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Rolls-Royce has joined with MTV to raise $25,000 for the Staying Alive Foundation, a global organisation dedicated to preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS.   Rolls-Royce provided a new Phantom for last year’s MTV European Music Awards in Lisbon and invited artists to autograph the back seat. By the end of the event more than 20 major celebrities had signed.   The seat was then removed from the Phantom and turned into the world’s most exclusive sofa by Nick Gutfreund, an up-and-coming UK furnit

Anybody watching BBC1 early Saturday evening would have witnessed a mesmerising display of passion and precision: stirring highs, gut-wrenching lows and a surprise victory by a veteran team whom some had written off but who have recently enjoyed a spectacular return to form.   By which I mean the closing montage screened after England's grimly predictable elimination by Portugal in Gelsenkirchen.   To my mind, the BBC's farewell-England montage is one of the unacknowledged highlights of any int

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is set to return to the big screen - playing a spurned bride.   She took a break from Hollywood to raise her two children with Coldplay's Chris Martin, Apple and Moses. Now she will star in comedy Seven Day Itch with Ben Stiller.   According to US reports, Paltrow, 33, plays Stiller's new wife. And she's less than happy when he meets the girl of his dreams on his honeymoon. The Farrelly Brothers - who directed Paltrow in 2001's Shallow Hal - are at the helm. The new mo

We [more specifically 104.7 Triple M] will try to fix all you broken-hearted Coldplay fans who missed out on tickets.   In conjunction with Triple M and the New Zoo crew, John Blackman, Jane Reilly, Scott McBain and Cosi - there are two gold double-passes to win today and tomorrow. (Coldplay performs at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre tomorrow night).   For your chance to score, take note of today's Coldplay codeword: APPLE. Then, listen to 104.7 Triple M's New Zoo between 8-8.30am today to f

Grab your earmuffs and duck for cover, the popstars are on the attack.   Yes, after suffering years of abuse for musical crimes that they did commit, a crack team of popstars has decided to hit back. Literally.   The ‘drama’ (work with us here, we’re trying to make this thing exciting) began on a wee stage in a wee park in London. Hyde Park, to be exact. As Sharleen Spiteri belted out one of those instantly forgettable Texas classics, someone decided to lob their shoe at her.“**** *** *** *****

UK music giant EMI is considering raising its bid for US rival Warner Music to £2.6 billion as the takeover tug-of-war between the two groups continues.   The move would come just days after EMI - home to Coldplay, the Gorillaz and Robbie Williams - announced it had rejected a 320p-a-share offer from Warner, which valued the London-based company at £2.54bn.   The Warner bid itself came in response to an earlier £2.52bn offer from EMI, which the US firm rejected.Analysts expect the firms to rea

British music firm EMI Group Plc is considering raising its bid for smaller U.S. rival Warner Music Group Corp. to $33 a share from $31, the Observer newspaper said in an unsourced report on Sunday.   London-based EMI and Warner Music are locked in a takeover battle, with each trying to acquire the other to create a combined company that would shrink the industry to three main players.   EMI, home to Coldplay and Robbie Williams, said on Friday it had rejected a 2.5 billion pound ($4.6 billion)

Warner Music addressed fears it was struggling to line up sufficient funding for its £2.6bn (E3.76bn, $4.8bn) bid for rival EMI last week by securing a formal guarantee from investment banks Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs to underwrite the debt.   The details of the financing, seen by The Business, will reassure the board of EMI, which had concerns.   EMI and Warner, the world’s third and fourth-largest music groups, are bidding to buy each other.In a document known as a “highly confident” le

Nelly Furtado is back with a sexier, dance-floor sound, and the result is proving commercially potent - the Canadian singer has the new No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart with her third CD, "Loose."   The album, which sold 219,000 copies in its first week in stores, opened strong thanks to "Promiscuous," a radio hit of the moment that benefited from the presence of Timbaland, who is on hand as a producer for 10 of the album's 13 tracks.   The album finds Furtado in her familiar mode of eclectic m

When anxious mum-of-two Mandy Sellers watches hubby Piers blast off to space from the roof of the Kennedy Space Center today she will take comfort that her husband is carrying a little reminder of home.   For each morning, as Piers is woken by Houston controllers, the song Clocks by Coldplay will be played in to the shuttle Discovery.   The track was chose for him by his family - Mandy, Imogen, 21, and Tom, 18. "All four of us love it," says Mandy.Going into space was a boyhood dream for Piers

Last Canada Day weekend, CTV presented 18 hours of television that joined together over 10 million Canadians to hear music with a message.   Now, one year later, CTV revisits Live 8 with the new 90-minute MTV special Live8: What A Difference A Day Made, airing Saturday, July 1 at 12 midnight exclusively on CTV. The special will air as part of the MTVonCTV branded block. Once again, CTV will join the world in an international broadcasting event when the special is also broadcast to 480 million ho

A year after the historic Live 8 global concerts, one of the organizations behind the massive events has issued a report card on the Group of 8's promises to Africa on aid and debt relief.   The results? If the G8 were high school seniors, they might be in for some summer school.   "Live 8 was and remains a brilliant moment, but what is more important is the brilliant movement of which it was a part," said U2's Bono, co-founder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) and One.org, which issued the r

One year on from the historic Live8 concert, MTV Networks International is celebrating the first anniversary of the momentous music event by airing a new special called Live8: What A Difference A Day Made, through a partnership with Network LIVE.   An estimated three billion people from all over the world watched Live8, billed as the greatest show on earth, where the creme of the world's music artists came together to perform with one message -- make poverty history.   Beginning 2nd July 2006, i

It pays to be "Promiscuous," propelled by the Timbaland-produced hit, Nelly Furtado`s album 'Loose' arrives at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week.   The Mosley/Geffen/Interscope album, the Canadian singer`s third, reaped first-week sales of 219,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures for the week ended June 25. Furtado`s previous personal best - her 2000 debut, 'Whoa, Nelly!' - peaked at No. 24, ultimately selling 2.4 million units.   Florida Christian metal act Underoath`s second full-l

EMI Group and Warner Music Group (WMG) stepped on each other's feet in their long-running merger dance as each disclosed in dueling press releases Wednesday that it offered to buy the other this week - to no avail.   On Tuesday night, Warner rejected a $4.7 billion cash offer from EMI. But in a move that took some analysts by surprise, Warner turned around and bid $4.6 billion in cash for its British rival.   EMI says its board "unanimously rejected" Warner's offer because the price doesn't ac

Be careful about putting the word "rejects" in your rock band; people might take the name seriously.   That's especially true if you give an interview that includes joking about women having no "sense of rationality and direction." That's how singer Tyson Ritter of the band All-American Rejects characterizes how he thinks "like a woman" while writing songs.   In addition, the band seems to have disdain for the music of Coldplay, about whom Ritter says: "it's the same beat on every song with t

British music company EMI Group Plc rejected an approach worth 2.5 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) from smaller U.S. rival Warner Music Group, saying on Wednesday the offer was "wholly unacceptable".   Warner Music's 320 pence per share move on EMI was an attempt to take control of the company that has been pursuing it. EMI shares rose 9.6 percent to set a four-year high at 311 pence in early trading.   On May 3, Warner Music, the world's fourth largest music company and home to Green Day and Red

U.S. Warner Music Group has bid 2.5 billion pounds ($4.6 billion) for Britain's EMI Group Plc in an attempt to take control of the company that has been pursuing it, the Financial Times said on Wednesday.   The offer is worth 320 pence per EMI share which closed at 283.75 pence on Tuesday, the FT said on its Web site. EMI was not immediately available for comment.   On May 3 Warner Music (WMG.N: Quote), the world's fourth largest music company and home to Green Day and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, re

In the midst of their summer tour, Pearl Jam treated a few hundred lucky fans to an intimate performance for a taping of VH1 Storytellers on Wednesday, May 31 at Avalon in New York City.   "VH1 Storytellers: Pearl Jam" premieres Saturday, July 1 at 10pm. MHD: Music High- Definition Channel, MTV Networks' music-centric high-definition channel will simulcast the episode at the same time.   Pearl Jam joins Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Green Day and Bruce Springsteen as the most recent artists to t

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow has reportedly recorded a series of tracks with producer William Orbit.   The Sun reports Paltrow - who sang in the 2000 flop movie Duets - has been writing and recording with Orbit, who produced her pal Madonna's Ray of Light album.   A source tells the publication: "Gwyneth has messed around with Chris (Martin, her husband and Coldplay frontman). She would not work on music with her husband - she feels like she would be treading on his toes. When they are

"Audiences not reached on air can be reached on the ground."   This is the philosophy of MTV Philippines, a subsidiary of MTV, the multimedia brand for the youth, said MTV Philippines managing director Jack Madrid.   MTV Philippines is free to air because it is a UHF channel. However, the channel reaches only about a third or four million of the over 12 million households with television in the Philippines.“What we can’t reach through our television programs, we reach them through our ground ev

Long, after the ignominious death of so-called "art rock,'' the English quintet Radiohead gave a 2140 performance Friday at Berkeley's Greek Theater that was the aural equivalent of a modernist painting by Salvador Dali or Jackson Pollock.   For almost two hours, in an outdoor show where the thick fog seemed to be a special effect, this band showed its softer, dreamier side with its own version of clocks melting -- ambient, spacey music that sounded like soundtracks to films not yet made, bathed

Ozzfest remains one of rock's biggest juggernauts.   Generating almost $20 million a year in ticket sales - in addition to a lucrative mini-industry of souvenirs, merchandise and related CDs and DVDs - the heavy-metal music fest ranks among the top-selling tours in the nation.   But this year, Ozzy Osbourne and his tour are confronting an uncomfortable reality: rust. It's unclear how many more years he can stay with the tour. The $3-billion-a-year concert industry is worried about Ozzy and all

The boom in digital music has left a lot of iPods to fill and made millions of songs available online. But how to choose which ones? Music recommendation services are using tech wizardry to solve the problem.   It used to be so simple: Music fans discovered new songs by talking to friends or listening to the radio, then paid a visit to the local record store. But now, with online music stores like iTunes and Napster offering millions of often obscure songs, users are searching for a better way.

Whoa, Nelly! You almost don't realize that the woman rapping and dancing in the "Promiscuous" video is the same girl from 2000's "I'm Like a Bird." She's loosened up all right, but it's not just her sexy new moves that constitute a makeover.   Thanks to some Miami vices — like late-night recording sessions with Timbaland — Furtado's also getting down and dirty with '80s synth sounds, buzzing beats and a looser vibe, making Loose one of the hottest records of the summer.   You'll read about that