Since he made his debut over a year ago, John Legend has become more confident on stage -- not in his singing, but his sex appeal.
``Now I'll take my top shirt off and have a tank top on at the show, so I'm definitely playing the sex angle up a little bit,'' the Grammy winner said in a recent interview.
Legend's newfound desire to show a little skin comes after he decided to dedicate himself to working out. Though he was hardly out of shape when his Get Lifted album debuted in December 2004, he wasn't that comfortable showing off his frame in concert. Then he hit the gym and that all changed.
``I wasn't trying to get skinny, I was trying to get in shape, which is a different thing. I was trying to build muscle in a lean way and just feel more fit and feel more sexy,'' he said.
And now his fans will get the benefit, as he's more likely to showcase his abs, toned arms and pecs. ``I have a lot of female fans, I've gotta give them what they want,'' he said with a smile.
Willie Nelson warmed up for a concert by playing a long free gig for soldiers wounded in Iraq. For the second straight year, Nelson squeezed in a show at Brooke Army Medical Center last Friday, while he and his band were in San Antonio to play at the city's annual rodeo.
``I have a lot of respect for the military,'' said Nelson, 72, an Air Force veteran. ``I like to show them that I support them every chance I get. ... We get as much out of it as [the soldiers].''
A year ago, the singer wore out his voice singing 11 songs at the Army hospital and had to cancel his performance at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Hundreds of patients, family members and hospital staff clapped and cheered as Nelson walked into the hospital's atrium.
Sargent 1st Class Alan Hornaday, wounded in a suicide car bombing in Baghdad in 2004, had a front-row seat for the concert.
``This is really cool, him being able to come out and visit soldiers and entertain them,'' said Hornaday, a National Guardsman from Fordyce, Arkansas, who also saw Nelson here last year. ``It picks everybody's spirits up. ... It means a lot.''
Except for Broadway musicals and a few select appearances, Toni Braxton hasn't done many live performances in the past decade. But that's about to change. The R&B diva is embarking on her first tour in 10 years to support her latest album, Libra. The tour will kick off March 10 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and end July 3 in Houston at the Essence Music Festival.
``I'm thrilled to be going out on the road again,'' Braxton said. ``I can't wait to bring not only the hits that people know and love but to share the new music from Libra with the audience.''
Superstar Madonna has been treated for a hernia but is now "absolutely fine," her spokeswoman said. The singer, who performed at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles last week, re-appeared in public last Thursday night when she accepted a Brit record industry statuette in London as Best International Female Artist of the year.
An appeals court last week refused to reinstate an order granting Michael Jackson sole custody of his two children with ex-wife Debbie Rowe. California's Second District Court of Appeals said that while Rowe signed away her parental rights in 2001 to the 47-year-old performer's two oldest children, Michael Jr. and Paris, it found that the judge in that case did not properly handle the proceedings.
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