Jay-Z, Beyonce, Usher Support Alicia Keys At AIDS Charity Ball

Jay, Janelle Monae, Swizz Beatz were among performers at Keys' 8th annual Keep a Child Alive event.
By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Hillary Crosley


Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images

Alicia Keys has proven to be as selfless in real life as she is in song.

The singer held her 8th annual Keep a Child Alive Black Ball event in New York on Thursday night. The fundraiser brought out Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Usher, Jay Sean, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney Houston and more.

Jay-Z and Keys' husband, Swizz Beatz, performed "On to the Next One," and Jay later performed "Empire State of Mind." Monae also hit the stage, as did Keys and Sade, who performed a duet, "Love Is Stronger Than Pride."

"It's my heart and soul," Keys told MTV News about the organization she co-founded. "Since the beginning, we've been very driven to do incredible work. I'm proud to show what four to five women who are very dedicated can do."

The organization benefits children and families who have been affected by AIDS but can't afford to purchase medicine; the event reportedly helped raise $2.4 million.

This year, Keep a Child Alive introduced the "Buy Life" T-shirt. The shirt features a large barcode on the garment; donors can buy the shirt and scan the code with their smart phones to make a donation to the charity. Every time the code is scanned by a phone, a donation goes through. Ryan Seacrest, Kim Kardashian and Katie Holmes are among the celebrity spokespeople appearing in ads for the shirt.

"It's like a dream to me to be among these people singing and performing, and opening people's eyes to what Keep a Child Alive can do," Keys said.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1649165/20101001/keys_alicia.jhtml

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'Green Lantern,' 'Harry Potter' And 'Black Swan' In Today's Twitter-Wood

This week's "Green Lantern" trailer has been out in the world long enough to attract a range of reactions for the comics and mainstream crowds alike. Read what you will into James Gunn's assessment of the film, but he seems to think it would be better suited for Syfy. As for the big theatrical release of [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/11/19/green-lantern-harry-potter-black-swan-twitter-wood/

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Britney Spears 'Glee' Episode Draws Record-Setting Ratings

Tribute episode brings in 13.3 million viewers.
By James Dinh


Britney Spears and Heather Morris on the set of "Glee"
Photo: FOX

Madonna's "Glee" tribute episode might have been titled "The Power of Madonna," but it was the show's tribute to Britney Spears that reigned supreme. The broadcast, which featured cameos from the pop princess herself, drew 13.3 million viewers, leading the 8 p.m. hour and posting its best-ever rating among adults 18-49.

Tuesday night's episode, appropriately titled "Britney/Brittany," had a 5.8 rating and rose 4 percent from last week's season-two premiere. The feat made history for "Glee," as it becomes the first series since NBC's "Seinfeld" in 1993 to debut as the top series of the week and then spike in ratings the following week, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The episode, which highlighted Heather Morris' character Brittany S. Pearce, revolved around the McKinley High students' fight to perform Britney Spears numbers. Through anesthesia-induced sequences, the Gleeks tapped into their inner pop star to perform renditions of the singer's hits, including " ... Baby One More Time" and "Me Against the Music."

In addition to Spears' appearances on the hit Fox show, the singer took to Twitter during the West Coast premiere to thank fans for campaigning in support of the episode. "I loved it! Thank you guys SO much for making this happen!" she tweeted. The pop princess also gave props to the many song and video re-creations, including "I'm a Slave 4 U," saying, "Slave: Oh ... My ... God ...! Those little boys are SO cute! I know how hard it is to dance with that snake! Nice job."

Spears' manager, Adam Leber, also showed his appreciation for the episode, which spawned multiple trending topics on Twitter. "So glad you guys loved the GLEE episode! The Overwhelming worldwide response has been insane.3 of the top 10 worldwide trending topics.Sick! Big big big thank you to Ryan Murphy, the incredible cast and Brit's fans for making it happen...."

After such success, it wouldn't be surprising if the rumors of a second Spears-devoted episode came true, since "Britney/Brittany" only included hits from the first few years of the singer's career.

Did you catch the Britney Spears-themed episode last night? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1648982/20100929/spears_britney.jhtml

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Coldplay, Led Zeppelin Album Covers Featured On New British Stamps

Album art from Pink Floyd, Blur and David Bowie also included.
By James Montgomery


Coldplay's new British stamps
Photo: Royal Mail

On Thursday (January 7), the U.K.'s Royal Mail unveiled a series of 10 new stamps, honoring the most iconic album covers of the past 40 years.

The albums featured in the new series are the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed, Led Zeppelin's IV, David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, The Clash's London Calling, New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies, Primal Scream's Screamadelica, Pink Floyd's The Division Bell, Blur's Parklife and — the most recent album on to make the cut — Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head.

Meant to honor "the most potent graphic images of modern times, many of which have provided a visual soundtrack to people's lives," the series is the end result of a lengthy research process by the Royal Mail, who looked through thousands of album covers by British artists before deciding on the final list. And, during a Wednesday night BBC Radio broadcast, it was revealed that the queen herself actually approved each design.

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page — who helped design the cover for IV — was on hand to celebrate the release of the stamps and recalled the mysterious nature of the album's iconic imagery.

"Almost 40 years after the album came out, nobody knows the old man who featured on the cover, nor the artist who painted him," he said. "That sort of sums up what we wanted to achieve with the album cover, which has remained both anonymous and enigmatic at the same time."

Of course, any great honor is befitting of an equally great contest, so, on the same day the stamps were made available to the general public, Coldplay decided to give one of their Rush of Blood stamps away. In a message on their official site, the band held a contest to send one lucky fan "a letter using a Coldplay stamp, postmarked with today's issue date."

"We visited our local post office earlier today and bought some of the Coldplay stamps," the message read. "Very nice they are too."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1629227/20100107/coldplay.jhtml

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