NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Next year brings new music from Darius Rucker. He’s releasing his third country album on January 22nd. It’s called “True Believers” and features twelve tracks.
Rucker says he really paid attention to what friends and fans were saying on the road and the result is an album he’s “so proud of.” Rucker says his fans “really have been the true believers” since he released his first single to country radio. The album’s title track is currently in the top 20 and climbing.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Eric Church will be angry when he walks out on stage to perform at the Country Music Association Awards tomorrow.
He says he has a huge chip on his shoulder from all the times when other artists got things he didn’t and when he couldn’t get a song played on the radio. He carries that with him when he’s on stage, and he believes it makes him a better performer. Church is the lead CMA Awards nominee, and he says no one is more surprised about that than he is.
NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift’s new album is called “Red,” but its true color is a brilliant platinum. The 22-year-old sold 1.2 million copies of her latest album in its first week — the largest sales week for any album in a decade.
Nielsen SoundScan confirmed the sales Tuesday night. “Red” marks Swift’s second straight album to sell more than 1 million in its first week; “Speak Now,” her third album, sold a little over 1 million when it was released in 2010. She’s the only woman to have two albums sell more than 1 million copies each in its first week.
The only other act to do so was ‘N Sync.
Swift tweeted to her fans Tuesday night: “Thanks a million.”
UNDATED (AP) – The windmill may be Pete Townshend’s signature move, but it’s really Keith Richards’ move. Townshend writes in his new autobiography, “Who I Am,” an early version of the band called The Detours opened for The Rolling Stones in December 1963. Townshend saw Richards swing his arms like a windmill to warm up. When they opened for The Stones a few weeks later, Richards didn’t do that, so Townshend adopted it for himself. A month or so later, they found out another band had the name The Detours, so they needed a new name. The name “The Who” came from future Who biographer Richard Barnes. Townshend himself wanted to call the band “The Hair.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disney is paying $4.05 billion to buy Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company behind “Star Wars,” from its chairman and founder, George Lucas. It’s also making a seventh movie in the “Star Wars” series.
The Walt Disney Co. announced the agreement to make the purchase in cash and stock Tuesday. Disney added that “Star Wars Episode 7” is scheduled for release in 2015.
The deal brings Lucasfilm under the Disney banner with other brands including Pixar, Marvel, ESPN and ABC.
Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become its president and report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Lucas will be creative consultant on new “Star Wars” films.
Lucas said in a statement, “It’s now time for me to pass ‘Star Wars’ on to a new generation of filmmakers.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tim McGraw has announced a Feb. 5 release date for his first album since leaving Curb Records.
“Two Lanes of Freedom” is McGraw’s first release since a judge granted him the right to record for Big Machine Records. The Louisiana native had been under contract with Curb for nearly two decades.
The singer announced his partnership with Big Machine’s Scott Borchetta last May, and an appeals court recently affirmed his right to record and release new material with the label.
McGraw will perform the new single “One of Those Nights” during the Country Music Association Awards, airing live Thursday night on ABC.
The partnership between Curb and McGraw was one of the most successful in country music history, leading to 40 million in albums sales, 32 No. 1 singles and three Grammys.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Howie Mandel will host a game show described as a cross between his former game show “Deal or No Deal” and the old show “Let’s Make a Deal.” It’ll air Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the week of December 14 and then back-to-back shows on Monday, December 17. “The Voice” will have to be cut back to one hour that Monday night. Here’s how the game works. Six contestants pick one of several wrapped packages that contain millions of dollars in prizes. They’ll have to decide whether to steal a previously revealed prize or gamble that the unopened box is worth more. The contestant with the least valuable prize at the end of each round will be sent home.
NEW YORK (AP) – At least for David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon the show must go on. Both did their late night shows last night without studio audiences. Letterman and Fallon originate their shows in New York, which was taking a pounding from Hurricane Sandy. Fallon opened his show on the street in front of his studio. He told viewers he hoped they were safe at home and explained they were going to tape the show in an empty theater. Jimmy Kimmel canceled a planned taping in Brooklyn.
LONDON (AP) — James Bond rules the box office — though he has failed to dethrone Harry Potter.
Producers say the new Bond adventure, “Skyfall,” has had the second-biggest opening weekend in British movie history, taking 20.1 million pounds ($32 million) at the U.K. box office.
That is the biggest opening weekend for any of the 23 Bond films, and ranks just behind last year’s final Potter movie, “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows — Part 2,” which took 23 million pounds in its first weekend in Britain.
“Skyfall” opened this weekend in 25 global markets, taking in a total of $77.7 million between Friday and Sunday.
The film, which stars Daniel Craig as agent 007 and Javier Bardem as a villain bent on revenge, opens in the United States on Nov. 9.
(AP) — Green Day is canceling the rest of its 2012 club schedule and is postponing the start of the 2013 arena tour.
Bass player Mike Dirnt says Billie Joe Armstrong’s “well-being is our main concern” in the band’s decision to clear the schedule through Feb 8.
He says in a statement Monday that Armstrong is doing well in his attempt to shake substance abuse problems that emerged publicly in September when the singer-guitarist had a profane meltdown on the stage of the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.
The Grammy-winning punks also moved up the release date of “Tre,” the third installment in a trilogy of albums released over a period of months. The album will be released Dec. 11, more than a month ahead of schedule.
