Kelly Clarkson has decided to go with "Never Again" as the first single from her third album, My December, according to a post on her Web site. She said the single will hit radio on April 11 and provided some details about the album: "I know y'all have been waiting but just imagine having the music for months and not being able to show anyone ... it's torture!! The album is very much a story of my life and as you know my life is usually very intense with lots of roller-coaster rides. [The album's] got some killer rock stuff, some fun soulful tracks, some beautiful and intimate slower songs, and it's all me, so here's to hoping you like it, haha! My album will be dropping this summer (FINALLY) ... and I'm touring again this summer as well and I can't wait to see y'all." ...

Clarkson is slated to perform live as part of the two-night charity special "Idol Gives Back," which will air April 24-25 during the singing competition's normal time slots. The program is being held in conjunction with the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund and will raise awareness and funds for children living in extreme poverty in the U.S. and Africa. The wide-ranging cast of guest stars includes Daniel Radcliffe, Gwen Stefani, Pink, Forest Whitaker, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley. ... In other "Idol" news, Tony Bennett -- despite guesting on the show Tuesday night -- has bailed from a scheduled Wednesday night (April 4) appearance on "Idol." A spokesperson for the singer reportedly told "Access Hollywood" Bennett has a cold. ...

Christina Aguilera and Nicole Kidman have joined Lifetime's End Violence Against Women campaign, which focuses on helping women around the world as well as promoting the Violence Against Women Act in the U.S. Aguilera will star in a public-service announcement that will air on the TV channel and at concerts on her Back to Basics Tour, and she's also designed scarves and ties -- to be distributed to members of the White House and Congress -- that signify solidarity with victims of domestic violence. Kidman will also tape a PSA and, on LifetimeTV.com, discuss visiting sexual-assault survivors in Kosovo as part of her stint as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women. ... "Spider-Man 3" will premiere in Queens, New York -- Spidey's hometown -- at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 30, The Associated Press reports. The screening will kick off "Spider-Man Week in NYC," a citywide promotional event. The movie opens nationwide May 4. ...

Beck, who got creative last year by blanketing his Information disc with make-your-own artwork, is finding more ways to break from the norm. For a limited time, fans can grab their own Beck Sketchel shoulder bag, which incorporates Information art, via Beck.com. ... Panic! at the Disco, Wu-Tang Clan and the Shins lead the list of artists announced for Seattle's annual Bumbershoot music-and-arts festival. The partial list of acts slated for this year's event, scheduled for September 1-3, also includes Lupe Fiasco, Plain White T's, Crowded House, Steve Earle, Devotchka, Devendra Banhart, Gogol Bordello, Kill Hannah, Lyrics Born, Norma Jean, Roky Erickson & the Explosives and the Aggrolites. ...

Little Kids Rock, an innovative nonprofit music-education program that provides free instruments and lessons to children in public schools, has announced that it will be the sole beneficiary of the Six-String Masterpieces memorial tribute, auction and benefit concert honoring late Pantera/Damageplan guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. The event is set for May 17 at West Hollywood, California's House of Blues and will feature an auction of electric guitars designed and hand-painted by the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie, Tommy Lee, Marilyn Manson, Dave Navarro, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Slash. Artists scheduled to perform during the event include Navarro, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Aaron Lewis (Staind), Kerry King (Slayer) and Dimebag's brother, Hellyeah's Vinnie Paul. Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta will host the event. ...

Daddy Yankee has finally settled on a release date for his long-awaited major-label debut, The Cartel: The Big Boss. The Interscope set will drop June 5 and is slated to feature contributions from Akon, Jim Jones, Will.I.Am, Fergie and Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls. Yankee also recruited producer Scott Storch, who worked on the album's first single, "Impacto." ... Hip-hop tastemaker El-P is stepping out for a North American tour this spring. The 25-date stint begins April 27 with his appearance at the Coachella fest in Indio, California, and winds down June 8 in Washington, D.C. ... The oft-delayed Lost Tracks of Danzig, a two-disc box set of previously unreleased material, has been slated for a May 29 release. The set will come with a 12-page booklet of photos and a short anecdote about each song as remembered by frontman Glenn Danzig. ...

Director Robert Clark, best known for helming the 1983 holiday classic "A Christmas Story," was killed along with his son Wednesday after being hit by an alleged drunk driver, AP reports. Clark, 67, and his 22-year-old son, Ariel Hanrath-Clark, were involved in a head-on collision on Southern California's Pacific Coast Highway early Wednesday morning. The driver of the other vehicle is being hospitalized and, after being treated, will be booked for investigation of "gross vehicular manslaughter." ...

Prosecutors painted a grim picture of famed music producer Phil Spector on Tuesday in advance of his upcoming murder trial in the 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson. They revealed new evidence that Spector had threatened women with violence several times in the past, including telling a man working security at a holiday party thrown by comic Joan Rivers that women "deserve to die. They all deserve a bullet in their ... head." The Los Angeles Times reports that a former assistant is ready to testify that Spector put a gun to her head and refused to let her leave his home after parties. Prosecutors revealed the past threats in court motions seeking to introduce the new evidence at Spector's murder trial later this month. Prosecutors also said that one of Rivers' former bodyguards has also told them that he recalled several instances where Spector spoke of shooting women. ...

Patti Smith's upcoming album 12 -- a collection of covers including reinterpretations of songs by Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Tears for Fears -- is due April 17. ... The Fratellis and Jon Spencer & the Elegant Too have contributed new music to the "Hot Fuzz" soundtrack, due April 17. The disc also features previously released songs by the Kinks, XTC, Adam Ant and the Troggs -- as well as composer David Arnold's 23-minute "Hot Fuzz Suite." The cop comedy from the filmmakers behind "Shaun of the Dead" is due in theaters April 20.

04.03.2007

Ciara will perform her new single, "Like a Boy," on the "Dancing With the Stars" results show Tuesday night (April 3). The program airs at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. ...

Kanye West has a lot to say -- about almost everything -- so Complex magazine is giving the rapper/producer the opportunity to unleash his inner red-carpet critic. West is returning to the magazine as a fashion columnist, a post he originally held from 2004-'05. His next critique will appear in the magazine's April/May fifth-anniversary issue, out next week. ...

Could Timbaland be the next celeb putting his muscles to use in a wrestling ring? Only time will tell, but the hitmaker did appear on "WWE Raw" Monday night. Tim, who was interviewed in his front-row seat, told the audience he was there as a fan -- and really excited to see wrestling legend "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Timbaland also said he wanted to feature Ashley and some other WWE Divas in his next video, "Throw It on Me." ...

Metallica in jammies? Swedish authorities are refusing to let a couple name their 6-month-old child after the famed metal band, The Associated Press reports. Metallica Tomaro has already been baptized, but the Swedish National Tax Board won't allow her parents to register the name because, according to Swedish paper The Local, it's too closely related to the word "metal." Believe it or not, there's actually already another Swedish girl named Metallica, but the tax board contends that its decision to previously authorize the name may have been an oversight. ... Godsmack, Sevendust, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace and Puddle of Mudd have been confirmed for Edge Fest, which will go down June 8 at the North Shore River Walk Park in North Little Rock, Arkansas. More bands will be added to the bill in the coming weeks. ...

Billy Joe Shaver is wanted by police after allegedly shooting and wounding a man outside a bar in Texas over the weekend, AP reports. The incident happened Saturday night in Lorena, where -- according to Shaver's attorney, Joseph A. Turner -- an intoxicated man followed the country singer into the bar parking lot, at which point Shaver shot him in self-defense. Arrest warrants for aggravated assault and possession of a firearm have been issued for the country singer, Shaver's attorney told the news service. ...

Pearl Jam have confirmed reports that they will headline the August 5 closing night of this summer's Lollapalooza. Early bird tickets for Lollapalooza -- set for August 3-5 at Chicago's Grant Park -- go on sale Tuesday, and the full lineup for the show will be announced April 12. So far, the Lollapalooza gig is Pearl Jam's only U.S. show scheduled for this year, according to the band's Web site. ... The Good, the Bad & the Queen squeezed out a new EP, Live From SoHo, exclusively through iTunes on Tuesday. The five-song set was recorded March 12 at the Apple Store in New York's SoHo neighborhood and marked the Damon Albarn-led group's first U.S. performance. ...

We won't be seeing that Kid Rock/ Scott Stapp sex tape after all. Former Creed frontman Stapp recently settled his lawsuit against World Wide Red Light District -- he had sought to block the company from distributing a video of him and Rock entertaining groupies on a tour bus in 1999. Stapp had claimed the tapes of the romp were stolen from a safe in his home. Under the terms reached Friday, according to Los Angeles CBS affiliate KCAL, World Wide agreed not to resume distributing the footage, which the company has admitted it does not own. Stapp's lawyer also said the singer will receive an undisclosed cash settlement as part of the deal. ...

Prince is packing up his Las Vegas show at the end of the month. The singer's six-month residency at the Rio Hotel & Casino is slated to end on April 28, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. After playing weekend gigs since November at the casino's 3121 nightclub, the Purple One seems poised to hit the road in support of a new album. His Web site now features a teaser video in which a screen of static crackles and then clears up briefly, revealing a glimpse of Prince standing over a floating Earth with the words "Planet Earth" splashed across the page followed by "coming soon, summer 2007." ... Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown gave birth to a baby girl in Los Angeles on Tuesday, BBC News reports. Brown has previously said ex-boyfriend Eddie Murphy is the child's father, but Murphy told Dutch TV show "RTL Boulevard" in December that he wouldn't "know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test." ...

Thursday have canceled all tour plans for the remainder of this year, citing "circumstances beyond our control." In a post on their MySpace page, Thursday wrote that they "sincerely regret any inconvenience this may cause, and we're disappointed that we won't be seeing the people and places that we were looking forward to. We would like everyone to know that we will be devoting all of our time and energy this year to the future of our band. We recently got a second chance to start this band over fresh and we don't plan on wasting that chance." Thursday recently parted ways with Island Records after releasing two albums on the label. ...

Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter against a Sacramento, California, radio station over a stunt in which 28-year-old Jennifer Strange died of water intoxication. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento County District Attorney found that Strange willingly participated in the January 12 morning radio bit on KDND-FM called "Hold your wee for a Wii," in which contestants had to drink large quantities of water over a four-hour period without urinating. After drinking almost two gallons of water, Strange complained of headaches and disorientation but showed no symptoms of being seriously ill, the judge ruled. She died at home later that day.