The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
- Britney Spears, Taylor Swift are top-earning women in music
- Mick Jagger love letters sold at London auction
- Rock legends take to New York stage for Sandy victims
| Britney Spears, Taylor Swift are top-earning women in music Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:38 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears edged past Taylor Swift to claim the title of top-earning woman in music after bringing in an estimated US$58 million from her album, endorsements and a perfume in the past year, Forbes said on Wednesday. Country-pop singer Swift, 22, was a close second with an estimated US$57 million paycheck thanks to her tour - which made more than US$1 million each night - a contract with CoverGirl cosmetics, her own line of fragrances and her new album Red. R&B star Rihanna, 24, earned an estimated US$53 million to put her at No. 3, two places up from last year, followed by Lady Gaga, 26, who slipped from No. 1 in 2011 to fourth place with US$52 million. Katy Perry, 28, the only musician other than Michael Jackson to produce five No. 1 hit singles from one album, rounded out the top five with about US$45 million in earnings. "I think people love the comeback story - Britney never really finished her run as a superstar," Steve Stoute, marketing expert and author of The Tanning Of America told Forbes. Spears, 31, who was No. 10 last year, earned most of her money from her latest album Femme Fatale and her tour, according to Forbes, which compiled the list with estimated earnings from May 2011 to May 2012. In September, Spears became a judge on the reality TV singing show The X Factor, reportedly for US$15 million. Despite their huge incomes, only eight of the top women music earners were among the 25 best-paid musicians, which Forbes attributes in part to career breaks to have children. Madonna made the list in ninth place with an estimated US$30 million in earnings, which did not include profits from her latest tour because it was outside the time period considered for the ranking. Forbes compiled the list after estimating pretax income based on record sales, touring information merchandise sales and interviews with concert promoters, lawyers and managers. |
| Mick Jagger love letters sold at London auction Posted: 12 Dec 2012 10:17 PM PST LONDON: A collection of letters sent by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to his secret lover in the summer of 1969 sold for around $300,000 at a London auction on Wednesday, trumping their pre-sale estimate. Purchased by a private collector over the telephone, the letters sold for 187,250 (about $301,000 or 231,000 euros) at a Sotheby's auction, trumping their pre-sale estimate of 70,000 to 100,000. The letters were written to black American singer Marsha Hunt, aged 23 at the time, while Jagger was filming the movie "Ned Kelly" in Australia, and were presented as a window into a different side of the rock-and-roll legend. "We are delighted with the result of today's sale which reflects the great significance of these letters, written at such a vivid moment in social and musical history," said Sotheby's books specialist Gabriel Heaton. "There has been enormous international interest in the letters, which depict Mick Jagger, not as the global superstar he is today, but reveal him as a poetic and self-aware 25-year-old with wide-ranging intellectual and artistic interests." Hunt, who starred in the original London cast of hit musical "Hair" and was the poster girl of the "Black is Beautiful" movement, had an initially clandestine affair with the rocker when interracial relationships were taboo. "1969 saw the ebbing of a crucial, revolutionary era, highly influenced by such artists as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, James Brown and Bob Dylan," Hunt said after the sale. "Their inner thoughts should not be the property of only their families, but the public at large, to reveal who these influential artists were - not as commercial images, but their private selves." Written after the Stones' historic Hyde Park gig, the letters illustrate Jagger's musings on topics like the moon landing, his future relationship with Hunt, his impressions of the Outback and John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Hunt said: "Despite his high profile and my own... our delicate love affair remains as much part of his secret history as his concerns over the death of Brian Jones and the suicide attempt of his girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull." Hunt is the inspiration behind the Stones' 1971 hit "Brown Sugar" and became the mother of Jagger's first child, Karis.-AFP |
| Rock legends take to New York stage for Sandy victims Posted: 12 Dec 2012 07:57 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band opened an all-star benefit concert for victims of Superstorm Sandy on Wednesday, in what producers promised was "the greatest line-up of legends ever assembled on a stage." The 12-12-12 concert at New York's Madison Square Garden features a who's who of rock and pop, including The Rolling Stones, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Kanye West and Bon Jovi. "How do I begin again? My city's in ruins?" Springsteen sang. He was joined by Jon Bon Jovi for Born To Run, ushering in what was to be a night of musical duets. Next up, Roger Waters performed alongside Eddie Vedder, and later in the evening Paul McCartney was due to jam with Dave Grohl. Comedian Adam Sandler took the stage for a Sandy-themed spoof on Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, rhyming the title with Sandy, Screw Ya! Backstage, actress Susan Sarandon recounted losing power in her New York home but said that was a small hardship compared to the real victims who lost their homes. Steven Van Zandt, guitarist of the E Street Band, scolded "the oil companies" and "Wall Street guys" for not doing more to help. "Even with the music business not what it used to be... we are proud to be here," he said. Producer John Sykes said Waters, McCartney and Chris Martin of Coldplay had reached out to "other legends to join them on stage and create once-in-a-lifetime moments." Before the concert, Sykes said US$32 million had already been raised from ticket sales and sponsorships. With the concert's potential to reach 2 billion people through broadcast and digital platforms, organizers are hoping to raise tens of millions more. To help with the fundraising, celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Kristen Stewart, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chelsea Clinton and Billy Crystal are taking part in a telethon during the concert, which is expected to last between four and five hours. It is being broadcast live on television, radio, movie theaters, on Facebook and iHeartRadio, and streamed on digital billboards in New York's Times Square, London and Paris. More than 130 people were killed when Sandy pummeled the East Coast of the United States in October. Thousands more were left homeless as the storm tore through areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, causing billions of dollars in damage. Sykes said personal stories of neighborhoods and people severely affected by Sandy will be showcased during the concert. Sykes was also involved with The Concert For New York City after the September 11, 2001, attacks, which raised more than US$30 million for charity. He said technological advances over the past decade have exponentially changed the reach of fundraising. "We have both traditional and new media behind us in a way that we've never had before, and that is really going to be the 'x-factor' on how much money we can raise for the victims." Donations raised from the one-night concert produced by Clear Channel Entertainment and The Weinstein Company, will go to the Robin Hood Relief Fund, which will provide money and materials to groups helping people hardest hit by the storm. |
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