Simon Cowell News

Shock jock Howard Stern joins the judge's table on the upcoming seventh season of NBC's AMERICA'S GOT TALENT. The series returns this summer with the hottest performers from across the country ready to compete in the blockbuster reality show.

Rock Icons THE MOODY BLUES come to BergenPAC tonight, April 16, 2012 at 8:00 pm.

THE X FACTOR is extending online auditions to Friday, April 27th. Solo artists and vocal groups have an additional two weeks to submit their online auditions. To audition online, auditioners should upload a thirty-second introduction and a one-and-a-half minute a cappella video performance to www.TheXFactorUSA.com.

Paper Mill Playhouse has just announced that American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado has been cast as Ti Moune in the Millburn, New Jersey, theater's production of Once On This Island (book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty). More than 20 years after its premiere, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are re-inventing their first musical with Tony-nominated director Thomas Kail (In the Heights, Lombardi, Magic/Bird) and choreographer Bradley Rapier (So You Think You Can Dance). Once On This Island begins performances on Wednesday, May 30, 2012, and runs through Sunday, June 24, 2012. Complete casting will be announced at a later date. Once On This Island is proudly sponsored by Bank of America.

Deadline.com reports that Britney Spears is nearing a deal to appear as a judge on the upcoming second season of Fox's THE X FACTOR.

CHRIS ISAACSON announces the performers for UPRIGHT CABARET's AMERICAN ICON SERIES' third show of their 3rd Season, RHYTHM OF THE NIGHT, starring Olivier Award-Winner LESLI MARGHERITA, American Idol's DAVID HERNANDEZ (Thousand Oaks and Hollywood Shows only) & LEXI LAWSON, (Rent, In The Heights)) and ROGELIO DOUGLAS, JR. (In The Heights, The Little Mermaid)) celebrating the music of Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan and Santana!

The hit NBC alternative series AMERICA'S GOT TALENT will have a fresh new perspective from the East Coast as the summer's top-rated series has found its brand new home for its seventh season, broadcasting live two nights a week from Prudential Hall at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) beginning in July.

The Hard Boiled Egg and the Wasp is an entirely original musical about the legendary English comedian Dan Leno written by actor, singer-writer and voiceover artist, Jonathan Kydd and Andy Street, one of the leading figures in British and American television music. The show runs at The Giant Olive Theatre at The Lion & Unicorn from Tues 22nd May to Sunday 10th June.

NBC will commence live episodes of THE VOICE on Monday, April 2 (8-10 p.m. ET) and will expand the hit singing competition series to a second night with live elimination rounds beginning on Tuesday, April 3 (9-10 p.m. ET).

A few days shy of the holiest week of the year for Christians - aptly named Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter (with Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the most sacred events on the calendar coming between) - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's seminal rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was resurrected on Broadway by TOMMY and JERSEY BOYS director Des McAnuff - modeled after the hit Stratford Shakespeare Festival production last year and comprised of many of the same cast members, including all three leads - to hails of praise and hosannas, mostly. While JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR itself will always divide audiences and critics alike - and not merely because of its controversial content and its button-pushing treatment of the hallowed tale it tells - the magnetism and sheer power that Lloyd Webber's propulsive, throbbing rock score imbues gives the show an energy, vitality and life rare to find in even the most earnestly effervescent and energetic of comparable entities - the recently revived and similarly-themed GODSPELL in a revival a few blocks away included. Then, there are Tim Rice's lyrics - oh-so-spot-on in 1970, but still biting and edgy today in McAnuff's hi-tech and elaborately presented new Broadway production. Using the book of John as the jumping off point, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR tells the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus Christ (Paul Nolan) and his subsequent betrayal by Judas (Josh Young) and sentencing to death at the hands of King Herod and Pontius Pilate (Tom Hewitt). The twelve apostles, Mary Magdalene and her female companions, lepers, Pharisees, priests and others populate the grand story told almost entirely through song - the show is 90% music - and Webber and Rice's score never, ever lets up. While this may not be the most faithful rendering as far as the Bible is concerned, nor the most historically accurate, SUPERSTAR is now available to experience for a whole new generation thanks to this new revival and the timing could not be more ideal. The time is ripe for a revival of SUPERSTAR, and, as Andrew Lloyd Webber himself has recently related, this new production of the show is the best ever as far as he is concerned. High praise indeed - coming from no less than the Lord.

On the heels of making their US performance debut while on tour with Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush, One Direction, who are already an international pop sensation, has been confirmed to perform at Nickelodeon's 25th Annual KIDS' CHOICE AWARDS on Saturday, March 31st at 8:00 p.m. ET.

HarperCollins Publishers announced today the acquisition of the first US edition of the official book from international pop sensation One Direction. DARE TO DREAM: LIFE AS ONE DIRECTION will document the group's amazing journey to superstardom and will give fans an inside look into their world-exclusive interviews, fun childhood memories and antics from behind-the-scenes as they've taken the world by storm.

'JKL's' 'Movie: The Movie,' a segment which originally aired on Oscar night as part of Kimmel's Academy Awards special, can now be seen in movie theatres all across the country via a partnership with Screenvision, a leading innovator in cinema advertising and alternative content programming.

Pop sensations One Direction will be hitting the road for their first-ever headlining North American tour and returning to Detroit's historic Fox Theatre on Friday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m. The tour is in support of their debut album Up All Night.

Pop sensation One Direction will be hitting the road for their first-ever headlining North American tour in support of their debut album UP ALL NIGHT. The tour kicks off May 24th in Fairfax, VA and includes stops in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Dallas and more.

The biggest UK breakout group of 2011, One Direction is ready to take America by storm with the release of their debut album UP ALL NIGHT on March 20, 2012 via Syco/Columbia Records.

According to The New York Post, model and former professional wrestler Stacy Keibler is in final negotiations to join the next season of the Fox singing competition THE X FACTOR.

People.com reports that pop star Britney Spears is currently in talks to join the second season of the Fox singing competition THE X FACTOR.

Studio One Media, Inc. (OTCBB: SOMD) today announced the opening of its newest MyStudio® HD Recording Studio located at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The opening is in conjunction with the launch of the Las Vegas auditions for season two of Simon Cowell's THE X FACTOR.

NBC will commence live episodes of THE VOICE on Monday, April 2 (8-10 p.m. ET) and will expand the hit singing competition series to a second night with live elimination rounds beginning on Tuesday, April 3 (9-10 p.m. ET).