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Music News: Mel B Joins ‘America’s Got Talent’; Ja Rule Leaving Prison

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Scary Spice will replace Sharon Osbourne as a judge on the eighth season of America’s Got Talent, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Melanie Brown, or Mel B, will join Howard Stern and Howie Mandel on the judges’ panel as Osbourne departs the reality competition.

It’s not Brown’s first TV gig: she was a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor in 2011 and was a guest judge on the U.K. version, and Britain & Ireland’s Next Top Model. Brown was part of the Spice Girls during their hugely successful initial run in the Nineties. After releasing solo albums in 2000 and 2005, she participated in the group’s reunion tour in 2007 and performed with them last year in closing ceremonies for the London Olympics. The Spice Girls are the best-selling girl group of all time with sales of more than 75 million albums.

Ja Rule Leaving Prison

Ja Rule was due to be released from a New York state prison this morning after serving most of a two-year sentence for illegal gun possession, but the platinum-selling rapper isn’t finished doing time: The Associated Press reports that he’ll go directly into federal custody to complete a sentence for tax evasion.

His state prison term began in June 2011 and was the result of a 2010 traffic stop in which New York City police said they found a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun in Ja Rule’s car. He admitted in federal court in March 2011 that he failed to pay taxes on more than $3 million in income between 2004-06 and was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

Read more: Billboard

 

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