Who doesn't remember that boy Clay Aiken from American Idol season 2? That boy has gone through a lot and in the process has become an accomplished man. Without a doubt, Clay Aiken has taken big steps since he rose to stardom and caught the attention of the American public. A North Carolina native he is considered an international pop icon and has managed to sell six million albums in his short -albeit productive artistic career.

But this is no one-trick pony kind of a guy. Back in January, Aiken made a debut in Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical Monty Python's Spamalot. So stardom seems to be keeping busy not to mention the eight live tours he launched, and a book he authored that made it to New York Times best-seller list. His relative fast rise to popularity and fame has been rewarded with several American Music and Billboard Music Awards.

Aiken's fourth full length studio album "On My Way Here" is his first collections of songs since 2003. When asked as to what was the inspiration for thew new album Clay Aiken said, "I thought if we could find songs that relate to what's gone on in my life over the past five years and address what I've learned from my experiences, it would be a great concept for my album. Since I got into this business, I've learned so much about myself. I think this album covers how far I've come, personally and professionally."

So in light of this release, we have put together a collection of Aiken's most popular tracks. Our list includes songs such as "On my way here", "The Way" , and "A Thousand Days." So get on the groove and have fun singing over the Halloween weekend. BTW, Happy Halloween everyone…Boo!

The 22-year old singer and songwriter Colbie Caillat (pronounced as in ballet) is one of the most celebrated artists to emerge from the growing talent pool of web-based artists. Although she is the #1 unsigned artist on myspace site, critics ascertain her rise to stardom is due to a sense of refreshing effervescence in her singing style and demeanor.

As a matter of fact, the Rolling Stone publication has highlighted her as one of the top female artists on myspace. Reportedly, her number of friends swelled to more than 100,000. But that's not all, her profile has been visited over 3 million times, and she has more than l0 million plays. She's currently averaging 50,000 + a day.

Caillat's debut album has been entitled COCO and it's a nice refreshing combination of tracks with laid back hawaiian undertones. Hits such as "Bubbly", "Realize", "Kiss the Girl", and "The Little Things" have proved to have an audience.

In reference to Caillat's unique rise to prominence, Monte Lipman, President of Universal Republic Records, stated, "from her unique songwriting skills to her powerful but understated presence, Colbie has connected to millions of music lovers simply through the power of her music."

At Red Karaoke, we have assembled a bunch of Caillat's songs for you to practice, sing and record. This is total easy going, low key music so it should be fun and relaxing to sing to the music of bubbly Colbie Caillat.

In a a highly disputed finals the Karaoke World Championships (KWC) came to an end  and now the world of karaoke has new champions: Michael Bates from Australia who the men's competition, and Julie Gonnet from France who is the new women's world champion. Here is an assortment of the three day event in pictures. And don't forget to start practicing and working on your karaoke singing skills.

Jane Kuivalainen from Finland

Medhanie Mezgebe from Sweden

Jean-Pierre Ndaye from France

Anthony Garcia from the United Kingdom

Theresa Doan from Vietnam

Jasmine Kara from Sweden

Julie Gonnet from France: new women's world champion

Barbara "Barbie" Robbins from the USA 

So the Karaoke World Championships (KWC) got off to a great start and Red Karaoke was there to witness it all. The 2007 Men and Women's World Champions, Kelvin and Julie, performed for the audience. Then the Ambassador of Japan (Hitoshi Honda) officially opened the competition.

2007 U.S. Men's and Women's 2007 Men's World Champion, Kelvin, on the far left, and the USA Women's Champion "Barbie" in the middle.

Afterwards two Finnish bands played: Arja Koriseva, and Tomi Markkola. After this everyone went to some karaoke clubs to sing and to dance. France, the USA, the UK and Ireland all cheered each other on at the karaoke bar. Round 1 of the competition starts at 3pm tomorrow.

Julie from Australia: 2007 Women's World Champion

And don't forget to stay tuned for more information and the latest scoop on the event. And check out the following pix of the event.

Kelvin and Julie singing "We are the world"

Swedish champions and fan

Swedish champions and our very own Justin in the midldle

Alright, so karaoke singers from around the world are getting together in Findland for the KWC Karaoke World Contest to be held on October 23-25. During these 3-day event aspiring singers from around the globe will have an opportunity to make a name for themselves on a worldwide stage. KWC has become the world's largest and most prestigious karaoke event in the world, gathering music enthusiasts from around the globe all in one place. Last 2007, representatives from nearly 30 countries were in attendance. This year, attendance is expected to surpass last year record numbers.

So yeah maybe we're late for this year's competition. But guess what? There's always a next year. So don't get all bummed out and start preparing yourself by practicing your singing and performing skills from home or from wherever you are. Nevertheless, we will bring you all the action of what goes on in Finland. This year for the first time Red Karaoke is deploying our karaoke correspondent: Justin. He'll be updating us on who is who and giving us the scoop on the event.

As an FYI, and in order for you to have a chance at claiming karaoke stardom at the KWC in the future these are how things work. National trials are conducted in each participating country every year with the winners competing in the international finals for the titles of male & female Karaoke World Champions. Finland was the host country for the international finals from 2003 until 2005. In 2006, the finals were held aboard the M/S Galaxy while cruising the Baltic Sea from Helsinki to Estonia. Last September 2007, Thailand became the first country to host the finals outside of Finland. This year, the event will return to Finland and will take place at the brand new Lahti Hall.

So how do I participate?

As aformentioned, entrants in the Karaoke World Championships are required to go through national trials within their own country. KWC Organization grants licenses to parties that meet the criteria as a KWC Country Host. So no worries, We will be publishing pertinent information and keeping you abreast of what you have to do in order to start marking your calendars and preparing yourself for the big event.

However, what we can tell you though is that once the World Champion candidates for each country have been selected, they will receive a trip to Finland or to the country holding the event to compete in the World Finals. So wherever you are and if you are serious about it, just make sure to prepare accordingly. After all, it's not everyday that you get to sing and perform onstage before an international audience and judges who will put your singing abilities to the test against other competitors from around the world.

So what? I am an 80's junkie and I happened to love The Cure. So yeah I am stoked these guys are actually releasing a new album. Don't you guys remember classics like Close to Me and Boys don't Cry? I definitely do. The new "4:13 Dream" album is due to be released on October 28. So in preparation for the release the boys from The Cure have been actually busy promoting the new studio album. In fact, last October 11, 2008, The Cure played the whole album at a free gig in Rome. The set was divided in two parts, with the first part composed of the new album and the second with old songs.

The Cure's trajectory has proven to be an enduring and popular one. From the late 70's to today the band has managed to keep itself relevant and trascend the edgy pop music they used to play. In 1992 the NME (New Music Express) a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom, declared that The Cure became during the 80's, "a goth hit machine, an international phenomenon and, yep, the most successful alternative band that ever shuffled disconsolately about the earth." Bu the band has continued evolving musically while dealing with subjects like relationships, the material world, politics and religion.

Not surprisingly, The Cure has been nominated to the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 which will take place on November 6, 2008 in Liverpool, United Kingdom at the Echo Arena. And guess who's gonna be the EMC's host? The one and only: Katy Perry. The Cure will be competing in the 'Headliner Category' against bands such as The Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Metallica and Tokio Hotel.

So this is the 13th studio album from the legendary Goth rockers as always led by Robert Smith. Although now actually The Cure is down to a quartet (Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson and Jason Cooper). This new album includes the singles 'The Only One', 'Freakshow', 'Sleep When I'm Dead' and 'The Perfect Boy.' At Red Karaoke we are going to help you get ready so you can start practicing your best The Cure act. We have classic karaoke tracks such as Just like heaven, Lullaby, Friday I'm in love, How beautiful you are, and A night like this. So what are you waiting for? Show us your skills..

Red Karaoke continues taking steps forward. Starting today our users can have their own customizable blog on Red Karaoke. So if you need an extra promotional channel for expanding your online presence and recordings to the rest of the wold you've come to the right place. It's so easy all you have to do is opening an account with Red Karaoke and voila! you're ready to rock n' roll.

So how do you activate the blog?

So easy…like a stealing candy from a 4 -year old. Once you are logged in, you will see that personalized private area on the homepage will contain an entitled icon "Activate blog". Just click on it and you'll be immediately on your way to take ownership over your own Red Karaoke blog sphere.

From homepage

From horizontal bar

How do I start posting entries on my blog?

After clicking and activating your blog you will notice that the original icon "Activate your blog" will be replaced by a new one entitled "Administer your blog". This is pretty intuitive therefore all you have to do is click on it and you will have immediate access to the blog tool for editing your blog entries.

Heretofore it is your creativity and imagination that will be in charge of creating an exciting, fun, different and engaging enough that will make users and/or fans come back to look for more of your entries. You can share news, ideas, recordings and even elaborate further on your video uploads, stories, etc.

How do others have access to my blog?

From your profile. You might have noticed that as soon as you activated your blog an icon on the right hand will appear on your profile, just above the banner. From here users can access your blog. You'll be able to see this icon on the profile of those users who have already activated the blog functionality.

Soon we will be providing you with extra tips and advice on how to start publishing your unique voice and on how to update it on an ongoing basis. In the meantime, you can start dedicating your blog to something that you are real passionate about it.

Alright so we've been getting some emails from our community of users with their requests. Not surprisingly, a large number of emails came from users who are fans of Disney's musical blockbuster High School Musical. Undoubtedly, the Disney marketing blitz is starting to up the ante. Featuring 10 new original songs, High School Musical 3: Senior Year is due out in theaters Oct. 24. However, the audio CD will be officially released on October 21st.

This time the Disney's High School Musical has made its way to the silver screen. Now that they are ready to graduate from HS, they are shuffling a basketball championship, prom and a big spring musical featuring all of the Wildcats. The two main characters, Troy and Gabriella vow to make every moment last as they get ready to head out for college.

For the first time, two versions of the soundtrack will be available on street date. Featuring more songs than ever before, the HSM3: Senior Year includes all-new songs by the original songwriters and performances by the original cast, including Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and more.

So in anticipation of the big HSM3 day we have thought of bringing you an assortment of karaoke songs from your favorites artists for you to sing, record and have fun. Take on the mic and start singing from the following list of HSM titles such as:

Breaking free

Bot to the top

Start of something new

What I've been looking for

Election Day is on November 4 and we've been already through two presidential debates and one between vice presidential candidates Senators Sarah Palin and Joseph Biden. However, what we don't know yet is what exactly their taste is when it comes to music. So what do Barack Obama and John McCain listen to on their iPod when on the road? Blender.com polled both candidates on their favorite music tracks and put together an assortment of the Top 10 songs of each candidate. So whether you are 'red' or 'blue' we invite you to sing and record to the available 'political' karaokes below:

Barack Obama's Top 10

1. Ready or not - The Fugees
2. What's going on - Marvin Gaye
3. I'm on fire - Bruce Springsteen
4. Gimme shelter - Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman - Nina Simone
6. Touch the sky - Kanye West
7. You'd so easy to love - Frank Sinatra
8. Think - Aretha Franklin
9. City of Binding Lights - U2
10. Yes, we can - Will-I-am

John McCain's Top 10

1. Dancing Queen - ABBA
2. Blue Bayou - Roy Orbison
3. Take a chance on me - ABBA
4. If we make it through December - Merle Haggard
5. As time goes by - Dooley Wilson
6. Good vibrations - The Beach Boys
7. What a wonderful world - Louis Armstrong
8. I've got you under my skin - Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
10. Smoke gets in your eyes - The Platters

So what do you think? Is your musical taste red or blue? Let us know.

The Coming Out Project helps GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender), as well as straight-supportive people are joining forces to celebrate the National Coming Out Day on Saturday, October 11. This initiave was founded by Robert Eichberg and Jean O'Leary on October 11, 1988 in celebration of the first gay march on Washington D.C. a year earlier. The purpose of the march and of National Coming Out Day is to promote government and public awareness of gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender rights and to celebrate homosexuality.

So National Coming Out Day is a time to publicly display gay pride. Many choose this day to come out to their parents, friends, co-workers and themselves. Today, the gay population is represented by a wide range of backgrounds, beliefs and personalities. However, for many accepting their homosexuality and sharing it with others is not an easy process. Thus, we have created a forum discussion for you to openly share your story at your convenience, receive support and empathize with others in the same situation.

In fact, National Coming Out Day is not just a U.S. thing but is gradually becoming a worldwide celebration. This day is observed in many countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom. As of 2008, the Netherlands also has a Coming Out Day on October 10-11. In the United Kingdom National Coming Out Day is celebrated on the 12th October.

So, in honor of National Coming Out Day we have added to our large database Diana Ross 'I'm coming out' for you to show your pride online and out loud. What are you waiting for? Be the first to sing and record it .