Melody Plant

Jessica Simpson is blocking reports that her trip to Kuwait to perform for the troops was a big production. Her rep tells People that the singer flew commercial and that she is in fact staying in the barracks with the soldiers. Jess also denies that her trip is more of a fly-by than a visit saying “She’s been with the troops all day. She’s had her meals with them.” As for reports that she had a full-scale entourage of beauty experts with her, her rep says that she has “significantly scaled back her entourage”. And that would mean what – that she left super-stylist Ken Paves behind?

After a 16-week break which was forced by the writer’s strike, Saturday Night Live is coming back. And on their first night back, Grammy award winning Carrie Underwood has been asked to make her second appearance on the show. The 24-year old will perform hits from her new double platinum selling album ‘Carnival Ride’.

Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey will be the host of the returning show and ‘Juno’ star Ellen Page will host next week. It looks like they’re bringing in the big guns for the show. It’s a smart move. The big names will get the people interested and the ratings up.

Even though she didn’t make it to sing live on stage, Amy rocked the Grammys with her performance via satellite from London. But that wasn’t nearly her biggest accomplishment for the night.

Amy racked up an amazing five Grammy awards before the show was over. Her awards included record of the year, song of the year, and best new artist.

After sending a shout out to her “Blake incarcerated”, she spoke to the group gathered with her in London. “It’s a shame I couldn’t be there to accept the awards, but I’m so proud and happy that I had the opportunity to perform for the Grammsy in my hometown of London with my family and friends around me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

New photos of American Idol alum and recent record label dropout Katharine McPhee with Broadway producer husband Nick Cokas at their February 2 wedding reception at St. Viviana’s in Los Angeles have been released. New information about the wedding has come out as well. The couple had a special candle lighting ceremony and walked down an aisle of ivory and pink rose petals. It was first reported that Kellie Pickler was a guest but she also happened to be a bridesmaid. 43-year old Nick serenaded Kat with his rendition of Billy Joel’s ‘She’s Got a Way’ while 23-year old Kat sang her version of Natalie Cole’s ‘Unforgettable’.

Style queen Rihanna came at the InStyle and Grammy Salute to Fashion at nightclub Boulevard 3 on Thursday in Los Angeles wearing a black lace dress and ‘Fiona’ shoes by Jimmy Choo. Did I say style queen? Not this time. This dress was a miss. I think her stylist had a temporary case of insanity when this dress was picked.

Anyway, the 19-year old Barbados singer will be bringing together several decades for her Grammy performance. She will be joining 80s band The Time. Other performers include Feist, Beyonce, Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige.

If you want to a preview of just what to expect on Paula Abdul’s pre-taped Super Bowl performance on Sunday, a couple of fans have decided to provide some spoilers and personal experiences after watching her taping. The reviews are pretty confusing. Some say it was bad while some say that she was just as good as she was at the peak of her singing career.

Fans say that it took a long time for security to let people in. Paula was said to have done 3 takes. The performance included her being lifted into the air by some hot hunks, a drum line and even cheerleaders. Some say she also had some hot moves to show off. However, she was lip synching. What did you expect?

While his soon-to-be ex-wife is off partying it up like mad in Hollywood, Silverchair front man Daniel Johns decides to debut a new look. I guess it’s his way of dealing with the divorce.

The rocker performed at the Big Day Out at Parklands last Sunday in Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast with a new head of blonde hair. You just have to love those blondes. I can’t believe that Natalie Imbruglia is letting this guy go! In my opinion, getting a divorce from him is definitely a loss for her. He is one yummy piece of man meat that’s for sure.

The Jonas Brothers pulled a fast one again by showing up for their concert ticket sales in Dallas on Saturday. The band of brothers surprised their throngs of screaming teenybopper fans by playing on an awning above the NOKIA Theater along with camera crews of ‘Ellen’ in tow.

After their surprise show, the boys were nice enough to stop on their way out to shake hands with some fans. Isn’t it nice to have some positive role models for the kids? Let’s just hope that they wouldn’t grow up to be like Britney Spears. And let’s hope that the boys would stay cute forever.

Here is American Idol alum Clay Aiken as Sir Robin in Monty Python’s ‘Spamlot’. The 29-year old will hit the Broadway stage for the first time on January 18th, Friday. Director Mike Nichols recently spoke about Clay’s performance and raved about the singer turned Broadway actor. He said that “Clay is amazing, beyond that glorious voice. Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character. People are going to be surprised by his wide-ranging talent, since the first impression is of great country charm and a singer to remember. This guy is not only a star; he is a lot more.”

Melanie Chisolm, more famously known as Sporty Spice, is arguably the most talented Spice Girl out of the five and she is looking to make more people believe that with a solo show that she has scheduled in Manhattan. Just as she did with her solo gig in LA, the singer will be playing her own material with her band during a night off from the Spice Girls reunion tour. The gig will be on February 9th, a Saturday, at The Grand Ballroom in Manhattan Center. Tickets go for $35 in advance or $40 at the door. Tickets will be available via Ticketmaster and Live Nation of January 18th. Sporty will take the stage at 9:15PM.

Hilary Duff made a big no-no for singers recently. At a concert in Mexico this past weekend, the singer/actress began singing into the microphone while it was still turned off. Her ‘backing track’ came on later and it was all good.

The video has already been posted on YouTube and you can check it out. There’s an obvious delay between her opening her mouth and “singing” and the track coming on. At the very least she didn’t do a monkey dance. That would have made the whole thing really obvious. She would have been booed offstage much like Ashlee Simpson was back in her SNL snafu.

His mother died of unfortunate circumstances due to a combination of surgeries late last year but Kanye West managed to go on with the show and sing about ‘The Good Life’ when he performed at a New Year’s Eve party at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. It was the rapper’s first ever performance back in the US since his mother’s passing last year.

The pumped up rapper performed just after midnight at the Vegas hotel’s Pearl Concert Theater early Tuesday morning. He pretty much rocked the crowd into a frenzy as confetti and balloons rained down from the ceiling.

If only Mariah Carey wasn’t on vacation in Aspen. I’m sure she would have had a mental breakdown when she heard just how one of her songs got murdered. And by someone the whole country adores too!

Miley Cyrus did the worst cover of ‘All I Want for Christmas’ on Disney’s ABC parade special. It was just awful. I can’t believe she could do that to Mariah… and us! At the very least, the Jonas Brothers did a lovely performance of ‘Girl of My Dreams’. It was lipsynched though. But it was still better than practically killing off the Christmas spirit!

It just goes to prove that money and fame cannot make you immune to normal human feelings and suffering. The sad news is depression still affects us all; rich and poor alike. And singer Alicia Keys; as gorgeous and successful as she is, is one of those to suffer.

The fab ‘No-One’ artist has revealed that a tendency to bottle up her feelings leads to feelings of hurt and anger. She said: “I was feeling so sad all the time, and I couldn’t shake it. I started burying my feelings, and it got to a point where I couldn’t even tell my family or my friends, ‘I’m twisted,’ or ‘I’m exhausted,’ or ‘I’m so angry.’ I became a master of putting up the wall so that I was unreadable.”

Thankfully Keys has since pulled through that tough time and is enjoying life with current boyfriend Kerry Brothers. But it is a note to remember that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side; and no-one is above being human.

Despite a letter from Mom, Amy Winehouse isn’t ready to pack up and head home just yet. Instead, she vows to keep on moving forward.

Amy’s rep says she’s set on making it to the Grammys. “Amy is thrilled to be nominated for six Grammys and is very much hoping to attend. She is determined to be ready and well for that performance.”

Amy has endured a lot in her mere 24 years of life. Her husband Blake Fielder-Civil is currently in jail, and she’s already had to cancel her shows for the rest of the year as she gets herself back together. Her rep says she is under physician supervision has been writing a lot. “It’s a really difficult time and she’s been channeling it into her music.”

Wow…good for you, Amy. It’s your own self-prescribed rehab.

If their performance at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show was anything to go by, the Spice Girls concert wouldn’t be any good. But the thing is, that performance isn’t anything compared to the actual show because the show is really good!

Besides making LA fans go crazy by singing all their hits on Wednesday, Baby, Scary, Ginger and Sporty each belted out solo numbers. Mel C did ‘I Turn to You’, Scary made her own rendition of ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’ and Ginger did ‘It’s Raining Men’. I forget what Baby sang but it brought the house down along with the other 3 nonetheless.

What did Posh do? Instead of belting out her own solo number, she opted to prance down the runway to a mix of Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ and RuPaul’s ‘Supermodel’.

Avril Lavigne went to a great low when she had a free concert in Canada this past weekend for the opening of a Best Buy. The only thing that gets lower than that is if it happened to be a disaster – which it was!

A fan turned non-fan said that the show was a joke especially after Avril showed up nearly two hours late while her fans stayed out in the freezing cold and snow just to see her outdoor concert. The show was scheduled to start at 1PM but an announcement came at 1:50PM that she was only to arrive in 15 minutes. Shame on her!

I don’t know what that is peeking from underneath Amy Winehouse’s dress but I’m praying that it’s not a tampon string. Can you say ewww?

Apart from being grossed out, concert goers were angered by the ‘Rehab’ singer on Saturday when she gave one of the worst performances of her career. Knowing her track record, that says a lot. Wino actually walked out of the concert midway through her set!

Amy went on stage with smeared make up and a cigarette hanging from her lips. She disappeared from the stage a couple of times before completely storming off when the audience began to boo and heckle her.

Kylie has released her 10th studio album with more confidence than ever. And she has scooted off to Germany to promote it.

The miniature singer, most recently in the news for being humiliated by a saucy statue created by Madame Tussauds, was cleared last year of the horrible disease; Breast Cancer, which knocked her down in 2005.

And now as she promotes her new album X, she says, “I think it’s not so difficult to write a decent song but to write a great song is a difficult thing. I like the challenge of trying to find that and at the very least, writing something that I enjoy singing and all people love. It took me a number of years to find my confidence to do that but now it’s just part of me.”

What a trooper. I remember listening to Kylie when I was a kid and she is still going strong; with the right attitude and music that pleases the new generations as the times move on. You go girl!

We should already come to expect that after showing up for their first show together and the fact that their reunion tour is just around the corner, another Spice Girls blog would be up. This time around, it’s from Sporty Mel C. She talked about rehearsing, performing and even nerves.

She’s incredibly excited about their upcoming tour and spoke about the rehearsals saying that she thinks after all of it, they may just as well run a marathon. She also talked about the rush of being on stage at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last week but said that she was incredibly nervous and even shaking the whole time.

I’m sure the nerves will be gone come the start of their tour.