Justin Timberlake also wanted to sign Bieber, 'Never Say Never' star said in 2009.
By Jocelyn Vena
Justin Bieber
Photo: Brian Phares/MTV News
Just as the world was learning who Justin Bieber was, MTV News caught up with the shaggy-haired singer in September 2009. He was gearing up to release his debut album, My World, and plotting his pop-world domination. In the year and a half since that interview, Bieber has done the nearly impossible, launching himself into the pop mega-sphere.
In the chat, Bieber recalled how he and his manager, Scooter Braun, met and eventually got big names interested in signing the teen.
"My manager found me on YouTube. He flew me out to Atlanta for the first time — I'd never actually been on a plane before. He flew me to Atlanta where i was going to the studio to meet some people," he recalled.
"And Usher happened to roll up in his Range Rover. I ran up to him, and I was like, 'Usher, I love your songs. Want me to sing you one?' The politest possible way he could say no, he did. ... I took the hint. I didn't get to sing for him: He had to run into a studio session."
But later, Usher was beckoning the teen back to the ATL. "He actually watched my videos — after my manager got to talking to him — and was like, 'I should have let this kid sing,' and flew me back to Atlanta where I got to sing for him in a proper setting. A week later, I had a meeting with Justin Timberlake, who also wanted to sign me, so they both kind of wanted me."
As the story goes, Bieber went with Usher, and the two never looked back.
"As far as Usher being my mentor, he's definitely given me words of wisdom. I hear it from everybody, but definitely to hear it from Usher is great, just to stay humble and grounded is very important," he explained.
"There's a lot of people, especially young stars, that have gone down the wrong path, and I definitely plan to stay humble and stay grounded and keep my family first, because that stuff really is important in life."
On Friday, Justin Bieber's 3-D documentary, "Never Say Never," opens. The film takes a look at how the teen star worked to hit it big. MTV News has been chatting with him along the way, from the time he first burst on the scene in 2009 until now, as he embarks on a huge 2011 that will include a tour and more new music.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657425/justin-bieber-usher-video.jhtml
Rosario Dawson Rose Byrne Rose McGowan Roselyn Sanchez Rozonda Thomas Saira Mohan
Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1270&vid=544989
Scarlett Chorvat Scarlett Johansson Selita Ebanks Shakara Ledard Shakira Shana Hiatt
Park's Mike Shinoda has designed T-shirts to benefit the relief effort.
By Gil Kaufman
Lady Gaga
Photo: Ian Gavan/ Getty Images
As the situation in Japan continues to deteriorate in the wake of Friday's massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake, the need for assistance has spurred a number of stars to reach out to fans to enlist their help.
Just days after announcing the initial dates of his first tour, the My Violent Torpedo/ Defeat Is Not an Option Show, troubled actor Charlie Sheen announced that he will be donating $1 from each ticket sold to the Red Cross Japanese Earthquake Relief Fund.
Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda has also gotten into the game quickly, designing T-shirts to benefit his band's Music for Relief charity. One shirt features the image of a paper crane-like white butterfly above the LP logo, and the other one reads "Not Alone" in a red, white and blue font. Donations of $10 can be made by texting "MFR" to 85944.
After tweeting on Sunday morning, "Remember as you go about your day please #prayforjapan & if you are able, text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to Japan's emergency relief," Katy Perry followed up later in the day with the message, "Imagine ... if we ALL texted REDCROSS to 90999 we'd have raised over 60 million dollars for #JAPAN RELIEF! BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE! BE!"
A growing collection of stars is urging fans to donate to Japanese earthquake relief. On Friday, Lady Gaga sprung into action and offered her fans a special wristband whose proceeds will go to help the victims.
"I Designed a Japan Prayer Bracelet. Buy It/ Donate here and ALL proceeds will go to Tsunami Relief Efforts. Go Monsters," Gaga wrote. She also urged fans to visit the Citizen Effect website, where contributions will be matched by Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy. They've offered to match the first $100,000 donated to a special fund set up to help the Red Cross deliver emergency services to people in Japan.
Other celebrities urging action include Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Adam Lambert, Diddy and many more who've sent their prayers to those affected via Twitter. Britney Spears encouraged fans to donate to relief organizations, tweeting, "So tragic. My heart is breaking for Japan."
Also making pleas were Conan O'Brien, Chris Brown and George Takei, each asking their followers to donate to the Red Cross.
As the official death toll in the worst quake to hit the island nation mounted on Monday (March 14) to 1,833 — with thousands more believed to have perished — Japan was facing a growing threat from a number of hobbled nuclear power plants. A second explosion in two days occurred at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant on Monday morning, just hours before the plant's #2 reactor lost its cooling abilities.
While no significant release of radioactive materials is believed to have occurred yet, the race to cool down and secure the nation's nuclear plants is as urgent as the search for survivors from the devastating natural disaster. New images and video continue to emerge that paint a partial picture of the destruction in towns such as the 20,000-resident Minami Sanriku, which CNN reported had been turned into a virtual pile of rubble by the quake and the ensuing tsunami.
As gas and food stocks run low, Japanese citizens have been asked to ration their supplies while the United States and 69 other nations have pledged to help with search and rescue efforts.
For more information on what you can do to help with earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan, head to MTV Act, or text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1659807/lady-gaga-japan-earthquake.jhtml
Portia de Rossi Rachael Leigh Cook Rachel Bilson Rachel Blanchard Rachel Hunter Rachel McAdams
New take on hit song, dubbed 'The Country Road Version,' features slide guitar, mandolin and harmonica.
By Gil Kaufman
Lady Gaga
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images
You can take all those Madonna comparisons and throw them out the window of your Ford F-150 truck, because on Thursday night Lady Gaga released a new version of her global smash "Born This Way" that featured a totally unexpected spin.
After tweeting to her Little Monsters that she was preparing to release "Born This Way (The Country Road Version)," Mother Monster dropped the tune at midnight PT on Friday (March 25) via her Twitter account ... and it did not disappoint.
The new rendition of the hit opens with ominous, swirling guitars and then introduces a fuzzed-out slide guitar and harmonica wheeze, with all of the thumping disco beats replaced by restrained brush drumming and a more laid-back vibe. Once it kicks into the first chorus, the song continues to take its time, choogling along on live-sounding, laconic drumming and lots of soulful harmonica.
Just before the three-minute mark, Gaga mixes in some new lyrics, drawling, "If I wanna make it country, baby, then it's OK, cuz I was born, I was born, I was born this way," over picked mandolin. "From London, Paris, Japan back to USA/ I was born on the road, I was born to be brave," she adds, as the song breaks into full-on country-rock mode reminiscent of late-period Bon Jovi in the final minute.
Meanwhile, the original, non-boot-scooting version of "BTW" notched its sixth week in a row at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts this week, which is what Gaga said prompted her to drop the surprise remake on her fans.
Earlier this week, Gaga revealed that she's almost done recording her Born This Way album, telling fans via Twitter, "In Nebraska, finishing up record today ... I'm so proud of the album: I keep dancing+drinking: metal/techno rock journey of a woman on the run."
Plans are now being worked up for the tour in support of Born This Way (due out May 23) and Gaga's first swing at directing, a collaboration with her creative director, Laurieann Gibson, on the video for the album's upcoming second single, "Judas."
What do you think of Gaga's twanged-up version of "Born This Way"? Share your opinions in the comments.
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1660650/lady-gaga-country-version-born-this-way.jhtml
Sarah Gellman Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Mutch Sarah Polley Sarah Shahi Sarah Silverman
Them Crooked Vultures make their debut with a post-Lollapalooza set.
By James Montgomery
Dave Grohl (file)
Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Officially, Lollapalooza ended Sunday night in Chicago's Grant Park, with dueling sets from the Killers and Jane's Addiction. Unofficially, it ended very early Monday morning, across town at venerable rock club the Metro, with a surprise show by Them Crooked Vultures.
To the unfamiliar, the Vultures might seem like an odd choice to close out Lolla weekend ... until you realize that they're made up of Foo Fighters frontman/ former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones. And their gig at the Metro was their world premiere.
According to some reports, the Vultures actually turned down Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell's request to replace the Beastie Boys as headliners at the festival, opting to debut in front of some 1,100 super-psyched fans at the Metro, rather than 75,000 in Grant Park (tickets for the gig were announced via Foo Fighter/ QOTSA fan clubs). Meaning that, in a lot of ways, this was the most sought-after ticket in town.
Taking the stage just after midnight, the Vultures — Grohl on drums (of course), Homme on guitar and vocals, Jones on bass and keys and frequent QOTSA contributor Alain Johannes on guitar — ripped through 12 songs in 80 minutes, all taken from their upcoming debut, which may or may not be called Never Deserved the Future, and may or may not be hitting stores on October 23 (early "promo" videos touting both those facts were revealed over the weekend to be hoaxes perpetrated by QOTSA fans).
The songs, with appropriately Homme-ian titles like "Scumbag Blues," "Mind Eraser (No Chaser)," "Caligulove" and "Interlude w/Ludes," sounded pretty much how you'd expect, given the band's pedigree. They rocked, hard — Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot described them as "fresh, invigorating and just plain nasty" — delving off into psychedelic, reverb-filled excursions and exploring proggy territory, "both of the old-school Yes variety, and the more modern Tool flavor," according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Jim DeRogatis.
It's not known if Monday's Metro performance was a one-off event for the Vultures — there have been whispers of a full-blown tour, but a spokesperson for Homme had not responded to MTV News' request for comment at press time. Nor was it clear whether or not they'll have an album out in October.
Early Monday, a Crooked Vultures Twitter account, which had previously posted links to the band's official-looking Web site and the Metro's online ticketing site — posted a link to what appears to be the group's first bit of official merchandise: a Deserve the Future T-shirt. Cost: $30.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsPaula Garcés Paulina Rubio Paz Vega Penélope Cruz Pink Piper Perabo
Glam rocker tackled the legendary 1970 Led Zeppelin song for 'American Idol' rock night.
By Gil Kaufman
Adam Lambert performs "Whole Lotta Love" on "American Idol" on Tuesday
Photo: R. Mickshaw/Getty Images/ Fox
Imagine a freight train speeding toward you at midnight. Or a rockslide barreling down a hill as you try to outrace it. That's the feeling of the ominous, chugging Jimmy Page riff that kicks off Led Zeppelin's 1970 Stonehenge of rock, "Whole Lotta Love." And that's before singer Robert Plant leans into one of the nastiest, ecstatic rock screams this side of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."
That's the song Adam Lambert chose to sing on "American Idol" rock night Tuesday (May 5), and, needless to say, it was a challenge that the eyeliner-loving Los Angeles stage veteran was more than up for, hitting a series of high notes and rock screams that would have made Plant proud. It was a risky maneuver that paid off for Lambert, who chose a tune that came in at #75 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004.
The legendary British rock act recorded the tribute to Chicago blues icon Willie Dixon during their second U.S. tour after working it out in their live show, including it on their 1969 classic album Led Zeppelin II. Like many of the songs Zeppelin performed early in their career, "Love" was a blues standard turned on its head with a heavy dose of crunching psychedelic guitar and thundering drums, courtesy of late drummer John Bonham. The song was based on a 1962 tune by another blues forefather, Muddy Waters, called "You Need Love," which was penned by Dixon.
For Zeppelin's version, Plant customized the lyrics by adding some lyrical quotes from a few other songs Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf, "Back Door Man" and "Shake For Me," nailing the tricky vocal in a single take. It was also inspired by 1966's "You Need Loving" from the British rock group the Small Faces, for whom Zeppelin had great affection, but they also did not credit Dixon for his part in writing the original lyrics. The song became Zeppelin's first U.S. single and their only U.S. top 10 hit. Though their manager would not let them release singles in the U.K. because he thought it cannibalized album sales, the song was finally released as the band's only British single in 1997.
Dixon sued Zeppelin over the song in 1985, claiming it borrowed too heavily from his "You Need Love," and Zeppelin reached an agreement with him, with Dixon using the money he received to set up a program that provided musical instruments for schools. A cornerstone of heavy rock, the tune -- which was the theme song for the long-running British countdown show "Top of the Pops" in the 1970s and '80s -- has been covered by dozens of artists over the years, from Tina Turner and Ben Harper to Prince, Slash, Leona Lewis, Train's Pat Monahan, the London Symphony Orchestra and Jane's Addiction.
Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1610709/adam-lamberts-whole-lotta-love-story-behind-cover.jhtml
Rachel Perry Rachel Weisz Radha Mitchell Raquel Alessi Rebecca Mader Rebecca Romijn
Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1270&vid=476362
Rachel Hunter Rachel McAdams Rachel Nichols Rachel Perry Rachel Weisz Radha Mitchell
During Google fan interview, the pop star also talks about Born This Way cut inspired by the death of her grandfather.
By James Dinh
Lady Gaga
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
As promised, Lady Gaga joined forces with Google on Tuesday to answer a string of fan-generated questions for an hour-long interview posted on YouTube called "Musicians@Google Presents: Google Goes Gaga."
While the pop star dished on a range of topics, including her upcoming album, Born This Way, and aspiring-singers-turned-viral-YouTube stars (yes, she mentioned Rebecca Black), the most exciting news she shared with her fans was that she'll be directing the video for her next single, "Judas," alongside creative director Laurieann Gibson.
"I'm very excited. Actually, I can exclusively reveal here at Google that I will be making my directorial debut with Laurieann Gibson, directing this video with her ourselves," the singer said to the cheers of the interview's live audience.
Keeping in line with the song's title, Mother Monster also admitted that the clip will include religious imagery. "It's no surprise, I'm sure, to many of you, that Judas is a man of the biblical senses, so expect to see some symbolism in this video," she said.
Gaga also gave fans a taste of the club track's lyrics by offering a few lines from the song. "When he comes to me, I am ready/ I'll wash his feet with my hair if he needs/ Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain/ Even after three times, he betrays me/ I'll bring him down, a king with no crown," she recited.
Gaga explained that "Judas," which she produced along with RedOne, talks about confronting one's demons. "You have to look into what is haunting you and you need to look into forgiving yourself in order to move on," she said. "And it's really fun to dance to and sounds like it could be a pop priest record."
She also described a track off her "avant-garde techno rock" LP called "Edge of Glory." Recalling the loss of her grandfather last year, Gaga revealed that she wrote the tune at an emotional moment at the piano while taking tequila shots with her father. "The song's about your last moment on Earth, the moment of truth. The edge of glory is that moment right before you leave the Earth," she said.
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1660468/lady-gaga-judas-video.jhtml
Paulina Rubio Paz Vega Penélope Cruz Pink Piper Perabo Poppy Montgomery