DMX Heading To Jail On Drug, Animal Cruelty Charges

Embattled rapper DMX faces at least 90 days in jail after pleading guilty on Tuesday to drug, theft and animal cruelty charges, Arizona prosecutors said.

The rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, pleaded to three felony charges and one misdemeanor count in Maricopa County Superior Court under a deal to settle three criminal cases against him. He also agreed not to own any animals or posses firearms.

Simmons, 38, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30. He remains in custody.

“I am pleased that this defendant will be held accountable for both his drug and animal cruelty offenses,” said County Attorney Andrew Thomas in a statement. Simmons attorney Charles Kozelka could not immediately be reached for comment.

The rapper-turned-actor has been battling legal woes during the past year in Arizona, where he maintains a home near Phoenix.

In May, he was arrested on drug and animal cruelty charges after sheriff’s deputies raided his home. Authorities found dog carcasses and malnourished pit bulls at the residence.

He also was charged with assuming someone’s identity and providing false information during a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., in an alleged attempt to avoid paying the bill.

Simmons has missed several court appearances, causing a county court commissioner to issue bench warrants for his arrest. The latest warrant came earlier this month.

Blue October Expands Reach On New Album “Approaching Normal”

Blue October plans to “go global” with its fifth album, “Approaching Normal,” according to bassist Matt Noveskey.

“We want to go international,” Noveskey tells Billboard.com, adding that the plan will be in motion in January when the quintet group flies to Europe for a 10-day promotional swing after it films the video for new single “Dirt Room.”

“It’s real exciting because the last record (2006’s platinum ‘Foiled’) did real well here (in the U.S.) and just never really got that chance (in Europe). One thing we all said was, ‘Man, the next record, we’ve got to go global,’ so right off the bat as part of our campaign we’ll go over and start making a splash overseas.”

“Approaching Normal,” which was produced by Steve Lillywhite and recorded at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studios near Blue October’s home base of Austin, Texas, is due March 24 from Universal. Noveskey says that while frontman Justin Furstenfeld remains the chief songwriter, this album “was more of a group effort where we all got together and worked up a lot of these songs from scratch. It made us feel good as a team. There’s a lot of camaraderie on this record.”

Noveskey says the dynamic range of the album is more “dramatic-slash-theatrical” than its predecessors and spans “from the saddest, most depressing moments to the happiest, most joyful moments we’ve ever done.” “Approaching Normal” includes studio versions of older fan favorites such as “Kangaroo Cry” and “Graceful Dancing” and will also come out in explicit and “clean” versions, each containing a different bonus track.

Once the album’s out, Noveskey says Blue October plans to “tour like we always do … big time. We’re gonna be relentless. It’s gonna be a lot of work and it’ll be tough being away from our families, but we’re gonna work very hard.”

The Spice Girls

Spice Girls were the first major British pop music phenomenon of the mid-’90s to not have a debt to independent pop/rock. Instead, the all-female quintet derived from the dance-pop tradition that made Take That the most popular British group of the early ’90s, but there was one crucial difference. Spice Girls use dance-pop as a musical base, but they infused the music with a fiercely independent, feminist stance that was equal parts Madonna, post-riot grrrl alternative rock feminism, and a co-opting of the good-times-all-the-time stance of England’s new lad culture. Their proud, all-girl image and catchy dance-pop appealed to younger listeners, while their colorful, sexy personalities and sense of humor appealed to older music fans, making Spice Girls a cross-generational success. The group also became chart-toppers throughout Europe in 1996, before concentrating in America in early 1997.

Every member of Spice Girls was given a specific identity by the British press from the outset, and each label was as much an extension of their own personality as it was a marketing tool, since each name derived from their debut single and video, “Wannabe.” Geri Estelle Halliwell was the “sexy Spice”; Melanie Janine Brown was the “scary Spice”; Victoria Adams was “the posh Spice”; Melanie Jayne Chisholm was “the sporty Spice”; Emma Lee Bunton was “the baby Spice.” Each one of these personas were exploited in the group’s press articles and videos, which helped send “Wannabe” to the top of the charts upon its summer release in 1996. If all of the invented personalities makes Spice Girls seem manufactured, that’s because they are to a certain extent. Every member of the group was active in England’s theatrical, film, and modeling circuit, and they all responded to an advertisement requesting five “lively girls” for a musical group in the summer of 1993. The manager who placed the ad chose all five members of Spice Girls, yet the women rejected his plans for their career and set out on their own two months after forming. For the next two years, the Girls fought to get a record contract, since most record labels insisted that the band pick one member as a clear leader, which is something the group refused.

Eventually, Spice Girls signed a contract to Virgin Records, but they were without a manager, which made recording a debut album nearly impossible. All five members moved into a house and went on the dole as they searched for a manager. By the end of 1995, the group had signed with Annie Lennox’s manager Simon Fuller, and began writing songs with Elliot Kennedy. “Wannabe,” Spice Girls’ first single, was released in the summer of 1996, and it became the first debut single by an all-female band to enter the charts at number one in England. It remained at number one for seven weeks, and by the end of the year, “Wannabe” had hit number one in 21 other countries. Immediately following the success of “Wannabe,” Spice Girls became media icons in Britain as stories of their encounters with other celebrities became fodder for numerous tabloids, as did nude photos of Halliwell that she posed for earlier in her career. All of this added to the group’s momentum, and their second single, “Say You’ll Be There,” entered the charts at number one in the fall, selling 200,000 copies a week. Spice, their debut album, was released at the end of the year, accompanied by their first ballad, “2 Become 1.” Both the album and single went directly to number one, staying there for several weeks; both records were at number one over the Christmas week, making Spice Girls one of three artists to achieve that feat.

Having topped the charts in virtually every other country in the Western world, Spice Girls concentrated on America in early 1997, releasing “Wannabe” in January and Spice in February.

They became massive stars in the U.S. as well, also scoring the hits “Say You’ll Be There” and “2 Become 1″; Spiceworld, their second LP, appeared later in the year in conjunction with their feature film of the same name. In May 1998, Geri Halliwell departed from the band, not citing major reasons for leaving the group. She did release a solo album, Schizophonic, a year later, but nothing chart-topping to match the success of her former band. Still not deterred by the absence of Ginger Spice, Spice Girls trudged on — Melanie B. married Spice Girls dancer Jimmy Gulzar and released the solo single, a duet with Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot called “I Want You Back.” By Christmas, Spice Girls scored a number one hit with Goodbye and with a career floating high, their personal lives were moving as well. Melanie B. gave birth to a daughter named Phoenix Chi in February 1999, and Adams followed a month later with a son, Brooklyn Joseph. And now only known as Victoria Beckham, Posh Spice married Manchester United soccer star David Beckham later that summer. Becoming now more noticeable for their social status than their singing, Spice Girls took a well-deserved break while Melanie C. took over the English charts with her successful solo effort Northern Star, which was released in the U.S. in fall 1999. The following year, the girls headed back into the studio with high-profile producers Rodney Jerkins, Terry Lewis, and Jimmy Jam (Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige) to record a follow-up to their pop-friendly Spiceworld.

In the middle of recording, Melanie B. divorced Gulzar and endured a bitter custody battle throughout the remainder of 2000. Spice Girls’ creative power overruled media scrutiny so that they could fully focus on the new R&B sound they were trying for and a the new collaboration united the foursome once again to release the third album Forever, which hit American shores in fall 2000.

The group began to splinter not long after the release of Forever, which made little impact outside of the UK where it only had one hit single - the chart-topping double-sided single “Holler”/”Let Love Lead the Way” - before the Spice Girls stopped promoting the album. Just three months after the album’s November 2000 release, the band announced that they were separating in February of 2001.

Over the next few years, the Spice Girls may not have existed as a group but they were never out of various taboild headlines in the UK and the US. As the wife of football superstar David Beckham, Victoria got the most attention, but Mel B wasn’t far behind thanks to her ill-fated romance with actor Eddie Murphy which resulted in an out-of-wedlock child. Mel Chisholm had a steady career as a pop singer while Emma Bunton had some chart success of her own with her 2001 album A Girl Like Me and its 2004 successor, Free Me. Meanwhile, Geri Halliwell split her time between recording and TV projects.

After years of persistent rumors of a reunion - peaking heavily yet never materializing for Bob Geldolf’s 2005 charity event Live 8 — the Spice Girls announced in June 2007 that they would be reuniting for an eleven-concert tour beginning that December, which would be accompanied by a new greatest hits album and documentary.