Tearful George Michael says illness was ‘touch and go’

George Michael: ''It was basically, by far, the worst month of my life"

Singer George Michael has admitted that his recent bout of pneumonia was “touch and go for a while” and was “the worst month of my life”.

The 48-year-old star, who has returned to London following a month-long stay in a Vienna hospital, said he was “very weak” but added he feels “amazing”.

Fans mob Rihanna between takes after farmer’s topless video row

Rihanna during the first day of filming her new pop video

After upsetting a farmer with her skimpy outfit, Rihanna’s latest video shoot in Northern Island proved far more popular in some quarters as fans mobbed the star between takes.

The singer drew a large crowd at an estate in Belfast yesterday while shooting her new video only days after the release of her new single We Found Love. Rihanna had previously upset a Christian farmer in Bangor with her racy outfit and was kicked off his land that she was filming on.

The 23-year-old had been

Lil Wayne ‘breaks’ iTunes sales record

Lil Wayne's new album sold 964,000 copies in its first week on sale

Lil Wayne has set a new iTunes sales record with the release of his tenth studio album. Total sales for the American rapper’s ‘Tha Carter IV’ in its first week were 964,000 according to Nielson SoundScan.

But it reportedly ‘easily broke’ the iTunes’ album sales record by selling around 345,000 copies in four days.

His manager Birdman, co founder

Tony Bennett to lead Amy Winehouse tribute

Singer Tony Bennett embraces Amy Winehouse as they record Body and Soul for Bennett's Duets II album

Legendary crooner Tony Bennett is to lead a tribute to the late Amy Winehouse at an international MTV awards event this weekend.

Bennett – who recorded with the singer earlier this year for a track on his next album – will introduce a special section of the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

It will include footage of him recording with Winehouse at Abbey Road Studios in March as they sang Body And Soul for his Duets II album. It proved to be her last session.

Lionel Richie’s Country Duets Album Nearing Completion

Lionel Richie

Producer Tony Brown says he’s almost completed recording Lionel Richie’s album of duets with country artists.

So far done are “Stuck on You” (withDarius Rucker), “Sail On” (Tim McGraw), “Lady” (Kenny Rogers), “Easy” (Willie Nelson), “Deep River Woman” (Little Big Town), “You Are” (Blake Shelton) and “All Night Long” (Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band).

Still to do are recordings with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland and the Zac Brown Band. “We’re having a blast,” Brown tells CMT.com.

“Lionel is the coolest fun guy, and he’s blown away by the musicians here.” Brown estimates the album will be out this summer.

Source: CMT

Amy Winehouse tops UK charts after death

Amy Winehouse's 2006 album Back to Black has topped the UK charts again following her death. Picture: AP

AMY Winehouse’s Grammy award-winning album Back to Black has soared to the top of the UK charts in the wake of her death, Sky News reports.

As tributes poured in for the late star, who died on July 23, fans flocked to buy her albums, sending five hits into the top 40 – a record for the late soul and jazz singer. While Back to Black knocked Adele’s 21 off the top spot, Winehouse’s debut effort Frank came in at No. 5.

The box set combining Frank and Back to Black also entered at

Jay Z and Kanye West album deal irks indie retailers

Watch the Throne is due for release on iTunes on 8 August

Scores of independent US music stores have written an open letter to Jay-Z and Kanye West over exclusive release deals for their upcoming album. Watch The Throne will be released first on iTunes before the Best Buy chain’s exclusive deal to sell the album nearly two weeks ahead of other music retailers.

The letter says the deal will do “great damage” to more than 1,700 record stores and calls for equal access.

Jay-Z’s spokesman had no comment.

Posted by the organisers of Record Store Day, the letter has been signed by shops across the US and calls the release plan a “short-sighted strategy”.

Sony officially outs new A, E, and S series Walkmans

When a company sends a boatload of media players through the FCC, specs and all, it kinds of takes the punch out any official announcement, ya know?

Still, it’s nice to finally see Sony’s spate of new Walkman players that we’ve been reading so much about. The company just announced updates to its A, S, and E series of players, all of which have a karaoke mode, language learning function, voice recording, and Sony’s station-creating SensMe feature.

Apple refreshes MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt, and backlit keyboards

Macbook air new 2011 side

They say Apple updates its products like clockwork, releasing something new at the same time in the same place every year. Not so with MacBook Airs anyway. The outfit’s gone and freshened up its 13-inch and 11-inch ultraportables — the second such update in nine months. Although the industrial design hasn’t changed much since the last generation, both models step up to Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors, Thunderbolt ports, backlit keyboards, and, of course, OS X Lion.

Harper Seven name inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird author – David Beckham

The Beckhams recently welcomed their fourth child into the world (Allstar)

David Beckham has revealed the inspiration behind his newborn daughter’s name Harper Seven – it’s a tribute to the author of high-brow literary work To Kill A Mockingbird, of course. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid footballer published a video on Facebook in which he explained how his wife Victoria’s love of literature helped inspire their choice – even after she admitted in 2005 that she ‘hadn’t read a book in [her] life’.

‘One reason is Harper’s an old English name which we loved,’ David revealed. One of the other reasons was Victoria’s favourite book is To Kill A Mockingbird and the author was Harper Lee. ‘It’s a very strong, passionate book. That’s where Harper came from.’