One in a million

Taiwan was experiencing a lull in its music scene when Yoga Lin made a splash with his fresh, distinctive voice.

The singer-songwriter was 21 when he won the One Million Star Competition, a popular reality TV singing contest in 2006.

He held a series of concerts around Taiwan before releasing his debut album, Mystery Guest in 2009.

The album won both critical and commercial success, with more than 40,000 copies sold in the first week, in Taiwan.

Then the singer took over songwriting duties for his second album, Senses Around, in 2009 and Perfect Life, his third album, released in 2011.

Although shy off stage, Lin's distinctive vocals and interpretations of songs have ensured he stays popular.

Veteran composer Kay Huang says Lin is a rare good voice in today's down-market music scene, calling him a "magician of music".
He was the lead singer of a high school rock band. Lin experimented with genres and polished his vocal skills at university. He says his success is the fruit of longtime work, rather than instant success.

Lin has won best newcomer awards across Asia and in early 2011 kicked off a tour of the region, including Beijing.

His wide vocal range allows him to interpret the works of female singers, such as pop diva Faye Wong and Taiwan singer-songwriter Mavis Fan.

Justin Bieber's 'Mistletoe' debuts at No 1

Teen sensation Justin Bieber received a sweet kiss from fans on Wednesday when his album "Under the Mistletoe" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, edging out new entries from rapper Wale and country singer Miranda Lambert.

The album of festive singles sold just over 210,000 copies in its first week and is Bieber's third album to debut at No. 1, following "My World 2.0" and "Never Say Never: The Remixes," from his documentary, "Never Say Never."

Bieber, 17, who is currently fighting claims that he fathered a baby with a California woman after a brief backstage encounter last year, thanked his fans for supporting him on Twitter earlier this week and released an animated video for the single "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town."

"So this past week and even today every rumor and lie about me possible has been coming out in the press. Just need to ignore it ... my fans have been there for me" tweeted Bieber.

The album, which features collaborations with Mariah Carey, Busta Rhymes, Usher, The Band Perry and Boys II Men, also broke the record for the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at the top position in the history of the Billboard 200 chart, reported Billboard.com.

"Under the Mistletoe" beat rapper Wale's "Ambition," which sold 164,000 copies in its first week and landed at No. 2. Country singer Miranda Lambert's "Four The Record" debuted at No. 3 while "Britain's Got Talent" alumni Susan Boyle entered the charts at No. 4 with her third album, "Someone To Watch Over Me," forcing Adele's mega-hit "21" to slip to No. 5.

British indie band Florence + The Machine entered the charts at No. 6 with their highly anticipated second album, "Ceremonials," while Coldplay's fifth album, "Mylo Xyloto" fell to No. 7 from last week's top position.

Keith Urban to undergo throat surgery

Country music singer Keith Urban will undergo throat surgery later this month, forcing the star to postpone numerous scheduled performances, Urban's spokesman said on Thursday.

The singer, 44, will go through an out-patient procedure that will remove a polyp discovered on his vocal chords. Part of the recovery process requires the singer to be on complete vocal rest while recuperating.

The singer will be honoring one-song performance commitments until his surgery, and will reschedule all other performances in the new year. He postponed his "All For The Hall" concert to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame, scheduled for January 18.

Urban, who is married to actress Nicole Kidman, is nominated for the entertainer and male vocalist awards at the Academy of Country Music Awards later this month.

U2 honored as Greatest Act in 25 years

LONDON - Rock icons U2 have something new to brag about - winning Q Magazine's Greatest Act of the Last 25 Years award.

The annual music awards by Britain's best-selling music monthly took place Monday in London and the Irish quartet was among the music notables at the ceremony.

The U.K.'s artist of the moment, singer/songwriter Adele, won two awards, for Best Female and Best Track for her song "Rolling in the Deep." She didn't attend, since the event comes just two weeks after she was forced to cancel her U.S. tour due to throat problems.

Coldplay was voted Best Act in the World Today, although lead singer Chris Martin disagreed with the accolade.

"U2 are the best band in the world at the moment. We are about seventh," he said.

Noel Gallagher, one-half of the warring brothers who led the rock band Oasis to chart glory, was named a Q icon. But he said that award did not come close to rivaling his joy when his favorite soccer team, Manchester City, smashed crosstown rival Manchester United 6-1 on Sunday.

"No award can compare to that. That was the best day of my life, bar my children being born," Gallagher said.

Eighteen awards were handed out, including to rapper Tinie Tempah for Best Male Artist and to U.S. internet sensation Lana Del Ray, who was crowned the Next Big Thing.

Brian May and Roger Taylor accepted entry into the Q Hall of Fame on behalf of glam rockers Queen, and Take That's Gary Barlow was honored as Classic Songwriter.

Multimillion selling DJ Norman Cook, aka Fat Boy Slim, was presented with a Q Inspiration award.

Old folk magic

Young singers, old songs. Traditional music given a modern makeover. These are the lifelines that are keeping old folk songs evergreen in China. Chen Nan looks at the talents at work and sees how young blood infuses old songs with new life.

For two hours, she stood on the stage at the National Center of Performing Arts in Beijing (NCPA) last night, belting out a repertoire of songs as old as the hills. But the singer is a radiant 29-year-old, and at the peak of her career. Soprano Lei Jia has just finished a solo recital, which she titled Tunes of Revival.

These folk songs, known as min ge, are all part of common culture, popular at the grassroots, coming from all over the country, incorporating the cultures of regional and ethnic groups. They have been sung for generations, passed on simply through word of mouth.

But in these days of multiple musical choices, they are under threat, in danger of being discarded by new generations addicted to Western beats and modern pop. Young people complain the songs are slow and boring.

This is where singers like Lei Jia step in and give the old songs new interpretation, and a fresh face of glamour. And it seems to be working.

"Today, one of my fans messaged me, and she said it's great to see young singers still sing Chinese folk songs, and encouraged me to keep going," Lei says. It was one of several encouraging messages she received after news came that she would sing at the NCPA.

For Lei, folk music is the most beautiful sound in the world.

Yanni wraps up his four city tour in Chengdu

Grammy-winning composer and music director Yanni ended his four-city tour of China, with a concert in Chengdu, on Monday evening.

Yanni performed at the Master Card Center of Beijing on Oct 1 and 2, Shanghai Grand Stage on Oct 4, and Haixinsha Park of Guangzhou on Oct 7. Besides his classic works, he also presented pieces from his 2011 album, Truth of Touch.

The tour marked his return to China 14 years after his concert in the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1997 when he won over Chinese audiences with his special composition, The Nightingale.

One day before the Chengdu concert, Yanni visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to adopt a 2-month old female panda. He named the cub Santorini, which means peace in Greek.

Capturing sounds of yesterday

An era came to the end for post '70s and '80s in China when Sony announced it would stop producing Walkman audio cassettes last year. With little memory of the long-playing record, that generation's initial memory of music was connected with this little black cassette tape.

With over 2,500 of them, a special exhibition held inside a shopping mall is full of nostalgia. At one corner of the mall, a 35-year-old father surnamed Lou is teaching his 6-year-old boy Lou Zeyu how to use the old-fashioned cassette player.

"He has never seen a cassette tape or its player before," says Lou. "They're so exposed to the digital. I especially brought him here to see what was my way of enjoying music before.

"I refer it as 'the memory of nine yuan and 80 cents', as it cost that much to get a cassette tape when I was my son's age," says Lou. "Without any prejudice or discrimination, I simply think because of digital devices' convenience, the excitement and fun of getting the music have been lost. Now people can download songs from the Internet without paying a penny - when I was little, I had to save pocket money for weeks for one tape."

Twenty-nine-year-old Jin Mingchen is a super fan of collecting vintage cassette tapes.

Sylvia Robinson early hip-hop pioneer dies

The woman some call the mother of hip-hop has died.

Sylvia Robinson, who had a hit as a singer-songwriter with the sexually charged "Pillow Talk" but was later known as one of hip-hop's early founders as the record label owner that put out "Rapper's Delight," rap's first mainstream success, died Thursday, according to publicist Greg Walker. She was 76.

Robinson, born Sylvia Vanterpool, died of congestive heart failure at the New Jersey Institute of Neuroscience in Seacaucus, N.J.

Along with her late husband, Joe, Robinson was the owner of Sugar Hill Records. In 1979, it released the song that would become widely known as rap's first hit, "Rapper's Delight," by the Sugar Hill Gang.

The song was released as hip-hop was just beginning to emerge as a genre; for the most part, it was a budding phenomenon bubbling on New York City streets. Robinson recognized the potential of the music and wanted her struggling label to capitalize on it.

"She saw where a DJ was talking and the crowd was responding to what he was saying, and this was the first time she ever saw this before," her son Joey said in a 2000 interview with NPR. "And she sad Joey, wouldn't this be a great idea to make a rap record?"

It turned out she was right. After gathering three rappers (Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank) to record the 15-minute song, the party groove became a sensation. The condensed version was considered the first rap song to get radio play and reached the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

The Sugar Hill Gang faded into rap history, not recording other songs that would match its original flourish. But Sugar Hill Records would continue to play a part on the early years of hip-hop with a roster that included Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five.

Robinson's roots in the record industry were deep. She was a blues singer in the 1950s, recording for Columbia and Savoy Records on songs like "Chocolate Candy Blues." Later, she was part of the duo "Mickey & Sylvia."

Pitch perfect

American artist Glasser's solo show highlighted avant-garde electronic expression. Christine Mallari reports.

Glasser says she had no reservations about performing in a new city over 18,000 km from home, in a language that was foreign to a majority of her audience. But she was nervous about going solo. Glasser is the stage name of American artist Cameron Mesirow. She performed mid-September in Beijing's 798 art district as part of the Creators Pro-ject, along with British group Mount Kimbie, Scottish duo Optimo and Chinese artists P.K.14, Supermarket and Carsick Cars.

The stage was bare. A microphone stood stage left, next to a covered table and an open computer.

"I was nervous because this was the first time I had performed totally by myself," Glasser says afterward.

Glasser shuffled on to the stage in what appeared to be an haute couture burlap sack, over a sheer white jumpsuit, created by friend and designer Ida Falck Oien.

With a few taps on the trackpad, the 798 art district was brought to life with electronic beats and Glasser's haunting voice.

Her sandy-colored hair fell in untamed waves to her shoulders, while she wore tiny stud earrings and just a swipe of lipstick and eyeliner. The stomping of her platform wedges echoed the emotion of each song.

Her music was composed of an eclectic mix of sounds driven by woodwind and synthesizers, tribal drum beats and plucked strings, tinkling wind chimes and bells, fused with her raw vocals.

"My thing is more about being interested in crafting a sound," Glasser says in an interview on the Creators Project website. "It's very much experimentation."

Glasser's work is in tune with the Creators Project, which was set up in 2010 to "support visionary artists, musicians, designers, and filmmakers who are using technology to push the bounds of creative expression", according to organizers.

She recorded her first album entirely on a laptop using the Garage Band application. This was the third Creators Project event she had taken part in.

Glasser's previous work involved the creation of a two-person pipe organ called the Auerglass, along with US artist Tauba Auerback, that requires two people to play it.

Got Talent Not really

Actor-singers are not a new phenomenon, but what is new is that fierce competition is forcing more young stars, with indifferent skills, to release albums to stay in the limelight. Chen Nan reports.

Actress Yang Mi has finally signed up with a record company, Show City Times, to produce an album, capping a long career in singing. Over the past year, she has partnered popular mainland singers such as Zhang Liangying (Jane Zhang) at New Year galas across the country.

She has also sung the theme song of popular TV series Palace, which brought her overnight fame.

In the horror film, Mysterious Island, which grossed more than 90 million yuan ($14 million) in the mainland, Yang is not just the lead actress, but also the singer. Her two singles, Love of Support and Summer in Love, have topped local new song charts and are highly rated online.

Show City Times, founded by former Super Girl winner Zhang Liangying, comes under the China branch of Universal Music Group (UMG), which has signed on such stars as Mariah Carey, Akon and Bjork.

The actress, who began acting at the age of 4, played a minor role in King of Beggars in 1992, which starred Stephen Chow in the lead. The slim, big-eyed girl then went on to study at Beijing Film Academy.

She had starred in five movies and nine TV series before she rose to fame with her role in the 2006 TV series, The Return of the Condor Heroes, as the lovely and kind Guo Xiang.

J Lo debuts in Shanghai

Fans of Jennifer Lopez in China will get a rare chance to see their idol, when the Latin pop diva makes her debut public appearance on the mainland. She will be performing her Dance Again World Tour concert in Shanghai.

Initially, the Asia-tour only covered cities in Malaysia, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. Media Asia, an entertainment company, managed to add Shanghai to the list.

It's still about 10 days before the show, but 90 percent of the tickets are sold out. The most expensive tickets were the first to sell out, according to Zhu Guang, a spokeswoman for Media Asia.

Lopez, also known as J Lo, kicked off the tour in June, her first headlining concert tour with Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias.

The tour began in Panama and traveled across Latin America, before Lopez headed back to North America on July 14. The tour continues with shows in Asia and Europe, before concluding in Brisbane, Australia, on Dec 18.

The Shanghai gig will present the visual audio extravaganza of Dance Again. Zhu says, to ensure the show's quality, all the stage props, audio facilities and other equipment, will come from the previous concert stop of Dubai via airfreight, and re-installed in Shanghai.

The 43-year-old Lopez has enjoyed international fame since 2001, when her album J.Lo was released in the same week as her film premiere of The Wedding Planner.

Few sure winners seen at the Emmy Awards

If there are any sure bets at this year's Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, they are "Modern Family" again being crowned TV's best comedy series and Kate Winslet winning for her role in "Mildred Pierce".

Most everything else is up for grabs at the TV industry's highest honors in what awards watchers call one of the closest Emmys in years.

"There are a lot of predictions, but no sure bets and that's why the Emmys is packing some excitement this year," said Todd Gold, managing editor of Xfinity TV. "It is full of outstanding shows from networks to cable, and premium cable."

Even critical darling "Mad Men" cannot rest on its laurels as a three-time best drama winner, despite its 19 nominations.

But the stylish 1960s advertising drama faces a threat from HBO's new prohibition era series "Boardwalk Empire", which not only won Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild prizes earlier this year but walked off with seven trophies last weekend at the creative arts portion of Emmy Awards.

"It looked as if 'Mad Men' was going into this year's Emmys as the inevitable winner. But all of a sudden, we have a real race here," said Tom O'Neil of awards websites TheEnvelope.com and Goldderby.com.

And don't count out HBO's fantasy series "Game of Thrones", based on the best-selling novels by George R.R. Martin.

"Game of Thrones" may skew too young for the older, more traditional members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, who make up the bulk of Emmy voters. But Gold called it "by far the most exciting series of the past season. It was big and bold. It broke barriers and extended the boundaries of what a dramatic TV series can be. It was like a big movie every week."

A festival of note

And for the first time, Ozawa will bring the Saito Kinen Festival to China, from Sept 1-4, at the capital's National Center for the Performing Arts, and from Sept 6-11, at Shanghai Grand Theater.

The performances in China will feature a wide range of musical styles and include a string ensemble, opera, symphony, chamber music, piano solo and movie soundtracks.

Ozawa will conduct the Saito Kinen Orchestra String Ensemble for Bluebeard's Castle and the Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku (Music Academy Orchestra) Concert.

Other highlights include Peter Serkin's solo concert, L'Histoire du Soldat, or The Soldier's Tale, by the Saito Kinen Orchestra Chamber Concert and Toru Takemitsu and his Music for the Movies.

Pieces such as Tchaikovsky's Serenade for String Orchestra and Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and Beethoven's Diabelli Variations will also be presented.

The festival evolved from the Saito Kinen Orchestra established by Ozawa in 1984, for a series of memorial concerts for the 10th anniversary of Saito's death.

Since 1992, the annual festival has become a month-long carnival for fans of classical music.

Lil Wayne sets Tha Carter IV release after VMAs

Lil Wayne, the four-time Grammy winner and "Lollipop" rapper, on Monday said he will start selling his new album, "Tha Carter IV," online at midnight after the widely-watched awards show on August 28. The CD hits retail stores on Monday.

The album features 15 tracks and includes collaborations with other artists such as Drake, Rick Ross, John Legend, T-Pain and Tech N9ne. A deluxe edition adds three tracks.

"I am extremely excited to be the first artist to utilize such an amazing idea," Lil Wayne said in a statement. "I hope that I can open the door for others."

While releasing a full CD online just minutes after MTV's Video Music Awards (VMAs) may be new, the rapper is hardly the first musician to use the show to generate media hype.

In 2003, Britney Spears and Madonna famously kissed onstage in what became an instant cause celebre, and last year Lady Gaga showed up in a dress made of raw meat, generating headlines around the world.

The VMAs, which honor musicians and performers in categories such as best new artist and top videos, is among MTV's most watched programs. Last year about 11.4 million viewers tuned in, making the program a strong advertising vehicle to reach a highly-targeted, music-oriented audience.

Lil Wayne will perform on this year's telecast, as will Adele, Lady Gaga, Chris Brown and Bruno Mars, among others. Presenters include Selena Gomez, Jonah Hill and Kim Kardashian.

Country singer Chely Wright weds girlfriend

Chely Wright, the first mainstream country performer to come out as lesbian, married her partner, activist Lauren Blitzer, on Saturday in Connecticut, People magazine reported.

Wright, 40, met Blitzer, 30, soon after the singer's 2010 announcement that she is a lesbian.

Named the top new female vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1995, Wright hid her homosexuality for years, believing it would hurt her career in the traditionally conservative country music community.

"They would rather you were a drug addict than be gay," she told reporters at the time of her coming-out, which is chronicled in the upcoming documentary "Wish Me Away."

Both a reverend and a rabbi presided over the weekend ceremonies at Blitzer's aunt's home with more than 200 guests in attendance. Wright is Christian, and Blitzer is Jewish.

The women wore white wedding gowns and skipped the veils. Wright explained to People, "We like our hair too much!"

Oasis band brothers take slanging match to court

The Gallagher brothers, who stormed British pop in the 1990s when they were together in rock band Oasis, have taken their increasingly bitter war of words to court.

Younger sibling Liam, former lead singer of the group who now fronts Beady Eye, issued a statement on Friday confirming he was suing songwriter and guitarist Noel for comments he made over why the band broke up in 2009.

Noel, 44, who made the remarks during a press conference in July at which he was launching his solo career, had no immediate comment to make on the lawsuit at London's High Court, his spokesman said.

Liam said in his statement: "I have taken legal action against Noel Gallagher for statements he made during the Electric Cinema press conference on July 6 during which he claimed Oasis pulled out of the 2009 V Festival Chelmsford gig because I had a hangover.

"That is a lie and I want Oasis fans, and others who were at V, to know the truth."

He went on to explain he was "gutted" to have had to pull out of the event, and that the real reason was laryngitis as diagnosed by a doctor and explained to Noel.

"Noel also falsely stated that the demise of Oasis followed a massive row in which he claimed I demanded to advertise my clothing range Pretty Green in the Oasis tour program," he added.

"The truth is there was no such discussion or row between us. There are many reasons why Oasis split. But it had nothing to do with my clothing range."

Coldplay Is new Mylo Xyloto album gets October release

British rock band Coldplay announced on Friday they will release their fifth studio album on October 25 in the United States and a day earlier elsewhere.

The group unveiled the new album's graffiti pop art reversible cover and its title "Mylo Xyloto," on its website, but did not explain what the album title meant.

The album's new single, "September," will be released on September 12, following the June release of "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall".

Lead vocalist Chris Martin told Billboard the album, co-produced by Brian Eno, does not fit into "any musical kind of box".

"I think we have a lot to prove to ourselves. There's no point in not going for it," he said in an interview published on Friday.

The band's fifth album, which will be released in digital, CD and vinyl formats, follows their 2008 album "Viva La Vida", which sold 2.8 million units in the United States.

Music stars campaign to end hunger crisis in Africa

A global social media campaign featuring a Bob Marley song was launched by some of the music industry's top stars on Tuesday to help stem the hunger crisis that is increasing in the Horn of Africa.

More than 150 stars including Lady Gaga, U2, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney are among the well-known figures using their Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to urge fans to donate money to help the numerous families starving in the region.

The campaign, called "I'm Gonna Be Your Friend," can be found at www.imgonnabeyourfriend.org. It shows a video of Bob Marley & The Wailers' 1973 song, 'High Tide or Low Tide," accompanied by footage of malnourished children created by award-winning film director Kevin Macdonald.

About 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia and 12 million people across the Horn of Africa, including in Ethiopia and Kenya, the United Nations says.

The drought-hit Horn of Africa urgently needs funds to rebuild agriculture and fight famine. The United Nations food agency has called for a high level meeting to help overcome the worsening crisis.

The "I'm Gonna Be Your Friend," campaign estimated it would reach over a billion people with partners such as Universal Music Group, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, MSN, YouTube and Twitter and the power of celebrities' reach. The combined power of using Facebook and Twitter pages alone will reach 730 million, the campaign said.

Donations or downloads of "High Tide or Low Tide," for $1.29 will go to the Save the Children appeal for east Africa and used for food, water and medicine.

Other stars participating include Sting, David Beckham, Eminem, Rihanna, Annie Lennox, Bruno Mars, Madonna, Ricky Martin and Lily Allen.

International ecoethnofestival kicks off near Almaty Kazakhstan

The Second International ecoethnofestival "Four E" -- environmental and ethnic emotional evolution, on Friday started in Trans-Ili Alatau Mountains near the southern Kazakh city of Almaty.

The territory of the festival is divided into themed colored zones on the basis of the four "E". For example, the orange zone ( ethno) is a place for musicians performing ethnic music.

"Musical performance taking place on two stages: a big stage for professional artists and bands, small one for amateurs. Musicians from Kazakhstan, Russia, India and Mongolia will take part in the concerts," said organizers.

Green zone (eco) is a creativity area. Master classes of handmade batik, painting and drawing held here. And also goods from India, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, such as ceramics, jewelry, ethnic clothes and felt can be purchased.

Purple (evolution) -- territory of training and bodily practices: yoga, psychological seminars by leading experts from Kazakhstan and invited guests.

And finally, the pink zone (emotions) is a playground for children, where there will be organized school drawing, sculpting and weaving lessons, drawing on the sand, children's competitions and role play.

According to the organizers, unusual festival attracts many people who likes wildlife, leads a healthy lifestyle and are interested in a harmonious development of personality.

The open air festival will last three days.

Broadway style musical celebrates Teresa

Fans of the late Taiwan singer Teresa Teng will have a chance to experience her music once again, in an original Broadway-style musical Love U, Teresa!

Sixteen years after her death, more than 30 of the late singer's most popular songs will be performed in the musical, which revolves around a poor country boy, Zhou Mengjun.

Born in the 1980s he tries to make his dream of becoming a singer in Shanghai come true.

During his journey, he meets a girl, Mi Mi, who inspires him to write music. As the pair falls in love, Zhou reconnects with the music of Teng, who died in 1995 after a severe asthma attack at the age of 42. The story also has flashbacks featuring Zhou's parents' love story, which is linked with Teng's many hits.

The musical, which made its debut in Hong Kong on the final day of 2010, has been a big hit and toured other major cities.

The production team behind the musical includes director Joey McKneely, who worked on the current revival of West Side Story in New York, Tony award winner Daryl Waters, and mainland producer Li Dun, whose signature musical work Butterfly was a hit across China in 2010.

Li also invited scriptwriter Wong Huiling - who has worked with director Ang Lee - to participate.

"Teresa Teng and her music live on in the hearts of people years after her death," Li says. "The musical is a tribute to the great singer, who has influenced generations."

New Jersey's own Springsteen and Bon Jovi sing for Sandy victims

The commercial-free one-hour telecast, "Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together," included appearances by Sting, Billy Joel, Jimmy Fallon, Steven Tyler, Mary J. Blige, Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Bacon and Danny DeVito.

The host was "Today" show co-anchor Matt Lauer, who said, "We haven't seen a storm like this in 100 years."

The fundraiser, shown on NBC, opened with Aguilera saying: "I was born in Staten Island. Four days ago, Hurricane Sandy came through and devastated it." The New York City borough accounted for about half the city's 41 deaths from the storm.

Aguilera, a judge on the television singing competition "The Voice," vowed that "we will do whatever we can to help, we will not leave anyone behind," then performed "You Are What You Are (Beautiful)".

Next up was Bon Jovi, who was seen in footage filmed this week after he rushed back from a British promotional tour to visit his hometown of Sayreville, New Jersey, to console residents and view the devastation.

Bon Jovi sang "Who Says You Can't Go Home".

Fey, an actress and comedian, implored viewers to donate at 1-800-HELPNOW and spread the message for donations via social media such as Twitter.

Adele Chris Brown Lil Wayne to perform at VMAs

Rare peek into lives of musiciansNEW YORK - Chris Brown and Lil Wayne are returning to the MTV Video Music Awards stage, while Adele will make her first appearance.

The trio are the first performers announced for the Aug. 28 ceremony in Los Angeles, at the Nokia Theatre. The announcement was made Thursday.

Brown's star, once tarnished because of his attack on Rihanna, is shining bright this year, and MTV has taken note.

"He is having a moment with multiple hits this year, and he always delivers on the VMA stage," said Amy Doyle, executive vice president of music and talent at MTV, on Wednesday.

She called his 2007 performance at the VMAs one of the most memorable: "He will give an energetic, bombastic, jaw-dropping performance."

Adele, who is nominated for seven VMAs, is also scheduled to perform. Only Katy Perry has more VMA nods with nine; Adele is tied with Kanye West with her seven.

Doyle predicted Adele would "bring chills down everybody's spine, if not bring them to tears, too."

Adele has the year's best-selling album with "21," but Doyle notes that her live act hasn't been seen much: Adele was forced to reschedule some concerts earlier this year because of a throat problem.

Austrian President Heinz Fischer attended the opening ceremony and gave a speech in which he said that all European countries should unite to jointly face the challenges posed by the economic crisis and terrorism.

German Protestant theologian, journalist and politician Joachim Gauck also made a speech in which he condemned the recent terrorist attacks and said that art should play a role in society and politics to encourage people to overcome difficulties.

During the five-week-long festival, a total of 213 musical presentations including operas, concerts and dramas will be performed.

The highlight of this year's Salzburg Festival is the five concerts performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Venezuela's Simon Bolivar Orchestra will give musical presentations and concerts.

The Salzburg Festival was officially founded on August 22, 1920 by poet and dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, composer Richard Strauss, scenic designer Alfred Roller, conductor Franz Schalk and the director of the Salzburg City Theater, Max Reinhardt. Since then, it has always been opened with the traditional performance of Hofmannsthal's play "Jedermann" on the steps of Cathedral Square

Chen Kun writes lyrics for philanthropy

Chinese actor and artist Chen Kun writes lyrics for the new single "Power to Go" for a philanthropic event. This is the first time Chen has ever written lyrics for a song.

Chinese actor and artist Chen Kun released a new single titled “Power to Go” on July 26, 2011. This is the first time Chen took part in writing the lyrics himself, and he is doing so for a philanthropic event.

“Writing lyrics for the first time made me a little bit uneasy. I wanted to deliver my true feelings, so I was recording and changing the lyrics at the same time in the recording studio,” said Chen.

“Power to Go” is the first project Chen Kun participated in after establishing his own company. The project aims to advocate environmental awareness and protection. To spread the message further, the first stop of the project was chosen in Tibet, the Roof of the World. Ten university volunteers were selected and will begin their 11-day-long journey in Tibet in late August.

Private funeral for Winehouse on Tuesday

Amy Winehouse's funeral will take place on Tuesday and will be attended only by her family and close friends, her spokesman said on Monday.

A post mortem on the "Back to Black" singer, who died at the weekend, failed to determine how she died and more toxicology tests are being carried out, with the results expected in two to four weeks, police said.

The autopsy was carried out after an inquest opened and adjourned on the 27-year-old's death which police are so far describing as "unexplained."

Winehouse, who fought drug and alcohol addictions, was found dead at her north London home on Saturday afternoon.

As sales of her music soared and speculation swirled about the release of a possible posthumous album, her father Mitch flew in from New York and visited a shrine of flowers, gifts and cards outside the house.

Surrounded by television crews and well-wishers, he read the dozens of condolence messages and walked along banks of teddy bears, flowers -- and the occasional bottle of vodka -- left by fans of the troubled singer.

"Thank you for coming," he said. "It means so much to me and my family."

A somber mood hung over Camden Square, where Winehouse lived, as a constant stream of fans arrived to lay flowers and leave messages for the singer among flickering candles left outside her house on Monday.

Some well-wishers were unable to hold back tears as they looked in near silence at fans' tributes.