What a year it’s been for Rihanna. There’s a list of unfortunate things that has happened to the pop princess — a very public assault ordeal and the leak of private nude photos to name a few — but she’s tackled each challenge with grace and humility, and is poised to come out of it all stronger than ever.

Glamour magazine took notice and named the 21-year-old Bajan sensation one of their 2009 Women of the Year. She was honored in a special ceremony held tonight in New York City.

Wearing a gorgeous white gown, Rihanna took the stage to accept the award having only found out she would have to speak hours before. After viewing a touching montage of accomplishments and kind words by her Def Jam boss Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Rih was overcome with emotion, tearing up before starting her speech. “I’m PMSing. Sorry,” she joked as she wiped away tears.

She said a quick “I love you” to fellow honoree, legendary poet Maya Angelou, but admitted her presence at the event made it “terribly more difficult for me.”

In her speech, she thank her mentor Jay-Z, her best friend Melissa, her glam squad (”They help me look cute.”), and her family who flew out from Barbados. But her biggest thanks was to her “two women of the year,” her mother and grandmother. “Without their unconditional love and guidance, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “I hope I can be an example for young girls and women today.”

Fefe Dobson performs at the Mecury Lounge in New York - Wireimage

Canadian rock princess Fefe Dobson unleashed a firestorm of hotness when she took the stage last night at New York City’s Mecury Lounge. Signaling she’s back and going nowhere no time soon, Fefe performed a set — which included old favorites from her self-titled debut album and upcoming sophomore effort, Joy — that was drenched with passion, soaked with edge, and slicked with pop perfection.

Stay on the look out for the album that will be released in October.

Check out some live shots from the show and two videos of her performance below:

Watch: I Want You/Watch Me Move

Rihanna, U2, Kid Rock, and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss were all announced this week as performers for music’s biggest celebration.

As previously reported, Lil Wayne, Katy Perry and Jonas Brothers will take the stage (separately, we hope!), along with Jennifer Hudson, Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Kenny Chesney, Paul McCartney (with special guest drummer Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters), Radiohead, Carrie Underwood, and T.I. who will be joined on stage by Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Kanye West for a performance of their hit “Swagga Like Us.”

The show will air live on CBS Sunday, Feb. 8 at 8PM EST.

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The Essence Festival will celebrate its 15th anniversary July 3-5 in New Orleans with some of the biggest names in soul, jazz, and modern R&B.

Joining previously announced headliner Beyonce will be sister Solange who will open for her big sis, Ne-Yo, Maxwell, John Legend, Keri Hilson, Robin Thicke, Jazmine Sullivan, Eric Benet, and Janelle Monae.

Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue are among some of the newly reunited vets set to rock the stage, along with many other performers.

Check out the Essence Music Festivals official site for more performers and ticket information.

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Sure, everyone wants to see who will walk away as the big Super Bowl XVLII champs Sunday (Feb. 1): the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Arizona Cardinals, but just as important as the big game is the big entertainment.

The halftime show will belong to The Boss. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will headline with a show the 59-year-old rocker promises will be “12-minute party.”

Faith Hill and John Legend will perform during the preshow, and as previously reported, Jennifer Hudson will make her first public appearance since the October murders of her mother, brother, and nephew, performing the Star Spangled Banner before tip-off.

Neon Limelight’s favorite couple Rihanna and Chris Brown love to break records when it comes to their music careers, but a Florida paparazzo alleges that’s not the only thing they like to break. Apparently, they break cameras too, or at least they send their tough bodyguards to do the job. 26-year-old Luis Santana claims that on May 6 he was beaten and had his camera stolen and subsequently broken when he took a picture of Chrihanna as they left Vintage Ultra Lounge in St. Petersburg, FL after celebrating Brown’s 19th birthday. He is suing the couple, the club, and three other people in their entourage for $1 million for damage to his camera, emotional distress, and, above all, for losing a priceless picture of the pair that would have confirmed their still under wraps relationship.

File this one under “Dude, what took you so long?” Read more about the lawsuit here.

Reports are still conflicting but several media sources confirm the mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress/singer Jennifer Hudson have been found dead in Hudson’s mother’s home in Chicago:

Sources confirm to E! News that Jennifer Hudson’s mother, 57-year-old Darnell Donerson, was found dead Friday afternoon in a house on the South Side of Chicago that is listed in Donerson’s name.

Officer John Mirabelli of the Chicago Police Department tells E! that officers were called to the 7000 block of Yale Avenue in the neighborhood of Englewood, where just before 3 p.m. they discovered two unresponsive adults—one male, one female—who had apparently been shot to death.

The shooting is at this time believed to be domestic, according to police. Various reports are claiming that the other victim was Hudson’s older brother, Jason Hudson. [READ THE FULL STORY]

Horrific news. Everyone here at Neon Limelight sends our deepest condolences to Jennifer and her entire family during this time.

We’ve been looking like Beyoncé World around these parts gushing with excitement over Bey’s new album, I Am…, hitting stores November 18. The album is rumored to be a double album featuring songs by Beyoncé and another set of songs by her alter ego Sasha Fierce (Check out Who Is Sasha Fierce to get in on the nuttiness). “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” will lead the Sasha side, while “If I Were A Boy” heads the Beyoncé side. Loves it!

Sadly, it appears that ‘Boy’ belonged to another woman, and was ripped off recorded without her knowledge. Roger Freidman, long time Bey fan and reporter for Fox News 411, reports “If I Were A Boy” was written by an up-and-coming singer/songwriter out of San Diego, CA named BC Jean.

Freidman had wondered why ‘Boy’ was not ready to face-off in this year’s Grammys (the song missed the deadline of September 30). He got his answer and more when BC’s manager came calling:

Well, guess what? The story behind “If I Were a Boy” is absolutely scandalous. It also explains my question of why this single missed the Grammy deadline of Sept. 30, since it was ready to go at least three weeks ago. The answer: it was held up by endless legal wrangling since, in the long hallowed tradition of the music business, the young woman who wrote the melody and lyrics for “If I Were a Boy” had no idea Beyonce had even recorded her song until a stranger called with the news. By then, it was too late.

When I wrote about Beyonce’s version of “If I Were a Boy” last week, calls came pouring in from people who knew the real history of this story. BC Jean’s mother/manager, Lori Carlson, told me she couldn’t comment on the situation. But plenty of people knew the saga of Beyonce’s legendary manager/father Mathew Knowles’ aggressive pursuit of the publishing rights to the potential hit record. His goal was to get the rights to the song and to put Beyonce’s name on the writing credits. [READ THE FULL STORY]

The sad thing is, this is nothing new in the business and certainly isn’t new territory for Beyoncé who is notorious in the business for receiving writing credits for changing a word here and there, or “arranging” melodies. Sigh. I’m stilling buying I Am… I’ll make a game out of reading the credits and guessing how much she did or didn’t write. “That ‘a’ used to be ‘the’!!!”

Lyrical genius!

Justin Timberlake is bringing a bunch of famous friends with him to Las Vegas Friday. No, he’s not tying the knot Britney-style with girlfriend Jessica Biel. He’s performing a charity show at the Planet Hollywood Resort Theatre for the Performing Arts!

“Justin Timberlake and Friends: A Special Evening Benefiting the Shriners Hospitals for Children” is going down Friday evening and will feature some of music’s biggest names like Rihanna, Jonas Brothers, Maroon 5, Leona Lewis and many more. How’s that for a line-up!

Can’t get tickets? Bid for tickets at www.charityfolks.com but hurry, the auction ends tomorrow (Oct. 15) at 5pm EST.

[Source]

If you don’t count those nightmare House of Blues shows Britney Spears performed last year, Brit didn’t bother to tour to promote her album Blackout. But, she’s making good on her vow to make a real comeback by setting up a huge tour for her album Circus according to E! Online. Citing an unnamed source, E! revealed the pop queen has signed an exclusive deal with tour giant AEG to produce the tour. No cities or dates or confirmation from Brit’s reps yet, but we’ll definitely keep you posted!

Singer, songwriter, spicy hot dresser. Katy Perry has it all. But she’ll be adding another role to her resume November 6 when she hosts this years MTV European Music Awards in Liverpool. The “I Kissed A Girl” singer is up for two awards, none for her excellent fashion sense, but it’s sure to be put on display with multiple wardribe changes.

Performers for the EMAs include Beyoncé. Kid Rock, and Pink.

I bet those crabby kids who bullied Disney Channel star/sweet-voiced singer Demi Lovato in the seventh grade are even more jealous now that the talented 16-year-old has scored a top 10 debut on the Billboard 200 album chart. Her debut album, Don’t Forget, came in at number two, selling 89,000 copies behind only Metallica (who are going on their third straight week at number one. Moist!). The album got a rave review here on Neon Limelight by our resident Disney Channel freak Story Gilmore. Check the review out if you haven’t already and pick up Demi’s album. It’s not just a bunch of teen fluff. It’s ok to like it and be over 16–you might not admit it publicly, but really, it’s ok.

It’s hard to believe that 7 years ago today the world lost one of the truly great rising stars of R&B. On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah Dana Haughton, simply known as Aaliyah, died in a plane crash in the Bahamas while retuning home from a video shoot for her single “Rock the Boat.” Several members of her crew along with the plane’s pilot would also die in the tragic crash.

Our hearts are forever with the Haughton family. Visit the myspace page run by Aaliyah’s family for more on what you can do to keep her legacy alive.

Because we were huge fans of the beautiful singer with an even more beautiful spirit and always will be, we want to pay tribute to her.

For you fans out there, enjoy some of our favorite Aaliyah videos:

Journey to the Past

Try Again

More Than A Woman

We Need A Resolution

The One I Gave My Heart To

Yesterday we ran a story about Chris Brown with all quotes coming from his interview at the BET Awards with the Russ Parr morning show (unfortunately, the link to the interview is no longer on their site). I’ve been noticing that some people took the last statement the wrong way:

And does Mama Breezy like Miss Rihanna? “Yeah yeah, she’s real cool. They’re both light skin with green eyes, so…” Ahh. So it must be love then.

Because I’m a fan of Chris Brown’s and an even bigger fan of responsible journalism, I want to clarify that quote. A lot of people are trashing Chris’ mother, Joyce Hawkins, thinking she made that statement. No. The interview was with Chris only. He made that remark; find it offensive? Blame Chris.

Just thought I’d be fair to Mrs Hawkins and clear that up.

Read the rest of the article here.

photo credit: hip and pop

BBC got to see Coldplay frontman Chris Martin’s divo side when he stormed out of an interview with BBC journalist John Wilson, leaving drummer Will Champion to answer questions until Martin returned to answer the final question.

Martin appeared uncomfortable with the interview from the outset.

When asked about a speech he made at a music awards ceremony in 2005 where he said the band would be away “for a very long time”, Martin said: “I always say stupid things and I think Radio 4 is the place that will most remind me of that.”

Presenter Wilson questioned whether the new album – full title, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends – was a morbid reflection of the band’s lyrical obsession with death.

“I wouldn’t agree with you there at all, no,” said Martin.

“I’d say you’re journalistically twisting me into saying something I don’t really mean.”

A few minutes later, Martin said he was “not really enjoying this” and that he did not really like “having to talk about things”.

Champion answered the remaining questions before the frontman returned to answer a final question, about finding new musical territory, with the response: “Um….yes…yes, yes….exactly…”

Attitude! Listen to the interview here.

Coldplay’s new album hits stores June 17th.

R&B singer Amerie has found a new home at Def Jam Records reports Billboard.com. Amerie split with her former label, Columbia Records, earlier this year after singles for her third album “Because I Love It,” failed to make any buzz in the streets. (I really liked “Take Control.”)

Amerie is already at work on her new album–there is no word on whether or not “Because I Love It” will be released in the US via Def Jam.

Good luck to her! I really enjoyed her last album, “Touch,” and was feeling the direction she was going in with the scrapped album.