Daily Digest: New Baby for Alanis, Chris Brown and Bieber Collaborate

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Chris Brown To Team Up With Justin Bieber?
Singer Chris Brown has hinted at a collaboration with teen pop star Justin Bieber on his Twitter, though the song in question has yet to be formally announced. The duet could go a long way towards rehabilitating Brown's tarnished image in the wake of being sentenced for assaulting his ex-girlfriend Rihanna. [Reuters]

Alanis Morrissette Is A Mom
Alanis Morrissette gave birth to a son on Christmas Day. The child is the first born to the singer and her husband, rapper Mario "Souleye" Treadway. The baby's name is Ever Imre Morrissette-Treadway. [People]

Dipset Celebrate the New Year with Lil' Wayne
Rapper Jim Jones has announced that he and the rest of his Dipset crew will be opening up for Lil' Wayne at a New Year's Eve concert at a venue called Adriana's just outside Chicago. Tickets range from $100 to $275 and come with an open bar, buffet and champagne toast. [The Boombox]

DMX Placed In Mental Health Unit
Rapper DMX has been admitted to the mental health unit of the Arizona prison facility where he is currently serving time for breaking several laws while violating his probation. Though the specific reasons for this transfer have not been made public, the judge who sentenced him speculated that the troubled emcee may suffer from some kind of bipolar disorder. [AllHipHop]

R&B Singer Bernie Wilson Dies at 64
Bernie Wilson, the baritone vocalist in the R&B group Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, has died at the age of 64. The singer, who sang on hits such as "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and helped define the Philadelphia Sound in the '70s, passed away on Sunday morning following a heart attack and a stroke. [Billboard]

Bloc Party Return From Hiatus
Bloc Party, who had previously announced an indefinite hiatus, reunited over Christmas break — though it is still unclear what the band has planned for the immediate future. [NME]

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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