ACM AWARDS
Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Florida Georgia Line and Cam will perform at the 51st annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
The awards show will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3 on CBS, ACM and dick clark productions announced Thursday. The ceremony will be co-hosted by Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley.
Singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton leads the awards with seven nominations, followed by Eric Church and new singer Cam with six nominations each.
More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Chesney will close out the Party for a Cause festival after the awards show.
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SAM SMITH - OSCAR WORTHY?
Sam Smith has a chance of walking away with an Oscar on Sunday. But he says he doesn't think about that often _ or anything when it comes to his own music. Smith says the most impressive thing about doing the James Bond theme ``Writing's On The Wall'' _ was that he was asked to do it in the first place. The song went on to be a number-one hit in the U-K, has won a Golden Globe award _ and is up for the Oscar in the original song category. At age 23, if Smith wins, he will be one of the youngest acts to win an Oscar.
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CRANBERRIES SINGER FINED FOR AIR-RAGE INCIDENT
Some in-the-air acting up has set the lead singer of The Cranberries back more than six-thousand-dollars. Dolores O'Riordan was fined for her part in an incident during a 2014 flight from New York to Ireland. She pleaded guilty in December to assaulting three policemen and a flight attendant. She blames the incident on a psychotic episode; medical records were presented to the court indicating she was mentally ill at the time of the altercation. As she left a courtroom in London yesterday, O'Riordan urged others who suffer from mental illness to seek help _ and thanked her doctors for helping her recover.
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KANYE VS EZRIN
A veteran Canadian music producer is the latest target of Kanye West's online wrath. Earlier this week, Toronto-born Bob Ezrin published a scathing takedown of the rapper's career, questioning whether his music would stand the test of time. When West caught wind of the critique, he unleashed a firestorm of tweets in response. He asked, ``Has anybody ever heard of Bob Ezrin???'' and directed the producer to ``never speak in public again.''
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ADELE - BRIT AWARDS
So much for the idea of a person who is known all over the world not getting their due recognition in their homeland.
Adele has been named the British female solo artist of the year at the Brit Awards. It was one of for awards she won last night. The others were for single of the year, album of the year and the Global Success Award. Adele also performed at the show _ her first high-profile outing since the Grammys a week ago Sunday _ which was marred by a glitch caused by a microphone falling into the piano accompanying her. This performance went off without a hitch. James Bay was named best British male solo artist.
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ADELE - KESHA
Kesha has gotten a big-time shout-out from Adele.
During the Brit Awards last night, Adele went on stage to accept her award for British female solo artist of the year. As her hometown crowd cheered, Adele took a moment to express support for Kesha, who is in a highly publicized court battle to get out of her recording deal with producer Dr. Luke, who Kesha says sexually assaulted her.
Said Adele: ``''I'd like to take this moment to publicly support Kesha.``
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EAGLES OF DEATH METAL THANK EUROPEANS FOR THEIR SUPPORT
The American band whose concert in Paris was targeted by terrorists in November is thanking those who supported them. Singer Jesse Hughes says the reception that Eagles of Death Metal got upon returning to Europe ``has truly been humbling'' _ and he says the support has helped the band get back to playing ``butt-shaking rock 'n' roll music.'' The band was performing at the Bataclan theatre when Islamic extremists stormed the show, killing 89 people. The group returned to Paris to perform again last week.
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RAY CHARLES GETS WHITE HOUSE TRIBUTE
U-S President Barack Obama says Ray Charles was able to compress the weightiest emotions into a single note. The president and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a musical tribute to Charles last night at the White House _ the final one he will be doing as president. Among those taking part were Usher, Demi Lovato and The Band Perry. The performances were recorded for ``Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles: In Performance at the White House.'' The program will be broadcast by P-B-S tomorrow.
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``AMERICAN IDOL'' TOP 10 TO BE REVEALED TONIGHT
Tonight, we'll see the results of the first viewer votes on ``American Idol'' this season. Last night, the judges gave ``fast passes'' to the Top 10 to four singers. They included Trent Harmon, who had mono during Hollywood week and La'Porsha Renae. She's been one of the judges' favourites since her first audition. The remaining six of the Top 10 will be named during tonight's live show. But they won't have long to celebrate. They also have to perform before the night's over.
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(The Associated Press)