News

Click here to read the full article.

Celebrity deejay and Pass the Mic guru DJ Cassidy posted up at Herb Alpert’s jazzy Vibrato Grill on Monday night in Los Angeles for a birthday bash that featured Cassidy passing the microphone in person to some R&b legends.

The impromptu session saw Thelma Houston sing “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” Shalamar’s Howard Hewett turn out “Night To Remember, Shanice deliver her classic “I Love Your Smile,” Meli’sa Morgan on “Fools Paradise” and Chante Moore with “Now That Love’s Taken Over.”

El Debarge then surprised Cassidy on the piano with a rendition Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” followed by a performance of the smash “Rhythm Of The Night” accompanied by a band led by musical director Adam Blackstone. Debarge closed the evening with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing” after he...

Thirty years ago today, Michael Jackson took a few stylized, backward steps, igniting a global dance phenomenon.

The King of Pop's first public moonwalk occurred during the airing of a Motown 25th anniversary special on March 25, 1983. The now-legendary move came at the end of a performance of his hit song “Billie Jean,” and it elicited shrieks from the enthusiastic crowd.

Although Jackson certainly launched the moonwalk's peculiar shuffle to international fame, he did not invent the move.

Rolling Stone notes that James Brown had been moonwalking years before the Motown tribute, but the origins of the dance actually date further back than Brown. (Some credit a tap dancer named Bill Bailey with coining the move.)

But Jackson may have learned the move from '80s dancer Jeffrey Daniel, a member of the soul trio Shalamar.

Yahoo!'s Chris Willman points to an interview in which Latoya Jackson admitted her brother...

The chicks and chavs of American Idol wailed two jams this week: one post-2000 anthem and one "soul" song in the tradition of Soul Train, the most phenomenal music series of all time. (Sorry, Dick Clark! I still watch $25,000 Pyramid reruns every day, so no disrespect.) Though it was awkward when Don Cornelius' son Tony appeared in the audience not two months after his father's self-destruction, much of the night was a splendid musical spectacular. Hot. And a couple of beleaguered contestants rebirthed and came alive for the first time in weeks. Wee!

Now, if I were performing this week, I'd have chosen "Work It" by Missy Elliott (I love inventive vagina slang!) and "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz. Both would feature Timbaland in a scarecrow costume, if that helps you to understand my vision. Onward to our rankings!

7. Colton Dixon, Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and Earth,...