NEW YORK (AP) — She’s got a friend. James Taylor said he will give a California woman a brand new music player loaded with his songs to replace the one she said she had to give up to a taxi driver when her credit card was declined after a trip to the airport last month.

Natalie Lenhart, 20, said officers at John F. Kennedy International Airport made her give the $140 iPod nano to the driver as payment for the $49 ride from Manhattan on Dec. 8. The driver said he’d return

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NEW YORK (Billboard) – Personally and professionally, British synth-pop survivors Depeche Mode are on sturdier footing than ever as they near their 30th anniversary as a band and the April 21 release of their new album, “Sounds of the Universe.”

“Sometimes you have to pinch yourself, because we've had our rough moments in the past,” keyboardist Andy Fletcher told Billboard. “It's nice to be at this stage of our careers

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Newlyweds Fergie and Josh Duhamel’s families are unfazed by new rumors the pop star is pregnant, because celebrity bloggers are always speculating over whether she is with child.

The couple tied the knot at a low-key vineyard ceremony in Malibu, California on Saturday. They jetted out of Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday to begin their honeymoon, but not before Fergie joked to photographers, “I’m pregnant with twins.”

Her cheeky comment has sparked fresh

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After captivating British fans for more than four years, London-based Razorlight - fronted by lead singer/guitarist Johnny Borrell - now turns its attention to the U.S. as the newest addition to the Mercury Records roster in America. Razorlight’s third album, Slipway Fires, released November in the UK on Universal’s Vertigo label, will be issued in the U.S. on Mercury in March 2009, coinciding with a major North American tour schedule. First single “Wire To Wire,” has already reached

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Los Angeles (E! Online) – Norwegian would if they could.

Beatles fans hoping that a loophole would allow them to finally legally listen to the Fab Four's tunes for free online are going to have to say hello goodbye to a series of Norway radio podcasts.

The blogosphere has been abuzz in recent days after Norwegian public radio network NRK planned 200-plus episodes, each showcasing one of the band's classic

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Just in time for the Grammy Awards and Valentine’s Day, J Records is releasing a deluxe edition of Leona Lewis’ Spirit, the Grammy nominated, chart-topping, best-selling debut from one of the breakthrough artists of the year. The deluxe version of Spirit will be in stores February 3rd, 2009.

This limited edition CD/DVD package features four new, never-before-released songs in the U.S., including Leona’s #1 UK chart breaking smash hit single, “Run,” originally recorded by

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NEW YORK (Billboard) – After a worldwide record deal with Island Records collapsed last year, Norwegian electropop songstress Annie is forging ahead with plans to release her second album, “Don't Stop,” sometime in 2009.

“I own the masters, so I can do whatever I want to do. I might do it myself, on my own label,” she tells Billboard.com. “We're talking to people too. There's so much happening in the business right

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Rappers Public Enemy, rockers Franz Ferdinand and The Kooks, and DJ Carl Cox will help residents of the world’s most easterly city welcome 2009 before anyone else on Earth.

Gisborne, New Zealand sits right on the international dateline and is the first city to welcome the sun each day. And it will be the first place to celebrate the New Year - a full 13 hours before London, 18 hours before New York and 21 before Los Angeles. The city is the site of the Rhythm & Vines festival

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NEW YORK (AP) — Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday in Connecticut of colon cancer.

Kitt, a self-proclaimed “sex kitten” famous for her catlike purr, was one of America’s most versatile performers,

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Irish rockers U2 have named their new album “No Line On The Horizon,” and will release it worldwide in early March, their label said on Thursday.

The quartet's 12th studio album was originally expected to be released by the end of this year, but the band announced in September that it would keep writing more tunes. Recording took place in Morocco, Dublin, New York and London.

Interscope

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