JAMIE Lynn Spears is planning to take on the music charts.
Sources say the former Zoey 101 star wants to follow in footsteps of her singer sister Britney Spears by releasing an album.
It’s claimed Jamie has been “putting together a country-pop album with some of music’s biggest names” and that she has quietly recorded a demo track in Nashville.
“Jamie Lynn’s management team are trying to get her a record deal,” a source said.
The former child star announced this week that she will retire from acting—at age 24. But recent erratic behavior has some wondering if the choice was hers at all—and The Daily Beast has learned she was fired from her last movie, Hall Pass.
With more and more Americans holding out on retirement, it’s getting to the point where people are frequently working well into their 70s. Not so for Amanda Bynes, who announced on Sunday via Twitter that she was ending her acting career at the ripe old age of 24. “Being an actress isn’t as fun as it may seem,” she tweeted. “If I don’t love something, I stop doing it. I don’t love acting anymore, so I’ve stopped doing it.”
That was her version, at least.
Her struggle is one many child actors face as they get older and discover that they have to reconnect with audiences all over again.
The other version is that Hollywood had mostly broken up with her—that after a highly successful run as a child actress on Nickelodeon, her career began to sputter. She was fired this spring from the Farrelly brothers’ film Hall Pass, according to a person familiar with the project. That seems to have coincided with a break within her that Bynes is now enacting in public. Her Twitter feed has become a place for what seems like compulsive oversharing, not just about retiring, but other random topics as well—for example, her interest in trying magic mushrooms and her sexual attraction to black men. (She has been linked on and off with rapper Kid Cudi, and has tweeted about him obliquely for months.)
Though sources say her CAA agents had a please-get-help talk with her this year, Bynes has so far resisted. And her parents, whom she has supported for years, have not been able to get the actress back on track. Her friends are concerned about her behavior.
Reps for Bynes did not respond to a request for comment about her retirement. But her personal publicist, Melissa Raubvogel, denied Bynes had been fired, and said no such event had happened with CAA.
Though Bynes was clearly talented, with a charming turn as Tracy Turnblad’s sidekick in the hit remake of Hairspray, a slew of projects featuring her more prominently simply didn’t do as well.
Her struggle is one many child actors face as they get older and discover that they have to reconnect with audiences all over again. For every Drew Barrymore, there’s a Molly Ringwald, for every Josh Brolin, there’s a Corey Feldman.
Bynes had never really been a major screen star, but her run on the small screen was nothing to sneeze at. After being discovered at a comedy camp at the age of 7 or 8, she was cast in All That, a sketch-comedy show on the MTV-owned network, which The New York Times described as a kind of “pint size Saturday Night Live.”
Then came The Amanda Show, where she played a variety of characters, one of whom was based on Judge Judy. After that, she went right into the WB sitcom, What I Like About You, in which Bynes and Jennie Garth played sisters. Though a modest hit by network standards, the comedy had a loyal audience of young fans, and solidified Bynes' base as a teen star.
At 15, Universal released her first big movie, Big Fat Liar, a teenage comedy co-starring Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle. It did well, grossing nearly $50 million off a budget believed to be under $20 million.
But after that, her record was spottier.
Aside from her appearance in Hairspray, Bynes had the leading role in She’s the Man, a romantic comedy about a young girl who dresses in drag so that she can play on her school soccer team. It grossed a tepid $33.7 million. Then came SydneyWhite, ”a modern day update of Snow White. It topped out at $13.6 million, and made it harder for her to get lead roles. “Often, what makes an actor appealing as a child simply doesn’t work for them as an adult,” says someone who’s worked with Bynes, adding that the comedy acting she excelled at as a child didn't translate into dramatic films.
Still, Bynes was famous enough to get a clothing line with Steve & Barry’s, the discount chain that produced wares for Sarah Jessica Parker’s brand, Bitten. She also landed a cover with Maxim. But after a burst of success, the retail giant imploded, the victim of the credit crunch and excessive discounting that made turning a profit nearly impossible.
Meanwhile, rumors began to surface that Bynes could be “difficult.” In 2007, she was invited to the Turks and Caicos Film Festival, where she was being honored with a rising star award. And things reportedly didn’t go well.
Shortly after the festival was done, a nasty item appeared on the New York Post's Page Six alleging that for the event, Bynes demanded two first-class plane tickets, two double hotel suites, and then “failed” to show up at any of the scheduled events she’d committed to. “I literally didn't see her for days after she arrived at the hotel,” an “organizer” told the gossip column. “Everyone was wondering where she was. She was off jet-skiing, treating it like a vacation.”
Jennifer Nettles - Sugarland songstress Jennifer Nettles is looking forward to her on stage duet with pop star Rihanna.
Rihanna and Jennifer Nettles will perform at the Academy of Country Music Awards 46th annual show, airing April 3 at 8 p.m. on CBS.
Jennifer says of her impending performance,
“It’s the first time that Lady Ri and I have ever sung together and the first time that this song will be performed live so we are thrilled,” Nettles said,
“We’re just big fans of each other. We wanted to do something that was fun and different and fresh, and I reached out to her and said, ‘Hey, anything you want to do?’ and she said, ‘I have this song that I specifically would love to do,’ and I said, ‘Yes ma’am, we will do it.’”
“It is such a moment. And I think what it shows us is that good music is good and good performance is good, and as long as you like it, who cares what you call it. Get out there and have fun with each other.
“I am planning on having a diamond-encrusted crotch.” *Interesting*
What do you expect from Rihanna and Jennifer Nettles' duet?
Pauley Perrette is set to release an R&B duet with a Navy veteran.
The actress and star of Ncis has teamed up with a veteran named B. Taylor to record 'Fire in Your Eyes', an upbeat duet set for release on 3rd May 2011, reports Forbes. Perrette and Taylor first met when he paid a visit to the set of the hit Cbs legal drama about Naval investigators. He was invited by a friend who is an advisor on the series and was soon introduced to the 42-year-old actress. The two hit it off immediately and she invited him to attend her church, the Hollywood United Methodist. Their time together inspired the veteran to write 'Fire in Your Eyes' and Perrette was only too happy to feature on the record. The actress's spokeswoman Belinda Foster says the single will be released on Universal Music Group's Bungalo Records and will be available via iTunes. A music video is also planned but further details are yet to be released.
Pauley Perrette, who plays Abby Sciuto on Ncis, recorded the song 'Fear' for the show's official soundtrack back in 2009. She was also the lead singer in the Los Angeles-based all-female band 'Lo-Ball'
• Add Sandra Bullock to the ever-growing list of fans of the outrageous new Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. The actress was on her feet, clapping and cheering during the curtain call after laughing her way through the whole performance. Bullock, who sported glasses, a blazer and wore her hair pulled back, caught the show with sister Gesine, and the ladies slipped in unnoticed before the performance started. Also at New York's Eugene O'Neill Theater to check out the new musical from South Park's creators: Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford and Sting, with his wife Trudie Styler.
• Weeks before her new reality show Audrina premieres, Audrina Patridge grabbed dinner at the bar at L.A.'s Comme Ça with two girlfriends. The ladies sipped wine and dined on steak and French fries.
• In the Windy City for the Bravo Upfront event, Bethenny Frankel visited Hub 51 for a late-night dinner after the festivities. The Bethenny Ever After star and her crew of seven filled up on everything from grilled fish tacos to pulled chicken nachos, and sipped the reality starlet's Skinnygirl Margaritas (naturally!) with their meal.
• He's the man of the hour! Aziz Ansari, celebrating his Paper Magazine cover during an Absolut Wild Tea-sponsored soiree in N.Y.C. The funnyman was at a private table all night, sipping cocktails and dancing with friends as Duran Duran played their hits for the crowd.
LOS ANGELES – Penelope Cruz has been enshrined in concrete.
The Oscar-winning actress unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star Friday, flanked by leading men Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp.
The event is timed ahead of next month's release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," in which she stars with Depp.
The Spanish star says that when she came to the United States in 1994, she only knew how to say "How are you?" and "I want to work with Johnny Depp" in English.
She jokes that now, she knows how to say "I want to work with Johnny Depp again."
The 36-year-old actress co-starred with husband Bardem in her Oscar-winning role in "Vicky Christina Barcelona." They welcomed their son in January.
