Victoria Bar David Beckham

Victoria Beckham has disallowed her football superstar of a husband, David Beckham, from a Pepsi ad, all because her rival Britney Spears is in it as well.

The Manchester United football captain was supposed to appear in a World Cup “dream team” photo, sponsored by Pepsi, with Britney but Victoria told him no way.

Posh Spice, apparently, did not want any gossip to materialise later that will associate her husband and the ‘Overprotected’ pop princess, especially since Britney has told the press that she finds David Beckham a “cutie”.

According to the tabloids, Britney said “I’ve seen some games on the telly in the States. I’m looking forward to doing the commercial. I think he’s a cutie. But I’m not a very good soccer player so I have to get someone to help me. Maybe he will.”

The two sensations who both own multi-million sponsorship contracts with soft drink giant, Pepsi, will appear in a TV commercial but David is only an animation.

Gareth Gates May Not Perform As Well As Will Young

According to nationwide sales figures, Gareth Gates’s debut single, ‘Unchained Melody’ looks rather unlikely to equal the record-breaking sales of ‘Pop Idol’ victor, Will Young’s No.1 single, ‘Evergreen/Anything Is Possible’.

HMV stores across the UK have established the fact that Gareth’s single is nowhere near his ‘Pop Idol’ rival, although it has done relatively well. Also, HMV chart expert, Gennaro Castaldo, said that there’s a clear-cut regional bias to Gareth’s sales, with ‘Unchained Melody’ selling strongly in cities like Leeds, Newcastle and Gareth’s hometown of Bradford.

In Birmingham, where Gareth’s virgin solo single has performed less well, Paul O’ Brian from HMV commented “I’d say it’s definitely the second best seller this year. It’s doing very well but it’s down by roughly half on Will’s first day sales. We’ve mostly had adults coming in and buying the single, but maybe the kids’ purchases will have an impact come the weekend”.In Manchester, Ian Depasois, a spokesperson for HMV, said: “Sales have been nowhere near as good here this time around and sales of Gareth’s single are down in comparison to Will’s. I’ve had no calls so far asking about ‘Unchained Melody’. It’s been disappointing”.

In other news, Gareth has now signed a profitable advertising deal to promote Wella Shock Waves hair gel, buzzed around to be worth GBP1 million. Plans at the moment include a billboard, a magazine campaign and the possibility of television ads.

Gareth’s earnings now look set to top those of Will Young. So far, Gareth has signed contracts and earned royalties worth an estimated GBP2.7 million while Will has earned GBP650000 from the 1.1 million sales of his No. 1 chart-topper ‘Evergreen/Anything Is Possible’. Last week Gareth signed an advertising deal with Pepsi.

Anyway, surf your way onto Gareth’s official website: www.ggates.co.uk.

Asian Dub Foundation Back With More Band mates

Despite the news that front man, Deeder Zaman, has quit Asian Dub Foundation, the future of the innovative UK collective is pretty much safe.

Since their ‘Community Music’ LP, the unclassifiable London 5 piece, are about to return with new material.

Deeder, the inspirational singer who wanted out in order to work with grassroots civil rights and anti-racist organisations, apparently played his last gig for the band on New Year’s Eve of 2000.

Here are a few excerpts from the band’s statement:”Deeder generally wished to have a break from music, in particular the heavy touring aspect and explore other avenues of life, having been in the band since the age of fourteen”.

“We thank him for the contribution he made to the development of Asian Dub Foundation from a sound system to a respected international band. We wish him success, fulfilment and happiness in all his current and future endeavours”.

“Asian Dub Foundation has always been a collective in that everyone in the band writes the lyrics and the music”.

“With Deeder’s departure, we resolved to continue in the same vein. The line-up has been expanded. Spex and Aktarvata have been taking care of MCing duties. Rocky Singh has come in on drums and Prithpal Rajput aka ‘Cyber’ on dhol and tables”.

George Michael Slams Oasis and ‘Pop Idol’

38 year-old George Michael had a go at Oasis the other day, saying “The critics made one member of Oasis feel like they were the whole of Oasis and he promptly wrecked the best band we’d had in 20 years. The best album is the first album, even the second album, the massive album, was not as good an album as the first album. And he gradually got rid of the band.”

George added further that Oasis’s latest single, ‘The Hindu Times’ was fine, but just not what he would’ve expected from them. Besides that, the ‘Freeek’ vocalist slagged Oasis more by saying “Noel said that most of his gay friends thought I was disgusting. Yeah right! I can really imagine Noel hanging out with a load of nellies around at his house every night, slamming the gays.”Turning his attention to the entire ‘Pop Idol’ phenomenon, “I don’t think Pop Idol has much to do with the music industry,’ said George. “It’s just Saturday night TV entertainment. It’s killing the music industry. The singles market is dying in this country and we’re not exporting any stars around the world. 8 million people called in to vote for Pop Idol, which is about interactivity, not music ok. We should turn all that people power into something positive, maybe give exposure to bands who can’t be heard right now.”

He even conceded that his new single ‘Freeek’ would be outshined by Gareth’s ‘Unchained Melody’, saying “Gareth’s single will be huge, obviously. When I was watching Pop Idol, I never thought it would become this huge mega-event and so it never occurred to me to change the release date of my single”.

George, who apparently is having a fabulous relationship with Kenny Goss, said he was not that surprised that Will had announced he was gay. “It didn’t come as a surprise to me but I’m majorly impressed that he did it. It was fairly obvious though.”

Denying that he had fallen out with former pal, Geri Halliwell, George, who is working to put on a live show next year, said “Geri is a lovely girl and a remarkable person but it’s difficult to be friends with someone who courts the press all the time. I don’t mean that in a bad way. She’s a victim of that process in a way but I love privacy so it’s difficult to be with her. I was drawn to her initially after the Spice Girls split. We’d both recently lost a parent and she was good company to be with.”

George’s ‘Freeek’ is already available in your trusty music outlet and defending the controversial video with its saucy antics, he mentioned, “It’s meant to be tongue in cheek and fun. I’m not advocating that kids go out and become perverts or anything. I do think that people are very suspicious of the sexual opinions of anyone who is openly gay and the flak I’ve received conceals a certain amount of homophobia in the press”.

B With Mis-teeq

Not satisfied with chart success in the UK, R&B/garage trio Mis-Teeq, made up of 3 sizzling sirens, namely Sabrina, Su-Elise and Alesha, have been thinning out their sounds and spreading their word far into Europe.

Talking to an online music-zine, Su-Elise had this to say “We’ve been in Europe, out doing a promo tour all over the place. We got to go to Spain this time around which we didn’t get to do last time and visit places like Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden. It has been very interesting because R&B there is loads more advanced than it is in the UK. We meet so many interesting people. Trust us, there are so many talented people we never get to hear about in UK, for some reason I can’t simply comprehend.”

Mis-teeq, well known for their versatility in blending garage and R&B, wrote their previous Top 10 hit, ‘B With Me’, taken off their smash album ‘Lickin’ On Both Sides’, of which you can also find their previous catchy tunes such as ‘One Night Stand’, ‘All I Want’ and ‘Why’. “To be honest we make good music, put it out and hope people pick up on it. We’ve always worked that way”.When asked about touring with Shaggy, known for his massive hit ‘It Wasn’t Me’, Sabrina said “We’re big fans of his. To us he’s just an amazing artist because he’s been around forever. Every time he comes out he makes hit and after hit and he’s got such multi-cultural audience of various ages. It’s going to be a great experience to play such big shows to such a diverse group of people.”

So what else can we expect from Mis-teeq? Well, come summer 2002, they’re planning to head on down to the studios and record their sophomore album. After which, they’ve every intentions of holding their own arena tour at the end of the year.

Mis-teeq’s full-length release ‘Lickin’ On Both Sides’ is available in all good record stores. For more details pertaining to the gorgeous ladies of Mis-teeq, then click on their cool official home on the web: www.mis-teeq.com

Mariah Carey To Start Own Label

Reportedly, Mariah Carey has every intentions to create her own record label. The crooner has been without a label since January 2002. Virgin Records ended her deal after Mariah’s album/soundtrack for the movie ‘Glitter’ slumped big time. It is said that Mariah received a whopping $49 million payout to leave the label.

Don Passman, attorney to the star, said that the new label Mariah’s hoping to establish will not only feature Mariah’s incredible talents, but other artists’ too. (Think Madonna’s successful Maverick label.)

If the ‘Never Too Far’ singer does decide to form her own company, it will be her second chance at managing a whole roster of artists as well as her own career. In 1997, Mariah created Crave Records together with her ex-husband’s label, Sony Music. Crave Records was home to acts such as S.O.A.P and Allure. However, Crave was shut down one year later when Mariah divorced her husband, Tommy Mottola.

Robbie Williams and Drew Barrymore?

Are Robbie Williams and Drew Barrymore an item? Apparently, the pair met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Los Angeles.

A source close to Robbie Williams claim that while at the meeting, Robbie was talking about his struggles and it really touched Drew. “She saw what a sensitive, warm person he really is actually.”

Both Drew and Robbie have had well-publicized battles with alcohol and drugs and have been unlucky in love.Since then, realising how much they both have in common and speaking to each other for hours, the couple have been spotted having coffee and in several L.A nightclubs.

In other news, Robbie’s been telling anyone who will listen that he wants to become a priest. Telling an observer, “I’m training to become a priest so I can minister to people. I’m giving up this pop lifestyle.” Reverend Robbie Williams? Somehow, I don’t see that happening.

Kim Sozzi’s Feelin’ It

There’s a great article in this month’s Stuff Magazine (US Edition) on dance babe Kim Sozzi.

For those that don’t know, Kim had a great pop dance hit last summer with “Feelin’ Me” which featured some great mixes by Hex Hector and Jonathan Peters. Her new single, We Get Together, is scheduled for release very soon, and her debut album is due out late Spring/early Summer.

We’ll soon be adding more Kim Sozzi at KimSozzi.Pop-Music.com, but until then you should definetly check out Stuff Magazine, and Kim’s Official Website at www.kimsozzi.com.

Pet Shop Boys 2002 Release Tour Dates

The Pet Shop Boys, who released the first single from their new album on Monday, have announced a 2002 concert tour for this summer. The tour will kick off on 6 July at the Brixton Academy in London, and will then see the duo play at a various venues all over the UK.

The new album, Release, hits stores on 1 April in Europe and the UK.

The full tour schedule is as follows:Release 2002 Tour

July

06 Brixton Academy, London, UK

08 Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK

10 Grimsby Auditorium, Grimsby, UK

11 Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield, UK

12 Carling Apollo Manchester, Manchester, UK

14 Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle, UK

15 Playhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland

16 Nottingham Royal Centre, UK

18 Wolverhampton Civic, UK

19 Cambridge Corn Exchange, UK

21 Oxford Apollo, Oxford, UK

22 Colston Hall, Bristol, UK

Tickets now on sale at: National Tour Ticket Hotline – 0870 4000688

H and Claire Sign 4-album deal

If you haven’t already heard, ex-Steps members, H and Claire, who were rumoured to have split the group up, are working together as a duo to bring you more “Steps-like” sounds.

Signing a stonking GBP4 million contract with WEA a couple of days back, Claire Richard and H, also known as Ian Watkins, have agreed on a 4-album deal. Steps’s old label Jive had hoped to sign the pair but Claire said, “They didn’t exactly offer the best deal.”

Their debut single, ‘DJ’, said to be shot in Miami, is due out on the 6th of May. Talking to the press, Claire said “It will sound similar to Steps but gradually we will change our sound slightly.”

The two popsters flew off recently to Sweden to work with Jorgen Elofsson, who wrote Will Young’s track “Evergreen.”

They’ll also have their very first live performance at the G-A-Y Nightclub come 4th of May.

Check H and Claire out at their temporary official website at: www.handclaire.com