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23/05/01 Lil' Romeo's "I Want You Back" Based Single Tops R&B Charts!

The song "My Baby" by 11 year old artist Lil' Romeo has topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart this week. "My Baby" features a studio recreated loop of the Jackson 5 #1 hit "I Want You Back". Lil' Romeo has become the youngest artist to reach #1 on a solo project. With "I Want You Back", Michael Jackson holds the record for the youngest singer to reach #1. He was 11 years and 5 months old when he set the Guinness record on January 31, 1970 with his lead solo performance on "I Want You Back". Lil' Romeo, born August 19, 1989, was about five months shy of breaking Jackson's record as the youngest singer ever to reach #1. "My Baby" is the first single from Lil' Romeo's self-titled debut album due out in July. The video for "My Baby" is currently being shown on the Disney Channel. The young artist is signed to Priority Records.

Source: MJIFC

21/05/01 King Of Pap!

A sculpture of Michael Jackson and his pet monkey Bubbles has been sold for almost Ł4 million at auction at Sotheby's in New York. The sculpture, which is by Jeff Koons, was created in 1988 from porecelain and shows the self-titled 'King of Pop' reclining with his arm around the monkey. The massive bid of Ł3.8 million ($5.6 m) smashed the previous record held by Koons for his work, which was set at Ł1.3 million ($1.8m). The sculpture is a key piece in Koons' controversial career and was featured in his 'Banality' series.

Source: Dotmusic

20/05/01 Paul McCartney Quote!

During a recent press conference to promote Wings' greatest hits album, Paul McCartney spoke about his late wife Linda's musical talent. "She made a tremendous difference to the band and quickly learned to play keyboards and harmonize beautifully," said McCartney and added, "Michael Jackson even requested that Linda play keyboards on one of our collaborations, and Michael Jackson isn't stupid."
Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney together wrote two hit songs. "The Girl is Mine" appeared on the "Thriller" album (1983) and became a #2 hit in the US. "Say, Say, Say" was included on McCartney's 1983 album 'Pipes of Peace" and was a #1 hit in the US.

Source: MJIFC

10/05/01 Jackson Keeps Beatles Songs!

Despite reports to the contrary, Michael Jackson has insisted that he will not sell the rights to the Beatles songs that he bought back in 1985. The King Of Pop released a statement yesterday (May 9th) to quash rumours that have circulated within the music industry over the last few days. The statement reads: "I want to clarify a silly rumour: the Beatles catalogue is not for sale; has not been for sale and will never be for sale." It was stated that the superstar needed the cash to cover legal bills and to contribute to the upkeep of his Neverland ranch in California. The singer snapped up the publishing rights to 250 of the classic songs almost 16 years ago and shocked the music world by outbidding Paul McCartney and paying a reported $47 million for them. Since Jackson has owned the songs, they have appeared in commercials for the first time and this has included a Nike advert, which featured 'Revolution'.
Meanwhile, McCartney has admitted during his visit to Cannes that there is a "good chance" that he will marry his girlfriend Heather Mills. The songwriter was in the French resort to promote his Wings greatest hits album 'Wingspan' and said he wanted to clear up rumours of an official engagement. Paul lost his wife Linda to breast cancer back in 1998 and started dating the model last year. He said yesterday: "There is a chance I may get married again, but that is a decision we will make in private and only then will we make it public. "I can say here and now we are not engaged but there is a good chance I will get married in the future."

Source: Dotmusic

09/05/01 Michael Jackson Not Selling The Beatles Catalogue

Michael Jackson issued a statement today clarifying that he does not plan to sell the rights to the Beatles' catalogue. In the statement, Jackson said, "I want to clarify a silly rumor: the Beatles Catalogue is not for sale; has not been for sale and will never be for sale." Jackson's statement came in response to recent rumors that he is planning to put the catalogue for sale.

Source: MJIFC

02/05/01 "Thriller" Tops VH1's "100 Greatest Videos" List

Michael Jackson's video for "Thriller" was ranked the number one music video of all time by VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Videos". Five Jackson videos made it to the list with the video for "Scream" also making it to the top ten at number nine. Here are all the Michael Jackson videos in the list:

1. Thriller
9. Scream
21. Beat It
34. Billie Jean
38. Black Or White

The video for the song "We Are The World" (song co-written by Michael Jackson) also ranked 93rd on the list. The videos were rated by experts at VH1. VH1 will premiere a series of five one-hour special programs called "100 Greatest Videos" at 10 p.m. ET in U.S.A from Monday May 7 through Friday May 11. Chris Isaak will host the series counting down 20 videos in each show. On Tuesday-Friday, each new premiere installment will be immediately preceded by a repeat airing of the previous episodes. The entire 5-hour special will be rerun on Saturday, May 12 from 1:00-6:00 p.m. ET. During the daily countdown, Black Or White, Billie Jean, and Beat It, will be included on day 4 of the program (Thursday) while Scream and Thriller will be included on day 5 (Friday.) VH1's web site, VH1.com, will launch a new area featuring clips from these videos and allowing fans the opportunity of voting for their favorite videos.

Source: MJIFC

02/05/01 VH1 To Show "Michael Jackson's Greatest TV Moments"

VH1's special program "Michael Jackson's Greatest TV Moments" includes rare appearances and performances by Michael Jackson, as well as commentaries by other artists and people from the media. Examples include: discussion of the Scream video, the Pepsi commercial, the ground-breaking "Thriller" video, "We Are The World" charity project, his 1972 appearance on The Dating Game, Michael accompanying Madonna to the Oscars, Michael and Lisa Marie Presley's appearance on MTV Awards, and much more. VH1 will telecast this program on Saturday, May 5 at 9:00 pm ET in the U.S.A.

Source: MJIFC