<em>Australian Idol</em> Judge Found Dead

Jay Dee Springbett, a former judge on Australian Idol, was found dead Thursday in his Sydney home, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. He was 36 years old.

Police arrived on the scene after being contacted by “concerned acquaintances,” who reported that they were unable to contact him. Springbett was dead when the police arrived.

Springbett was a Sony Music A&R executive who joined the hit show in 2009, replacing the departing Kyle Sandilands. A spokesman for the show’s producers said, “The Australian Idol family is deeply saddened by the passing of Jay Dee. Our thoughts are with his family and all at Sony Music.”

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U2 to Play Live on <em>American Idol</em>

U2 will perform live on the American Idol finale, Wednesday, May 25.

According to NME, U2 have been playing a series of U.S. dates that were re-arranged after singer Bono’s back injury forced some concerts to be cancelled last year. Manager Paul McGuinness told Billboard that the band were rehearsing yesterday (Monday, May 23) for the talent show appearance. There’s no word on what U2 will be performing.

Earlier this week, U2 picked up the Touring Award at the Billboard Music Awards. Bono said: “That’s where we live: live.”

Bono and Co. play Salt Lake City tonight and will continue playing North America this summer, with a detour to headline the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival on Friday, June 24.

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Joe Perry: Aerosmith Won’t Play <em>American Idol</em> Finale

Despite Steven Tyler’s vows that Aerosmith will play the May 25 finale of American Idol – for which he is a judge – guitarist Joe Perry says otherwise.  

“[We’re] not playing Idol ’cause we were never asked by producers,” Perry wrote on his Facebook page. “Brad [Whitford, Aerosmith guitarist] has a gig that night with [Experience Hendrix]. It’s not logistically possible.”

Perry did write that Aerosmith is “looking forward to playing American Idol next season when our new CD is out and we can prepare [for] a kick-ass show if they ask us.”

Making it clear that his decision was based on logistics and timing and not personal beefs with Tyler, Perry wrote, “There is no peace pipe to smoke because I have no problem with anything Steven is doing. It’s all media driven. In case ya didn’t get that.”

In fact, Perry revealed that Aerosmith will wrap up their next CD this summer.

“Really looking forward to recording with Aerosmith this July [and] August to finish our long-awaited CD,” he wrote. “Icing on cake, Jack Douglas is producing … The band [definitely] wants to tour after the new CD. We want to rock out in the U.S. and for our Blue Army behind some new songs.”

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Steven Tyler Releases New Music Video, Says Aerosmith Will Play <em>American Idol</em>

Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge Steven Tyler told Billboard this week that Aerosmith will play the reality singing competition during the show’s May 25 grand finale. 

“Oh, yeah, we’re playing the last show of the season,” said Tyler. “It was always my intention, always, to get Aersomith on the show. I mean, Joe [Perry’s] done it. I’m ready for it. I would love to play with Aerosmith.”

Tyler is referring to Perry’s 2007 performance of “You Really Got Me” with contestant Sanjaya Malakar.

Perry previously told The Boston Herald that he’d think about playing American Idol with Aerosmith but that it had to “make sense for the band.”

Tyler has also utilized American Idol to amp up attention for his new solo music video, “(It) Feels So Good,” which debuted on last night’s show. The video includes a cameo from Pussycat Dolls diva Nicole Scherzinger.

See the video for yourself here:

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Zakk Wylde Talks <em>American Idol</em>, New Black Label Society Album

Zakk Wylde says his recent appearance on American Idol has entitled him to a new nickname. Specifically, as reported by USA Today, he now insists his bandmates in Black Label Society refer to him as “The Idol.”

“I told [bassist] J.D. [John DeServio] and the other guys in the band, 'You know, I'm also known as Icon; they use the word ‘legendary’ around me. I guess now we can just throw ‘Idol’ in there,” Wylde said, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. "J.D.'s like, 'Dude, I'm not going to puke, I'm going to go hang myself.' So I'll definitely get some mileage out of this."

Wylde went on to provide details about the forthcoming Black Label Society album, The Song Remains Not the Same, which features acoustic versions of songs from the band’s 2010 disc, Order of the Black.

"We had a whole bunch of tunes on the album, and we just started reworking them," Wylde said. "Something like ‘Parade of the Dead’… I kept the melody but changed it around a little bit. Now we've got an acoustic version. That's the reason we ended up calling it The Song Remains Not the Same. It's actually the same songs, but the only thing they have in common with the heavy versions are the lyrics. In some of them, we even changed the melodies."

The Song Remains Not the Same will be released May 10.

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