she's a featured artist on his new album, ``Purpose.'' Bieber and Halsey duet on the song ``The Feeling.''
Halsey says she was in utter disbelief when Bieber's team asked her to sing on the record. She says in a parallel universe, if she and Bieber were in love, it would be the perfect song. Halsey says she never thought she'd ever be friends with Bieber, and he has her full support. She says she'll battle anyone in a Bieber pros-or-cons conversation any day.
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(The Associated Press)