Christian Berishaj, aka Christian TV, checked in with his Facebook fans after posting a cover of ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince. The former Love Arcade member, who is readying his debut solo album on Universal Motown, writes:
Took a break on the recent tour to record something special for you guys. Can’t express how big of an influence Prince has been on me and this is one of my favorite songs ever - hope you enjoy.
Several artists reacted to comments from Prince saying that he believes covering songs without an artist’s permission and blessing should be illegal. “I understand where he’s coming from,” ‘American Idol’ alum Adam Lambert said. “I mean, he’s Prince. I think he can get his way. But there is something to that, because as artists and writers, we create these songs and we have this passion and vision for it. Then the minute someone covers it, you run the risk of it either being great or falling apart.”
Check out comments from Taio Cruz, Rod Stewart, Ke$ha, and Dr. Luke at HollywoodReporter.com.
Pop acts on television this week include:
‘American Idol’ season eight’s top ten contestants visit ‘Larry King Live’ (CNN) on Monday.
Mandy Moore, who visits ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ (Syndicated) on Tuesday.
Kris Allen, who visits ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ (ABC) and ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ (Syndicated) on Tuesday, and ‘Today’ (NBC) on Thursday.
Adam Lambert, who visits ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ (ABC) on Wednesday and ‘Today’ (NBC) on Thursday.
Danny Gokey, who visits ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ (ABC) on Thursday.
Prince, who performs on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ (NBC) on Thursday.
Pop acts on television this week include:
Prince, who appears on ‘Tavis Smiley’ (PBS) on Monday and Tuesday.
This week’s ‘American Idol’ theme is big band week on FOX. Last week’s castoffs Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds appear on ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ (ABC) and ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ (Syndicated) on Monday. Judge Kara DioGuardi visits ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ (ABC) on Friday.
Bat For Lashes, who performs on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ (CBS) on Friday.
Pop acts on television this week include:
It’s Motown week on ‘American Idol’ on Tuesday and Wednesday night on FOX, preceded by Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest visiting ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ (NBC) on Monday night. Last week’s castoff castoff Alexis Grace visits ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ (Syndicated) and ‘Live with Regis and Kelly’ (ABC) on Monday. ‘Idol’ judge Kara DioGuardi visits ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ on Tuesday.
Jon Peter Lewis, who performs on ‘The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet’ (FOX) on Tuesday.
Gabriella Cilmi, who performs on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ (NBC) on Tuesday.
Prince, who performs on ‘The Tonight Show’ (NBC) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Iglu & Hartly, who perform on ‘Last Call with Carson Daly’ (NBC) on Thursday.
Corbin Bleu, who visits ‘The Tyra Banks Show’ (Syndicated) on Thursday.
Justin Timberlake, who visits ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ (Syndicated) on Friday.
ABC News profiled the 29-second video of 18-month old Holden Lenz dancing to Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ in a posting at YouTube, which led the litigious artist to apparently track down the clip and post a copyright claim, prompting the site to remove the clip that had only been viewed by 28 people. Holden’s mother Stephanie Lenz filed a “counter-notice” with YouTube, and the Google owned company her video back up about six weeks later. Now Lenz, along with Electronic Frontier Foundation, are suing Universal Music Group over the incident. A well-placed source directly involved in the situation confirmed to ABC News that Prince was directly involved in seeking the takedown of Lenz’s video. “This guy scours the Internet,” the source revealed. “He’s really intense about this stuff.” The insider added that Lenz’s video “happened to be one of many” that artist apparently located online and demanded be taken down. Read more.
Prince is upsetting the music industry by giving away his new album with a tabloid newspaper. Watch a report from CNN’s Jim Boulden below.
Prince was spotted arriving at Nice airport in southern France on Sunday (June 17) after leaving luxury Grand Hotel in Cap Ferrat, where he gave a private concert for the new owner, a wealthy Russian businessman. Prince was paid $1 million for his performance.
Pictures at abacausa.com have since been removed.
Did Jeannette Walls of MSNBC.com fall for a claim that Prince and Sinead O’Connor got into a physical altercation after her cover of his song, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. “At the time he had a lot of female proteges and I had covered his song without having anything to do with him,” Walls wrote that O’Connor had told the London Mirror. “He invited me to his house in Los Angeles and started to give out to me for swearing in interviews. When I told him to go fu** himself he got very upset and became quite threatening, physically. I ended up having to escape.” When the interviewer responded that “The Artist” was such a small guy, O’Connor responded, “He can pack a punch. A few blows were exchanged. All I could do was spit. I spat on him quite a bit.” A search at Mirror.co.uk shows no matches for the claim (nothing at the Sunday Mirror web site either), and a Google search for specific quotes at the time of this posting only showed a match from Walls’ story. Prince, who has a reputation for litigation exceeded only by Steve Bing and sued many of his own fan sites several years back, will no doubt be furious with a claim that alleges he assaulted a woman.
Update: Walls apparently got an advance excerpt of the interview published a few days later.
Susan Barnett of CBS Affiliate KYW in Philadelphia has the story on Prince’s new fragrance 3121, which is due to hit select Macy’s stores this summer. Watch it below the cut. (more…)
