Kriyss Grant, the first dancer Michael Jackson hand-picked to back him up onstage, speaks with Charles Thomson, exactly an year after Michael sold out 50 concerts at London’s O2 arena.
“He [Frank Gatson] called me around a year later. Beyoncé was starting up her tour and he said he couldn’t think of a better person to audition because he wanted something new, something high energy. So I flew to LA and I danced in front of Beyoncé. She loved it. She said I had to be on her tour.” The pair bonded immediately due to their shared work ethic, says Grant. “Beyoncé is a very hard worker and she’s very hard on herself. It’s funny because we both think the same way. We never think what we do is good enough. We always think we could do better. We say ‘OK, it was good enough for that day’ or ‘that was the best I could do at that moment’ but we are never really satisfied. “Beyoncé always enjoys doing what she’s doing. I mean, she doesn’t use the bathroom or nothing when it comes to work. She’s just always on it and she never wants to eat, she doesn’t want to do anything – she just wants to work, work, work.”
It was during Grant’s time with Beyoncé that Michael Jackson announced his comeback concerts. When Frank Gatson got word of the audition, he told Kriyss he had to go. A lifelong Jackson fan, Grant jumped at the chance. But did he feel apprehensive about leaving behind such a big opportunity on the off-chance that he could dance for Jackson? “No, it was Beyoncé who pushed me,” he laughs. “She told me she was gonna slap me if I didn’t go! She was rooting for me and so was Frank. If I didn’t make Michael’s concerts, I would have met up with the others and been one of the captains on the Beyonce tour.”
Alicia Keys’ music video for her single “Put It in a Love Song” reportedly has got pushed back. After rumored to make its debut Monday, March 8, the Beyonce Knowles-featuring video is said to come out next week, March 17. Another source, Alicia Keys France fan site, claims the singer’s French label confirmed it will be unveiled in mid April. In the meantime, the video which is directed by Melina Matsoukas and filmed in the Rio de Janeiro slum area reportedly is still in the editing room.
In other words, we’ll get it when we get it. Sorry folks!
On Friday, Beyoncé spoke in downtown Brooklyn, New York, at the Phoenix House, a nonprofit recovery center for drug and alcohol addiction, to unveil a project she and her mother, Tina, have dreamed of and worked on for years: the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center.
According to the press release, the program is “a seven-month cosmetology training course for adult men and women.” L’Oréal has donated all the products to be used at the center, and their spokeswoman Beyoncé, along with her mother, have pledged to donate $100,000 annually.
After brief remarks by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Tina Knowles, among others, Beyoncé graciously took to the podium to explain both her ties to the house — she first visited in 2007 as part of research for her role as Etta James in “Cadillac Records” — and her hopes for the program.
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Alicia Keys visited Oprah Winfrey on March 5. During her appearance on the talk show, the singer who is currently on tour to promote her latest studio installment “The Element of Freedom” provided fans with a new set footage of her “Put It in a Love Song” video shoot.
Just before the clip was shown to the audience, Alicia told Oprah how she ended up making a duet with Beyonce Knowles in the song and its accompanying music video. The singer furthermore said she and Beyonce had so much fun and the video shoot which took place in Brazil was “insane”.
You can watch the video after the jump…
Jay Sean has told MTV he’d love to work with Jay-Z and Beyonce in the future. Speaking to the urban blog The Wrap Up the down star revealing all about his dream collaboration.
He said: ‘Jay Z and Beyonce are the ultimate, I know that’s being extremely greedy because one of them would be enough but you’ve got to dream. I asked Jay-Z last time I saw him “I was like come on man lets do this, me, you and B and he was like yeah ok…..maybe one day. He knew I was taking the mickey.’
Superstar and cultural icon Beyonce, ended her 2009 “I AM…” World Tour with a sensational live concert in the Caribbean on the island of Trinidad on February 18, 2010. The “I AM…” World Tour launched in Edmondton, Canada on March 29, 2009 and spanned across Europe including stops in Austria, Spain and The United Kingdom. Beyonce’s first of four sold-out shows at London’s 20,000-seat O2 Arena, Europe’s largest in-door concert venue, inspired the Telegraph.co.uk to headline its review: “Beyonce Knowles raised the bar for what can be done in an arena show at the O2.” The North American leg of the “I AM…” World Tour kicked off in New York’s famed Madison Square Garden on June 21, 2009 and came to a close with a sold-out four-night residency at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas on August 2. During this stint, the powerhouse filmed her “I AM…YOURS An Intimate Performance At Wynn Las Vegas” DVD, which later went on to become the number one music DVD in the country. The ABC Television Network aired an edited version of the DVD as a Thanksgiving Night one-hour special. During the North American leg of the “I AM…” World Tour, Beyonce co-sponsored food drives as part of a Show Your Helping Hand™ initiative, a national hunger relief campaign created by General Mills’ Hamburger Helper® in partnership with Beyonce and her Survivor Foundation. The campaign goal was to help Feeding America deliver more than 3.5 million meals to local food banks.
The “Telephone” video is coming! The “Telephone” video is coming! Lady Gaga took to her Twitter to let her little monsters know that the much-anticipated “Telephone” video is on its way. Although no date was announced, she did say that the video, shot last month in California and directed by Jonas Åkerlund, is currently being edited. “Telephone is coming I promise! Still editing. I want it to be perfect,” she tweeted.
While co-stars Beyoncé (who also worked with Gaga on “Video Phone”) and Semi Precious Weapons have been singing the video’s praises, Gaga recently gave her fans some hints as to what they can expect from the clip. “It was really amazing,” she told Johnjay and Rich on Phoenix’s 104.7 KISS FM last month, according to Rapup.com. “Beyoncé’s incredible and I had a lot of time with her, so I was able to put her in quite a bit of the video.”
She added that this video is a sequel to her “Paparazzi” video, which was also shot by Åkerlund. “I feel so bad for the ‘Bad Romance’ video ’cause the ‘Telephone’ video’s so much better,” she said. “[Beyoncé's] really a great friend of mine. We have a lot of fun working together. We’re so very different in our approaches, but somehow when we come together it’s really magical. I’m very excited for everyone to see the video.
“What I like about it is it’s a real true pop event,” she added. “And when I was younger, I was always excited when there was a big giant event happening in pop music and that’s what I wanted this to be.”
Beyoncé Knowles may not have any children with her hubby Jay-Z just yet, but by the way she and Jay-Z care for their nephew, perhaps they’re practicing for when they have a child of their own! Beyoncé’s sister Solange Knowles sang her sister and brother-in-law’s praises as aunt and uncle to OK! recently, saying they’re both very good, except maybe when it comes to bedtimes!
Solange chatted with OK! about how her sister is an aunt, and although she doesn’t know if Beyoncé wants to have a baby, she certainly sounds like she’s ready for one!
One particularly sweet moment at the Grammys this year was when Beyoncé’s nephew, Daniel, was pulled up on the stage with Jay-Z and Rihanna. When he was asked if he wanted to say anything, he very politely said, “No, thank you.” “I was a proud mom that he used his manners,” his mother Solange told OK!. “Because anything could have come out of that mouth.”
Having her young son put on the spot and not knowing what he would say was an anxious moment for the mother! But her son was in good hands as his aunt Beyoncé’s guest. “Very good. She’s very hands-on,” Solange said of how Beyoncé is as an aunt. “I’ve had two weekends where I’ve been able to hand him over, and it’s been very nerve-racking for me, but she does a great job. The bedtimes we got to work on. “Sometimes I’ll call expecting him to be asleep, but he’s still up,” she adds on how her sister lets Daniel stay up too late.
Even she admits, that’s kind of what aunts are for!As for Jay-Z? “Very good uncle,” Solange said, adding that he’s a “pretty cool” uncle to have.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have so much fun caring for their nephew that they actually like it when they get to watch him for a weekend. “They actually request him more than I’m willing to give him,” Solange told OK! But Solange said she has “no idea” whether it’s inspiring her sister to have a baby. Sure sounds like they both would make great parents, though!
Remember Me writer Will Fetters was in New York this weekend to promote his romantic drama, which stars Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Lost’s Emilie de Ravin, and Robert Pattinson, but he also chatted about the remake of A Star is Born, which is on his list of upcoming projects. Seems demand for the young writer is growing; he’s also adapting the Nicholas Sparks novel The Lucky One for the screen, in what seems an appropriate follow-up to Remember Me.
He inadvertently confirmed that Nick Cassavetes is doing the Star remake, although the rumors about Beyoncé and Russell Crowe are still just that. Fetters said, “I am doing A Star is Born remake with Nick Cassavetes, also for Warner Brothers… I was with Nick on Thursday. As far as I know, there’s no contracts or anything, but Nick wants [Beyoncé] and I think Russell Crowe is another name that’s starting to circle, but there’s no contracts, there’s just talks so far.”
He also said, “If it’s not Beyoncé and Russell, it will be that age range, I would imagine. That’s who it’s written for… It’s not going to end up having Zac Efron and someone… It’s going to be that age range [as before].”
Apple just sold their ten billionth iTunes track, and to go along with the festivities, they’ve released a list of the 20 best-selling tracks of all time that have been purchased from the iTunes Store.
01 I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
02 Poker Face – Lady Gaga
03 Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas
04 I’m Yours – Jason Mraz
05 Viva la Vida – Coldplay
06 Just Dance – Lady Gaga
07 Low – Flo Rida
08 Love Story – Taylor Swift
09 Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
10 Tik Tok – Ke$ha
11 Disturbia – Rihanna
12 SO What – Pink
13 I Kissed a Girl – Katy Perry
14 Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) – Beyonce
15 Hot N Cold – Katy Perry
16 Stronger – Kanye West
17 Live Your Life – T.I.
18 Hey There Delilah – Plain White T’s
19 Right Round – Flo Rida
20 Party in the USA – Miley Cyrus
Beyoncé Knowles gave “Extra’s” AJ Calloway backstage access to her final concert in Trinidad, for the I Am… Sasha Fierce world tour. He caught all the raw moments, talked future babies and her plans for the next few months. The singer shared a list of things she now wants to accomplish during her break. She told AJ that she’s not going back to work until everything is checked off her list! Items on her to-do list include “learning to paint and cook, and to do Broadway shows and museums. And learn just to be at home and just watch television.” Beyoncé and rapper/producer hubby Jay-Z have been married for almost two years, and while there are no immediate plans for a baby, she does say, “Eventually. When it happens it happens… I definitely want a family. I’m too close to my mother, I have the best mother, you know. I can only hope the relationship I have with my mother, I can have with my kids whenever I decided to have them.” AJ asked if Jay-Z also wanted kids, to which Beyoncé replied, “You gotta ask Jay.”
Alicia Keys is preparing to launch the video for “The Element’s…” latest single, “Put it in a Love Song,” her Swizz Beatz-produced duet with Beyoncé. Keys said the video, which the duo recently shot in Brazil, is currently being edited and should be ready to premiere by the weekend or early next week.
“Brazil followed so closely with the energy of the song…the sensuality of it and how it’s eccentric and it’s colorful,” Keys said. “And Brazil is so colorful and they were preparing for their Carnival and that was colorful as well, so it just all blended together…It’s just something that is so unforgettable and it just feels so good and it really represents the song and it has that same energy as the song. It was really great to be able to collaborate; we both admire each other very much and have a lot of love for each other, so it was great to get on a record with each other like that and do something historic.”
Though Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s “Telephone” video still doesn’t have an official premiere date, info about the clip is slowly but surely making its way to the fans. Last week, Gaga gave fans a glimpse of what she will look like in the video, and B recently dished about the clip when she stopped by “The Tyra Banks Show.”
“I am such a huge fan of hers. We just filmed her video two weeks ago in Los Angeles, and it’s gonna be so crazy,” said Beyoncé, who also worked with Gaga on her clip for “Video Phone.” “I don’t want to give too much away because I don’t want her to be upset, but it’s a part two of ‘Paparazzi.’ She’s just so smart and she’s becoming an icon in her own right.”
Beyoncé also said she was going to Brazil to shoot the video for Alicia Keys’ “Put It in a Love Song.” She told Tyra that she loves working with other powerful women.
“I actually leave today and go to Brazil. … I’m going there to work — I am finishing my last leg of my tour. I’m filming a video with Alicia Keys there,” she said. “I’m so excited to work with women. I’m a girl’s girl, so to show that women who are successful can support each other and have a good time, I’m just so happy to bring that message across with Gaga and Alicia Keys. … I learn something from all these ladies.”
Gaga recently revealed the cover art for the “Telephone” single, which is due out on March 2, on her Web site. It features a photo of Gaga wearing a hat made from a telephone and a picture of a Sasha Fierce-mode Beyoncé.
There still very few details about the “Telephone” video available. We know that part of it will take place at a diner and that at some point Beyoncé breaks Gaga out of jail. “We die in [the video],” Semi Precious Weapons lead singer Justin Tranter said of his band’s cameo. “And I think that’s probably all I’m allowed to tell. … And, I think, what people have already talked about: It’s very Tarantino-inspired, sort of like violent melodrama glamour.”
Beyonce is the celebrity with the best body in the eyes of British women, but males prefer Hollywood actress Megan Fox, a new survey has found. The singer topped the poll among females with 24 per cent of the vote, but one in five men stated Transformers actress Megan boasted the sexiest body and named her as the woman they would most like to sleep with if their partner gave them a celebrity pass.
The attractiveness study, conducted by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment to mark the DVD and Blu-ray release of Jennifer’s Body starring Megan, found that as well as being women’s overall body choice, Beyonce boasted the sexiest individual assets.
Approximately 34 Per cent of men and women surveyed named her as the celebrity with the best bottom, while a quarter of respondents said she had the best legs. Beyonce’s bosom also topped among women, with 23 per cent saying she had the best celebrity cleavage.
Alicia and Beyoncé recently filmed the video for their duet “Put It in a Love Song” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sporting fashions that draw upon ethnic prints and playful skirts, the two divas played up the colorful energy of the South American city. “Put It in a Love Song” is set to premiere on March 8.
Beyonce has revealed that she once pretended to have her nose pierced to fool her mother. The ‘Halo’ singer admitted that she put a fake stud in her nose to draw attention away from having five piercings in each ear.
When I was a teenager, I had five piercings in each ear. I didn’t ask my mother’s permission and I thought, ‘She’s gonna kill me’, so I got a magnetic stud and put it in my nose. My mum freaked when she saw it. She was so happy when I told her it was just a magnet that she didn’t care about the earrings! But I did pay for it. My ears felt like they were on fire, so I took them out after two days.
The organization that hands out gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards has just confirmed what you probably already assumed: Beyoncé was the hottest music artist for the past decade. The Recording Industry Assn. added up all the certifications that it awarded from 2000 through 2009, not just for albums, but for all the music configurations that they track-albums, digital songs, master ringtones and music videos. The Washington, D.C.-based organization gave an artist credit for one “unit” when a title went gold, a second when it went platinum, a third when it went double-platinum, and so on. The RIAA counted only titles that were released from 2000 to 2009, so catalog product didn’t affect the rankings. Beyonce came out on top for the decade with 64 certifications. Eagles were the top group for the decade, with 48. Michael Jackson was the top male solo artist, with 44.
Beyonce’s total of 64 certifications includes 20 for digital songs, 19 for master ringtones, 13 for music videos and 12 for albums. Her top title overall was her 2003 debut album, Dangerously In Love, which has been certified four times platinum. The album spawned the #1 hits “Crazy In Love” (featuring Jay-Z) and “Baby Boy” (featuring Sean Paul).
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Kriyss Grant on Beyoncé
March 14, 2010 -
New Dereon Promo Shots
March 13, 2010 -
Barclays Center At Atlantic Yards Groundbreaking Ceremony
March 12, 2010 -
Telephone on iTunes
March 12, 2010
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I Am… Tour
