E S T E L L E
 Estelle Wants Ugly Betty Cameo
Date added: September 20, 2008
Singer Estelle is obsessed with U.S. TV shows - and dreams of a guest role in hit series Ugly Betty.The American Boy hitmaker spends her spare time on tour watching hours of American medical dramas she has downloaded from the internet.And she can see herself playing a part in one of her all-time favourites. She tells British newspaper The Sun, "Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty...I love that show. I'd be so happy to get cameo." Estelle wouldn't be the first music star to make an appearance on Ugly Betty - former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham appeared on the show as herself last year (07).

 Estelle-ar Year for the UK Star
Date added: September 20, 2008
British hip-hop/soul diva Estelle has a lot to be proud of. Most recently, FIVE nominations for this year's this year's MTV European Music Awards. Nominations include the Ultimate Urban Award, Most Addictive Track, New Act Award, Act of 2008, and the most glorified Album of the Year Award. Make sure to click HERE to vote now and help Estelle win the awards she deserves. And umm…don't hesitate to vote more than once.

 Estelle nominated for 5 Urban Music Awards
Date added: September 18, 2008
Singer Estelle has been nominated for a total of five Urban Music Awards. The 28-year-old is up for Best Album 2008, Best Collaboration, Best Crossover Chart Act, Best R&B Act and Most Inspiring Act 2008. Leona Lewis, 23, and Dizzee Rascal, 22, each received two nominations. The sixth annual awards ceremony will take place at the O2 Arena in London on 15 November. Earlier this month, it was announced that Estelle was up for five prizes at the MOBO Awards, to be held on 15 October.

 Estelle's dude search
Date added: September 18, 2008
Estelle is "searching for a dude." Estelle, 28, says despite having a UK number one single with 'American Boy' - about a fictional romance with an American man - she's still not found him in real life yet. She said: "I'm still searching for my American boy. Or a boy damn it, I'm sick of this. I'm searching for a dude, I've had enough searching." Estelle, who divides her time between Europe and America, added that she can be very demanding when looking for the right man to make her happy. She added: "How many roads must a man walk down? All of them. Every. Single. One. I will test a guy to within an inch of his sanity, because I've been through too much drama. He has to be 100 per cent." The R'n'B singer also revealed that she has based some of her songs on her past relationships, with 'More Than Friends' from her 2008 album 'Shine' telling of one particular experience. Estelle added: "I did fall in love, yes, with one of my best friends. I wrote the song 'More Than Friends' about it - it was a disaster!"

 Estelle Gives Myspace The Complete 411
Date added: September 15, 2008
After selling out two shows back to back at the legendary Key Club in L.A., Estelle spoke backstage on producer will.i.am, as well as her work with the producer on her smash single 'American Boy.' Learn more about Estelle as she gives insight on how she got her career started, how it feels when she returns to the UK, and loving her fans singing along to personal lyrics. Check out the whole backstage exclusive HERE! Estelle's album SHINE is in stores & online now!

 Estelle Defends Kanye West's Ego
Date added: September 15, 2008
Not everyone thinks Kanye West needs to rein in his attitude...in fact, Estelle (who sings "American Boy" with him) thinks more people should be so cocky. "People say what they say about his ego, but he's very sure of himself and I think that's a great way to be," she told E! News at Belvedere's dinner party at Dakota, which was held in her honor. "I think more people should follow him, and be more cocky and more proud of their work."She also wasn't surprised by his decision to close the VMAs tonight, despite him swearing that he'd never perform for MTV again after being shut out last year. "I'm sure it was all planned," she said. "I think people want to see what he'll bring after all of that and I think they're going to be pleasantly surprised and happy with it." Also getting a second chance to redeem herself after last year's VMA debacle: Britney Spears. The pop star is opening the show, but not performing per se.

 Business maneuvering costs Estelle a Top 10
Date added: September 11, 2008
Memo to Atlantic Records: This isn't going to work. Spurred by the weird success of Kid Rock's "Rock and Roll Jesus" album after it decided to pull the single "All Summer Long" from iTunes, they've decided to see how far they can push this program by pulling Estelle's hit "American Boy" from the online retailer as well. Now, forgive me for stating the obvious, but Kid Rock and Estelle are nowhere near alike. The people who got buffaloed into buying Kid Rock's album are older, richer, less tech-savvy and actually know who he is because he's been a star for a decade now. Estelle, on the other hand, appeals to a younger crowd. They can ask their friends who bought the MP3 to send them a copy since it's been available for months. They know how to find "American Boy" on the P2P sites. And, most of all, they know a ploy to separate them from their cash when they see it. All that great work that Estelle and Atlantic's promotions staff did patiently pushing the song up the charts and establishing her as a hot new artist is at jeopardy now, essentially on a business-side dare. "American Boy" was poised to crash the Top 10 last week, but because of the stunt -- and the corresponding lack of sales caused by getting yanked from online stores -- it slipped to No. 36 instead. The demand for the song was so strong that a knockoff version of the track, hastily done by Studio All-Stars, but available at iTunes, debuted at No. 85. (Maybe Atlantic likes this phenomenon since the online knockoff version of Kid Rock's song by Hit Masters is at No. 19 this week, six notches higher on the charts than the original.) Even if this strategy works and convinces a fraction of "American Boy" fans to take a chance on Estelle's album "Shine," it still taints the purchase with the uneasy feeling of getting forced into it – a pity seeing as "Shine" is one of the year’s best albums and is already a finalist for the Britain’s Mercury Prize. If it fails, it cheats Estelle out of a Top 10 hit - or more - for no good reason. And, in case the good folks at Atlantic have forgotten, this exact strategy is what gave rise to the P2P networks in the first place back in the late ‘90s when record companies refused to release singles to force fans to buy certain albums. It worked for a while, but many just stopped buying anything at all, music fans who have yet to return to the fold.

UPDATE: According to Soundscan, the first week of the experiment resulted in a 9 percent increase in sales of Estelle's "Shine," taking her to No. 128 for the week on sales of 4.584.

 Estelle gets five Mobo nominations
Date added: September 11, 2008
Estelle is set to get over her Mercury Prize disappointment with big wins at the Mobos after being nominated for five awards. The 28-year-old singer has more nominations than Leona Lewis, who recently became the first British woman to reach number one in the US singles charts for more than 20 years. Estelle is up for Best UK Female, Album, Song, R&B/Soul and Video at the ceremony, which will be hosted in October with former Spice Girl Mel B. Bleeding Love star Lewis, 23, is up for Best Female, Album and Video. Londoner Estelle's career soared to new heights only after she went to the US and signed to a record label there. Her single American Boy was a massive success and she was nominated for the Mercury Prize for the album Shine. But Estelle lost out to Elbow, who won Tuesday night's Mercury Prize with their fourth album The Seldom Seen Kid. This year's Mobo (Music of Black Origin) Awards see Dizzee Rascal up for Best Song and Hip-Hop as well as Best Male, the category he scooped last year. In the Best Female category, Estelle and former X Factor winner Lewis will be competing with Adele, Duffy, and MIA. International Mobo nominees include Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Mary J Blige, Ne-Yo, Usher, Akon and Alicia Keys. Jay Sean, Taio Cruz, Wiley and Sway join Dizzee Rascal in the category of Best Male. The 13th annual awards will be co-hosted by Rev Run at Wembley Arena in London on October 15 and winners are voted for by the public.




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