Though the event has had little impact on the American pop-cultural consciousness, the death of the pop star Stephen Gately, a singer in the Irish band Boyzone, was regarded in Britain as a national tragedy.

Mr. Gately, 33, died Saturday while visiting the Spanish island of Mallorca, The Associated Press reported. The band announced the news on its official Web site, boyzone.net, on Sunday, and few details of the singer’s death have been made available. A spokesman for Mr. Gately’s family told BBC News, “There’s no foul play involved and it’s not suicide. It’s just a tragic accident is what we’ve been told.”

Formed in 1993, ahead of the heyday of American boy bands like Backstreet Boys and N’Sync, the Dublin-based Boyzone released four best-selling albums and six No. 1 singles in its original run, followed by reunion appearances and a tour in 2007 and 2008. Mr. Gately surprised his fans in 1999 by coming out as gay in the British tabloid The Sun, going on to have a successful solo career and entering a civil partnership with Andrew Cowles in 2006.

Mr. Gately’s death quickly elicited tributes and testimonials from fellow pop stars, including Elton John, who introduced Mr. Gately to Mr. Cowles. He told the BBC, “Stephen was the kindest, gentlest soul. We send our love and condolences to his partner Andy and to all his friends everywhere.”

In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis assesses Mr. Gately’s legacy as “a pioneer in the pop world, albeit an unwitting and unwilling one” for being “the first member of a boyband to come out as gay.” He writes:

The teenage girls resolutely failed to desert him – at the end of 1999, he was voted Smash Hits readers’ Hero of the Year. Gately’s career continued undefined by his sexuality – he was a pop star who happened to be gay, rather than a gay pop star – a fact that presumably made the decision to come out easier for Will Young, or Westlife’s Mark Feehily, or N’Sync’s Lance Bass. … He was the first person to prove mainstream pop audiences were less bigoted than some had feared.

Mr. Gately was also paid tribute to on the British reality series “The X Factor,” on which the Boyzone manager Louis Walsh appears as a judge. A video clip of that tribute can be seen here.

Source New York Times

The new Michael Jackson single, "This Is It," debuted online at midnight on Monday (October 12), with some instantly speculating that the heartstring-tugging song could become one of the late pop star's best-selling singles of all time. The spare, mid-tempo love ballad, which was reportedly recorded during the sessions for his 1991 Dangerous album, finds Jackson in classic voice, singing in his clear falsetto along to finger snapping, a subtle jazzy piano and swelling strings, as his brothers, the Jacksons, provide ethereal backing vocals.

For almost four minutes, Jackson weaves one of his pleading tales of unrequited love, opening with the lyrics "This is it, here I stand/ I'm the light of the world, I feel grand/ Got this love I can feel/ And I know, yes, for sure, it is real." Jackson goes on to tell his unnamed lover that he feels as if he's seen their face "a thousand times," and, eerily, that "I know that you have got addicted with your eyes/ But you say you gonna live it for yourself."

Jackson died on June 25 of an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol after years of allegedly suffering from a prescription-pain-medication addiction.

The new song is currently streaming on the singer's official site, and it will play over the credits of the documentary of the same name, which hits theaters October 28 for a limited two-week run. The track will appear twice on the two-disc soundtrack to "This Is It," as both the vocal version and an instrumental take. The soundtrack, with a handful of previously unreleased versions of some of Jackson's classic hits, will go on sale October 27.

The song was reportedly written in 1980, which might explain the lyrical similarities to some of the yearning hits on Jackson's early solo albums like Off the Wall and Thriller, including the urgent refrain "I never heard a single word about you/ Falling in love wasn't my plan/ I never thought that I would be your lover/ C'mon, baby, just understand." The simple arrangement and quasi-messianic lyrics ("I'm the light of the world"), though, betray it as a late-period song, more in line with such emotional ballads as "Man in the Mirror" and "Gone Too Soon," from, respectively, 1987's Bad and Dangerous.

"This Is It" may be the first of many previously unreleased Jackson songs that will be issued in the wake of the singer's death, with reports that there are 100 or more tunes in the vault that fans have not heard.

Source MTV

A batch of unreleased and remixed songs by The Jackson Five are set to be included on a new compilation of the band's material this November.

The 12-track album, called 'I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters', is released on November 12.

A single from the album, the previously unreleased track 'That's How Love Is', has been released as a single on iTunes. You can listen to the track being streamed online at Ilovethatsong.com/jackson5. An alternate version of 'Never Can Say Goodbye' also features on the album.

The track listing for 'I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters' is:

'Man's Temptation'
'Buttercup'
'Never Can Say Goodbye'
'That's How Love Is'
'Love Comes in Flavors'
'Lucky Day'
'Medley: 'I Want You Back'/'ABC'/'The Love You Save'
'ABC'
'I'll Try You'll Try (Maybe We'll All Get By)'
'Listen I'll Tell You How'
'Love Call'
'Dancing Machine'

.Watch the video at NME

SINCE MOTT ANNOUNCED their reunion back in January, websites have buzzed about the setlist, plane tickets been purchased as far away as New Zealand and California while fans who've waited 35 years for the original People's Band to return worked themselves into a lather of anticipation.

More cynical elements feared it could go spectacularly wrong. It would not, after all, be out of character for the band who once sang "you can never grow old" to make a rusty pig's ear of their eternal teenage anthems. But, as a euphoric Bobby Gillespie, howling in the front rows at his own expense for three of the five nights, said, "It doesn't matter how old they are; nobody today plays rock'n'roll like these guys. Maybe the Stones but..."

Over the course of what came to be known as Mott Week, one word repeatedly reverberated across the jungle telegraph: emotional. Speaking as someone who followed the band religiously during its five-year lifespan, that barely describes the waves of unbridled joy which greeted every lurch in Mott's schizophrenic two-hour rocker-ballad rollercoaster ride.

As the slow-building Hymn For The Dudes crashed into Rock And Roll Queen, the band were obviously having a blast. Sprightly septuagenarian singer Ian Hunter strutted around the stage, tempering the old macho stance with humble deprecation and humour, while Overend Watts, a mere 62, scampered around with his Gibson Thunderbird bass like it was 1971, teasing the front rows and striking the bass titan poses which inspired the New York Dolls' Arthur Kane.

Last Thursday's first night nerves and gremlins were obliterated by the sheer disbelieving joy of seeing Mott's original line-up back on a London stage for the first time since 1972 (with The Pretenders' Martin Chambers depping for ailing drummer Dale "Buffin" Griffin). But fluffed endings were small beer in the face of such a triumphant reunion, the brainchild of Hammond organ maestro Verden "Phally" Allen, "the first asshole that left Mott The Hoople" according to Hunter.

"That was good, wasn't it?" beamed Phally afterwards. "It just feels great to be doing it again with the guys after so long. I mean, we had to..."

Shows 2 and 3, on Friday and Saturday, saw rock'n'roll's longest-slumbering kraken wide awake and going hell-for-leather through rockers like Walkin' With A Mountain (Hunter brandishing replica Maltese Cross guitar) and One Of The Boys. Yet it was the ballads that carried the greatest emotional resonance, including The Ballad Of Mott The Hoople and an 'unplugged'-style stools-out drift through The Original Mixed Up Kid. The cataclysmic life-reflection of The Journey followed a burst of Like A Rolling Stone ("My audition song for Mott," revealed Hunter), signalling the singer's switch to electric piano for the final sweep through the glam-era hits.

Most poignantly, Buffin joined Chambers on second drum-kit for the encores, gamely participating in his old mates' reunion. On the first show he was hesitant, but closing Tuesday night's fifth and final show he hammered the tom-toms with a gleeful relish.

"A tad knackered" was a pink-shirted Hunter's verdict on his own performance last night, although it didn't show as he cackled around the stage gripping his champagne-Red Bull cocktail. Bowie rumours proved unfounded but a choir of band offspring and legendary original Mott singer-turned-road manager Stan Tippins coped manfully with All The Young Dudes and Def Leppard's Joe Elliott grandstanded his way through the second verse. There was an air of "mission accomplished" about the whole night. "It's been a long week; it's been pretty hard, but we've had a great time," declared Hunter during the final bow.

There's no doubt the gigs went better than anyone could have dreamed. While Hunter seemed emphatic when he inserted a curt "There won't be a next time" into Keep A Knockin', Phally Allen's been wondering about Glastonbury. Stranger things have happened - as has just been proved - but for now the "goodbye" coda from the closing Saturday Gigs still rings around the old Hammersmith Odeon, and the oddly-elevated memories of those lucky enough to witness this most beautiful of reunions.

Source MOJO

While many were focused on a battle between Paramore's "Brand New Eyes" and Mariah Carey's "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" for the top slot on the Billboard 200 this week, Barbra Streisand trumps them both.  "Love Is the Answer" earns Streisand her ninth No. 1 on the chart, opening with 180,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The debut extends Streisand's lead as the female act with the most No. 1s in the history of the Billboard 200. It's also the her best sales week and highest charting album since 1997, when "Higher Ground" started at No. 1 with 207,000.

"Answer" beats the arrivals of Paramore's "Brand New Eyes," which enters at No. 2 with 175,000, and Mariah Carey's "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel," arriving at No. 3 with 168,000. First-week sales projections had estimated that Paramore would finish ahead of the two divas. As it turns out, Streisand surprised many with how well her album sold in non-traditional ways -- such as through Starbucks, QVC and via her Web site -- and that likely threw a wrench into forecasting sales.

"Brand New Eyes" gives Paramore its best sales week and highest charting album ever. The band's sophomore album, "Riot!," peaked at No. 15 in 2007. "Eyes" also starts at No. 1 on the Top Digital Albums tally with a whopping 73,000 downloads.

Carey's "Memoirs" begins its Billboard 200 life with 168,000 -- off quite a bit from the opening of her last set, 2008's "E=MC2." The latter effort bowed at No. 1 with 463,000, her biggest first-week sum ever.

Those titles are just three of the record-breaking eight entries in the top 10. Rock band Breaking Benjamin's "Dear Agony" arrives at No. 4 with the act's best sales week -- 134,000. It's the Hollywood Records band's first release since 2006's "Phobia" debuted and peaked at No. 2 with 125,000.

Alice in Chains visits the top 10 for the first time since 1996 as its new album, "Black Gives Way to Blue," bows at No. 5 with 126,000. The album is the band's first with new vocalist William DuVall, who replaced the band's late frontman Layne Staley in 2006.

Madonna's new greatest hits set, "Celebration," starts the party at No. 7 this week with 72,000. Rounding out the top 10 entries are Miranda Lambert's third album, "Revolution" (No. 8 with 66,000) and Selena Gomez and the Scene's "Kiss and Tell," which debuts just a little behind Lambert's sum at No. 9 with 66,000. Only two albums in this week's top 10 also appeared on last week's chart: Pearl Jam's "Backspacer" falls from No. 1 to No. 10 with 58,000 (down 69%) while Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" drops from No. 2 to No. 6 with 89,000 (down 34%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Oct. 4) totaled 6.87 million units, up 16% compared to the sum last week (5.93 million) and down 8% compared to the same sales week of 2008 (7.50 million). Year to date album sales stand at 263.4 million, down 14% compared to the same total at this point last year (305.3 million).

Source Billboard

New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook has admitted to conning record collectors and memorabilia sellers by faking the signature of his late bandmate Ian Curtis.

The bassist was reminded of his scam when he recently stumbled across an autographed record in his hometown of Manchester.

"I did have a reputation for doing Ian Curtis' autograph for a long time," Hook told XFM. "There's some guy who had [debut Joy Division EP] 'An Ideal For Living' and it was signed by all four members of the band and dated. I went in and said, 'Have you not noticed that the date is after Ian died?'. It was me, I did them as a joke!" he explained.

Hook says his revelation has affected his reputation with collectors and memorabilia hunters. "It was up there for £200, so my name is now mud among collectors." He added.

Source NME