Duffy Latest to Give Motown a UK Twist

Viva la Vida the year's bestselling album

(NEWSER) - Coldplay’s Viva La Vida was the best-selling album in the world last year, the BBC reports, selling 6.8 million copies. Coldplay was one of four British acts to crack the top 10. Here’s the rest of the list:

2. AC/DC: Black Ice
3. The Mama Mia! soundtrack

After visa snags, UK import tackles US for the second time

(NEWSER) - After being grounded by US immigration officials just as her 2007 album was set to take off, the UK’s Lily Allen is taking a second shot at conquering America with a new album, reports the Wall Street Journal. Despite her visa travails, Allen's debut sold a respectable 500,000 copies in this country (and 2 million elsewhere). Her biggest challenge now, the Journal notes, is fighting comparisons against commercially successful imports that followed her, including Amy Winehouse and Duffy. More»

Stubbs' baritone was featured on many Motown hits

(NEWSER) - Baritone Levi Stubbs, the heart of the Four Tops, died today in Detroit at age 72, the Detroit News reports. With Abdul Fakir, Lawrence Payton and Renaldo Benson, Stubbs recorded many iconic hits of the Motown era, including Bernadette, Reach Out (I’ll Be There), and Standing in the Shadows of Love. On his own, he was the voice of Audrey the carnivorous plant in the 1986 film version of Little Shop of Horrors. More»

(NEWSER) - Jerry Wexler, a music industry giant who coined the term "rhythm and blues" and worked to bring black popular music into the mainstream, died today at age 91, the New York Times reports. Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records in its heyday, worked with new artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Wilson Pickett. Unusual for the time, he gave the artists great control in the studio, allowing them to forge singular sounds. More»