Toledo, Ohio paint salesman Lee DeWyze traded in his brush for a crown Wednesday night (May 26) when he was named the winner of the ninth season of American Idol.

DeWyze  overcame three  mediocre performances during Tuesday night’s (May 25) penultimate show, and won the title by a margin of approximately two percent.

DeWyze bested finalist Crystal Bowersox, who was a favorite throughout the season, and who appeared to secure the victory with her performances Tuesday night.

While the purpose of the final Idol telecast of the season was to crown a victor, the evening was also a de facto going away celebration for Idol judge Simon Cowell, who is leaving the show after nine seasons. Comedian Dane Cook sang, “Simon Says,” a song which consisted of Cowell’s pointed comments made during his run on the show. Former Idol judge Paula Abdul also paid tribute to Cowell during a speech.

As has been the case during past Idol finales, the show was a star-studded affair, which featured seven of the eight previous Idol winners, as well as a large number of non-winning finalists. Also featured were many big-name musicians who joined in duets with this season’s Idol finalists, including Janet Jackson, Alanis Morissette, Joe Cocker, Bret Michaels, Chicago, Hall & Oates, Alice Cooper, Robin and Barry Gibb, Michael McDonald, and Christina Aguilera.

Janet Jackson hooks up with Jermaine Dupri on the debut single, “Nothing,” from the Soundtrack of her latest movie, Why Did I Get Married Too. The new single is written by Janet Jackson and will serve as the first of two songs from the singer to be released recently.

Janet Jackson – Nothing
(So So Def Records)

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According to filmmaker Tyler Perry, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson are set to star in his next film, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Perry will direct and write the upcoming movie, which will also star Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Jurnee Smollett, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, Loretta Devine and Macy Gray.

Stevie Wonder will headline the Hard Rock Calling Festival, in London, England’s Hyde Park, June 26. Among the supporting acts on the bill are Jamiroquai, Corinne Bailey Rae, and James Morrison. It was announced previously that Pearl Jam will headline the opening night of the festival (June 25) and that Paul McCartney will top the bill on the final night of the fest (June 27)…

Crowded House has announced that it will release Intriguer, its first album since 2007’s Time on Earth, later this year in North America. The disc will be released worldwide (except for North American territories) in June, and the band will tour North America beginning in July…

Lady Gaga, Elton John, and Shirley Bassey will join Sting at the 21st Rainforest Fund benefit concert, May 13, at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. The performers will be joined by additional surprise guests, and are expected to team on a number of songs…

Perez Hilton has announced that he will launch a weekly music countdown show in the coming months. Hilton revealed the news exclusively to Billboard.com, saying that he hoped to provide “a cooler alternative to (On-Air With) Ryan Seacrest…

The MTV Video Music Awards were supposed to be highlighted by an opening tribute to the late Michael Jackson; however, the stirring opener was soon upstaged by the boorish behavior of Kanye West, for whom obnoxious behavior has become de rigeur.

The outburst occurred soon after Taylor Swift received the award for best female video. While Swift was graciously accepting the prize, West jumped onstage and  said, “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.”

Swift, who was shocked and visibly upset by the interruption, never finished her speech and West, who returned to his seat and was booed by the crowd at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, was escorted out of the building soon after.

On a blog post after the ceremony, West wrote: “I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD’VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED!”

Later in the evening, when Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” took home video of the year honors, the singer invited Swift on to the stage, saying “I’d like Taylor to come out and have her moment.” Swift took the stage and thanked the people she originally planned to acknowledge before she was interrupted.

The show began with an emotional speech from Madonna about Jackson, during which she said about the King of Pop, “Sometimes, we have to lose things before we can truly appreciate them.” She was followed by a musical tribute to Jackson, which included an appearance by Janet Jackson.

Other notable performances came from Lady Gaga, Green Day, Muse, and Pink.

Janet Jackson attended the 2009 BET Awards to deliver a message from her family following the death of her brother Michael Jackson. “My entire family wanted to be here tonight but it was too painful,” a tearful Janet tells the audience. “To you, Michael is an icon. To us, Michael is family and he will forever live in our hearts. On behalf of my family and myself thank you for your love and support. We miss him so much. Thank you so much.”

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Winter @ Getty Images

The VH-1 2008 Hip-Hop Honors were held last Thursday night, October 2nd at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and it was no surprise that every rap luminary the network could wrangle was in attendance. On deck for the festivities were Busta Rhymes, Eve, Kid Rock, Mr. Flava Flav himself and the hilariously funny, Tracy Morgan whom hosted the event. This year, artists including Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Naughty By Nature, Slick Rick and Too $hort were among the honorees for their contributions to hip-hop., while special performances included all of the honorees, as well as Wyclef Jean, Big Boi, Lil Jon, Estelle, Busta Rhymes and the Gym Class Heroes. The show will air on VH-1 on October 6 (check local listings for time).

Janet Jackson continues to postpone shows on her current tour, unable to recover from an undisclosed illness that caused the cancellations of three shows last week. The total number of postponed shows rose to six after Jackson postponed a show in Greensboro, North Carolina, Saturday (October 4); Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday (October 5); and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tuesday (October 7). This is Jackson’s first tour of North America in seven years. Jackson was hospitalized Monday (September 29), in Montreal, Quebec.

Bruce Springsteen, who announced last week that he will team with Billy Joel for a fundraiser for presidential candidate Barack Obama later this month, performed acoustic sets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Columbus, Ohio, Saturday and Sunday, and will also perform in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Monday (October 6). All three performances are part of the Vote for Change Rallys being held for Obama.

Russell Simmons introduced his menswear collection at the Argyle Culture Fashion Show, Friday (October 3), in Miami, Florida. The collection, which is targeted to the over-25 crowd, includes suits, pinstripe shorts, and argyle V-neck sweaters. The collection, a combination of urban and preppy attire, is the result of Simmons desire to “create a line to reach out to those guys who are not young men anymore but want to still be a part of that urban lifestyle,” he said.

One of the last remaining major stars who refused to release his music via iTunes, Kid Rock has allowed the majority of his catalog to be sold online, via Rhapsody. Fans can download his music for $10 per album from Rhapsody’s MP3 store. They will also be able to download tracks on a per-song basis if they are already subscribers to the Rhapsody 25 service. “[Kid Rock has] very specific ideas about how he wants to put out his music and control the distribution of the stuff he makes,” Rhapsody vice president Neil Smith said to Wired.com. “And so we were flexible — we don’t view it as our role in life to tell artists how they should be distributing their stuff and impose rules on them. We think his content’s important – he’s one of the major acts that still had yet to go digital. if he doesn’t want to sell individual tracks, that’s fine.” The singer’s year-old release, Rock ‘N Roll Jesus, continues to sell well. It is currently at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

 According to Hits Daily Double, After just 14 months since her ballyhooed signing to Island Def Jam Records by L.A. Reid himself, Janet Jackson has left the label and is now a free agent.

The singer released a single album, Discipline, last February, which sold a disappointing 415k copies, leading to her criticizing the label’s handling of the disc.

Her constant companion, Jermaine Dupri, continues at the label as head of Urban Music. 

A statement from her camp says Jackson “”will have autonomy over her career, without the restrictions of a label system. Always known to break new ground and set trends, Janet’s departure from Island makes her one of the first superstar artists to have the individual freedom to promote their work through a variety of avenues such asiTunes, mobile carriers and other diverse and innovative channels.”

Jackson is currently on the road with her first tour in seven years, “Rock Witchu,” with support from LL Cool Jand Donnie Klang. The Live Nation-promoted outing began Sept. 10 in Vancouver and runs through Oct. 22 in Dallas, leading to speculation the concert promotion giant could well be a possible future home alongsideJay-Z, Madonna, Shakira and Nickelback.

Producer Rodney Jerkins open the flood gates this morning by releasing this video to his blog: