By CAITLIN R. KING, Associated Press 2:59 p.m., Jan. 19, 2011
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 10th season of "American Idol" kicks off Wednesday night, and some people's lives will be changed forever.
Former "Idol" finalist Mandisa (man-DEE'-sah) Hundley knows the feeling. The two-time Grammy nominee finished in the top 10 the year Taylor Hicks won and is now planning to release her third gospel album April 5, called "What If We Were Real."
But as it turns out, her biggest life change came after the show.
She embarked on an emotional weight loss journey two years ago and has since lost 90 pounds.
Mandisa's struggles fueled her new music.
"Where I was at the beginning of this album and where I ended up are two very different places," she told The Associated Press in an e-mail. "It's been a process. I will always struggle with my weight. It's the thorn in my flesh."
Standing on a scale one morning and seeing a disappointing number prompted Mandisa to finally get real with herself and her fans.
"I had gained weight and was so frustrated at that moment that I said so on Twitter."
She tweeted: "I'm fed-up and over it."
"I was feeling embarrassed and ashamed. I realized that I had only talked about how great things were. I never let people in when they were not. It was then that I decided I'd talk about the bad things too," she said.
The result is what Mandisa calls her most honest record to date.
She began recording "in a very dark place." The title track and the song "Just Cry" came out of those early sessions. However, by the end of the process, she said she was back to a place of peace and joy, with the song "Lifeline," about unwavering trust in God, the last track she recorded.
Mandisa is on her way to losing 100 pounds but said she doesn't have a goal weight.
By CAITLIN R. KING Associated Press | February 5, 2011
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ The biggest clash of fans might just happen the night before the Super Bowl, when the Pretenders and Faith Hill perform together live.
But unlike the big game, both sides are sure to leave happy.
The "CMT Crossroads" concert will be televised live from Grand Prairie, Texas, just outside of Dallas, on CMT Saturday night as part of the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam festivities. The "Crossroads" TV series pairs country music stars with popular artists in other genres, and this is only the second time ever it's been done live.
"I'm crazy, I guess," said Hill in a recent phone interview. "By doing it live, it just brings another whole element to the show."
Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde expects a bit of "chaos," but playing live is what she loves.
"To me, a gig's a gig, and you have to burn through it," she said in a separate phone interview. "If you (mess) it up, then just live with it. ... You don't remember watching a CD, do you?"
Hill and Hynde will do eight songs together, four from each of their repertoires, and they'll share in the singing, exchanging verses and choruses. The catalog of the Pretenders, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, includes hits like "Brass in Pocket," ''Back on the Chain Gang" and "I'll Stand by You." Hill, a multiplatinum Grammy-winner, has charted 13 No. 1 country singles, including "Wild One," ''Piece of My Heart" and "This Kiss."
Until Thursday, the two had never met in person, but over they phone, they immediately hit it off.
"We had to make ourselves stop talking so we could save some spontaneity for the show," said Hill. "We talked about music for a while, and it just went on to other things."
Hynde said she's excited about working with a country artist — something she's never done — and she thinks their styles will blend nicely. The last Pretenders' album, 2008's "Break Up The Concrete," had a rockabilly flavor to it, and they have a pedal steel guitar player in the band.
The Super Bowl hype itself does nothing for Hynde. She grew up in Akron, Ohio, but she's lived in England for almost 40 years and would rather watch snooker than American football. Hill, on the other hand, has been NBC's voice for Sunday Night Football for the past three years and has sung "America The Beautiful" and the national anthem at past Super Bowls. She knows what to expect from Saturday night's crowd.
"There's no other time that you have this type of energy in a city," said Hill. "There's such a level of excitement and anticipation and an element of celebration and whenever you have those things in the same place, you want to hear music. You want to go to parties. There's festivities all the time."
The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV on Sunday.
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Online:
http://www.cmt.com
Paramore Heads to Grammys More 'Unified' Than Ever
By CAITLIN R. KING Associated Press | January 31, 2011
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ The members of Paramore are hoping to close out what's been a particularly challenging chapter in the band's history on a high note — as Grammy winners.
They are nominated for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals for the hit "The Only Exception." The nomination comes after two of Paramore's founding members quit the band late last year.
Lead singer Hayley Williams said the rest of the Tennessee-based band is staying positive.
"Losing members is not a fun thing to go through, but I think that now we really feel unified," she told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "We feel strong, and we're going to be stoked to represent Nashville and represent our band and our fans at the Grammys."
The split was less than amicable. The band's official statement said that brothers Josh and Zac Farro had been planning to leave for a couple months and had seemed unhappy with the band for the past year. But ultimately, it wished them well and expressed hope that they would find happiness elsewhere.
The brothers responded to the statement with a scathing blog post, largely blaming Williams for dividing the band.
FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2010 file photo, the band Paramore, from left, Zac Farro, Josh Farro, Hayley Williams, Jeremy Davis and Taylor York arrive at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Close
Despite the downsizing, Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York have big plans for the band's future. They're touring South America starting Feb. 16. in Brazil.
"We've only been one other time, but it was crazy," said Davis. "The venues are growing, and it's pretty exciting."
After that, they have cleared their schedules and will concentrating on making new music.
"We just want to take the chance to do anything we've ever wanted to do that we've never had time to do," said Williams. "We've always wanted to do an EP. Our fans want us to do acoustic stuff. We do want to do collaborations, but I guess we're just going to let it unfold itself."
The Grammy nomination marks a turning point for the band in more ways than one.
"This year what makes it so cool is the fact that we're nominated for a pop category," said Williams. "It's really cool, because we've always been that rock or pop-punk band that's kind of a little bit the outcast, not really the outcast, but sort of on the outside of things. So this will be awesome to bridge the gap."
Williams is nominated separately for best pop collaboration with vocals. She sang the hook in the song "Airplanes" with B.o.B. and Eminem.
"I've wanted to be 'that girl' on a hip-hop song for a really long time, and it seems like I sort of landed myself on a track with two of my favorite hip-hop artists," she said. "Bob is such a great new artist, and he's young, and he's fresh. Obviously, (I'm) so obsessed with Eminem. So, if that wins anything, I'm just going to be beaming."
The platinum-selling band has released three albums, with hits including "Misery Business." The Grammys air Feb. 13 on CBS.
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Online:
http://www.paramore.net/
http://www.grammy.com/
The Grammy awards aren't held until February but that didn't stop artists with ties to Nashville getting together to celebrate their nominations. Guests at the party included Lady Antebellum, Paramore and Chris Young. (Jan. 19)
Country star Eric Church is up for new artist of the year against The Band Perry at Sunday's ACM Awards. Fans determine the winner (voteACM.com). He won an ACM for new solo vocalist in early voting. (March 30)
Josh Kelley, Heigl's husband, releases country album
By CAITLIN R. KING
The Associated Press
3/30/2011 10:46:49 AM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Josh Kelley is out with his first country album —10 years after he set out to make one.
The singer-songwriter says "Georgia Clay," released last week, was worth the wait because what happened after Nashville first turned him down for a record deal prepared him to make the best record of his career.
Kelley, 31, is now married to actress Katherine Heigl, and they've started a family. Both themes play heavily throughout the album.
"It's about me getting married to Katie. It's about us moving three times. It's about us adopting a little baby girl from South Korea who is now 2-years old," he said in a recent interview. "We got her when she was 9 months old and how that completely changed both of our lives."
Kelley wrote or co-wrote all 11 tracks. Songs like "Baby Blue Eyes," "Don't You Go," "Two Cups of Coffee" and "Learning You" reflect his love for Heigl.
The couple married in Park City, Utah, on Dec. 23, 2007 and adopted Nancy Leigh, or Naleigh as they call her, in the fall of 2009. Kelley wrote the song "Naleigh Moon" about the moment where she accepted him as her dad.
"It was very touching and immediately turns you into a much more selfless person," he said. "To be an entertainer, you have to be pretty self-absorbed, to do it successfully. It just comes with the territory. It's what happens. I just remember when she came, I quit obsessing about everywhere I thought I should be. I just sort of let life happen, and once I let life happen, things started falling in place."
Kelley's younger brother Charles of Grammy-winning country group Lady Antebellum has seen him evolve as an artist through the years.
"His songwriting, it's a lot more honest, and I think he's a lot less selfish as a human being. I think we all are when we get married," said Charles in a phone interview. "It kind of calms you down, makes you kind of realize what's important in life. I think a lot of those songs reflect that."
The Augusta, Ga., native attempted to get a country record deal when he was a college student at the University of Mississippi, but when the Nashville labels passed him up, he signed with Hollywood Records and moved to Los Angeles.
"I was trying to be country from the very beginning, but everybody knows you've got to pay the bills," he said. "So I let those bluegrass songs become pop songs for as long as they could."
He's now thankful for those unanswered prayers.
Kelley went on to have two top 10 hits on Billboard's adult top 40 chart — 2003's "Amazing" and 2005's "Only You." He met Heigl on the set of his music video for "Only You" when she was cast as his love interest.
Kelley parted ways with Hollywood Records in 2005 and bought a house in Nashville. He set up a home studio and started his own label, DNK Records. That inspired Charles to move to Nashville with hometown friend Dave Haywood, where they soon met Hillary Scott and formed Lady Antebellum.
The group benefited greatly from Kelley's busy touring schedule and visits to see Heigl in Los Angeles.
"We were able to just kind of have free reign of all these instruments and studio equipment and kind of develop our sound on our own," said Charles.
Kelley released four albums independently to moderate success. The experience of running a label made him a more helpful artist for the label he's on now, MCA Nashville.
"When you run your own label, you're your own manager, you're the treasurer, the CEO, you're the vice president. I don't know. I wore many, many different hats," he said. "I'm having the best time of my life only wearing one hat."
From watching his brother's career unfold, Charles Kelley said he had a very realistic view of how hard it is to make it in the music business.
"He's had to hustle kind of his whole career, and I think it shows how resilient he is as an artist," said Charles. "He never gave up, and there were definitely times that I think I probably would've thrown in the towel and called it quits. Josh just isn't that kind of guy. He stuck with it."
The song "Gone Like That" gave Kelley his country music break and led to him signing with MCA in 2009. He wrote and recorded it, intending to pitch it to another artist, but his publisher told him no one else would do it justice. That set the ball rolling for "Georgia Clay."
He is now fully prepared to start from square one as a country artist. Kelley has been touring with Miranda Lambert and will be opening selected shows on the North American leg of Taylor Swift's Speak Now World Tour this summer.
"There was no ego involved in this at all. ... I love it. I love the road. I like showing people what I'm made of," he said. "There's a hunger for me to be playing in front of bigger crowds and to have bigger success."
Former President George H. W. Bush was honored for promoting service at a star-studded event in Washington in front of 3 living former U.S. presidents: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Carrie Underwood and Garth Brooks performed. (March 22)
Country star Trace Adkins explains why he was both flattered and offended by getting a part in 'The Lincoln Lawyer,' which stars Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe. (March 18)
Country music pioneer Ferlin Husky has died at age 85. He sold more than 20 million records, mostly in the '50s and early '60s, with hits including "Wings of a Dove" and "gone." (March 17)
Country music heavyweight Kenny Chesney is ready to rock fans again after taking a year off the road. His massive Goin' Coastal tour kicks off Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (March 16)
