Jay-Z, Beyonce, Usher Support Alicia Keys At AIDS Charity Ball

Jay, Janelle Monae, Swizz Beatz were among performers at Keys' 8th annual Keep a Child Alive event.
By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Hillary Crosley


Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images

Alicia Keys has proven to be as selfless in real life as she is in song.

The singer held her 8th annual Keep a Child Alive Black Ball event in New York on Thursday night. The fundraiser brought out Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Usher, Jay Sean, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney Houston and more.

Jay-Z and Keys' husband, Swizz Beatz, performed "On to the Next One," and Jay later performed "Empire State of Mind." Monae also hit the stage, as did Keys and Sade, who performed a duet, "Love Is Stronger Than Pride."

"It's my heart and soul," Keys told MTV News about the organization she co-founded. "Since the beginning, we've been very driven to do incredible work. I'm proud to show what four to five women who are very dedicated can do."

The organization benefits children and families who have been affected by AIDS but can't afford to purchase medicine; the event reportedly helped raise $2.4 million.

This year, Keep a Child Alive introduced the "Buy Life" T-shirt. The shirt features a large barcode on the garment; donors can buy the shirt and scan the code with their smart phones to make a donation to the charity. Every time the code is scanned by a phone, a donation goes through. Ryan Seacrest, Kim Kardashian and Katie Holmes are among the celebrity spokespeople appearing in ads for the shirt.

"It's like a dream to me to be among these people singing and performing, and opening people's eyes to what Keep a Child Alive can do," Keys said.

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Former Lady Gaga Collaborator Wendy Starland Files Lawsuit Against Gaga's Ex

Starland claims she was promised compensation for introducing Gaga to ex-boyfriend and producer Rob Fusari.
By Gil Kaufman


Lady Gaga
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/ WireImage

Lady Gaga and her ex-boyfriend, Rob Fusari, may have agreed to drop the lawsuits they filed against each other, but that doesn't mean the battle over the origins of the superstar vocalist has ended.

Yet another major player in the early evolution of Gaga, longtime friend and singer Wendy Starland, has come forward to claim her part in Gaga's success, courtesy of yet another major lawsuit. According to Forbes, Starland, who introduced Gaga (born Stefani Germanotta) to Fusari in the first place, filed suit on Friday in Newark Federal Court claiming that Fusari cut a deal with her in 2005 in which he promised her a piece of the action if she found him a female singer he could work with.

Starland claims in the suit that Fusari asked her to find a "unique female singer, under the age of 25, who could be the female equivalent of the lead singer of the band the Strokes." The producer allegedly promised Starland that if she "could find and introduce him to such a singer, they would work together to develop the singer and share equally in any revenues earned as a result."

Starland claims she agreed to that deal and a short time later she did just that, introducing Fusari to Gaga after she saw the Stefani Germanotta Band perform at the Cutting Room in New York in March 2006. Though they reportedly had an oral agreement to collaborate on songs and develop Gaga together, Starland claims she was cut out of the deal in May 2006 when Fusari entered into an agreement to pursue a record contract for Gaga.

Once Gaga signed a record deal with a major label, Starland claims in the suit that she asked Fusari again if he would share any revenue he received from his deal with Gaga and he agreed to, but then never did.

To date, Starland says she hasn't gotten any compensation from Fusari for helping to discover Gaga. She is suing the producer and his company for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and quantum meruit (a legal term that translates into "as much as he has deserved," and refers to a situation in which someone agrees to work for another for unspecified payment but expects to be compensated based on what they deserve for their labors).

Radar Online reported that Starland is demanding a jury trial in the case and seeking "an amount in excess of $75,000" including "one half of Fusari's profits, including future profits."

According to Forbes, Fusari has not yet commented on the Starland lawsuit. Earlier this month Gaga and Fusari agreed to drop their respective lawsuits. Fusari had claimed in a $30.5 million suit that he had a major hand in creating Gaga's persona and crafting her musical personality way back in 2006, co-writing such hits as "Paparazzi" and "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" on Gaga's multiplatinum debut, The Fame. Gaga then filed a countersuit, saying the agreement she'd signed with Fusari was "unlawful." It's unknown whether the two reached a monetary agreement to end the dueling lawsuits.

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Justin Bieber's 'U Smile' Video Premieres

Bieber mans the piano and chills with a lady friend in new clip.
By Mawuse Ziegbe


Justin Bieber
Photo: Larry Busacca/ Getty Images

Justin Bieber fans have plenty to grin about now that the teen superstar's latest video is here. Bieber's "U Smile" clip premiered on Thursday (September 30) and features the Canadian sensation indulging in something he probably doesn't get a lot of these days: privacy.

The clip begins in black-and-white (and later incorporates scenes of color) as the "Somebody to Love" singer is approached by a crew of cheery tween fans who ask to snap a pic with the Biebs. The singer, of course, obliges and invites one of the lucky ladies out for a rendezvous later that evening. The two sneak into an empty theater and have lots of moments of PG intimacy, holding hands, horsing around on the theater's seats, sliding down banisters and making each other giggle. They wrap up the date with a playful back-alley water fight and collapse into each other's arms.

Bieber has said the video is about letting fans experience the ultimate fantasy for any hard-core Belieber: being Justin's girlfriend.

"I took the opportunity 2 make a video 4 the fans, about a fan, and how we could fall IN LOVE," he tweeted about the clip. "Love Grows. #LoveGrows."

Hit visuals like "Baby" and "One Time" show off the teen idol's footwork and peppy teenage swagger, but "U Smile" suggests a more mature Bieber, who appears to relish the quiet moments with his gal pal away from the nonstop fan hysteria. The clip also displays his skills as an instrumentalist, as he belts out the lyrics from behind a grand piano throughout much of the vid.

"It really is a throwback to the great records I listened to growing up," Bieber tweeted about the track earlier this year. "I wrote it for all my fans who got me here."

What do you think of Justin Bieber's "U Smile" video? Sound off in the comments!

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Usher Remembers Being A 'Pizza Face' On 'When I Was 17'

'I had really, really bad acne ' he admits in Saturday's episode.
By Mawuse Ziegbe


Usher on "When I Was 17"
Photo: MTV News

He's known as one of the smoothest R&B sensations to grace the stage, but when Usher was 17, he grappled with a far less flattering image.

"I went through this phase where I had really, really bad acne," the singer admits on the latest episode of "When I Was 17," premiering Saturday at 11 a.m. Usher, who was 17 in 1995, reveals with a grin that his nickname was "Pizza Face."

"His acne was so horrible," recalled one of Usher's more blunt friends, Keith. "His face was so jacked up."

Music mogul and producer Jermaine Dupri remembered how the entertainer's spotty complexion led him to shy away from the spotlight.

"He didn't want to go out. He wanted to stay in," Dupri says. "He was a little ashamed of what was going on with his face."

The singer went to extreme, and ultimately unsuccessful, lengths to disguise his breakouts.

"As a dude, you're not gonna put makeup on your face, right?" Usher said. "I tried that, it didn't even work."

He may have experimented with cosmetics and spent a few more nights at home but the multiplatinum star didn't let his acne hold him back from wooing the ladies. "I was 17, so I would still try to talk to girls [and] get past it," Usher reasoned.

He even had some smooth lines to drop when he wanted to draw attention away from his skin. " 'Don't look at that, look at my eyes, baby. I'm trying to say something real serious to you right here,' " Usher recalled, reenacting his complexion-deflecting dating moves. "I know I have pizza face, I don't care."

In the end, his skin cleared up and the singer said it was just a matter of riding out a rite passage that many teens are forced to endure.

"This is something that all 17-year-olds have to deal with," Usher said. "You can't run away from it."

— this week featuring B.o.B, Usher and Ne-Yo — premieres Saturday at 11 a.m. on MTV

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Jay-Z, Beyonce, Usher Support Alicia Keys At AIDS Charity Ball

Jay, Janelle Monae, Swizz Beatz were among performers at Keys' 8th annual Keep a Child Alive event.
By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Hillary Crosley


Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images

Alicia Keys has proven to be as selfless in real life as she is in song.

The singer held her 8th annual Keep a Child Alive Black Ball event in New York on Thursday night. The fundraiser brought out Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Usher, Jay Sean, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney Houston and more.

Jay-Z and Keys' husband, Swizz Beatz, performed "On to the Next One," and Jay later performed "Empire State of Mind." Monae also hit the stage, as did Keys and Sade, who performed a duet, "Love Is Stronger Than Pride."

"It's my heart and soul," Keys told MTV News about the organization she co-founded. "Since the beginning, we've been very driven to do incredible work. I'm proud to show what four to five women who are very dedicated can do."

The organization benefits children and families who have been affected by AIDS but can't afford to purchase medicine; the event reportedly helped raise $2.4 million.

This year, Keep a Child Alive introduced the "Buy Life" T-shirt. The shirt features a large barcode on the garment; donors can buy the shirt and scan the code with their smart phones to make a donation to the charity. Every time the code is scanned by a phone, a donation goes through. Ryan Seacrest, Kim Kardashian and Katie Holmes are among the celebrity spokespeople appearing in ads for the shirt.

"It's like a dream to me to be among these people singing and performing, and opening people's eyes to what Keep a Child Alive can do," Keys said.

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