In a change to previous years, producers - eager to bolster viewing figures for the Oscar ceremony later this month - have chosen to cut back on song performances. But the British singer, nominated alongside American composer Thomas Newman, said songwriters "deserve a place in the ceremony as well". "The songwriters are a very small part of the filmmaking process, but we still work bloody hard," he said. Gabriel, in the running for his first Oscar, said he hoped the Soweto Gospel Choir would perform in his place but added that he will still attend the ceremony on 22 February.
Wonder in The White House - Stevie Wonder is to be honoured with a concert at the White House later this month. A spokesperson for US President Barack Obama said the singer will also be presented with a Library of Congress Award on 25 February. The concert will go out on the PBS network the next day as part of its Performance at the White House series. Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours was a theme song during the Obama presidential campaign. The now President Obama also used Wonder's Higher Ground song during his campaign stops around the US.
On the Move - Software and services will be the focus of the year's biggest conference dedicated to mobile technology. The Mobile World Congress convenes in Barcelona this week with the industry undergoing negative growth. The rising stars of the industry are tipped to be in areas surrounding mobile broadband and applications for devices such as cloud computing. But there will also be announcements of new handsets and mobile gadgets. The economic downturn is likely to be a dominant theme of discussion.
Under the Hammer - A nude photograph of pop star Madonna, taken in 1979, has sold for $37,500 (£26,000), at an auction in New York. The explicit black and white picture was taken when Madonna was a dancer struggling to make ends meet. An unnamed buyer bought the picture, which had been expected to fetch $15,000 (£10,365), said Christie's. Madonna reportedly earned just $25 (£17) for the session. The photographer described her as "very confident, a street-wise girl".
Meanwhile the singer topped Billboard's annual list of money-makers, following the unprecedented success of her Sticky & Sweetworld tour. The singer earned $242.2m (£167.7m), despite her album Hard Candy being only the 50th best-selling album of the year in the US. Bon Jovi were second on the list with $157.2m (£108.8). Each of the top five money-makers on the list toured in 2008, a year when recorded music sales fell once again.
(Jim Evans)
