Jessie J dons bottle tops for her 'Price Tag' vid

January 29th, 2011

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Bros fans are going to be psyched with Jessie J’s new look in the fab new video for her second single Price Tag feat. B.o.B. Just check out those bottle tops! The single is out today to download as the first official ‘on air on sale’ single in chart history. I’m looking forward to hanging with this lady at the Brits in a couple of weeks – she’s one to watch. Catch the video exclusively premiering on T4 today (Sunday) at 12.35pm.

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Kelly Rowland, Sarah Harding, Emma Willis and Esmee Denters shine at MTV Staying Alive dinner

January 29th, 2011

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Kelly Rowland hosted an extra special MTV Staying Alive (HIV and AIDS Awareness charity) dinner this week to honour Chief Executive Bill Roedy at the Westbury Hotel. The Destiny’s Child singer auctioned a bespoke 18-carat white gold & diamond bracelet designed by herself and Sabine Roemer which went for an impressive £10K.

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Other guests at the exclusive Iceberg vodka bash included Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding (above with her unusual make-up and outfit) who was overheard gushing about her impending nuptials to DJ Tom Crane. Other guests included former MTV stars Alex Zane, the gorgeous Emma Willis, Tim Kash and Laura Whitmore.

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Esmee Denters performed Black and Gold and Get Me Out Of Here – she may not have taken off here yet but she has one hell of a voice…
The whole gang ended up partying after at London’s plush Jalouse nightclub. Get them, eh!

Adele rocks my world. That's all…..

January 29th, 2011

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This year is going to be all about one lady music wise – Adele. I caught up with the star this week as she recorded the very first extended Live Lounge for BBC Radio One’s Fearne Cotton. Adele’s easily flying to the top of the album charts this week and it’s no surprise. Her new album 21 is magnificent in every way. She told me she was thrilled with the reaction to it: “It’s great to be back and to have such amazing feedback on the album. I actually keep crying when people say nice things. It’s overwhelming. I’m off to America to promote it next and then I’ll be back for the Brits.” I’ll see you there, Missy.
I urge you all to watch Adele’s performance from Maida Vale studios this week at www.bbc.co.uk/radio1.

Fame Academy's Marli Harwood is back with a BBC Radio Two Single of the Week

January 29th, 2011

Marli Harwood credit Steve Schofield

Remember Fame Academy star Marli Harwood. Well I do. She was ace with her powerhouse vocals and smooth undertones. Despite being unsigned to a label the singer is celebrating this week after new single It’s Called A Heart has been made the BBC Radio 2 Single of the Week. She’s spent years ploughing away to find that hit record and this break has come along just as she’s expecting her first child! Good news all round. The single’s out February 21. Check it out HERE.

Tess Daly loves her milk….

January 25th, 2011

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Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly was unveiled recently as the next big UK name to back low fat milk as part of the ‘make mine Milk’ campaign.
Tess obviously jumped at the chance to become part of the multi-million-pound campaign which was launched in April 2010 by Gordon Ramsay and Pixie Lott.
Tess praised ‘the white stuff’ as an important part of the family diet. She said: “Running around after two young children certainly helps me stay in shape, but making sure I have a balanced diet is vital to keep me feeling fit and body-confident. It’s not always easy for busy mums on the go to eat healthily, and that’s why milk is such an important part of our diet at home. It’s tasty and refreshing, plus my kids love it, and it’s always a bonus when your children like something that’s good for them!”
Make yours milk!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Sugababe Amelle Berrabah

January 25th, 2011

Sugababes are currently working hard on their new album – the follow-up to last year’s Sweet 7 – and I caught up with one third of the gorgeous trio, Amelle Berrabah, to find out how the girls are getting on.The star has teamed up with www.showyourstyle.co.uk to raise awareness of cervical cancer. We had a natter about keeping fit and that rumoured romance with Alex Reid…

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What’s your involvement with the Fight Cervical Cancer in Style campaign?
I learnt so much from the campaign last year and some of the facts were genuinely shocking. I want to help raise awareness to get women and girls out there to go to screenings and lower the risks of them getting cervical cancer. It’s trying to get people to take action now and take five minutes out of their day to go and get a screening. It’s the most common cancer in women aged between 20 and 29 – eight women a day get diagnosed and three women a day actually die. I think that’s quite shocking. It’s not the nicest thing to go through but for the sake of five minutes it can save your life.

Do you have a personal involvement with the campaign?
My sister had an abnormal scan four years ago and that was the first time I’d even heard about cervical cancer to be honest. They had to monitor her closely and she had the abnormal cells lasered off in the end. Luckily she’s is fine now but it’s just the thought of what might have been if she hadn’t gone for a screening. Over a third of girls haven’t even heard of the HPV virus and I find that really interesting. It’s not about spreading fear but it’s really trying to get people informed with the right information. It was only with Jade Goody dying, bless her soul, that people started to think ‘Oh this is dangerous’.

Do you make an effort to keep yourself fit and healthy?
I enjoying going to the gym but it’s more because you feel better about yourself. It’s good to have a nice balance – I try to eat healthy but if I want to have something that isn’t healthy then I’m going to eat it. I’m not obsessed and it’s about being happy with yourself. It’s a strange thing as being in the limelight means a slight change is noticed straight away.

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I can’t wait for your new album! How are you getting on with it?
We’re in the studio and are really excited about it. It’s still early days and we haven’t got a particular sound – whatever we love, we record. Hopefully it will take about two-three months to get ready but we really want to take our time on it and make this the best album we’ve ever done. We want to work with some really cool producers and new ones too as it’s really important because then they give you the ideas that haven’t been snatched yet.

Will there be any collaborations on the album?

Tinie Tempah would be amazing and he’s very talented and quirky. He doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously. I’m a massive fan of his.

Have you got your wellies at the ready to play any of the festivals this summer?
We really want to do lots of festivals this year. We’ve already put in for V festival and I’d really like us to do Isle Of Wight again. If we could play Glastonbury that would be amazing and one to remember for years and years. I’ve never even gone, let alone performed!

I can’t see a bling ring on your finger so I’m assuming there was no truth in the rumours you were proposed to by boyfriend Tom Benn at Christmas?

No we are just chilled and will get married when the time feels right – which is not for a few years! We had our anniversary last week and when the time is right the time is right but at the minute we’re just chilled and focused on work. We’re very happy. Maybe next year, eh! We had a gorgeous meal for our anniversary.

What did Tom make of recent reports that you were ‘cosying’ up to Alex Reid on a night out?
Oh god, that was so funny because I’ve known Alex since I was eleven years old. He was my kick-boxing instructor for six years. My mum knows his mum and my brother was in the same year at school with him. I know for a fact he does not see me in that way and he knows for a fact that I didn’t see him in that way. It would almost be a bit weird if we did – it basically would be incest! I think Katie would have known straight away that it was just a rumour as she knows we’re friends.

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Amelle is proud to support the 1st year anniversary of the Fight Cervical Cancer in Style campaign; a national campaign to educate and raise awareness about cervical cancer developed by GlaxoSmithKline, in association with Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK charity dedicated to cervical cancer. Currently, eight women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and nearly three women die of the disease every day in the UK but the UK cervical screening programme is thought to be saving up to 4,500 lives per year. For more information speak to your local GP/nurse or visit www.showyourstyle.co.uk.

Newlyweds Katy Perry and Russell Brand hit Vegas

January 25th, 2011

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Check out Katy Perry and Russell Brand looking like super cute newlyweds in Las Vegas recently. The pair hit the blackjack tables at the stunning Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino where they were celebrating the 90th birthday of Katy’s grandmother.

Cute couple alert!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Matt Willis

January 25th, 2011

Matt Willis as Nick in the hit West End musical Footloose was a total triumph! And now the former Busted star is touring around the country, appearing as moody teenager Chuck, in the stage adaptation of the film which made Kevin Bacon a star.
In an revealing interview Matt gives me the truth on that rumoured Busted reunion and talks all about love with wife Emma and baby Isabelle.

Matt Willis as Chuck - credit Eric Richmond

The 1984 film – starring Kevin Bacon in the lead role – is iconic. Had you seen it before taking on the role?
No I hadn’t but I decided to watch it to see what my guy was like. I didn’t know whether or not I should but I’ll obviously be playing the character a bit different. I had to have to have a sneaky look! I actually watched it with Emma because she fucking loves it and was like, ‘Oh please play the Kevin Bacon part’. I was like: ‘Are you kidding? I can’t dance for shit!’ That’s such a difficult part because he doesn’t stop dancing. The guy playing Rev is amazing and has a voice to die for. He is about 19-years-old so is making me feel very old at the minute. It was very weird as I’d never really felt old before!

Tell me more about the show…
We have got eight shows a week so it’s a pretty full-on big tour. When I got the part I thought the last thing I needed to do was go on tour as I don’t really get to see Emma or Isabelle enough. The idea of going away for five months was just not an option but I really wanted to play a totally different guy to the one I’ve just done in Flashdance. My character in Flashdance was quite a nice nerdy guy – so quite like me – but this guy is an absolute bastard. It’s quite hard to play a bastard actually. I wanted to take on some more challenging roles so it was perfect.

Are Emma and Isabelle going to come and visit you?
Yeah they are going to come up to different parts of the country with me. I’ve got a motorbike so if I want to whizz back for the night I can.

It must be hard to keep the romance alive when you spend so much time away from home. What are your tricks?
We really enjoy our Sunday’s because I always have Sunday off. We always try and make plans but when it comes to Sunday all we want to do is stay at home and relax! At the moment it’s hard but we’re booking a romantic holiday to Dubai for a week in April. So I’ll come off tour and be at home for a week with Emma and Isabelle and then Isabelle will be at her nan’s for a week while we go off to chill in the sun.

In July you and Emma will have been married for two years. Do you have any plans to renew your vows?
I don’t think we’ll be renewing vows for a little bit but we will do one day. As soon as the day was over, Emma wanted it to happen again. It’s one of those things where you look forward to getting married for so long and then it’s over. Women look forward to their wedding day so much and they only get to wear the dress once. How good would it be if you had a guilty pleasures-style wedding disco where everyone comes in their wedding dresses and suits? It would be a bit weird to have 500 brides in one room. Actually, I think it would be a nightmare.

When projects have you got in the pipeline for when Footloose comes to an end in March?
I’m not planning anything and I’m not taking on any more work for a while. I haven’t been at home for about eight months because I’ve been non-stop so I need a bit of family time. I’ve got a band that me and my mate are doing and we want to do a record. I’m just going to take time out and that’s why I’ve taken this job. It gives me enough money to pay the mortgage for a few months and if I don’t have to work then I won’t and I’ll just focus on making a record with my mate. We’re going to make a band and have a bit of a laugh and see where it goes. This is just a bit of fluff and we have no aspirations to be the biggest band in the UK or anything. For us it’s all about having fun and playing a couple of little rock shows.

Now what’s the truth on a Busted reunion because rumours of one are always popping up?
There’s always rumours and if I’m honest we thought about it two years ago. James and I sat down and said we would get the band back together and we both got really excited about it. But unfortunately the band belongs to three people and we each own one third of the name. Charlie did not want to do it and made it very clear that he would stand in our way. So unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to do it. Now, if we wanted to, we could possibly buy it off of him if we came up with enough money. I want to look at it as an amazing part of my life and I always want to look back on it with fond memories so I think sometimes things are better left as they were. For a little period of time it was really horrible so I don’t want to have to go through that again. I definitely think that Busted will never be a band again, unfortunately. Also I think there was a time and a place and now we wouldn’t be able to do it with the same conviction when we were 17 years old. Going on stage and singing about the Year 3000 doesn’t really hit home with me anymore.

And what do you think about Emma being hotly tipped to take over Konnie Huq’s presenting duties on The Xtra Factor?
I think Emma would be up for it if she was offered it and I think she would be fucking perfect for it. Emma loves The X Factor so she would be perfect. I get a bit jealous when X Factor’s on because all she talks about is Simon Cowell. I’m like: ‘All right love, I get the fucking message – you like the man!’

Footloose tours the UK from January 21 until July 30. Check out www.footloosethemusical.co.uk for details.

Pic: Eric Richmond