Grammy award winning singer and actress Whitney Houston, who has sold over 170 million albums worldwide, died today at age 48 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Though her publicist Kristen Foster confirmed the death, she did not reveal the cause. She was pronounced dead at 6:55 pm E.T. despite resuscitation efforts. A police spokesperson said there appears to be no obvious signs of criminal intent, though it will still be investigated. Her death comes on the eve before the Grammy Awards, where she dominated as one of the top pop/R&B singer for decades, starting in the mid 1980s.

Houston’s private life was often made public. She battled a drug addiction for years and had a tumultuous marriage with ex-husband Bobby Brown, with whom she has a daughter. She staged a comeback in 2009, though she didn’t achieve the success she experienced at her peak.

She recently filmed Sparkle with Jordin Sparks, which is set to arrive in theatres on Aug. 10. The film is a remake of the 1976 hit.

The social media world erupted with reactions to her death. Music producer Russell Simmons wrote he was “deeply saddened by the death of Whitney Houston.” Quincy Jones, said he was “absolutely heartbroken” and that “she was a true original and a talent beyond compare.”

Over the span of her career, the music legend won six Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards and 22 American Music awards. She also claims the first female album to debut at #1 on Billboard.

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As you might have overheard – Hova is officially a big poppa. Beyonce gave birth to a baby girl named Blue Ivy Carter this past Saturday.

Being the only family member with a last name, the proud father celebrated by penning a new song on his lifestyle website Life + Times. The track is called “Glory” (Ft. B.I.C.), which likely stands for her given name and her subtle participation is featured at the end of the song.

Produced by Pharell, the song is bare-boned and direct as he reveals that he and Beyonce have tried making a baby before: ”Last time the miscarriage was tragic / We was afraid you’d disappear but nah baby you’re magic.”

He goes on to express joy over his “greatest creation” that he rhapsodizes to be “the child of destiny / you’re my child with the child from Destiny’s child”

This song is a great follow-up to the Throne’s fatherhood declarations in “New Day”. Get that kleenex ready and listen to “Glory” below.

Also, you can’t argue how funny thing photo we found on Tumblr is:

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Marina and The Diamonds are working on some new music, but Marina is being very secretive about it. Although the release has been delayed, she let’s us in on some secrets about the new album, and how alcohol changed her life.

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Demi Lovato is trading her Mercedes for a horse – okay that was a tad over exaggerated. However, Lovato is definitely going country. She posted on Twitter that she is experimenting with country music.

“Wrote my first country song today. ” she wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

“I like to experiment with my music,” she told MTV News. “Someday, I joke around, but I’m actually pretty serious about coming out with a country album. I want to do everything. I love music and I love all types of music.”

Her latest album “Unbroken” has been a smash hit. If she starts going country, Taylor Swift better watch out.

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Let’s face it, whether you want to admit it or not, we’re all Backstreet Boys fans. However, what happens when they grow up, have children and become Backstreet Men? Howie D talks to @jordans_life about baby making music, becoming a father and his new album titled “Back To Me” (2011).

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50 Cent is channeling his inner 13-year-old brat by throwing yet another hissy-fit on Twitter.

This time around, he has his panties in a twist because Madonna ripped off his song title. He was all ready to release a track called “Girls Go Wild” through Interscope, until he found out Madonna’s putting a song out too, titled “Girls Gone Wild”. Guess no one cares enough to “Girls Gone Wild” t.v. show creator Joe Francis what he thinks.

“These people are gonna make kill one of them. Now Madonna’s single is called GIRLS GONE WILD. This is some bull sh*t,” he tweeted yesterday.

As posted on Oh No They Didn’t, the rapper does not want to release his single anymore. He won’t even release his album until Interscope is on the same page as him.

He also went on to write, “This is nuts to me. I try to do everything I can to keep my cool you know what? If they don’t care I don’t care I’m putting out a video now.”

Now, 50 just sounds like a spoiled brat whose mom won’t buy her a pony for her 13th birthday party. He should be thankful there are people out there that still care enough to listen to his irrelevant music.

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The hunka-hunka burning love that is Chord Overstreet from that popular show “Glee” has released his first single.

As posted on Just Jarred, the song is called “Beautiful Girl” and it was obviously written about me (just kidding!). The 22-year-old actor/singer just finished this song in the studio this weekend.

In 2012 he says he’ll be focusing more on his music. I’ll be focusing more on his inpeccable abs. But, Chord isn’t the only member of the Overstreet family that’s dabbling in music. His older brother Nash plays in Hot Chelle Rae and his father Paul is a country singer.

Have a listen to “Beautiful Girl” below.

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You all know you loved Mashup-Germany’s mix of the best songs of the year.

Now, DJ McFly is bringing you a Billboard Hot 100 mash-up that will blow you mind, and your eardrums!

Chicago native DJ McFly’s mix samples every song which reached the Billboard Hot 100 Top 5 in January, February and March of this year. This includes Katy Perry’s “Firework” and “On The Floor” by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull.

Not only does McFly mash-up the songs, but he also mixes up the video that’s really blowing up on YouTube. Have a listen, have a look. Cheers to a great year in music.

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Most of us looked as Vinny as “the normal one” of the Jersey Shore group. The Situation was a desperate womanizer, Snookie’s a little bit braindead and Sami and Ronnie were that annoying couple you just wanted to throw rocks at. Vinny was somewhat tolerable – until now.

His attempt at acting by appearing on 90210 wasn’t THAT bad. But his attempt at a so-called rap career should never, under any circumstances take off.

As posted on Perez Hilton, Vinny released a jingle titled “Rack City Mix”. It begins with the sound of an iPhone ringing. Vinny picks up and says “Yo! I just got paid. We’re going to the strip club!” Dude doesn’t even say hello. How rude. What if that was his mom calling?

Luckily, the demo is only 1:33 long and Vinny has not confirmed if he’ll put out any more annoying rap jams. Have a listen to the song posted below but I warn you: it’s pretty ridiculous.

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Are the Black Eyed Peas getting a little Foolish?

No disrespect to the Peas here, that was just a pun off the fact that with Fergie taking an “indefinite leave” from the group as of November 23rd, the Black Eyed Peas are reportedly working on filling her spot with Ashanti, whose debut single was Foolish. Good one, right?

Ashanti has been touring with the Black Eyed Peas for a month now and it’s thought that this has been a test to see how well she worked with the Peas and if they thought she would fit well with the group.

An unnamed insider says that although the announcement hasn’t been made yet, expect it to be public in the next couple of days.

Not only does Ashanti have a Grammy under her belt, she has also sold more than 30 million albums so there’s really no question about it she can pull this off. However, it really won’t be by past achievements that she’ll be judged, it’s up to listeners everywhere to decide what they think of her as Fergie’s replacement.

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Rebecca Black is coming back with a new music video which is set to debut in November. Production started this week in Southern California.

The song is called “Person of Interest,” and Black sent out messages through Facebook and Twitter looking for people who wanted to star in her video. Black says the video is going to be amazing, saying “Best video shoot by far.” and that she “Had some great friends help me make it really special. can’t wait for y’all to see it!!! ”

Let’s see if Rebecca can make the transition to a serious artist from a YouTube sensation. We will have to wait and see until later this month!

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Tupac’s estate is now in talks with a buyer who wants the rights to the song playing in the Tupac sex tape which was recently released.

TMZ reports NOHO anti-hangover drink has offered $1,000,000 for the rights, and they haven’t even heard the song. Although NOHO hasn’t heard the song, they figure it must be good if it’s a Tupac track.

One problem – someone else has possession of the sex tape which contains the song so the estate can’t sell the rights. However, if they can’t get access to the tape to identify the song, the estate is willing to work out a deal for another unreleased Tupac track.

The Tupac sex tape saga continues……

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The day after their second album, Kill the Lights, was released, New Cities stopped to chat with andPOP about the one thing people struggle with the most: balancing business with pleasure. Lead singer David Brown and synth player Nicolas Denis said they were well-behaved on the eve of their big release. They just had a nice dinner with close friends. Somehow we’re not buying it.

“We went to bed early. We’re hardcore like that,” Nicolas says, adding that, for the band, early means 3 a.m.

There’s no denying these six Montreal pop-rockers can morph into quite the party animals when on tour. To keep themselves from burning out, they try to squeeze in as much snooze time as possible.

“I’m sleeping a lot in the van, but I’m not the one that drives the most!”  David reveals.

“People think it’s non-stop partying, but when you have to drive six or seven hours a day and have to do a show… for a singer, it gets to be a lot.” Nicolas says.

The band admits they get their admirable tech guy, Jeff, to do most of the driving. Jeff seems to be quite the MacGuyver. It was once reported he saved two of the band members from being attacked by wasps on stage.

“It sounds way more epic online!” Nicolas jokes.

When the band isn’t fighting off winged insects or screaming girls on stage, they’re surprisingly tame. Prior to recording their sophomore effort, which is out now, the band took eight months off to write songs. Talk about dedication. But the band shortly fell into a routine and what better way to break a routine than a spontaneous trip to the island.

“We started writing stuff at our apartment and at some point we went to Barbados,” David says. “We wrote the saddest track ever in Bardados. But we didn’t use it!”

The front man explains they planned on writing more on the Caribbean Island than expected, but as soon as the sun started setting by 6 p.m. the band felt a little less motivated.

Luckily for them, with the help of L.A. production group The Matrix, the band penned 12 catchy, danceable songs now playing at a bar near you.

Now, the band must focus their energy onto something more fun: playing shows. The guys never fail to charm a crowd with their insane stage presence.

“We move around a lot on stage. When you’re lining a tour, you’re definitely playing for more than an hour,” David says, alluding to the fact that he may have moves like Jagger.  Alas, he tells andPOP it’s too early in the morning to show off his best moves – the interview was conducted at 9 a.m.

In the meantime, their music videos are enough proof of how lively they can bex. Just wait until their newest video, The Hype, starts playing everywhere. David says they shot the video a month ago and we can expect it to be in high rotation come October 10.

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American Idol alumnus Carrie Underwood called into Ryan Seacrest to update him on life and her new album.

She said about her new album; “I’ve been writing quite a bit and been in the studio a little bit so I have half an album done right now and trying to fill in the gaps and try to figure out what pieces of the puzzle are missing, but it’s a fun time right now just figuring everything out.”

And now that she’s married, she said; “We started out being married, he was still living in Ottawa and I was living in Nashville and now we actually live together under the same roof so that has changed.  It’s really nice having him around.”

To listen to the full interview, see below:

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Paris Hilton is going through a career change given the most recent failure of her reality show. So now she is becoming a DJ.

TMZ reports Paris has been travelling the world to shadow the world’s greatest DJs, like Afrojack and Deadmau5. She apparently plans to become the most powerful female DJ in the world.

One source extremely close to the heiress tells TMZ, Hilton believes she can become the “Queen of house music” — because “no woman has ever taken over in that arena … and she wants to become that person.”

She hopes to have an album before the end of the year. Doesn’t Paris realize music isn’t her thing? Does she forget her last attempt at music? See below:

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At least that’s what Will.i.am says. The Black Eyed Peas member is encouraging Bieber to take charge of his career and write his own music.

He tells Los Angeles DJ Ryan Seacrest, “I want to get Justin Bieber into writing his own music and producing his own songs…”

“Justin as an artist has to fight. Michael Jackson fought, Prince fought, the ones that stood around for a long time are the ones that are always fighting for something.”

Will.i.am is producing Bieber’s next album, and he is encouraging the young pop star to get involved with all aspects of his career.

He adds, “He’s gonna hurt. He’s going to go through relationship drama… We know the ones that get comfortable and then their career is short, ‘Oh I remember that one song he had, that was cool.’”

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Tila Tequila is back, and she has new music. The former reality TV star has a new track called, “You Can Dance.”

“I think that there’s still that group that knew that before ‘Shot of Love,’ they knew I did music first. So I am not looked at like Heidi Montag, etc. who did reality first and now are trying music,” Tequila tells The Huffington Post. “I think the Kardashians know what they are doing. I think that’s why they are so successful and they know that in order to live this lifestyle, you cannot have a real life. You have to love what you are doing and love to exploit yourself.”

And would Tequila do reality TV again?

“No amount of money or fame could ever get me to do that again because I was so unhappy,” Tequila explained.

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Hayley Williams of Paramore has revealed the band has written four more songs for the next record.

“We have written four new songs and they are quite diverse,” Williams said. “There are some heavier songs, but there’s also one that we plan to play live soon that is called ‘In The Morning Mess.’” She added, “I can’t really say that ‘Monster’ is an indication of what to expect on the next Paramore album. We, as a band, will always try to evolve and try new things. It will be different for sure, but it will still keep Paramore’s essence.”

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Move over Rebecca Black, we have found a new replacement for the worst song and music video of the year. So who is this new walk of shame? Her name is Trishii and the song is “Kiss Kiss.”

As you can see below, a completely obnoxious and crappy song, combined with a really stupid music video. We certainly hope this is a joke. And if it’s not, the good news is how much worse can we really get in the music world? Maybe we finally have hit rock bottom? Then again, Vanilli from Milli Vanilli is making a comeback….

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Rebecca Black’s infamous ‘Friday’ music video has been pulled from YouTube, reports Billboard.

The video, which received more than 160 million views and 3 million ‘dislikes,’ is no longer available due to a “copyright claim by Rebecca Black.”

Earlier this week, Ark Music Factory, which is the company Black’s parents paid $4,000 to produce the song and video, began charging viewers $2.99 to watch the clip.

Black’s spokesman says the 13-year-old and her team team then sent a takedown notice to YouTube, because of a dispute with the firm.

Lawyers for Black and Ark Music have been fighting over who owns the rights to the song and video, and have removed it until the issues are resolved.

This is actually a blessing in disguise – maybe they will never, ever, put it back onto the internet? And we can all move on and live happy lives.

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