The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
- Soul singer Sharon Jones says she has cancer, postpones album
- Lou Reed says he's 'bigger and stronger' after liver transplant
- Many shades of Blush
| Soul singer Sharon Jones says she has cancer, postpones album Posted: 03 Jun 2013 09:05 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Soul group Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings on Monday postponed the release of its forthcoming album and tour after Jones was diagnosed with early-stage bile duct cancer, according to a statement on the band's website. The singer, 57, is to undergo surgery, and is expected to make a full recovery but will require a "lengthy" rehabilitation period, the statement said. "Over the last few weeks I haven't felt good and I didn't know what was going on," Jones said in a statement. "We just found out that I have a stage-one tumor on my bile duct. Luckily we caught it really early and fast and the doctors say it's operable and curable!" Bile ducts carry bile produced by the liver from the gallbladder into the small intestine to aid with digestion. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are best known for the 2007 song 100 Days, 100 Nights and 2010's I Learned The Hard Way. The group's fifth album, Give The People What They Want, was scheduled to be released on August 6. A new release date has not been announced. The band is credited with reviving interest in soul music over the past decade and preceding such acts as the late British soul singer Amy Winehouse. Without Jones, the brassy Dap-Kings have also provided backing music to such artists as Winehouse and British rockers The Heavy and Muse. |
| Lou Reed says he's 'bigger and stronger' after liver transplant Posted: 03 Jun 2013 08:57 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lou Reed says he is "bigger and stronger than ever" after a life-saving liver transplant and is looking forward to getting back to performing on stage. "I am a triumph of modern medicine, physics and chemistry," the 71-year-old rocker said on his website after his wife revealed news of the transplant at the weekend. "I am bigger and stronger than ever. My Chen Taiji and health regime has served me well all of these years," Reed said, referring to a traditional martial arts workout regime aimed at promoting health and relaxation. "I look forward to being on stage performing, and writing more songs to connect with your hearts and spirits and the universe well into the future," said the veteran musician and songwriter, who rose to prominence as the frontman of the 1960s rock band, The Velvet Underground. Reed's wife Laurie Anderson told The Times of London in an interview published on Saturday that Reed "was dying" before a liver transplant in April. "My husband had a big surgery, which went very well ... a liver transplant," she said. "It's as serious as it gets. He was dying. You don't get it for fun." Reed canceled numerous performances scheduled in California in April, including two at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The singer of now classic songs such as Sweet Jane has enjoyed a successful solo career with 20 studio albums and numerous collaborations with other artists, including country singer Vince Gill and rock group The Killers. He married Anderson, a performance artist and experimental musician, in 2008. She is six years his junior. |
| Posted: 04 Jun 2013 02:16 AM PDT It is hard enough for a band to stay united when its members come from the same background. When they hail from five different cultures, it can seem a recipe for disaster. But Blush, an all-Asian female pop group comprising members from the Philippines, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and India, say they turn their multifarious nature into an advantage. Hong Kong native Victoria Chan, 30, says: "There is a lot more diversity in our thoughts and ideas, and we're all impacted by our culture and experiences, so that gives us a lot to work with. The times we've done songwriting, the songs always come from personal real-life experiences ... you bring different things to the table. It's definitely a pro rather than a con." Natsuko Danjo, 22, from Japan, adds: "As a solo singer, you write all the songs alone but with five of us, each one has gone through different things and has different stories to tell." The group – including Angeli Flores, 23, from the Philippines; Alisha Budhrani, 21, from India; and Ji Hae-lee, 27, from South Korea – says every member has an equal role in the songwriting process, from composing melodies and beats to penning lyrics. They came together in 2010 through a talent search across Asia comprising more than 3,500 auditions in China, India, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. Their journey was documented in an eight-part mini-series aired on Channel V last year. Since the group's inception, they have opened for Canadian pop star Justin Bieber and performed alongside dance-pop singer Jessie J, American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson, boy band The Wanted and pop group Black Eyed Peas. Their chart successes include Undivided and Dance On, both which reached top three positions on the Billboard Dance and Club Play Chart. Blush is working on an upcoming album with multiple Grammy winner Quincy Jones on board as executive producer. Says Budhrani of working with the famous music producer who has collaborated with the likes of Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington and Stevie Wonder: "He tells us about his life experiences and shares with us, words of wisdom such as, 'When it rains, get wet.'" Chan adds: "He's like Uncle Quincy or family to us. He's really embraced us and is always telling people good things about us." The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network |
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