The Roots

We know it's a bit early yet, but Paul McCartney has teamed up with The Roots and Jimmy Fallon for an epic rendition of 'Wonderful Christmastime' and now we can't wait until Winter. It's not the first time he has brought Christmas spirit to 'The Tonight Show', but this time it will be immortalised in the studio.

Paul McCartney performing at Desert Trip

The 75-year-old musician performed his 1980 festive classic with the 'The Tonight Show' house band as he gears up to launch his latest yuletide compilation 'Holidays Rule, Vol. 2' this Fall. The version featuring The Roots' a cappella instrumental and Paul and Jimmy on lead vocals will be the one on the album, a year after he first teamed up with them alongside the cast of 'Sing'.

Continue reading: Paul McCartney Releases Jimmy Fallon And The Roots Version Of 'Wonderful Christmastime'

Remember those totally unusable instruments you were given for music class in elementary school? Well, it turns out, they're not so unusable after all - Jimmy Fallon enlists Madonna and The Roots and his collection of children's music things in an epic new video.

Madonna performs 'Holiday' with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots

You never see real musicians using the likes of maracas, cowbells, glockenspiels or tambourines in their compositions (not often, anyway) so why do teachers expect children to learn the art of music making this way? Well, legendary neo-soul collective The Roots and Queen of Pop Madonna have proved on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' that with proper execution these instruments aren't so lame after all.

Continue reading: Madonna Joins Jimmy Fallon And The Roots For A Classroom Rendition Of 'Holiday' [Video]

So there’s SXSW for the hipsters, Coachella for the fashionable crowd… and then there’s the Global Citizen music festival, which has a different vibe altogether. Held in Central Park, the third annual event featured the likes of Beyonce, Jay Z, Alicia Keys, No Doubt, Sting and fun. The star-packed festival is free to attend and sets itself the ambitious goal of “erasing poverty by 2030.”

After their On The Run success, Bey and Jay graced the Central Park stage in honor of a good cause.

So here’s how it works. The acts all performed for free, with brief speeches by the likes of Jessica Alba, Hugh Jackman and Olivia Wilde speaking in between performances. It was an exercise in raising awareness and putting pressure on world leaders to enact more effective policies on equality. Attendees were also encouraged to take the pledge, which would earn them points to put towards VIP entry.

Continue reading: Musicians, Celebrities And World Leaders Unite To Fight Poverty At Global Citizen Festival

Super Bowl weekend just got a whole lot more interesting. The Foo Fighters and The Roots were both just added to the festivities, according to Spin.

The Foo Fighters performing in London

The Foo Fighters are set to perform on February 1st, the day before the game, along with the Zac Brown Band. While the pairing may seem a little odd, the bands are actually friends. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters produced Brown's last EP. The Foo Fighters are currently working on a new album, and said to expect a "little secret" very, very soon.

Continue reading: Foo Fighters, The Roots Added To 2014 Super Bowl Weekend Lineup

New Jersey governor Chris Christie is to appear on Michael J Fox's eponymous new sitcom, following his numerous late-night TV appearances, including Saturday Night Live. Christie's office confirmed reports that the Republican politician will make a cameo on an episode sometime this fall, though NBC is yet to announce the air date of the episode, according to Zap2it.com.

The Michael J. Fox Show is an anticipated sitcom set for later this year on which the legendary actor plays a sports-caster with Parkinson's disease who returns to work. Clearly, the show is partly based on Fox's real-life.

There is no word yet on what Christie will do on the show as himself, though seen as though he's running for second term as governor on November 5, it may well have a political aspect to it. There's been plenty of buzz about The Michael J. Fox Show and should it pass the critical test, it should be a stroke of genius for Christie and his team - in terms of a re-election.

Continue reading: Is Chris Christie's Appearance On 'The Michael J. Fox Show' An Election Ploy?

Andrew W.K. isn't you're conventional musician, he's more of a vagabond who travels through as many musical landscapes as is humanly possible, bringing his own party-loving twist to every place he visits on his musical quest. His latest stop off was to exemplify just how much of a badass he is behind a drum set, so the 'Party Hard' singer organised a full 24-hour drumming marathon, enlisting the help of some famous faces to help him see out the full stretch.

Performing as part of the O Music Awards, Andrew began the marathon on Wednesday (June 19) night, bringing in the help of ?Uestlove and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Chad Smith to see the marathon off when his arms became too heavy to keep going. The day-long record breaking feat - breaking the record for the longest amount of time spent playing the drums in a retail store - was held in Times Square and streamed live as part of the O Music Awards' live stream.

"WE DID IT!!! 24 HOURS OF DRUMMING!!!" the rocker and motivational speaker tweeted on Thursday (June 20) night, adding, "Remember... I didn't do it, WE did it. You were with me every beat. I feel very emotional and party."

Continue reading: Andrew W.K. Completes 24-Hour Drumming Marathon, With A Little Help From His Friends

Ok, so it wasn't quite neo-soul, but it did feature Questlove and The Roots as the backing band. Mariah Carey stopped by the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this week and was roped into performing her classic Christmas hit, still considered by many to be the finest of all the famous festive song.

The Roots took to their kid-sized toy instruments, including xylophone, bongos, rattlers, wood blocks and drums, while a chorus of children chimed in on background vocals - of course, Mariah's powerful vocals give things a bit of authenticity. However, we reckon the highlight of the evening was Questlove's holiday sweater - a disastrously cream Christmas zip-down creation. Fallon started things off, singing the ditty's opening lines, "I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need," before taking to the drums, tambourine and kazoo and letting Mariah take over. Writing on her Twitter page later, the 42-year-old singer wrote: "Join the fun + sing along to my festive 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' collabo with @jimmyfallon & @theroots!!!" Fallon tweeted, "@mariahcarey + theroots + Classroom Instruments. So fun."

As is becoming tradition, Mariah has been doing the Christmassy promotional rounds this year, last week performing her famous track at the annual tree-lighting ceremony at New York's Rockefeller Center.

Continue reading: Video: Mariah Carey Performs Neo-Soul Rendition Of 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'

Christina Aguilera and The Roots performed a pretty special version of her single ‘Your Body,’ along with Jimmy Fallon. The musical stars joined the chat show host in his office before appearing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, using his office supplies as musical instruments. Somewhat surprisingly, Fallon proved to be a pretty impressive vocal talent, in no way outdone by The Roots or Aguilera.

Christina herself was in fine voice, and the video clip makes for pretty entertaining viewing. Dressed in a leather jacket and with pink dip-dyed hair, her powerful vocals sounded great over the unusual percussion provided by The Roots. The seven members of The Roots were crammed into the office, with Fallon and Aguilera and used items such as elastic bands, paper clips, scissors and coffee pots to bulk up the song.

On Friday night, Aguilera also performed at the Hurricane Sandy Tribute Concert, aired by NBC. Performing at the concert, she explained how she had grown up on Staten Island, which had been devastated by the hurricane. She went on to sing a moving rendition of ‘Beautiful,’ one of her biggest hits and a tale of finding inner strength in tough times. She was praised by the PopCrush blog for not trying to use the event to promote her new album, but just pouring her heart and soul into the performance and trying to offer hope to those in need.

Continue reading: Office Party! Christina Aguilera, The Roots & Jimmy Fallon's Unusual Performance Of 'Your Body'