Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Win Grammy Album Of The Year

Raising Sand, from Led Zeppelin vet and bluegrass superstar, wins five Grammys on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery with MTV News staff


Alison Krauss and Robert Plant accept the award for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards on Sunday
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

"I'm bewildered," Robert Plant said onstage as he accepted the Grammy Album of the Year award with Alison Krauss on Sunday night. "In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it's a good way to spend a Sunday."

He was probably one of the few who were surprised, because Raising Sand, which won five trophies at Sunday night's show, is in many ways the perfect Grammy album. It features two respected veterans, a critically lauded producer, some sandpaper-and-velvet vocals and a baker's dozen of time-tested standards.

You're probably familiar with Robert Plant from his Led Zeppelin days, and you might be aware of producer T-Bone Burnett's work on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack (it won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002). And if you don't know who Alison Krauss is, she possesses a haunting set of pipes and is one of the meanest fiddle players in the world. Oh, and she's won 21 Grammys, more than any other female artist and the seventh-most in history.

Really, she's the key to Sand's success, and not just because of her voice (or her fiddle playing). She and Plant first met in 2004, at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tribute to legendary bluesman Leadbelly, and the former Zeppelin man was amazed by her knowledge of American Roots music — so much so that they began kicking around the idea of recording an album together. Three years later, Sand was released.

And while Plant possesses the more famous voice, the album's finest moments radiate from Krauss. Whether she's getting bluesy on Little Milton's "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" or entwining with Plant's husky voice on songs like "Please Read the Letter" and Roly Salley's winsome "Killing the Blues," she more than carries her end of the bargain.

And perhaps that's also due to producer Burnett, who handpicked the 13 songs the duo cover on Sand. His arrangements are sparse — giving the two voices ample room to breathe — yet dense, warm and crackling at the same time. It's a testament to his work that he's often given just as much billing as Plant and Krauss on the project ... and it's certainly justified.

To date, Sand has sold more than 1 million copies, heaped tons of acclaim and actually earned a Grammy last year — "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" took home the award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.

One expert was surprised not by the album's success, but by the fact that it's actually quite a good album.

"At first, the album seemed like a vanity project. ... Two names, clearly a one-off record, didn't have to be any good, you know?" New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica said. "Led Zeppelin fans would buy it because of Robert Plant, Alison Krauss would get a check. But it actually turned out to be a really thoughtful, really good record. So when you combine all that with the fact that the Grammys love to lionize one of their own, I could really see it taking home some awards."

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Cheryl Cole Kicks Off U.S. Version of "The X Factor"

Getting the popular UK show's Stateside version underway, Cheryl Cole attended the first round auditions taping of "The X-Factor" in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon (May 8).

Glamming up the Galen center venue, the former Girls Aloud singer looked colorful and cute as she worked the arrivals area alongside Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul at the show kickoff held on the Mother's Day holiday.

The event comes just as the star host/judge lineup was completed with last minute additions of Miss Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones.

With Miss Scherzinger and Mr Jones set to co-host the series, Cowell, the show's creator, said of the announcement, "These two are going to be great together. I have always wanted Steve to work with us; I think he is a real star. Nicole is fantastic. I loved working with her on the U.K. X Factor last year. She is gorgeous and super-talented."

Meanwhile, Miss Abdul joins Miss Cole and L.A. Reid to complete the trio of "X Factor" US judges, with Paula saying of the news, "I am excited beyond words to be a part of The X Factor. I couldn't be happier to bring my love for cultivating talent and performance to such a wildly anticipated show."

The 48-year-old added, "I'm looking forward to being back with the FOX/FremantleMedia family and know that it will be an extraordinary journey -- we're going to have a blast. I'm also delighted and grateful to be sitting next to Simon again...but you might want to check back with me in a week or two!"

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/cheryl-cole/cheryl-cole-kicks-us-version-x-factor-503506

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Jennifer Lopez Says She 'Lucked Out' With Lady Gaga Tracks

J.Lo talks about the tunes Gaga helped write and produce on her new Love? album.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Jennifer Lopez
Photo: Michael Caulfield/ Getty Images

Jennifer Lopez came onto the scene as a dance princess, throwing millennium parties while "Waiting for Tonight" and frolicking on the beach declaring that "My Love Don't Cost a Thing." Well, it's now 2011 and not that much has changed for J.Lo.

She still wants her fans to shake their fannies while she sings about the ups and downs of love. This time around, however, she got some help from this millennium's biggest pop princess, Lady Gaga — along with frequent Gaga collaborator/producer RedOne — for the just-released Love? album.

"I think RedOne's sound is very specific, but he also can be very individual for each artist that he works with, which I like, but there's still kind of a commonality in it," J.Lo said. "But it's him. He makes a record sound so big and important ... When he would play me different tracks and even the beginnings of ideas and when he told me, 'Actually I worked with Gaga on this,' and I was like, 'Really? That's awesome. Is it OK?' and he [was] like, 'Yeah, yeah.' You know, they write and produce together a lot. So, it was exciting. I kind of just lucked out on that one."

But, there is a lot more to the album than the few tracks featuring Gaga's golden touch. Love? also is a complete work of art that in a way, Lopez says, she's been working on for most of her life.

"I've been making this album maybe for a couple years now," she said. "It's been quite a process, but I've been saying lately that I've been actually making this record since I was 13 years old — the first time I fell in love — because it's true, all the thoughts and all the things that went into this album were questions and things that I've had over the years ... Love is a very complex topic and I've been singing about it since my first album, and this was kind of the culmination of that."

Sure, J.Lo is not the same girl she was back then, and she knows that. "I wanted to pose some questions and get the dialogue going about love," she added. "I wanted to make a great dance, rhythmic album, as well ... and we did that. I had great producers ... who helped me do that, helped take me and put it into this generation of music with all of that [and] we still were able to do that."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663373/jennifer-lopez-lady-gaga-tracks.jhtml

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Soap Dish: Squash The General Hospital Cancellation Rumor

By now I am sure you have all heard the rumor that General Hospital is getting cancelled to make room for a Katie Couric talk show. This is what I have to say to that rumor, lets squash it! Whether or not there is any truth to the rumor quite frankly doesn?t matter at this point as it is pure speculation. Instead of getting all up in arms about it how about fans do something to help save the show, watch it and get your friends to watch it. I realize that sounds kind of lame or stupid but it is very simple. Advertisers like ratings and networks love advertisers because they bring in the money. Therefore if you are a fan of GH and really want to save it then do something to help boost the ratings. Facebook or Tweet about it, tell your friends about it, you know all that good stuff. The higher the ratings the better chance General will stay on air. I personally don?t think the show is in trouble. It is a given that one of the crap reality shows that are replacing AMC and OLTL will tank which will free up time to [...]

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Supernatural ?The Man Who Would Be King? Recap

One of the last episodes of Supernatural’s sixth season really threw us a curve ball! Castiel is the one that raised Sam from Perdition…and without a soul?! Get the details behind ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ with our recap below. The pieces of the puzzle were finally put together for us after most of the season has gone by! And now that the big picture has been revealed, I have to say, Supernatural dropped some big surprises in The Man Who Would Be King. The ep also raised alot of new questions to be answered! After finding out in last week’s episode that Crowley is still alive and kicking, Sam and Bobby are suspicious of Castiel while Dean, on the other hand, attempts to maintain his faith in the angel that has always come through for him. Unfortunately though Cas has picked the wrong path no matter how strong and good his intentions are. In an episode that detailed a long talk with God, Cas sits on a bench and begs for direction throughout this latest 60 minutes, while the events play out in the background. This one really made me think of the entire season and how I [...]

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Vampire Diaries: As I Lay Dying Spoilers!

The Vampire Diaries is set to end its second season and I have to say I am sitting on the edge of my seat! I cannot wait to see how they end this one, and I am hoping that the major ?death? will not be Damon! Slideshow‘The Vampire Diaries’ Season 2 Finale Photos: ‘As I Lay Dying’ Okay, so call me crazy but right now I am rooting for Damon to live, even if it means killing off Stefan. If I had to make a choice. Hopefully it will be someone else entirely, as Elena, Damon, and Stefan ARE the Vampire Diaries. But I was completely rocked by this week?s episode, I never expected that they would actually kill Jenna. It was shocking. The whole time I was sitting on the edge of my seat and when it ended I was mad. It was too good! I love when a show sucks me in and pulls at my heartstrings! So in anticipation for next week I have looked up some spoilers and hearsay, so here is what I found: STOP READING IF YOU DON?T WANT TO KNOW! Lets start off with the official synopsis: ” While Mystic Falls presents a [...]

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