Worldwide Natasha Bedingfields

Source: The Gossip Girls ()

It’s a fabulous tradition.  Since 1933 Rockefeller Plaza, in New York City’s Midtown Manhattan, has been the sight of the famous Christmas tree lighting.  And last night was no different.

The 84-foot-tall Norway spruce was made eco-friendly this year.  Covered with five miles of wire, the Rockefeller Christmas tree is lit with 30,000 LED lights.

Just before 9pm last night, Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg was joined by the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes (the girls who kick their legs up together) to throw the switch that lit up the mountainous tree.

Gossip Girls

Enjoy the pictures from the tree lighting ceremony last (November 28). Check back for updates!!

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Source: Billboard ()

Natasha Bedingfield’s sophomore album has shifted on the Epic release schedule once again. First expected last summer and then due Dec. 18, “N.B.” is now pegged to arrive Jan. 15.

The album has been out since April internationally. A new song not on the earlier edition, “Love Like This” featuring labelmate Sean Kingston, jumps 27-21 this week on the Billboard Hot 100.

Overseas, the first two singles from “N.B.” have already achieved robust success: The album launched with “I Wanna Have Your Babies,” which reached No. 7 on the U.K. singles chart, followed by “Soulmate,” which went to No. 6 on the U.K. airplay chart.

Bedingfield’s first project was also a slow starter in the U.S., but the single “Unwritten” eventually wrapped up 2006 in the year-end top five on AC, adult top 40 and Hot Digital Songs charts.

Bedingfield begins a European tour Feb. 18 in Bristol, England.

Source: Cincinnati Enquirer ()

Nick Lachey’s Cincinnati choir opened to rave reviews in New York Monday night on NBC’s “Clash of the Choirs” premiere.

“They sounded incredible,” said country music star Blake Shelton, after Cincinnati singers’ rousing performance of Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.”

R&B singer Patti LaBelle, called the song by 20 Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents “wonderful.”

Said Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child: “I honestly have to say, ‘Go Cincinnati!’ You guys are great!”

• Post your critique on John Kiesewetter’s TV blog
• Photos: Nick Lachey and his choir

The Cincinnat ensemble is competing with choirs and celebrities from four cities: Philadelphia (LaBelle), Oklahoma City (Shelton), Houston (Rowland) and New Haven, Conn. (Michael Bolton).

As with Fox’s “American Idol,” the No. 1 TV show last season, “Clash Of The Choirs” showed the good and off-beat auditions. NBC viewers saw Cincinnatians jumping rope, wearing funny T-shirts and one woman in a big yellow chicken costume.

Through auditions, viewers were introduced to Shonda Fowler, 33, a University Hospital nurse and Lachey’s 1992 School for Creative & Performing Arts classmate. She reminded him the he was her first kiss.

Cincinnati auditions also provided the first emotionally powerful moment, when Willrudale Underwood, 47, auditioned with his daughter, Arielle, 20, hours after his wife’s treatment for breast cancer.

Willrudale and Arielle were seen hugging while singing “Unwritten” on live TV, while his wife, Kathy, watched in the audience.

“I’m so excited to be here. This is a dream come true for me, to be able to sing with my daughter,” Willrudale told the national TV audience.

One choir will be eliminated on today’s show (8 p.m., Channels 5, 2), based on viewers’ votes after Monday’s show.

The remaining will perform one song each tonight. Another choir will be eliminated at the opening of Wednesday’s …

Source: Modesto Bee ()

By MARIJKE ROWLAND
mrowland@modbee.com

last updated: November 30, 2007 04:15:55 AM

Like your holidays with a little pop?

Want to see stars on more than just the top of your Christmas tree?

Then get your twinkle toes to the Jingle Ball, featuring Avril Lavigne, Natasha Bedingfield, Sean Kingston and OneRepublic on Saturday at the Stockton Arena. The show is sponsored by Modesto’s KHOP 95.1 FM and Sacramento’s The End 107.9 FM.

The stellar lineup includes some of the hottest hitmakers around. John Nelson, marketing director for 107.9 The End, said the Stockton show is a way to showcase the Central Valley’s growing prominence in the music scene.

“It speaks to the fact that now the Central Valley has more than one high-class facility that can house concerts,” he said. “We’ve been working closely with KHOP and are happy to extend our reach.”

Lavigne has been a staple on pop radio for the past five years. The Canadian singer first hit it big with her single “Complicated” and has since charted with “Sk8er Boi,” “My Happy Ending” and “Girlfriend.”

British-born singer Bedingfield has landed on the charts with sunny pop hits like “These Words,” “Unwritten” and her current single, “Love Like This.” The rising star comes from a musical family; her brother Daniel Bedingfield had a dance club hit, “Gotta Get Thru This.”

Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston is fresh off an appearance opening for Gwen Stefani earlier this month at the Stockton Arena. The 17-year-old singer broke through this year with his summer smash “Beautiful Girls.”

The bill’s sole rock act, OneRepublic, is one of the hottest bands around thanks to its record-breaking debut single, “Apologize.”

“With Top radio, we like to balance the bill with a wide variety of genres,” Nelson said. “It’s a pretty well-rounded bill.”

Source: Boston Globe ()

television review

‘Clash’ cashes in on holiday sentiment

Patti LaBelle (right) gets the best out of her group on “Clash of the Choirs,” a competition that benefits charity.
(Eric Liebowitz / NBC)

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By
Matthew Gilbert

Globe Staff
/
December 20, 2007

Thank you, NBC, for giving us the chance to live in Patti LaBelle’s world this week on “Clash of the Choirs.” As her royal subjects, we were bestowed with endless waves of vibrant diva love that found their way through the TV screen and straight into our hearts. Endlessly fanning herself, a sufferer of the longest menopause ever known to woman, Queen Patti made us all feel good - or else.LaBelle was but one of the ho-ho-hokey pleasures of “Clash of the Choirs,” the singing contest that NBC is wrapping up tonight at 8 after nightly airings this week. Yes, it’s easy to mock the series, which has packaged holiday uplift without even a passing nod to subtlety. The show’s grabs for schmaltz - images of soldiers in uniform, a sobbing Katrina survivor, the singing husband and daughter of a woman with breast cancer - have been as in-your-face as a Sally Struthers starving-children commercial. The figurative boo-hoo string section shows up every few minutes, along with Nick Lachey’s toothy smile and Michael Bolton’s carefully manscaped chest hair.But “Clash” has been a satisfying experi ence, too, as the rich choral singing has had the power to drown out much of the manipulation and mawkish sentiment. The group performances - 20 strangers of all ages, sizes, and colors building a song together and making it sail - have been hard to resist. Even songs such as the Pretenders’ insipid “I’ll Stand By You” and Natasha Bedingfield’s poppish “Unwritten” have taken on a grandeur in their open-mouthed choral versions. And that rousing momentum becomes even greater we see team leaders LaBelle, Lachey, Bolton, Blake Shelton, and Kelly Rowland dance proudly while conducting …

Source: Kalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com ()

BY JOHN LIBERTY

jliberty@kalamazoogazette.com

388-8579

KALAMAZOO — You may not have seen Western Michigan
University professor Stephen Zegree on the debut of
NBC’s “Clash of the Choirs'’ Monday night,
but you could hear his influence.

However, if you tuned in Tuesday night, you could catch a
glimpse of him standing in the background behind pop singer
Nick Lachey, whose choir Zegree is helping coach for the
show. It was during a rehearsal.

Zegree, the Bobby McFerrin professor of jazz at WMU and
director of the jazz vocal ensemble Gold Company, is
assisting one of the five vocal ensembles competing in the
network reality show, which will air its final two episodes
live at 8 tonight and Thursday.

The show started by pitting 20-member ensembles from five
different cities — Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City,
Houston and New Haven, Conn. — as chosen by celebrities who
are natives of those cities.

Zegree is working with Lachey’s Cincinnati team, which
started off the show’s debut Monday by singing Natasha
Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.'’

“I was thrilled and excited, because I knew they were
well-rehearsed, confident and ready to perform,'’
Zegree said in an e-mail Tuesday night about the debut
performance, which was praised by the judges. “And they
were selected to open the first show, and I interpreted that
to mean that the executives in charge of the production
wanted to open with a strong group. So we took that as a
compliment.'’

The choirs are vying for a $250,000 cash prize for their
designated charities. The first choir to be eliminated, as
determined by viewer votes, was announced Tuesday night.
choir ended up being safe; Kelly
Rowland’s Houston choir was sent home.

CONTINUED   1 | 2
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Source: Times Online ()

PARIS Ungaro, the French fashion house, has named 23-year-old Esteban
Cortazar as the new chief designer for its women’s collections. He was
chosen from 18 candidates after a global search.

Mounir Moufarrige, Ungaro’s chief executive, said that he was looking for
someone with an eye for modernising the house. “He is very mature for his
age,” he said.

The Colombian-born designer, whose designs are worn by the likes of the singer
Bedingfield, left, was raised in the United States and presented his
first collection in New York in 2003. (AP)

Source: This is London ()

 Add your view

David who? Mr Cameron at the event where he was not recognised As leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron usually enjoys privileged access to high-profile events.

But he faced an awkward moment when he was ordered off stage by an American TV producer after he was mistaken for a gatecrasher at a New York event last week.

The Opposition leader was told bluntly “You’re in my shot”, after finding himself mingling with a group of celebrities who had no idea who he was.

They were attending the traditional ceremony to turn on the Christmas tree lights at the Rockefeller Centre.

Mr Cameron had been invited on stage by the city’s Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, for a photocall in front of the tree.

The ceremony has been a major part of the Christmas tradition in the US for the past 74 years and coverage of the event by TV network NBC marks the start of the holiday season.

This year’s live extravaganza featured British pop star Natasha Bedingfield, veteran crooner Tony Bennett and singer Celine Dion.

On Friday Mr Cameron had the rather less glamorous task of switching on the Christmas lights in his Oxfordshire constituency of Witney, where he revealed his awkward episode with NBC.

Scroll down for more… Spectacular: The spruce outside the Rockefeller Centre is the Big Apple’s favourite herald of Christmas

He told a group of constituents: “On Wednesday I was in New York and was invited to see the Christmas lights being turned on in the Rockefeller Centre.

“I felt slightly uncomfortable as there were several high-profile American celebrities all stood around me but it was obvious they didn’t know who I was.

“Finally, after being stood there knowing no one for what seemed like an eternity, someone from NBC asked me to leave the stage as I was in their shot. I don’t think anyone NBC had a clue who I was - probably thought I was gatecrashing.”

A constituent at the …

Source: Austin American-Statesman ()

PAMELA LEBLANC: FIT CITY

Sometimes a blast of just the right music is what it takes to run up that last hill or make it through that final set of leg presses. Curious about what songs make the best motivators, we polled some of Austin’s top athletes. This is what they’ve got loaded on their iPods when they work up a sweat.

MORE ON THIS STORY

Tell us: Which tunes accompany your workouts?

Harry Cabluck
ASSOCIATED PRESS

(enlarge photo)

University of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy gets revved up with Kenny Chesney’s ‘She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.’

(enlarge photo)

Linkin Park provides the soundtrack for Alex Janss, a UT rower.

Randee St. Nichols

(enlarge photo)

Think Judas Priest’s days are past? You’ve got another thing coming. Local golfer Omar Uresti’s workout menu is full up with the Priest’s biggest, baddest songs.

Ricardo B. Brazziel
AMERICAN-STATESMAN

(enlarge photo)

Bun B of UGK, above, is among Tony Hills’ favorites.

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Source: MiamiHerald.com ()

Y100 JINGLE BALL: BankAtlantic Center, 1 Panther Pkwy., Sunrise; Ticketmaster; $42.75-$112.75.

It’ll be too late to apologize if you miss the annual Y100 Jingle Ball, sponsored by — who else? — WHYI-FM (100.7). Performers include Charlotte, Plain White T’s, Elliot Yamin , Natasha Bedingfield, OneRepublic, Sean Kingston, Ashley Tisdale and Flo Rida.