Dame Shirley Bassey launches first new album in 20 years

Dame Shirley Bassey held a glittering reception at The Ritz hotel to launch her new album, her first in 20 years.
Special guests were invited to the London hotel to hear a preview of The Performance, which will be released on November 9.

The Welsh singer, famous for singing Bond-film themes such as Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever, asked songwriters including Gary Barlow to provide songs for the album.
Take That frontman Barlow said: ''I was asked in January to write a song, but I heard there were loads of other great people writing songs too, so I didn't really do much about it.

''I didn't so much think my song would be rejected, but I did think they would definitely take the very best songs that were offered.

''I kept trying though, I tried about three times but nothing was quite right, so I went on Wikipedia and starting reading all about her life story. That's when I decided to make the song a conclusion of that and came up with This Time.

''She's got that massive voice, and I could hear that as I was writing the song. It's impossible not to.''

Other songs on The Performance, Dame Shirley's first new studio album in 20 years, were provided by Rufus Wainwright, KT Tunstall, Nick Hodgson from the Kaiser Chiefs and Richard Hawley, who were also all in attendance tonight.

Barlow said he didn't enjoy the competition of writing alongside such other artists, and despite his success with Take That, was nervous when presenting his song to Dame Shirley.

''I just wanted to hand in the song on a tape, but producer David Arnold said I had to go and play it for her on the piano, which I really didn't want to do. I was so nervous,'' he said.

He also added he hoped his career would last as long as that of the Cardiff-born star.

''She's 72, and I'm only 38 so I've got a few years left in me I hope. I can definitely imagine still writing songs when I'm the same age as the Dame.''

Michael Jackson film to have simultaneous premieres..15

Michael Jackson's This Is It film, showing his final months preparing for his sold-out concerts at London's Arena, will have at least 15 simultaneous premieres around the world.

The film's world gala will be in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre on the evening of October 27.09

The event will kick off a series of more than 25 premieres around the globe.

More than 15 cities, including London, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Johannesburg, and Seoul, will host events simultaneously, with red carpet arrivals from the Los Angeles event broadcast to the cities by satellite.

Other cities, including Moscow, Tokyo, Sydney and Paris, will host their own, non-simultaneous premiere events, organisers said.

The London premiere will take place at 1am on October 28 at the Odeon cinema, Leicester Square.

"Michael Jackson has an army of fans everywhere around the world," said Jeff Blake, chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony Picutres.

"By rolling out this film simultaneously worldwide, we are giving audiences an incredible opportunity to join together in celebration of Michael Jackson's incredible career,"

The film will be shown in cinemas worldwide for a limited two-week run, organisers said.

Jackson died in June aged 50, just weeks before the huge string of London comeback concerts titled This Is It were due to get under way.

The movie is based on more than 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs.

Prince William: 'I don't want to be an ornament'

Prince William said he does not want to be

"an ornament" in his royal duties and has
paid tribute to the charitable work of his parents,
saying he was "not in their league".

Danacing With the stars 09.22.09: The Women Premiere Their Dance Moves..

Last night the biggest season of Dancing With
the stars began when the men busted out onto
the dance floor....to night the ladies dance for
the very first time.Did they give the men a run for their money..

The show began with the women pro dancers hitting the stage to the song She’s A Lady... They were beautiful in their black gowns and their moves were smokin’ HOT! The women stars were dancing either a Salsa or a Viennese Waltz tonight before they broke out into the relay round.

Actress Debi Mazar was dancing with Maxim Chemerkovskiy this season. She was hoping that she could dance as well as she could talk. She looked a little clumsy and looked at the floor often in their routine tonight. Len said that Debi was missing the leg and hip action, Bruno told Debi that she could work the bosums very well, but her timing was all over the place. Carrie Ann said that she thought it was tougher for the girls to come out the second night and gave her credit for going first, but she thought that Debi was all over the place in her routine. They received 6, 5, 5 a score of 16.

Grammy winner Macy Gray is dancing with Jonathan Roberts and tonight their first dance was the Viennese Waltz. She is currently on tour, so her dancing schedule has been hectic. You could tell by her dancing that she didn’t have much time to practice. Carrie Ann said that the routine was fascinating as she has a natural genuineness to her, Len said that if he were at home he would be voting for her and Bruno said it was like watching a child taking its’ first steps…she does need to work on her technique. They received 5, 4 and 5 after their dance a score of 14.

The third couple to dance tonight was the award winning recording artist and actress Mya and her partner Dimitry Chaplin. Mya felt that Dimitry was the perfect partner for her because he is cute and she had watched him dance on the show last season. She said that she was just going to go out there and try to remember everything Dimitry taught her tonight. Their Viennese Waltz was fun and more technical than Melissa’s. The turns were fantastic. They received a standing ovation from the crowd! Carrie Ann said, “Way to set the bar tonight!” Len said that he was in a bit of a predicament because he thought that the technique was not that of a Viennese Waltz. Bruno argued saying, “It was artistry in motion and the girl was magnificent.” Their scores were 8, 5 and 8 a score of 21 for this evening…so much for Len the iron pants judge!

Actress and famous daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly was dancing with Louis Van Amstel in season 9 of Dancing With The Stars. The took on the Viennese Waltz and I must say that Kelly looked beautiful tonight. She has the most beautiful smile and had her mother crying when she finished her dance. Bruno told Kelly that he could not believe his eyes that this rock princess had been transformed. Carrie Ann said that her parents should be proud, but she had to dock her for her foot coming off the ground. Len told her it was the best Vienesse Waltz of the night. They received scores of 8,7,8 a score of 23.

Kathy Griffin calls Kate Gosselin her 'new BFF'...2009

Kathy Griffin has joined Team Kate.
The comedian says that after meeting Kate Gosselin
on "The View" Friday, she gave the "Jon & Kate Plus 8"
mom her number..
"Kate Gosselin is my new BFF," she told the magazine
at the Emmy Awards on Sunday. "We had a really nice
chat one-on-one. I sort of forced her to go into one
of the dressing rooms at 'The View' with me and have
a chit-chat. I like her, She's easy, breezy."

Although Griffin spoofed Gosselin in a skit for
Jimmy Kimmel,the two women found common ground:
not liking Kate's soon,to-be ex-husband Jon Gosselin.
"Jon is such a toolbox and so clearly seems to be
out of control," said Griffin.