2008 – Mitch Mitchell, the innovative drummer who anchored the Jimi Hendrix Experience, has died at the age of 62. Mitchell passed away on November 12 in Portland, Oregon of natural causes.
The London native had completed an 18 city American tour as a featured performer with Experience Hendrix, a series concert series celebrating the legacy of Jimi Hendrix featuring an all-star line-up of artists including his one-time Hendrix bandmate and dear friend Billy Cox. Portland was the tour’s last stop and Mitchell had been staying in town for some vacation time before his planned return to England.
Janie Hendrix, CEO of Experience Hendrix, LLC commented, “We’re all devastated to hear of Mitch’s passing. He was a wonderful man, a brilliant musician and a true friend. His role in shaping the sound of the Jimi Hendrix Experience cannot be underestimated. Over the course of the recent tour, he seemed delighted with the interchange with the other musicians and the audiences. There is no question that he was doing what he loved.
2006 – A man dies after being severely beaten by two unidentified assailants in the moshpit at Korn’s Atlanta concert. The band appeal for witnesses to the attack to help with the investigation.
2006 – Even in Deaths, Johnny Cash is still mighty enough to top The Chart Toppers 200. American V: A Hundred Highways earns the Man in Black his first No. 1 album since 1969.
Even in death, Johnny Cash is still mighty enough to top The Billboard 200. “American V: A Hundred Highways” earns the Man in Black his first No. 1 album since 1969′s “Johnny Cash at San Quentin” with 88,000 copies sold in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
The American Recordings/Lost Highway effort also crowns the Top Country Albums tally, knocking the Dixie Chicks’ “Taking the Long Way” (Columbia) to No. 2 after seven weeks on top.
Though the top debut is a great posthumous achievement, the Rick Rubin-produced “American V” sold the fewest copies of a No. 1 debut since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. The previous low for a No. 1 debut belonged to Destiny’s Child’s “#1′s” in 2005, which started with 113,000.
Nelly Furtado’s “Loose” (Mosley Music/Geffen) climbs 3-2 on The Billboard 200 with 81,000 copies, despite a 18% slip in sales. After scoring her first No. 1 last week, India.Arie’s Universal Motown release “Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship” falls to No. 3 with 69,000 copies after a 57% sales hit. The Chicks’ “Taking the Long Way” holds tight at No. 4 with 57,000 (-27%).
Gnarls Barkley’s “St. Elsewhere” (Downtown/Atlantic) continues a gradual ascent to a new peak position, moving 6-5, with 56,000 (-6%). Switching places with the effort is Rihanna’s SRP/Def Jam album “A Girl Like Me,” shifting 5-6 with an 11% sales slip to 55,000. Rascal Flatts’ Lyric Street album “Me and My Gang” sells just a small percentage fewer, keeping the No. 7 spot warm (55,000; 6%).
The soundtrack to Disney’s “High School Musical” continues to sell strongly in its 26th week on the chart, moving down 8-9 with 52,000 (-10%). Dashboard Confessional’s “Dusk and Summer” (Vagrant) falls to No. 9 after debuting at No. 2 last week, with 50,000 units and a 63% sales dropoff.
Rise Against lands its best sales week and chart position ever with the Geffen album “The Sufferer & the Witness,” which debuts at No. 10 with 48,000. The group’s last release, “Siren Song of the Counter Culture,” debuted and peaked at No. 136 in 2004.
In a slow week for new releases during the July 4 holiday, only two other albums debuted in the top 200: the soundtrack to Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” at No. 24 (30,000) and the Diana Reyes hits collection “Las No. 1 De La Reyes” (No. 143, 6,000).
At 9 million units, overall CD sales were down 6% from the previous week and down a whopping 15% compared to the same week a year ago. Sales for 2006 are down 5% compared to 2005 at 179.6 million units.
2006 – American Idol contestant Derrell Brittenum surrenders to the Georgia police. Along with his twin brother Terrell, Brittenum performed on the hit show while being wanted on theft and forgery charges.
Terrell and Derrell Brittenum caught in new ‘American Idol’ controversy
By Christopher Rocchio, 01/17/2008
One American Idol mini-controversy apparently wasn’t enough for Terrell and Derrell Brittenum, the Memphis twins that were disqualified from the show’s fifth-season Hollywood Round after identity theft charges surfaced.
On Wednesday morning, the brothers’ newly-signed independent record label boldly announced that although American Idol had advanced them to the show’s Hollywood Round after they’d attended Idol’s seventh-season Atlanta auditions this summer, the twins had decided to “decline” the offer and instead release a debut album. The only problem is it wasn’t true.
“We thought long and hard about joining American Idol for season seven. Although it’s a great opportunity, we feel The Brittenum Twins are a group and only one of us can win and if I can’t do it without my brother I don’t think it would be a true win,” Terrell stated in the release. “Also, we have done it before, we know some of the techniques the judges use and don’t want anyone think we have an unfair advantage over the other contestants.”
However during a subsequent Wednesday afternoon interview with Reality TV World, Derrell and Terrell admitted that, despite the boastful announcement, it wasn’t their decision to not participate. Instead, the fact that they had already been 29-years-old at the time of their August audition meant that they were technically ineligible to compete in American Idol’s seventh season. (Idol 7 hopefuls were required to be between 16 and 28 years old as of July 28, 2007 — meaning that all applicants must be born on or between July 29, 1978 and July 28, 1991 in order to be eligible.)
“We auditioned with flying colors… They passed us through to [executive producer Ken Warwick]. Ken Warwick was like, ‘What do you guys think you’re doing? You’re 29-years-old. You know the limit is 28,’” said Terrell. “We were like, ‘We just want a second chance to show the world we’ve been through a lot…’ We just really viewed it as a second chance, and when we sang for Ken, he agreed.”
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Following their meeting with Warwick, Derrell and Terrell claim they were sent to audition for Idol judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, who all agreed the twins “do possess the talent to come back to the show” and thus awarded them a ticket to the season’s Hollywood Round.
“But before we could go to Hollywood Week — one week before we leave for Hollywood Week — they tell us there’s a possibility that we might not be on the show because our age is posing a problem for the legal department,” said Derrell. “So we fly out for Hollywood Week, and they tell us that we cannot do the show.”
When pressed, the brothers also acknowledged that despite their press release comments, they wouldn’t have declined the chance to participate if producers had waived the age requirement.
Terrell and Derrell Brittenum
“We would have been on… It’s a wonderful vehicle,” Terrell admitted.
“I think I would have taken it,” added Derrell. “You just can’t beat the Idol machine.”
When contacted by Reality TV World, a Fox publicist could not immediately confirm or deny any of the twins claims. In addition, the publicist couldn’t state whether Terrell and Derrell will be featured in American Idol’s seventh-season Atlanta auditions broadcast, which is scheduled to air Tuesday, February 5 at 8PM ET/PT.
“I really wonder if they’re going to air the footage… It was funny, it’s hilarious, it’s a story, it’s a message,” said Terrell. “It’s all of that in one. I really think even though [executive producer Nigel Lythgoe] said they’re not going to use it — I believe that that’s not [going to be] the case. I really believe that they’re going to use it this year, even if we’re not going to be on the show for Hollywood… We make good TV. They know that.”
The Brittenum brothers are no strangers to being uninvited from Idol’s Hollywood Round. They attended Idol 5′s Chicago audition in September 2005 and both immediately impressed the judges with their smooth, soulful voices, earning them a ticket to the season’s Hollywood Round.
However shortly after Fox aired their Idol 5 audition in January 2006, it was revealed the twins were being charged with forgery, theft by deception and financial identity fraud for allegedly buying a 2005 Dodge Magnum using another man’s identity.
While they were released from police custody shortly thereafter, their invite to Idol 5′s Hollywood Round was rescinded by the show’s producers, ending their Idol journey before it ever really began.
They then had a tentative deal with rapper Jermaine Dupri’s SoSo Def Records soon after the controversy, but they claim a lawyer representing them “messed the deal up.”
“We’re sort of trying to U-turn the bad decision we made about stealing the car, just trying to get our lives right,” said Terrell before adding they unfortunately found trouble again. “So we get locked up [in jail] again for an address change in July, and Idol was coming back to Atlanta on the fourteenth. We already planned to audition again for Idol at [age] 29.”
“We just thought let’s just give it another go,” added Derrell. “Maybe we can overturn the bad press and sort of make it good. let people know we made stupid decisions in life — but we still are talented… Just because we made bad decision doesn’t mean we have to stay down in the mess that we’re in. We can always pick ourselves back up and start over again.”
Terrell and Derrell’s first single off their “The Come Up” debut album is scheduled to be released in February via TSG Records, an Atlanta-based company that is home to several R&B singers and rappers. In addition, Terrell and Derrell have launched a foundation called U-Turn where they visit high schools to mentor youth.
Regardless of whether they appear in next month’s Atlanta auditions broadcast, the twins say American Idol viewers may still not have seen the last of them.
“They did give us an opportunity to come back to the show as far as guest appearances,” said Derrell. “So we’re thinking if the single does climb the charts, we’ll call American Idol and I’m sure they would love to put us back on the show.”
2005 – “New Sensation” hit-makers INXS select J.D. Fortune (surely not his real name) to be their front man in the final episode of the reality series Rock Star: INXS.
2005 – Marc Cohn survived being shot in the head during an attempted car jacking as he left a concert in Denver, Colorado. Cohn was struck in the temple by the bullet but it did not penetrate his skull. Police said a man tried to commandeer Cohn’s tour van as it left after a show, the attacker was fleeing police after trying to pay a hotel bill with a stolen credit card.
2005 – Danny Sugerman, longtime manager of the Doors, dies in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer. He is 50.
Daniel Stephen Sugerman (aka Danny; October 11, 1954 – January 5, 2005) was the second manager of the Los Angeles based rock band The Doors, and wrote several books about Jim Morrison and The Doors, including No One Here Gets Out Alive co-authored with Jerry Hopkins, and the autobiography Wonderland Avenue. Sugerman replaced the original Doors manager, Bill Siddons, shortly after Morrison’s death in 1971. He helped film director Oliver Stone with the production of the 1991 movie The Doors.
Sugerman began working with The Doors when he was 12 years old, starting with answering their fan mail. As stated by The Doors’ drummer John Densmore, Danny was “the manager and driving force behind The Doors” who “guided our career for over 30 years”. He lived his life keeping the legacy of The Doors alive.
Sugerman also managed Iggy Pop, and produced his song “Repo Man.” He also wrote Appetite For Destruction: The Days of Guns ‘N Roses in 1991.
Sugerman was married to the former Fawn Hall of Iran-Contra fame. They briefly met MP3.com cofounder Rod Underhill while Hall was employed as an administrative assistant at the San Diego headquarters of the original MP3.com. Underhill, the founding Music Director of MP3.com, stated that “Sugerman was very interesting. He had appeared to go out of his way to appear visually like Jim Morrison. Same type of haircut, similar clothing. The similarity was uncanny.”
Sugerman was interested in working out a distribution deal with MP3.com for a number of live Doors recordings that were yet unreleased. No deal was forthcoming, and Sugerman later determined that it would be practical to offer the recordings on CD to fans via the Doors’ own official website.
Sugerman was a recovering heroin addict who found solace in Buddhism. He died in 2005 after a prolonged struggle with lung cancer due to years of smoking, and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
From:Rhino.
Danny Sugerman Dead at 50
Danny Sugerman, who first saw The Doors in concert in 1967 and landed a job at their West Hollywood office answering fan mail, eventually becoming the group’s manager, died last night, at the age of 50, after a long struggle with lung cancer. Born in L.A. in 1954, Sugerman attended Westchester High School and immediately became involved with The Doors. He co-wrote the 1981 N.Y. Times best-selling Jim Morrison biography, No One Here Gets Out Alive, with Jerry Hopkins, then followed up with the autobiographical Wonderland Avenue and books on Guns N’ Roses and The Doors. Sugerman also consulted Oliver Stone on his 1990 movie The Doors, which starred Val Kilmer as Morrison. Danny had been co-managing The Doors with Jeff Jampol and The Firm.
Said John Densmore, The Doors drummer, “Throughout his time with us that stretched from the 14-year-old kid who Jim Morrison suggested we hire to do our scrapbook, up until his passing on January 5th 2005, at age 50, Danny Sugerman has been the manager and driving force behind The Doors. He wrote a New York Times bestseller about the band and guided our career for over 30 years. I was with Danny a couple of hours before he passed, he knew he was going, and I only hope that when my time comes, I face it with as much courage and dignity as Danny did. He crossed over as a Bhodi Sattva.”
Sugerman is survived by a brother, Dr. Joseph, sister, Nan, and wife, the former Fawn Hall. A recovering addict, he was active with organizations like the Drug Policy Foundation, Musicians Assistance Program and NARAS’ MusiCares Foundation.
2004 – A man is killed and another wounded in a shooting outside a New York nightclub hosting a party for rapper Ja Rule. The incident comes one week after a man was shot at a similar Ja Rule affair in Peoria, Ill.
2004 – Actor William Shatner’s infamous 1968 album “The Transformed Man,” which finds the venerable Capt. Kirk reading poetry over ultra-serious musical accompaniment and covering such contemporary classics as Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” is reissued by Geffen.
2004 – A man who claimed he was Sheryl Crow’s “spiritual twin” is acquitted of stalking charges. Ambrose Kappos, an ex-Navy diver, said he was merely trying to “court” the singer when he appeared backstage at a 2003 concert.
2004 – The man who shot John Lennon is denied parole for a third time. The New York State Division of Parole say that Mark David Chapman showed “extreme malicious intent” in killing the former Beatle.
2004 – UK R&B singer Jamelia and Kanye West each win three awards at the Music of Black Origin Awards in London. A protest is held outside the venue in support of Elephant Man and Vybz Kartel, who were banned from the awards for their homophobic lyrics.
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