Bobby Valentino

R&B crooner Bobby Valentino has blasted label execs for favoring label mate Ne-Yo. The singer has accused Def Jam records of unfairly putting the interests of the “Because of You” hitmaker before his. He says, "I think Ne-Yo's the face of the label and, of course, by him being the face of the label, he gets a little bit more. I see he gets a lot of extra support, a lot of bells and whistles. Sometimes, people need those things to put them over the top. "My album, you know what it is. When you see me at the shows, you know what it's about. There's nothing sugar-coated about me. Not saying that there's something sugar-coated about Ne-Yo, but, it's all good." Keep A Child Alive, a charitable organization that gets anti-retroviral treatment to children infected with AIDS in Africa, received a record-breaking $100,000 bid for its charity auction package, including: the first iPhone (purchased by Spike Lee), 2 Jawbone Bluetooth headsets, 2 round-trip domestic plane tickets and 2 VIP passes to the Black Ball. The iPhone will be personalized with a voice mail greeting from Alicia Keys and presented by the R&B star at the organization's Black Ball honoring Bono on October 25th in New York City. Donations can be made directly to: http://www.keepachildalive.org/donate.php.Singer John Legend is taking his Live Earth appearance on Saturday seriously - he's learning how to tour in a more environmental friendly way. The crooner is playing at the U.K. leg of Al Gore's Live Earth concerts - and he has vowed to change his touring ways. The R&B star says, "Flying across the world and driving across America in a bus is not good for the environment. I'm totally aware of that and am looking into a better way of doing things. We still want to bring the music to people but there has got to be a solution which doesn't harm the Earth so much." Pop/R&B star Avril Lavigne faces a lawsuit by the members of a 1970s rock band who claim her hit song "Girlfriend" rips off one of their songs. Songwriters Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer alleged in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that Lavigne and her co-writers lifted their 1979 song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," which was originally performed by new wave band The Rubinoos. The first court date has been set for Aug. 28 in Oakland. Avril Lavigne's Statement Regarding the Lawsuit Against Her, Currently Posted on Avrillavigne.Com and Myspace.Com: You may have heard some news that two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970s I have never in my life heard of called the "Rubinoos" are trying to sue me. They have a song called "I Want To Be Your Boyfriend" that has no musical similarities to the song "Girlfriend" that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together. They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on 5 words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language. Off the top of my head, two other songs that I can immediately think of with this type of lyric are "Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud" by the Rolling Stones and "Hey little girl I want to be your boyfriend" by the Ramones. Simply put, I have been falsely accused of ripping their song off. Luke and I have done nothing wrong and there is no merit to their claim.