Sheila E. is the winner of this season’s Gone Country

John Rich tapped Sheila E. as the winner of the third season of CMT’s hit series, GONE COUNTRY, in tonight’s season finale. Sheila won with “Glorious Train,” the song she penned with Nashville songwriters Angie Aparo and James Slater while taping the series. The single is produced by John Rich and will go out via the CMT Radio Network on Monday, March 9. The accompanying video, directed by Sean Weber-Small, debuted after the finale and is currently in rotation on CMT and CMT Pure as well as via CMT.com.

Sheila, who edged out tough competition from fellow GONE COUNTRY contestants George Clinton, Tara Conner, Taylor Dayne, Micky Dolenz, Richard Grieco and Justin Guarini, performed her song before a live audience at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon in the show’s finale. In the end, Rich dubbed Sheila the winner because of her ability to connect to the audience through her gospel-infused, spiritual single, “Glorious Train.”

“Sheila E. is perhaps one of the most talented musicians on our planet. What really took me over the top with her was witnessing the sheer passion she displayed for country music and our audience,” says Rich. “As they say in sports, she left it all on the field when it came to her commitment to GONE COUNTRY 3. Her song Glorious Train’ really does speak to her life story and how she has been challenged in life and triumphed over those challenges, which I think many country music fans will identify with. I also love the way she wrote a gospel-infused country song! Faith has always been a big part of country music and is a very important aspect of our music to our fans. At the end of the day, it was a hard decision, but Sheila E. took it to another level. I’m proud to have named her the winner of GONE COUNTRY 3.”

Gone Country Will Be Back A Third Time in January

Courtesy of CMT:

CMT’s hit franchise, GONE COUNTRY, returns with award-winning singer, songwriter & producer, John Rich, as host for a third season featuring new challenges and a new cast who are vying for a chance at country music success. GONE COUNTRY, the series that takes seven celebrities from every realm of the entertainment industries and immerses them in all things country, will premiere in January 2009 on CMT. Production is currently underway in Nashville.

The cast for GONE COUNTRY 3 includes:

- George Clinton funk musician, founding member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic; member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

- Tara Conner television personality; Miss USA 2006

- Taylor Dayne pop vocalist/actress

- Micky Dolenz actor, musician; drummer/lead vocalist of The Monkees

- Sheila E. entertainer/musician; philanthropist

- Richard Grieco actor/musician

- Justin Guarini singer/songwriter, actor/television host; “American Idol” runner up

With the goal of creating a hit country music single, each GONE COUNTRY cast member must uproot to Nashville for an intense two-week challenge. Each celebrity will again be paired with two of Nashville’s finest songwriters with whom they write a country single. In addition to meeting with songwriters, the cast will compete in challenges that test them musically and physically to adapt to a life in country music, both on and off the stage.

This season, cast members will be afforded the opportunity to win mentor sessions with top country artists. At the end of the two weeks, the artist that is most prepared to impress a country audience, as determined by Rich, will record and release their single to country radio. Previous GONE COUNTRY winners have included Julio Iglesias, Jr. (season 1) and Sebastian Bach (season 2).

JOHN RICH RETURNS WITH A SECOND SEASON OF CMT’S HIT SERIES “GONE COUNTRY”

BEVERLY HILLS, CA July 9, 2008 CMT’s highest rated series ever, GONE COUNTRY, returns with Nashville hitmaker, John Rich, as host for a second season of antics with a brand new cast of characters who are each vying for a chance at country success. Featuring a cast that includes performers from various facets of the entertainment industry, GONE COUNTRY indoctrinates seven celebrities in the ins and outs of the country music business for a chance to break into the country music genre, and premieres on Friday, August 15 at 8:00 p.m., ET/PT on CMT.

The cast for GONE COUNTRY includes Sebastian Bach singer, songwriter, Broadway actor, former lead singer of Skid Row; Irene Cara GRAMMY and Academy Award winning singer, songwriter, actress, “Fame”; Mikalah Gordon singer, host, actress, 2005 “American Idol” finalist; Jermaine Jackson television personality, lead singer of The Jackson 5; Chris Kirkpatrick television personality, music producer, member of *NSYNC; Lorenzo Lamas musical theater actor, actor “Renegade” and “Falcon Crest”; and Sean Young actress, “Blade Runner” and “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.”

The competition heats up in this second season with even more drama as Rich enlists help from his Nashville friends to put these seven country music-driven celebrities to the test during this two-week challenge. Each celebrity will again be paired with two of Nashville’s finest songwriters with whom they write a country single. In addition to meeting with songwriters, the cast will compete in challenges that test them musically and physically to adapt to a life in country music, both on and off the stage. At the end of the two weeks, the artist that is most prepared to impress a country audience, as determined by Rich, will record and release their single to country radio.

Gone Country Coming Back for a Second Season

CMT’s reality show Gone Country has been renewed for a second season, and it already has its cast of characters, I mean singers, lined up.

This time around the group that will be shacked up and fighting over the chance to release a country single will include, Jermaine Jackson, Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach, Fame’s Irene Cara, American Idol’s Mikalah Gordon, actor Lorenzo Lamas, actress Sean Young and N’Sync’s Chris Kirkpatrick.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show will return in August, with John Rich (of Big and Rich) who will still be hosting and choosing the winner. The first season of Gone Country was CMT’s top rated series ever.

Bobby Brown Book Blames Whitney for His Loser Life

Singer and reality tv star Bobby Brown has written an autobiography which explains his flawed adult existence is the fault of his ex-wife, Whitney Houston.

In his yet to be released book, former boy band star, blames the pop diva on his addiction to drugs. According to the New York Post, in his book, titled Bobby Brown: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But, he writes:

“I never used cocaine until after I met Whitney. Before then, I had experimented with other drugs, but marijuana was my drug of choice.” It wasn’t the gateway drug use that did him in, because I assume that he didn’t even know coke existed.

It’s kind of like a bank robber saying, “I would have never robbed a bank if I hadn’t got mixed up with bank robbers. Before then, all I did was shoplift, mug people, burglarize and carjack. And really, mugging old folks was my favorite thing.” The first step to making positive changes in your life is to blame someone else for your life. Thanks for sharing, Bobby.

He also says that he and Whitney got married for all the wrong reasons. No, she got married for the wrong reasons. She wanted to squash reasons that she was having a lesbian affair with her assistant. Admittedly, there was a lot of Whitney Houston is gay talk back then. But poor Bobby, he just “wanted to be loved and have children.” But Bobby actually has more kids out of wedlock than with Whitney, two of whom he was arrested for non-payment of child support.

For the record, Whitney Houston has taken the high road, and decided not to dignify any of this with a response. According to her rep she is “sad that Bobby feels the need to say such things, but she chooses to take the high road, and will not speak badly about the father of her child even if it’s to set the record straight.”

The book, which is being co-written (read: written by) Derrick Handspike, and is being self-published by Down South Books and distributed by Altas Books of Ohio will be released on June 1. Brown was mostly recently on the CMT reality show Gone Country and had his own reality show on Bravo, Being Bobby Brown.

He was also on this show in the U.K. but I don’t know if it ended well.

Bobby Brown Busted for Coke Possession

Usually when someone is trying to promote an upcoming show, or movie that is about to come out, they send out a press release or two, or give a few interviews to the press. But then there are those who are publicity innovators like, Lindsay Lohan, who promoted her last movie by getting locked up and going to rehab. And American Idol castoff Jessica Sierra who reminded us to watch Celebrity Rehab by getting locked up and getting sent to rehab.

Add R&B pop singer Bobby Brown to the list of innovators. The star of the reality show Being Bobby Brown, wanted to remind us all that he was going to be on the CMT reality show, Gone Country by getting arrested in Boston for possession of cocaine.

Last month police were called to the Holiday Inn Hotel in Brockton to break up a disturbance, and when they arrived on the scene, they were directed to Mr. Brown, who was being very Bobby-ish. Upon getting caught, he apparently asked the officer to “use discretion,” and not charge him with anything.

And I imagine that the cop started laughing, and said, “Use discretion and not charge you? What are you, on drugs? Oh that’s right, you are!”

Bobby Brown can be seen on Fridays on CMT’s Gone Country, along with Carnie Wilson, Dee Snider, Diana DeGarmo, Maureen McCormick, Julio Iglesias Jr., and Sisqo. For more information on the show, click here.