Duff McKagan is leaving Jane’s Addiction. According to Reuters, the band announced the split Monday by email.
The former Guns N’ Roses bassist joined Jane’s in March of this year. He has performed some concerts with the band and was working with them on material for a new album.
“Hey, we wanted to thank Duff for helping us write songs for our new record,” the email reportedly said. “We love the songs we worked on with him — and the gigs were a blast — but musically we were all headed in different directions. From here Duff is off to work on his own stuff so we wish him all the best.”
While the line-up of frontman Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins has remained unchanged since 1986, Jane’s Addiction has been through five bass players. Original member Eric Avery has left and returned, most recently departing earlier this year to be replaced by McKagan. In between, the slot has been filled by Martyn LeNoble, Chris Chaney and Flea.
McKagan is a founding member of Guns N’ Roses, which he left in 1998. He formed Velvet Revolver in 2002 with former GNR members Slash and Matt Sorum, as well as Wasted Youth’s Dave Kushner and Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland. VR split in 2008.
Jane’s Addiction is currently working on their first album in seven years. The last was 2003’s Strays.
Perry Farrell posted a message on his Twitter that reads, “Jane’s wishes Duff much luck with his band Loaded. What a fun time we all had working together. Look out for his record and tour this fall.”
(Photo by PR Photos)
Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation
Mike Edwards, a founding member of the Electric Light Orchestra has been killed in a freak accident.
According to the CBC, the 62-year-old cellist was driving in southwest England on September 3, when a 600-kilogram bale of hay rolled out of a field and crushed his van. He died instantly.
“This was a tragic accident,” Sgt. Steve Walker of the Devon and Cornwall police traffic unit told BBC News. An investigation is underway.
Edwards’ cello playing is featured on albums released by ELO between 1972 and 1975, including The Electric Light Orchestra (released 1971 in the UK), ELO II, On the Third Day, The Night The Light Went On (In Long Beach) and Eldorado. He left in 1975 and was replaced by Melvyn Gale. After his departure, Edwards became a follower of Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) and changed his name to Swami Deva Pramada.
Recently he had been living in Devon, and had worked on different musical projects, including operas at Sadler’s Wells in London.
The CBC says former ELO drummer Bev Bevan called his ex-bandmate “a chubby little chap with a big, black beard and the most amazing grin,” adding, “He used to play [Bach's] Air on a G String using an orange instead of a bow.”
Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation
These days Bono is just as famous for his political awareness and involvement as for the music he makes with U2. Now former British prime minister Tony Blair says the singer could have been a politician if he hadn’t chosen to be a rocker instead.
Over the past few decades, Bono has put himself at the forefront of a number of worthy causes, most often having to do with developing nations and debt reduction, and has met with world leaders from every corner of the globe.
Blair writes in his new autobiography A Journey that, had Bono wanted, he could easily have been a world leader himself.
“(Bono) could have been a president or prime minister standing on his head,” Blair writes. “He had an absolutely natural gift for politicking, was great with people, very smart and an inspirational speaker… motivated by an abundant desire to keep on improving, never really content or relaxed.”
Blair notes that one of the keys to Bono’s success is his ability to treat others with respect, including figures often held in disdain by those on the left. Blair cites the surprise meeting between Bono and former U.S. president George W. Bush as a prime example.
“I knew he would work with George well,” he writes “And with none of the prissy disdain of most of his ilk.”
(Photo by PR Photos)
Story provided by Dish Information Corporation
Pop superstar Lady Gaga was hospitalized six times last year due to her extreme dieting, according to explosive new allegations made by her former tour manager.
David Ciemny says the star, real name Stefani Germanotta, would binge on junk food and then refuse to eat for weeks at a time in order to fit into her elaborate and often revealing costumes. Ciemny says Gaga once lost 20lbs between wardrobe fittings.
The allegations are contained in the new book Poker Face: The Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga by Maureen Callahan. Ciemny is quoted as saying that he believes the Bad Romance singer is “sick.”
“When I say she was sick,” he says, “I mean physically and mentally.”
Gaga canceled four shows in the U.S. this past January, claiming to suffer from an irregular heartbeat caused by that common rock star ailment “exhaustion.” There were also reports she had suffered a “break down” in New Zealand last March.
The singer has previously acknowledged to CNN’s Larry King that she has tested “borderline positive” for Lupus, an autoimmune disease which has already claimed the life of her aunt.
Lady Gaga has not publicly responded to Ciemny’s claims.
(Photo by PR Photos)
Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation
UK funnyman Russell Brand might be well-advised to keep an eye on fiancée Katy Perry. Charismatic rapper Snoop Dogg has revealed that he’s “in contact” with the Teenage Dream singer and would love “to get together and do something.”
While it may sound salacious, the hip-hop star was actually talking about making time with Katy in the recording studio. The pair teamed up for the summer smash California Gurls earlier this year and now the Drop It Like It’s Hot hit-maker is hoping for a repeat performance on his next album.
“We’re trying to get together and do something on my new album for my new record, so (I’m) definitely in contact with her,” Snoop says. “She’s a sweet girl and I had fun making the record with her.”
Contact Music reports that the D-O-Double Gizzle says that, despite some obvious differences, his music has a lot in common with Miss Perry’s. The basic ingredient, he figures, is “fun.”
“I’m looking forward to her being on my record as well,” says Snoop “My sound is just fun, good music. My music has always been about me having a good time, people feeling good, that’s what I’m looking for.”
(Photo by PR Photos)
Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation
Jay-Z won’t be taking over as Beyonce’s manager. Rumours have been swirling recently that the relationship between the Daddy singer and her manager/father, Mathew Knowles, had been strained to the breaking point. The rift supposedly began last year, after very public revelations that Mathew had cheated on Beyonce’s mother Tina, and fathered a child with another woman.
Beyonce, once very much Daddy’s little girl, supposedly stopped speaking to her father after the incident and the relationship was allegedly never restored.
Talk had suggested that Beyonce’s hip-hop mogul husband, who recently formed a new management company, would be taking over her career.
A press release issued by Music World Entertainment, however, refutes the reports.
The release, found via Contact Music and posted on Music World’s official site, reads “Contrary to false rumors online, Beyonce and her manager Mathew Knowles unequivocally have had and continue to have a close personal and business relationship. Mathew Knowles is the sole and exclusive manager of Beyonce.”
Meanwhile, Kanye West recently announced via Twitter that he and Jay-Z are collaborating on a five-song album called Watch the Throne.
Two tracks by the duo, Power and Monster, have already debuted.
Kanye tweeted, “Me and jay bout to drop a 5 song album called “Watch the Throne”… and then later, “‘MONSTER’ ….. Happy GOOD Friday!!! The second song off of me and Jay album!”
50 Cent has is handing out legal advice via Twitter. The P.I.M.P. rapper has offered counsel to the wife of beleaguered fellow hip hopper T.I., who was arrested this week on drug possession charges.
T.I. (whose real name is Clifford Harris, Jr.) and his wife, former Xscape singer Tameka Cottle, were taken into custody in West Hollywood on Wednesday, September, 1, after a sheriff’s deputy allegedly smelled cannabis smoke coming from their vehicle during a traffic stop. Police allegedly found methamphetamine and ecstasy in the couple’s possession. They were released early in the morning on September 2 on $10,000 bail each.
T.I. was only recently released from prison, where he just served seven months – followed by three in a halfway house — for a trying to buy machine guns and silencers, and is currently on probation. The new arrest could get him sent back to the big house. So, according to Contact Music, 50 is urging Tameka to take the fall.
On his Twitter page, 50 suggested, “Man TI and tiny done got picked up agin for methamphetamines and ecstacy dam man. Tiny gotta take that charge. Say it was yours Baby.”
Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder is well known for his commitment to various causes, from protecting the environment to feminist issues, but it’s his commitment to helping the West Memphis 3 that has affected him the most.
The story of the West Memphis 3 — three teenagers convicted of killing three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas back in 1993 — was detailed in the acclaimed 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.
Now, with a new hearing scheduled for the end of September, Vedder tells CNN’s Larry King that his friendship with one of the convicted killers, Damien Echols, has deeply affected his personal life.
“Probably one of the reasons I’m not as good a friend with the friends I now have is because I spend so much time on this case and being Damien’s friend,” says the rocker. Vedder also told King he frequently visits Echols, who was sentenced to death for his role in the killings.
“After I’ve gone to visit Damien, there are days and stretches. And, you know, that experience resonates and stays within you. And I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve really tried to do everything I could for the case… It’s stuck with me. I think about it a lot.”
Echols contributed to the lyrics for the song Army Reserve on Pearl Jam’s eponymous 2006 album.
Vedder is far from the only celebrity to rally behind Echols and the WM3. Johnny Depp, the Dixie Chicks, Henry Rollins, Marilyn Manson and South Park’s Trey Parker have all voiced their support for the cause.
Veteran rockers Guns N’ Roses stormed off stage in protest Wednesday after being hit with bottles thrown by angry fans at a concert in Dublin, Ireland (if they’re throwing bottles, maybe they’re not exactly “fans,” but that’s what reports call them).
After starting the performance more than an hour late, Axl Rose and crew were pelted by bottles and booed by the crowd. Starpulse reports that twenty minutes into the show, Rose stopped the music to warn the audience that if they continued, the band would leave.
“Here’s the deal: One more bottle and we go home. It’s up to you. We would like to stay. We want to stay. We want to have some fun,” the 48-year-old Rose told the crowd. “If you don’t want to have fun, all you’ve got to do is let us know. We’ve got no problem – we’ll go on our way.”
When bottles continued to hit the stage, the band pulled the plug on the show, only to return an hour later to finish their set. It’s far from the first time GNR have angered concert-goers. Probably the most famous incident took place in 1992, when an abbreviated set at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium led to a full-scale riot. Similar riots had previously occurred in both St. Louis and Germany.
The band, currently celebrating its quarter-of-a-century anniversary, is on tour to promote the 17-years-in-the-making album Chinese Democracy.
(Photo by PR Photos)
Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation
Three years after Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em rocketed to the top of the pop charts, the 20-year-old rapper plans to publish a book charting his rise to fame and telling “everything I learned about the music industry.”
The Chicago-born, Atlanta-bred hip-hop artist tells MTV News that his book, Teenage Millionaire, will explain how he found fame and fortune while still in his teenage years. “It talks about me making my first million dollars at 17 years old,” he tells the network.
“I talk about how my life changed,” he says of the book. “It talks about the music industry, everything I learned about the music industry — how I got into the music industry with my mind set, all the ins and outs that I go through. All the chapters break down my beliefs and what steps and methods I took to get in this position. I just go and break [them] down into detail.”
The rapper (real name, DeAndre Cortez Way) says it’s important to him that his fans understand where he’s coming from. The book’s release is timed to coincide with the release of Soulja’s upcoming album The DeAndre Way.
“I just want all my fans to read it when my album drops and have a good read and feel where I’m coming from,” he says.
Currently enjoying the success of his new hit Pretty Boy Swag, Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em rose to prominence when his first single Crank That (Soulja Boy) reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making him the youngest recording artist to write, produce and perform a number one single.
