LFO Singer Rich Cronin, 35, Dies of Cancer

Rich Cronin, a singer and songwriter for the late ’90s pop trio LFO (Lyte Funky Ones), died Wednesday (Sept. after a long battle with cancer. He was 35.

Billboard Bits: Amy Winehouse Contributing to Quincy Jones Album, M.I.A. Still Promises Free Show

Billboard Bits serves up the best bite-sized nuggets of music news and gossip.

Tinie Tempah, Dizzee Rascal Lead MOBO Nominations

Country Singer James Otto Hospitalized in Nashville, Cancels Shows

Country singer James Otto is hospitalized in Nashville.

Noah Howard, Jazz Saxophonist, Dies

Noah Howard, a New Orleans-born musician who spent most of his career in Europe, has died. Howard, 67, died unexpectedly on Sept. 3 while vacationing in southern France, said his agent, Florian Eisele. Howard was born in New Orleans and performed as a young man with Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong, Eisele said

Amy Winehouse Sings Again on Quincy Jones Album

A my Winehouse is making music again.

Willow Smith Earns Rihanna Comparisons For ‘Whip My Hair’ Single

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith’s daughter Willow Smith has been making headlines lately.

Why Bret Michaels & Other Music Stars Turn to Reality TV for Fame, Fortune

B ret Michaels , veteran of six-count ‘em, six-reality shows, has two bits of advice for artists looking to break into the genre: “Never wear white on TV unless you’re at your fighting weight,” he says. “And never drink too much in Cabo if you’re going to be on TV.” A decade after Fox debuted “American Idol” and eight years after MTV’s “The Osbournes” showed the world that, yes, even the dogs of rock icons pee on carpets, this fall’s music reality programming slate offers the most robust selection yet-from home improvement to first-person show and tell-proving that there’s no shortage of artists willing to grace the small screen in new, potentially humiliating ways. “It’s become the shortcut to fame,” Sharon Osbourne says. “There’s no more struggling and banging on people’s doors and begging to be heard and taking your demo around pleading for an appointment with an A&R guy. Those days are gone

Pantera Singer Looks Back for ‘Cowboys From Hell’ Reissue

Phil Anselmo is hoping that the upcoming 20th anniversary reissue of Pantera ’s landmark “Cowboys From Hell” will be the start of a trend for the metal group’s catalog — or at least yield a similar deluxe treatment for its follow-up, 1992’s “Vulgar Display of Power.” “I most certainly hope so,” Anselmo tells Billboard.com. “I guess we have to wait ’til 2012, but I’ve got my fingers crossed. I think if you ask your average Pantera fan what their favorite Pantera record would be, and nine times out of 10 it’s ‘Vulgar,’ so it would certainly make sense.” “Cowboys From Hell,” however, is coming Sept. 14 in a three-disc deluxe edition that includes one unreleased song, “The Will to Survive.” The set also features a disc of demos and another disc of live recordings from a radio broadcast and from the 1994 “aLIVE and hostile” EP recorded at the 1991 Monsters in Moscow festival. Anselmo says that dipping back into the album — Pantera’s major label debut and its fifth release overall — has been has been something of a revelation

Simon Cowell May Leave U.K. ‘X Factor’

Getty Images Despite British reports that Simon Cowell has made up his mind to step down from the U.K.’s “The X Factor” to concentrate on launching the American version of the show, his rep tells The Hollywood Reporter, “No decision has been made.”

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