Has Jay-Z's 'Magna Carta Holy Grail' Album Gone Platinum Before Its Release?
By Tony Maglio LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Jay-Z once spit, "I deserve platinum plaques, to match my bezel." And while the rapper's got a bunch of those (and plenty of bezels), after Samsung announced it would purchase a million copies of his new album "Magna Carta Holy Grail," is there another platinum disc in the mail already? The answer is "not yet," according to a music industry insider. A record cannot be certified platinum (or gold, or multiplatinum) before it's out, regardless of presale numbers. ...
After four decades, Black Sabbath tops U.S. album chart
By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran heavy-metal band Black Sabbath landed its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, more than four decades after the rockers debuted their first album in the United States. "13," the 19th studio album from Black Sabbath, sold 155,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, knocking last week's No. 1 album by Queens of the Stone Age off the top spot on the weekly U.S. album chart. ...
Rolling Stones release back catalogue on iTunes
LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones released a career-spanning digitally re-mastered back catalogue on Apple Inc's iTunes Store on Wednesday as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. The new iTunes release chronicles the British group's entire oeuvre, from their introductory 1963 cover of Chuck Berry's "Come On" to last year's Greatest Hits collection "GRRR!", their record label Universal Music said on Wednesday. The Rolling Stones - Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts - emerged alongside the Beatles in the early 1960s. ...
Kanye West wins over critics with 'daring' new album 'Yeezus'
By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Kanye West pushes the boundaries of hip hop with his latest album "Yeezus," using aggressive electro-dance music beats to channel his anger and win over critics, who have called the record "daring" and "ambitious." "Yeezus," the 36-year-old rapper's seventh solo studio album, has also sped to the top of the iTunes digital music chart upon its release on Tuesday, led by the single "Black Skinhead. ...
Legendary country singer Slim Whitman dead at 90
By Patricia Reaney and Tim Ghianni NEW YORK/NASHVILLE (Reuters) - Legendary country singer and songwriter Slim Whitman, known for his smooth falsetto and high-pitched yodeling talent, died in Florida on Wednesday at the age of 90, his son-in-law said. Roy Beagle, who is married to Whitman's daughter Sharon, said the singer-songwriter who was born Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. was admitted to hospital on Tuesday. "He died last night at the Orange Park hospital at about 12:45 this morning of heart failure," Beagle told Reuters. ...
Justin Bieber hits photographer in Los Angeles car scrape
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Teen pop star Justin Bieber struck a photographer with his Ferrari sports car while driving away from a comedy club in Los Angeles on Monday night, but the accident was not considered a hit-and-run, police said. Video taken outside the Laugh Factory comedy club showed Bieber behind the wheel of his white Ferrari, surrounded by photographers as he was pulling away. Celebrity website TMZ said Bieber motioned the photographers to clear out of the way but apparently pinned one between his Ferrari and a parked car as he pulled out. He then drove away. ...
