She used to be one of the wildest singers in the industry — known for causing a stir with her performances, and now, after a hiatus, Amy Winehouse is back with a vengeance and up to her old tricks.

Amy joined her colleague Mark Ronson to perform their hit song Valerie at London’s 100 Club on Tuesday night. After making a surprise entrance onstage, the 26-year-old singer was spotted enjoying a bottle of beer and cuddling up to her drummer Troy Miller after the show.

Wearing a low-cut top which showed off her surgically-enhanced breasts, Amy also appeared to have revisited another of her favourite trends — wearing a bandana in her hair.

While she has made appearances in a supporting capacity — either with Ronson or goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on Strictly Come Dancing — she has not done a solo performance since she sang at the Jazz After Dark club in central London last September. She also performed at the St Lucia Jazz Festival last May, but was forced to abandon the show halfway through.

Many claimed she left the stage because the audience booed her, but a representative said it was due to weather conditions which caused technical difficulties. While last night’s return to the stage was a huge success, Ronson revealed Amy has yet to start working on a follow-up to her 2006 album Back To Black.

He said: ‘Amy hasn’t begun working on her next record yet. When she’s got ten songs we’ll go down to the studio together.’ Ronson, who produced Amy’s 2006 record, did say the singer has kept herself professionally busy. ‘We did a song together last month for a Quincy Jones tribute album that’s coming out fairly soon so we’ve definitely been talking about it,’ He added.

–Daily Mail

Pregnant Alicia Keys falls on stage at Essence Music Festival

Alicia Keys took a nasty fall on stage last weekend at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. The pregnant R&B singer was performing her hit song, Love is Blind, when she stumbled backwards and fell, landing on her rear end.

Thankfully though, only her ego was bruised, as she quickly got up again and carried on with her performance. There were gasps in the audience and one eyewitness blamed the singer’s four-inch heels for the mishap, commenting that she looked unsteady on her feet even as she walked on stage.

Keys performed at the festival along with LL Cool J, Mary J Blige, Janet Jackson and Estelle. Following the show she hopped on a plane to New York City to attend the wedding of her mother-in-law-to-be.

Keys announced her pregnancy and engagement in May. She is engaged to hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz, and they will be getting married before the end of the year.

–Daily Mail

Shakira to headline World Cup closing ceremony

World Cup organisers promise a high-tech closing ceremony featuring pop star Shakira, compared to the more traditionally African ceremony that opened the tournament.

Organising committee spokesman Jermaine Craig says Sunday’s show at Soccer City will be ”more youthful and a bit more technologically advanced” than the June 11 opening ceremony. Craig says the nighttime event has ”nice lighting effects and special effects planned.”

The closing ceremony is scheduled to start at 1:30pm local time two hours before the final match kicks off. The Colombian star will perform the official tournament anthem Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) which she also performed at the World Cup opening concert in Soweto.

–AP