Alicia Keys
Photo: Evan Agostini/ Getty Images

Alicia Keys is lending her voice to Beninese singer/songwriter Angelique Kidjo's new album, Djin Djin. The collaboration is also titled "Djin Djin," which refers to the sound of the bell ringing in the beginning of the new day in Africa. Carlos Santana, Joss Stone, Ziggy Marley and Josh Groban are also featured on the album, which is due May 1. ...

Two Tampa Bay, Florida, concert promoters filed suit against Lil Wayne on Friday, claiming that he missed an October 29 show at a club and then refused to reschedule it. According to The Associated Press, Nunoise Entertainment and Jahfari Promotions claim Wayne (real name: Dwayne Carter) signed a contract in September to perform, then missed the event and returned a $15,000 deposit. The suit claims that he still owes the promoters $45,000 in damages for canceling the show on top of the $200,000 they are seeking in lost profits. ...

Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy and producer Dallas Austin are converging for the "How I Wrote That Song" panel discussion, to be held February 10 in Los Angeles. The event, held in celebration of Grammy week, will be hosted by BMI and feature performances of hit songs by the panelists, followed by a Q&A on music, the business and songwriting. Kara DioGuardi, Butch Walker and Jeffrey Steele are also participating. ... Bono will be honored at the 38th annual NAACP Image Awards with the Chairman's Award. The U2 frontman "has been an inspiration to many people around the world through his music and humanitarian efforts," NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said in a statement. Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, "Dreamgirls" and "Everybody Hates Chris" lead the nominees for the Image Awards, which will air March 2 at 8 p.m. on Fox. ...

David "Disco D" Shayman, best known for collaborating with 50 Cent on the rapper's multiplatinum LP The Massacre, committed suicide early Tuesday morning (January 23). He was 27. The Michigan-born producer caught a career-changing break when his publicist passed along his beat CD to G-Unit's Sha Money XL and 50 selected the track that would eventually become "Ski Mask Way." The budding beatsmith — who proliferated Detroit's "ghettotech" sound, a blend of electronic music and hip-hop — suffered from depression and was diagnosed as bipolar. DJ Vlad, who met Shayman during a trip to Brazil, remembered his friend as being "fearless." "He was a good friend of mine," Vlad told MTV News via e-mail. "I just talked to him a couple days ago. He was telling me that he was going through some rough times. I tried to cheer him up. I wish I realized how bad it was. I'm devastated right now." ...

Mandy Moore digs deep in the February issue of Jane magazine — on newsstands Tuesday — admitting that she's been dealing with a "really crazy time" in her life. "It's what I imagine people fresh out of college go through," Moore said from rural New York, where she's been writing new music. "I'm asking myself life-altering questions, like 'Who am I? Where do I fit in this world? What am I doing, what do I want to do? Am I living to my full potential?' " Moore says fans can expect more questions — and maybe some answers — on her next album. "Sometimes things hit you and you want to write about them." ... Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz is a little less forthcoming in his five-question interview with Jane, though he does reveal that he believes frat guys and 13-year-old girls are the "same people" — only 13-year-old girls are less likely to call him unrepeatable names. ...

Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash will appear in the forthcoming video for Paulina Rubio's "Nada Puede Cambiarme," the second single from the Latin artist's Ananda LP. The clip was refilmed earlier this month in Los Angeles with Dago González, who directed Madonna's "Paradise (Not for Me)." ... Want to quench your thirst? How about a "Purple Haze," "Fire" or maybe even a "Foxy Lady"? Los Angeles drink company Beverage Concepts and Authentic Hendrix are launching a line of Jimi Hendrix specialty drinks that carry the exclusive licensing rights to the late guitar icon's name and likeness. Named "The Liquid Experience," the line features non-alcoholic energy drinks, herbal teas and nutraceuticals themed after Hendrix. "The Liquid Experience" will launch in late April at the Experience Music Project's Hendrix exhibit in Seattle. ...

Jamie Foxx is teaming up with Sirius Satellite Radio to launch the Foxxhole, a comedy station featuring the actor/singer as both executive producer and on-air host. Foxx said in a statement that he expects the radio network, which will launch in the spring, to "break new ground in comedy, blurring the lines between stand-up, sketch and music." ... The official Motörhead Mobile Store launched this week online, where fans of the legendary thrashers can download band-themed ringtones and wallpapers to their mobile phones. ...

Snow Patrol drummer Jonny Quinn has pulled out of the band's upcoming European tour after breaking his arm. Quinn sustained the injury while snowboarding in the Alps. Former Therapy? drummer and Cranberries collaborator Graham Hopkins will stand in for Quinn when the band's European trek kicks off February 4 in Offenbach, Germany. ... Keane have recruited Rocco DeLuca and the Burden as the opening act for their upcoming U.S. tour, which starts Friday in Los Angeles. DeLuca's band has been generating buzz with its new single "Colorful." The group is signed to Kiefer Sutherland's Ironworks label. ...

Placentia, California, authorities identified Brent Liles, the former bass player for influential punk act Social Distortion, as the bicyclist who has been killed in an accident on the Orange Freeway on Thursday, The Orange County Register reports. He was 43. Liles contributed to Social Distortion's groundbreaking 1983 effort, Mommy's Little Monster, and later went on to play with other well-known punk groups, including Agent Orange. Liles had been riding a small dirt bike on a side road and was struck by a big rig carrying a trailer as he approached a crosswalk intersecting the freeway, according to police. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the truck has not been cited. An investigation into the accident is ongoing.

01.22.2007

Girl power, B-style: Beyoncé and Shakira have buddied up to record "Beautiful Liar," a song about female solidarity. B told MTV News Europe: "I've always loved her and I've always wanted to work with her and the song fits perfectly. It basically talks about two women ... the same guy is trying to get at both women. And instead of them both fighting, they're saying, 'He's a beautiful liar, let's not fight, let's stick together — forget him!' I think it's a great concept." There's no word yet on when the track will surface. ...

Following on the heels of his boss, Jay-Z, Kanye West has collaborated with Coldplay singer Chris Martin. Their track, "Homecoming," is the early frontrunner for the first single from West's Graduation, due later this year. West has also said he will once again work with producer Jon Brion. ...

Paris Hilton pleaded no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving on Monday (January 22) and was charged with 36 months of probation and ordered to pay fines, The Associated Press reports. The charge is a reduction of the original driving-under-the-influence count she had been charged with. Judge Michael Sauer gave the singer, who did not appear in court, the option of lowering the probation period to 24 months if she were to perform 40 hours of community service. The fines total $1,500, and the judge ordered her to attend an alcohol-education program as well. ... Alicia Keys is offering $5,000 scholarships to a student active in community service in each of four areas — New Orleans; Atlanta; Jacksonville, Florida; and New York's Harlem neighborhood, AP reports. The funds will be distributed as part of the Open Doors Scholars Program, founded by Keys' road manager DJ Walton. "We're just looking for standout students who are definitely college-bound and need a little bit of help financially to really achieve their dreams," Keys said in a statement. ...

Paula Abdul insists that she's been stone-cold sober while judging and promoting "American Idol," The New York Times reports. During the talent competition's Saturday press tour, Abdul blamed her bizarre behavior during a recent Seattle television interview on exhaustion and a mixed-up audio feed, and said she takes her position on the show too seriously to jeopardize it by being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. "There are young girls watching me, and I know I'm a role model. I've been a teacher, and the fact that some of them would look up to me and want to be the next choreographer or the next singer, I would not violate that trust." ... Simon Cowell also defended himself Saturday, explaining that while some of his comments may be considered cruel, "the appeal of this show is that we've never tried to censor [it]." But Cowell did admit to having a heart beneath that tight black T-shirt. "There are times, trust me, when I watch it back and I just think, 'God, I wish I hadn't said that, and why do they put it in the show?' But it's something we all sign up for, good things and bad things. I feel more comfortable being on a show where we are prepared to show the warts as well as the good things." ...

Travis Barker has been forced to leave (+44)'s European tour because his right arm, which he broke in September while filming a video, has not properly healed. According to an AP report, Barker, 31, will return to Los Angeles to seek treatment. (+44) have not announced who will fill in for Barker on the tour. ... On the other side of the Blink-182 coin, Angels & Airwaves have entered their Macbeth studio to begin writing and recording the follow-up to 2006's We Don't Need to Whisper. The band is keeping further details of the project under wraps for now. ... "On the Move," a speech that Bono made at a 2005 White House conference urging Americans to take action against poverty and AIDS in Africa, will be published as a book April 3, the band announced in a post on U2.com. The book will also feature photos taken by the U2 frontman during his first trip to Ethiopia, in 1985. "On the Move" will retail for $12.99, with all royalties benefiting the One campaign. ...

Against Me! have aligned dates for a headlining tour beginning February 20 in St. Augustine, Florida. The trek, which will feature the Riverboat Gamblers and Fake Problems as openers, comes to a close March 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ... MSTRKRFT are teaming with DJ John Digweed for a joint tour dubbed Diamonds. The pairing of the electronic-music minds begins March 1 in Portland and ends March 31 in New York. ... Fountains of Wayne have set an April 3 release for their first album in almost four years, Traffic and Weather. The first single is called "Someone to Love." ... Korn are planning to launch another installment of their Family Values Tour late this summer, although there's no word yet on who else will be on the bill. The band continues to work on its next record with producers Atticus Ross and the Matrix. The LP is expected to be released in June. ...

Marilyn Manson has titled his forthcoming solo LP Eat Me, Drink Me, according to the rocker's Web site. He is currently wrapping production on the effort, which should land in stores this spring. ... On Saturday, Army of Anyone were joined onstage by the Meat Puppets during the former band's gig in Austin, Texas. Together, the two groups performed the Meat Puppets classics "Attacked by Monsters" and "Lake of Fire." The performance marked the first live appearance by the Meat Puppets in close to a dozen years. ... The AP reports that a Los Angeles judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit filed by Tyruss Himes, a former Tupac Shakur associate who alleged that reports by an L.A. TV station and XXL magazine falsely accused him of involvement in the unsolved killing of Notorious B.I.G. Himes claims that he lost a record deal because of reports that implicate him in the shooting. The judge dismissed the claim on the grounds that Fox affiliate KTTV-TV and XXL stories were constitutionally protected free speech.

• Alicia Keys
• Angelique Kidjo
• Lil Wayne
• Gnarls Barkley
• Fall Out Boy

Alicia Keys
Photo: MTV News

WEEHAWKEN, New Jersey — Alicia Keys' band has been practicing a bridge between David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and Keys' "Karma" for a half-hour to the point where they seem like one song.

Keys nods her head to the beat, giving her approval to the proposed medley for her performance at the Black Ball, Keep A Child Alive's annual fundraiser in New York on Thursday (November 9).

"David Bowie is in the show," Keys said, "so we're singing together. But the song you just heard, we may or may not do. I figured, while he's there, why not [do a duet]?"

Also joining Keys onstage will be Damien Marley, Angelique Kidjo and Louis XIV, who've all signed on to help Keys turn this annual event into a million-dollar fundraiser to help AIDS orphans in Africa. Interspersed between the performances will be film clips of the singer's recent trip to Africa, where she visited clinics in Durban, South Africa, and Kampala, Uganda.

"You go and you experience it, and you really feel what's happening and what we're doing, how you help by just being there. You feel a connection to it," Keys said. "And then musically, it's the bringing together of a whole world of people that you will probably never see on the same stage ever again."

Keys is trying to bridge worlds in more ways than one. Like Bono, Jay-Z and Madonna, she's on a mission to raise awareness about what's happening in Africa, particularly with the 12 million orphans left by the AIDS pandemic. "Awareness is power," she said. "Here I am, thousands and thousands of miles away, and most people will never see it and get to know with their own experience and feeling that this is what people are going through. But if I could show them, 'Here's what it looks like,' for those who can never be that close to it, it ignites a sense of insistency. You feel you have to do something.

"I don't think there can ever be too much awareness," she added. "From South America to Haiti to Africa, if you can say what's happening and someone can be moved by that, that's important. We're a global family. There are some people who live on 137th Street and will never leave 137th Street, and there's things happening on 137th Street that we should all know about. But where are we going if we don't care?"

The money raised by Thursday's fundraiser "goes directly to the people," Keys assured, to provide anti-retroviral medicine, staff clinics and to build orphanages. "If you donate just a dollar a day, a child could live on that for a year," she said. "It's the full package." One of the Black Ball honorees, Carol Dyantyl, who Keys calls "Mama Carol," looks after 900 children in an orphanage in Soweto, South Africa, called Ikageng Ministries. "There's a huge orphan problem," Keys said. "It's a reaction to what happens when you can't get the medicine to everyone. Families pass away.

"When I first went over there, I felt a huge, heavy weight on my shoulders," Keys added. "People looked at me like I came with all the answers, and I didn't have the answers. I sat down with tens of hundreds of kids, listening to their stories, their lives. They were infected, or their parents were infected or died. I just said, 'What do you need?' And they said, 'Medicine. We don't have access.' "

Moved by one particular child's story, Keys has written a new song in his honor. Sudi, whose family lives in the slums of Mombasa, Kenya, was 17 years old and infected with HIV but didn't receive any medication until he was 14. His growth was so stunted, he looked 9 years old, because he was less than 4 feet tall. "He passed away while I was in Africa," she said. "But he didn't die in vain. It makes you realize the later you start the medication, the harder it is, and that's why it's so important to get them the medicine very young so they can respond. If we can start other children much earlier, they can live a normal life."

She's not ready to share the song just yet — she feels like it's too close to her heart at the moment — but she did share her time with Sudi via footage she aired on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." In response, Oprah's Angel Network raised $250,000, and Key's fan club raised $4,000.

"We're just everyday people, but we can be heroes and make a huge change," Keys said. "I've gone back, and I saw buildings, whole pediatric wings, that now exist. Orphanages erected. Children who could eat, mothers who could live, families who could have a real life now. I saw kids happy and screaming and playing and alive. I saw 900 children who had some hope because we provided for them in some way. It's amazing to see what we can do with the money we raise, when it goes where it's needed."

So instead of the heavy pain she felt before, Keys said what she now feels is faith and hope. "I'm driven and excited and proud of what we've done, what we'll continue to do," Keys said. "My heart, it bleeds, because we have to be the voice for the voiceless. That's what I want to be."

• Alicia Keys Rehearses For The "Black Ball" At Her NJ Studio
• Alicia Keys, Tom Cruise, More Help Raise Money For AIDS Orphans At The Black Ball

• Alicia Keys
• David Bowie
• Damian "Junior Gong" Marley
• Angelique Kidjo
• Louis XIV