Living, breathing rocker and New Year’s Eve star Jon Bon Jovi showed off his impressive physique on a family Christmas vacation, while doing a little reading. Nice. As you can see, the Internet hoax that proclaimed Jon Bon Jovi dead earlier this month was B.S. – helpfully cleared up by the singer himself – and thank goodness. What kind of person actually starts a Twitter hoax to kill off Bon Jovi, you ask? Well, we now know, as the person responsible for starting the rumor confessed! Pennsylvania musician Jeffrey Goho told the Asbury Park Press (N.J.) he started a fake Twitter account in mid-December with the intention of offing Jon Bon. He reported that the “Wanted Dead or Alive” singer passed away on tour in his native New Jersey. Since then, “I’ve gotten a lot of backlash from it,” he says. Stunning news right there. Goho recalls how it got started: “All I heard was ‘Bon Jovi this,’ ‘Bon Jovi starting a restaurant.’ The Advil commercial. It was like, ‘Jeez, (Bon Jovi) was a household name due to music, not business.” “Long story short, [my band and I] got so worked up in the conversation, I just kind of took the liberty and started (the rumor), because I was so irritated.” Makes sense. Totally worth fake killing someone over. Goho said that within 24 hours his account was “slammed” with hate mail. “I’m not proud of this,’’ he said, but denies he had any self-promoting motive. “No, no, no, I didn’t do this as a business endeavor. As stupid as it sounds, I was just irritated. It was wrong to do and I almost kind of hurt myself.” “Ultimately, the more thought I gave to it I realized that his endeavors, his business endeavors, have actually made the tri-state area prosper, hence more musicians have more available places to go, more people to play to, and I was quite wrong.” Hey, at least he can admit it now. [Photo: WENN.com]
Writer/director Dee Rees has spent six years with Pariah , a film she wrote as a full-length script in 2005, then recalibrated as a short subject in ’07, and finally re-adapted as a feature film that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Pariah concerns a teenager named Alike (Independent Spirit Award nominee Adepero Oduye), an expressive girl who only encounters more identity issues as she tries establishing herself as an out lesbian. Though Rees came out as a lesbian in her 20s, she feels a deep connection to Alike — especially in her resistance to “butch” and “femme” labels. Movieline caught up with Rees to discuss Pariah ‘s wonderful story, the visibility of the LGBT coming out experience in 2011, and Rees’s unexpected connection to Dallas . Since Pariah ’s genesis as a short film years ago, there’s been a lot more visibility about the coming-out experience. Did you find it necessary to tailor the movie to the burgeoning sense of awareness about the topic? When I first wrote the script in ’05, I had a sense of who Alike was and where she was going, so there was no pressure to change it because I wanted to stay true to her and what her experience was. I didn’t want to make Alike’s experience vary from anyone else’s experience or make it topical. I just let it be what it was and just trustd that if we’re honest about the character and honest about the world, that it would be relevant no matter when it came out. It’s funny because some people along the way have said, “Is this an issue anymore? Is being gay cool now?” And it’s like, no. It’s not OK now, and it’s not “cool.” Although people’s experiences of coming out are changing and it’s becoming much more visible, that’s not necessarily everyone’s experience. It was about remaining true to the character and what this story was. I’m glad to see that coming out is relevant and people are aware of it, but I definitely didn’t feel compelled to make it fit anything. You’ve said that you came out in your 20s, but you wrote about the coming-out experience of a teenage girl. How did you find the inspiration for her character? It was just my own coming-out experience sort of transposed onto a 17-year-old. I chose to make her 17 because it’s such a higher-stakes age; figuring stuff out that young, it’s going to be higher because you’re still dependent on your parents and so much is still uncertain about you. You don’t know what you’re going to be. For her to make that discovery at that age, it makes her more interesting. For me, it’s also inspired by being in New York and being among out teenagers, which is something I’d never seen in Nashville, Tennessee. I barely saw out adults. To see out teenagers who were not only out, but out in the streets was inspiring for me. It made me wonder, “Even if I had known at 17, would I have that courage to be the person in the film?” – this woman who was trying to live in two worlds. Do you have particular favorite teenager characters from movies? No, not really! I just like Alike because she’s imperfect. Initially she isn’t courageous. In teen movies, we see characters who get to say exactly what’s on their mind and say what they want and thumb their nose in the face of adult authority. For Alike, I wanted someone who didn’t feel quite comfortable – someone who’s not so self-possessed, not so self-assured, and is figuring things out. Pariah ’s lead actress Adepero Oduye just earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Can you describe watching her on set? What did she bring to the character? Watching her on set was an experience of watching her inner life. Adepero is so expressive and yet so subtle. It was great to watch changes going on in her eyes and going on in her body language and behavior – those unspoken things. I felt like I was watching her internalize the characters’ feelings. She was really in that moment. She was really feeling what Alike was feeling. The feeling like she wanted to cry, feeling like she wanted to laugh – the changes were literally visceral. They were changing her, moving through her body. Getting to watch somebody unfold on camera is like watching a flower open. Amazing. In recent years, we’ve seen more in the media about gay men’s coming out experiences than lesbians’. Do you think Pariah highlights the specificity of a woman’s coming-out? I think Pariah highlights that there’s this gray area within the gay or lesbian community. Sometimes there’s a pressure to check a box, to either be hard and be butch or be feminine and wear heels. Alike’s neither of those things, so there’s a gray area. And her coming-out experience is different because she’s coming into a different space. Alike’s not figuring out if she’s gay – she knows she loves women, that’s not her question. It’s more “How [do I] be in the world?” The first half hour isn’t “Am I gay?” It’s, “Laura’s telling me I should be butch. Mom’s telling me I should be femme.” Versus other coming out experiences, like… when she’s wearing the club clothes, that’s not really her. When she changes into this different thing for Mom, she’s not that either. We don’t see her changing from her true self into another self – she’s neither of things she’s taking on or off. We don’t know who she is. She doesn’t really want to be this butch lesbian. She just wants to be Alike. You’ve been talking about this project everywhere for years and years. You’re the Carmen Sandiego of the indie film circuit. Which was the best kids’ game show ever! Indeed! What have you gained from spending so much time introducing the film to festival audiences? Specifically from being on tour with the film, I’ve gained a huge connection with audiences – an affirmation that we told the story truthfully. To your point, we weren’t writing it based on what people were saying or what was going on in the world. We stayed in a cocoon and wrote this thing. When we finished, we didn’t know how people would respond. But people felt we told a story and were honest with the experience, so we gained a feeling of affirmation. And personally, having gone from a point where when I was coming out and I was not quite sure the world that the world would accept me for who I have, or not quite sure that I could be loved or find love, and going to this press tour and seeing audiences embrace the film and saying, “We love you,” Pariah basically gave me the courage to be who I am. I came out behind the shield of this film. This tour has been this amazing wash of affirmation and love. It makes me feel good about audiences. They’re smart and progressive and open. They’re willing to see stories beyond themselves, images that don’t exactly look like them. It restored my faith in cinemagoers. They are hungering for good stories and are willing to step outside their experience to get them. Lastly, what do you have coming up? I imagine your new projects differ from Pariah because this movie is so emotional. One project coming up is called Large Print , a spec script I did, which is about a 50-something insurance adjuster who is recently divorced and lately incontinent, and has to redefine happiness for herself. Though she’s 56, it’s still a coming-of-age story. It’s going to be an emotional film because she’s played life by the rules and nothing’s turned out the way she’s expected. The other film I’m writing is called Bolo , a thriller set in the south. It’s also about, “What is home?” What if where you grew up changes? How do you accept that? Though it has more of a genre element, it goes back to these human things. I’m working on a TV series with HBO and Viola Davis about corruption in education, which will be cool. I’m working on another TV series called Reveal set in Nashville. It’s Dallas meets The Wire , about a city going through an identity crisis. I continue to be drawn to characters, and characters that are flawed especially. I love exploring flawed people trying to make their way. Did you just say “ Dallas meets The Wire ?” Yeah! Do you know how exciting that is? Ha! We’ll see! Dallas was the soap growing up. All my aunts gathered around the TV. We should not have been the target audience for Dallas . Pariah debuts in limited U.S. release December 28. Follow Louis Virtel on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The South Carolina Republican Party rebuffed a $500,000 donation from Stephen Colbert Thursday because it came with a catch: naming rights to its presidential primary. Colbert, the host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and a native South Carolinan, writes in Columbia’s State newspaper that he was serious – and they agreed. After learning that the cash-strapped South Carolina GOP and local officials were at odds over who would pay for the January 21 Republican primary, Colbert offered a plan. He would subsidize the cost , through his “Colbert Super PAC,” to the tune of $500K. In return, it would become “The Colbert Super PAC South Carolina Republican Primary.” “I said, ‘I can cover that. No strings attached,'” Colbert writes. “Of course, I can’t offer that kind of no-strings-attached-money without getting something in return.” Colbert also wanted to add a non-binding referendum question on the ballot – referring to a controversial remark by Mitt Romney – asking whether “Corporations are people.” Apparently there was some confusion over how seriously this plan was taken, because “The GOP agreed to everything,” according to Colbert … but not the GOP. Executive director Matt Moore says “Stephen Colbert, the private citizen, called out of the clear blue and made an unsolicited offer to help his home state.” “We were intrigued and met with him, but also wary … ultimately we determined it was not in the state party’s best interests to accept Mr. Colbert’s offers.” “Everything was not ‘agreed to.’ We did not sign his contract. Despite our repeatedly saying ‘no,’ Stephen Colbert, the comedian, seems intent on being involved.” Thank goodness for that.
Miley Cyrus was involved in yet another videotaped scandal this week, but this time it’s hard not to side with the superstar. Here’s what went down: While on vacation in Costa Rica with boyfriend Liam Hemsworth , Miley stopped to pose with a few fans. But she then had to go and turned to walk away… only for one onlooker to refer to her as an “asshole.” Cyrus whipped around and replied (20-second mark, below): “What the f-ck? Are you for real? We’re on vacation!” Miley Cyrus Curses at Fan Miley later took to Twitter and explain ed her reaction: “Just to clear something up I would NEVER swear to a fan. When someone yells something SO rude making ME look like an ‘a**hole’ in front of fans who I am more than happy 2 take a picture w/ i cant tolerate that kind of rudeness. Every1 who was there apologized 4 the womans brusque behavior. She obviously wasnt a fan. Hope every1 has a Merry Christmas! LOVE 2 ALL!” In far more positive video news, Cyrus has joined other celebrities in this campaign to promote charitable help in Haiti.
Lindsay Lohan is modeling with clothes on for a change. The troubled but resurgent starlet, whose Playboy issue is flying off the shelves, has just become the face (and body) of Jag Jeans (whatever that is)! In fact, the Jag campaign was shot at the SLS Hotel in L.A. by Yu Tsai, the person behind the camera for Playboy ‘s Marilyn-themed Lindsay Lohan pics . It pays to get out there and network, people! Lohan continues to make sultry facial expressions, as usual, while tussling her hair and rocking barely-there jean shorts … in an ad for jeans. Whatever. “As Jag Jeans’ endorser, Lindsay embodies strength and fearlessness, is unafraid to be who she is, and is fierce yet exudes feminine grace,” the brand says. Tsai said in a press release that, “Lindsay did not disappoint … Lindsay was so involved with the shoot that she would go as far as adjusting items on the set.” “She even requested scissors so she could personally fray the edges of her black crepe blouse because she believed it would look better that way.” “Lindsay would take a hands-on approach to her shots. She was more than willing to change her hairstyle mid-shoot and even used her own personal jewelry.” No word if she stole any of it , but good to hear.
Waka Flocka Flame and Gucci Mane are teaming up to pay for the funeral for their fallen friend, Brick Squad rapper Slim Dunkin , real name Mario Hamilton, who as we previously reported was shot and killed at an Atlanta recording studio last Friday. TMZ reports: “The rappers are pooling their assets to ensure Slim is laid to rest in the best way possible … with an elaborate funeral that includes a white horse-drawn carriage, massive white floral arrangements, and a white dove release ceremony.” Cops Say Brick Squad Rapper Slim Dunkin Killed Over Candy [VIDEO] Waka Flocka On Slim Dunkin Death: “Wish It Was Me” Brick Squad’s Slim Dunkin Shot And Killed In Atlanta [VIDEO] Gucci Mane Out Of Jail: “I’m The Last Person That Can Judge Anybody” [EXCLUSIVE] Brick Squad Affiliate Who Beefed On World Star Murdered In L.A. [VIDEO]
‘I was just one of a few artists at a certain sort of time in radio where more dance music was being played on top 40,’ she tells MTV News. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias Lady Gaga Photo: MTV News Lady Gaga burst on the scene in 2008 declaring that the world should “Just Dance.” From there, everyone kind of did. A few years back, the pop star was one of the few singers infusing mainstream pop records with electronic dance music influences. In the years since her breakthrough, Gaga’s use of the musical form has certainly gotten darker and more in-depth, especially on 2011’s Born This Way. These days, she’s hardly in the minority. EDM is all over pop and urban radio. Performers like Rihanna , Usher , Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj are working with some of the top EDM producers and DJs in the game, some of whom MTV has recognized as the Best EDM Artists of 2011 , churning out chart-topping, genre-busting tunes. When MTV News caught up with the Mother Monster earlier this month in L.A., she weighed in on 2011’s EDM/pop explosion, noting that she was hardly the main factor in the recent blast of crossover hits. “I think that radio has had the biggest influence on the rise of electronic dance music,” she said. “I was just one of a few artists at a certain sort of time in radio where more dance music was being played on top 40, but I’m not the person to thank for that. The people to thank for that are at KIIS-FM and at the other stations around the country who gave dance music a chance.” Not only is radio taking note, but also the whole music industry. Just last month, EDM star Skrillex was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy, the first DJ recognized in that category ever. Gaga thinks there’s still room for growth. “I think we have some more work to do, especially with the different academies that honor music,” she said. “I think that dance music should also be credited as pop music where it’s due and vice versa, the way that country and pop is, the way that R&B and pop are. So we still have a ways to go, but it’s moving in a wonderfully fast and interesting direction.” Do you think Gaga influenced the popularity of EDM? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos Best EDM Artist Of 2011 Debate Related Artists Lady Gaga
Fincher, who says ‘I think there is a trilogy here,’ opens up to MTV News about ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,’ ‘Cleopatra’ and ‘Goon.’ By Josh Horowitz Rooney Mara in “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” Photo: Columbia Pictures If you’ve somehow missed the cultural phenomenon that is Stieg Larsson’s massively successful Millenium trilogy, it might be time to give in and see what all the fuss is about. MTV has already named David Fincher’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” the best movie of 2011, so you can bet we had plenty to discuss when we sat down with revered director of “The Social Network,” “Fight Club” and “Seven” on the eve of his much-hyped film’s opening. In a wide-ranging discussion, Fincher candidly addressed the microscope his latest project has been under, plus his plans to work with Angelina Jolie, the summer tent-pole movie he’s actually excited to helm and who the famously intimidating director actually fears pissing off. MTV : Congratulations on the film. You may have heard that MTV named it the best film of the year. David Fincher : I heard that! MTV : After a long debate, we came to a consensus. Fincher : Really? What possible debate could there be? [ laughs ] MTV : You’ve obviously had plenty of opportunities to helm a franchise and this, despite not being a happy-meal-friendly one, still is one. Fincher : There are a lot of those [franchise] expectations. I think there is a trilogy here, [but] I was looking it as a one off. I see a beginning, middle and an end in this first story. I would like for people to enjoy it. I would like for people to tell their friends. And I think it tees up two fascinating characters who I have really come to care about. There’s no doubt [Stieg Larsson] wrote it to be a rip-roaring yarn, but I don’t think he could have possibly imagined what it has become. There was no doubt that when we went to Stockholm that there were people asking, “Is this just a Hollywood land grab? Is this a co-opting of our cultural phenomenon?” I saw it as a ripping yarn and a partnership that I’d never seen before, and I like the idea of these two people who should never meet, much less sleep together, much less partner up. I had never seen that before and thought that’s kind of interesting. It was very Swedish and kind of sexy but also kind of oddly moving. Having no experience with the — I’m not saying these books are “Twilight” — but that message-board freak-out phenomenon that goes with it, I was unprepared for it, possibly because I’m just too insulated from the real world and because I’m kind of immune to that kind of sh–. MTV : The casting story became … Fincher : The casting story was blown out of proportion by a lot of people. I wasn’t prepared for that. The only way to win is to win on merit, and it’s the only satisfying way to win, and hopefully, that’s what we’ve done. In the end, I still work 14 hours a day whether or not people are doubting me. I doubt myself more, in much smarter and salient ways than people surfing the web. MTV : Your ending differs from the book’s. Was that a difficult choice? Fincher : It was an easy choice to make. I thought it was sleeker. I like the idea of someone who has been subjected to this kind of trauma learning to hide in plain sight. It’s a different choice than the one the book makes. Lisbeth manages to occupy in the shadows and margins. This is another way of doing that. And they are parallel stories. It’s silly not to think of them as that. MTV : Do you have the same affection for the other two books? Are they as cinematically interesting to you? Fincher : I think the second book is very cinematic. It suffers a little bit from a lack of Salander. I think it also ends in an odd way. I love the notion of really talking about sex trafficking. MTV : Rooney [Mara] was telling us she already has some ideas for her look the next time around. Fincher : We did a lot of exploring [the look]. We looked into the stitched, Sally from “Nightmare Before Christmas.” We’ve played around a lot. There are some things that we’ve learned. MTV : You’re not going to ask her to get implants, are you? Fincher : It’s interesting because when you go through the checklist of what Larsson did with [Salander], there were a lot of things [that seemed] like quasi-stripper Kardashian land. To me, that’s not who Lisbeth is. The guy created it. He’s not here to defend himself. I hold him in the highest esteem, but I don’t always agree with his choices. MTV : If he were around, what would you ask him? Fincher : I don’t know. Look, the person I wanted to impress the most on “Seven” was [screenwriter] Andy Walker. The person I wanted to impress most on “Fight Club” was [author] Chuck Palahniuk. I think my responsibility is first and foremost to the creator. MTV : Will Jules Verne be happy with what you do with “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”? Fincher : I think he would be. If we get to do what we’re planning on doing, it’s pretty interesting. MTV : Was that a book that was important to you as a young man? Fincher : No, not at all. I was alive when a man stepped on the moon. It was awe-inspiring, the notion of that much care that NASA took. I’m sure it was the same thing for the Manhattan Project. The idea of a post-Civil War version of science fiction and the notion of being able to breathe underwater was so radical in its thinking. That’s pretty cool. If you’re going to do big tent-pole teenage PG-13 summer movies, it’s kind of cool that it would be this. MTV : Is “Cleopatra” something you’re currently developing? Fincher : That’s something I would love to do with Angie [Jolie]. It’s something that was brought to me that you have to take seriously. [Producer] Scott [Rudin] has this wonderful book, and hopefully [screenwriter] Eric [Roth] can find a way in. I’m not interested in a giant sword-and-sandal epic. We’ve seen scope; everyone knows we can fake that. That stuff doesn’t impress in the way that it did even 10 years ago. We expect that from Starz [now]. So that’s not the reason to do that. What is it about this character that has purchased this place in our history and imagination that is relatable today? MTV : One film I’ve talked to you about in the past is “Rendezvous With Rama.” Should we keep talking about it, or should I drop it? Fincher : You should drop that. It’s great but it’s just a really expensive movie, and talk about the bones being picked by so many other stories … MTV : IMAX is something that filmmakers like Brad Bird and Christopher Nolan have lately been using. Does it interest you? Fincher : No. They’re going to have the digital equivalent of IMAX very shortly. I don’t like the idea of changing fidelity in the middle of a movie just to say, “Here comes some big sh–!” Whatever Brad Bird or Chris do is fine by me. I normally think in terms of homogenization. I want to be able to count on a kind of resolution and depth of field. I never saw “The Dark Knight” in IMAX. I could definitely see a difference in fidelity of the IMAX sequences. But to each his own. MTV : I saw you last at Comic-Con for “Goon.” How is that project looking? Fincher : We’re still trying. Eric [Powell] rewrote his script. He got away from the genesis story, and I feel like we need to go back to a little bit of what he had before. I don’t think you can tailor what Powell does to what Hollywood does. I think you have to allow for the disparity. I don’t think you can go into it saying, “We have to make it fit into this box.” Everything is a digression from what the main through line is. MTV : Is there anything else you’re looking to collaborate on with Trent Reznor? Fincher : We’ve talked about a lot of stuff. I would do anything for him. I feel so lucky to have had his attention for the year and a half that I’ve had it. I’m not going to push my luck. I’m walking on eggshells. I don’t want to piss that guy off. MTV : There’s always the “Fight Club” musical. Fincher : I keep trying! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos Best Movies Of 2011 Debate
I got me and my little sister to meet JUSTIN BIEBER on the 1st March 2011. This day me and my little sister will never forget. Firstly, my little sister wanted to go and see Justin at the Metro Radio Arena when he was doing his UK tour. She then seen that it was sold out so she was crying etc, but what she didn’t know was that I had already bought some tickets which we gave to her for Christmas. Seriously, you guys should of seen her face, she was so happy and speechless, at first she thought we were joking. That was my first task, then she keep nagging me if I could try get her to meet him, so I was doing lots of research and I emailed all of Justin’s crew, Kenny & everyone else which didn’t seem to be going well as I never heard one reply. So the performance was coming closer and closer, then it got to 1 week before the show and I seen on his fan site that there was a competition to meet Justin himself as long as you had tickets to the show. I thought that this was my last option so I entered the competition. I had to promote Bieberfever, which I did by making flyers and putting them around and every option that I could think of. I made a video as well and entered the competition. Then the morning before the competition at about 5am I got a email from them saying that we had won the competition and we were going to meet JUSTIN BIEBER tomorrow at 5pm for photos & I was thinking to myself, OMG I won. She is going to be so happy. I phoned my little sister as she was at my gran’s house and I spoke to her and told her that she was going to be meeting Justin and she was just speechless and so happy that she was going to meet her IDOL. O n the day of the show, we went and waited outside with all the other people who were going to meet him and then we all got took backstage. First Kenny came out and spoke to all us and I gave him a gift for Justin which my little sister made. It was a little book with a purple cover with his name printed on, then inside she and I both wrote him a letter. After handing that to Kenny, it was our time to meet Justin. We went up to him and he was like, “Hey, you alright?” and my sister totally blanked him (I think it was because she was in shock). Then we got the picture and the person taking the picture was like, “Aww look yous are in height order” Then Justin had his little giggle, then we said goodbye and everything, then it was time to go. For me to say this I’m a male, also the same age as Justin. He was so welcoming and really nice to us. To me, he is just a normal teenager living a dream and would be a great friend to anyone. I have one more task to complete which is to be able to play piano for Justin even for one show. SO JUSTIN IF YOU ARE READING THIS CHECK ME OUT ON YOUTUBE . I hope everyone has there chance to meet Justin as he is just amazing person and really nice . -@tyronspence Here is the original post: I got me and my little sister to meet JUSTIN BIEBER on the 1st…
Florence Welch, Nas and others will pay tribute to the late soul singer on Sunday night. By Jocelyn Vena Amy Winehouse Photo: MTV News Amy Winehouse will be remembered on Sunday at the “VH1 Divas concert. Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine , Wanda Jackson, and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings will all take the stage to honor the late singer. The tribute will be introduced by Nas . Jackson and Welch will perform Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” while Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings will take the stage with “You Know I’m No Good.” The Dap-Kings played on the singer’s Back to Black album. Nas and Winehouse worked together on the track “Like Smoke,” which appears on her posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures . Mary J. Blige, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Jill Scott, Florence and the Machine, and Jessie J will participate in the star-studded lineup for the long-running concert event, which airs Monday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on VH1. This year, VH1 is paying tribute to prominent birthplaces of soul music, including Chicago, Detroit, London, Memphis and Philadelphia. The divas are expected to pay homage to these cities and the genre with their own soulful tracks as well as some of soul music’s classic tunes onstage at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. And the celebration is not exclusive to women. The Roots have been confirmed as the event’s house band, and ?uestlove is set to pull double duty during the concert as musical director. Boyz II Men and Travie McCoy will also perform. Bruno Mars, Russell Brand and Tony Bennett paid tribute to Amy Winehouse at the VMAs back in August. Mars performed Winehouse’s cover of the Zutons’ “Valerie,” while Bennett was on hand to present footage of their recording session for his album Duets II . “This is not just another London chancer, not just another person milling about waiting to be famous,” Brand recalled of seeing Winehouse perform during the tribute. “What is this incredible sound? This timeless sound like a roar from the guts of humanity? The kind of voice that Billie Holiday sung with, the kind of voice that Ella Fitzgerald sung with.” Related Videos Amy Winehouse Remembered Related Artists Amy Winehouse
