With new mp3 backing tracks released every week, it’s always a pleasure to introduce a new artist to the Red Karaoke catalogue. This week we have the pleasure of welcoming California native and dance hit maker Dev and her latest single In the dark.

Discovered by the Indie-pop group the Cataracs through her Myspace ‘flows’ and recordings of songs from artists like Amy Winehouse, Dev was nothing short of a diamond in the rough. After finding her, Dev’s personal recording of Booty Bounce was sampled by the Catarac’s smash hit with The Far East Movement, Like a G6, which ended up reaching number 1 in the US, and sold over five million downloads in the United States.

In the summer of 2010, a music video was made for Booty Bounce and uploaded onto YouTube, where it has generated over ten million views. This led to Dev’s signing with Universal Republic and her first official single, Bass Down Low, which reached sixty one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the Heatseekers Songs Chart.

2011 saw the release of Dev’s debut album The Night the Sun Came Up, as well as her second single and Red Karaoke’s newest dance karaoke, In the dark. Not only has the single skyrocketed, but Dev’s reputation as a showstopper and hit maker has led to collaborations with artists from Demi Lovato to Japanese girl group Girl Generation, and will release a single with Enrique Iglesias later this year.

Now you can sing Dev’s latest dance hit In the dark right here on Red Karaoke, or download the mp3 backing track to take with you anywhere.

This week we’re excited to be introducing a new blog feature on Red Karaoke where we go behind the scenes of some of our favorite musicals - both new and old, from Broadway and film - and give you guys a glimpse of the history, magic and of course songs that are all part of why we love musicals so much. And to start it all off, we are taking a little look at Million Dollar Quartet, the musical based on the first “supergroup” of the fifties.

On December 4th, 1956, by pure chance, four of Rock and Roll’s future legends, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, assembled at the Sun Records studio in Memphis, Tennessee, for what became one of the most famous impromptu jam sessions in history… and the subject of 2010’s Broadway production Million Dollar Quartet.

The story goes that, Carl Perkins, who by this time had already met success with Blue Suede Shoes, had come into the studios that day to cut some new material, including a revamped version of an old blues song, Matchbox. Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, who wished to try to fatten this sparse rockabilly instrumentation, had brought in his latest acquisition, singer and piano man extraordinaire Jerry Lee Lewis, still unknown outside Memphis, to play piano on the Perkins session.

A little later, Elvis Presley, a former Sun artist himself, and at the time, the biggest name in show business, dropped by. After chatting with Philips in the control room and listening to some recordings, Presley decided to join in on the jam session. At some point during the session, Sun artist Johnny Cash, who had recently enjoyed a few hits on the country charts, popped in. Cowboy Jack Clement was engineering that day and remembers saying to himself “I think I’d be remiss not to record this” and, as they say, the rest is history.

Now the infamous session, which produced incredible recordings of jams like Love me tender, Reconsider Baby, Don’t be cruel, Down by the riverside, When the saints go marching in, and many more classics that are featured in the musical that has traveled all over the world and is currently touring the US.

In the musical version, Perkins and new performer, Jerry Lee Lewis, are meant to record together. Elvis Presley stops by the studio along with his girlfriend, later joined by Johnny Cash, who has stopped by to talk to recording impresario Sam Philips. And just like the original story, they soon have a jam session together. But in the made-up version, Philips attempts to sign Johnny Cash to a contract, unaware he has already signed elsewhere.

You can sing these incredible hits from the Million Dollar Quartet, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, here on Red Karaoke.

This year we are bringing back the Red Karaoke World Tour, where every couple of weeks you can read a feature on a cool, new artist and their karaokes that you should check out - but from around the globe! This week we are headed East and checking out the jazz stylings of Japanese transplant, Juju and her English cover now on RK, Lullaby of birdland.

Though Juju may currently reside in New York City, she spent her early years day dreaming of becoming a jazz musician in the far away city of Kyoto, Japan. Since the age of 12 Juju became involved in the music scene, and was brave enough to travel to New York City alone to pursue her dream once she turned 18.

Once in New York, Juju found her musical influences growing from Jazz to Hip hop, latin music, R&B and soul and was able to find avenues to pursue her singing. In 2001, Juju began being featured in a number of works by other artists and in 2002, provided music for the foreign film Kyōki no Sakura.

2004 saw the debut of Juju’s first single Hikaru no Naka e, as well as the beginning of her popularity in Japan. When her third single, Kiseki wo Nozomu nara, was released, it topped the USEN charts and remained on the chart for a record length of 22 weeks, though she still had not gained the popularity she hoped for.

Then, in August 23, 2008, with the release of Kimi no Subete ni, a collaboration with Spontania, Juju received her big break, with the single receiving over 2.5 million downloads. Again, on November 26, 2008, another collaboration with Spontania named Sunao ni Naretara earned her even more fame, with the song receiving 2.2 million downloads.

Now you can sing Juju’s English cover, Lullaby of birdland, featured in the Japanese drama Doctors, here on Red Karaoke. Enjoy the jazzy quality and beautiful lyrics of Juju’s karaokes and let yourself travel the world with just one song.

With the new year, you may be looking for ways to add to your Red Karaoke experience. Sure, there is plenty of singing from our huge catalogue of karaokes, and over 30,000 mp3s, as well as a fun ranking system, but what else is there? Well, we’re here to tell you there is one resource that can make your Red Karaoke experience everything it was meant to be… and help you become one of the stars in our community. That’s right, we’re talking about the Red Karaoke Forum and all the fun you can have there, so keep reading for tips!

Redkaraoke.com

The first and foremost important thing you need to know about the forums, is where to go to get all the latest news on what’s happening within the Red Karaoke community. Whether it’s juicy updates on our premium services, the launch of new applications such as our facebook or mobile apps, or even helpful info about quirks in the site or resolved issues, the Redkaraoke.com Forum is the best place to find news and let us know what you think about, well, Redkaraoke.com!

Tutorials and troubleshooting

Whether you’re old or new, the one place no Red Karaoke member should be afraid to go is the Tutorials and troubleshooting forums. From advice on how to get started to video tutorials on how to correct your settings or adjust them for certain effects, you can find everything you need to perfect your recordings. But most importantly, users themselves share and answers questions and problems for each other, often offering tons of expertise for individual problems based on their own personal experimentation. There really isn’t anything like a helping hand.

Recordings

Since Red Karaoke is all about sharing your voice, its a surprise not to see more of you actually doing it… but maybe you haven’t yet stumbled upon the place where you can do just that. The Recordings forum is a place for community members to post their own recordings, get feedback and listen to others, and a great way to discover new voices! But that’s not all, you can also take a minute to share a link to your favorite recording you’ve listened to this week and nominate someone to be featured in the newsletter. Now that’s building a community!

Games and contests

One of the most fun places on Red Karaoke has to be the games and contests area. There are often official and user created contests with fun prizes, and plenty of different games you can play that ALSO help you share your recordings and make more friends within the community… in fact, right now there is a fun new game inspired by a certain facebook fad…

New member area

We all know how hard it is to be the new kid at school, and the same goes for new members of our community. So before you leave the forum, make sure to check out the New member area to say hello to our newest voices, answer a few of their questions and help point them in the right direction.

These are just a few of the ways you can use the Red Karaoke Forum to your advantage, and there’s plenty more - like the Who sang it best? discussions and all of the different Holiday threads- but we think you get the point. If you’ve been singing on Red Karaoke, but you haven’t been to the forums yet, well… you’re just getting started!

The new year has come and gone, and so, as our very first blog of 2012, we couldn’t help but hone in on one of the most surprising musical performances of New York City’s always highly anticipated New Year’s Eve bash… Justin Bieber’s cover of The Beatles classic, Let it be. And what better chance to ask one of our favorite questions on Red Karaoke, Who sang it better?!

When Justin Bieber started playing the easily recognizable piano notes that faintly begin Let it be, we could barely believe that Bieber was about to attempt the song that holds the number-one spot on “The Fans’ Top 10″ poll included in The 100 Best Beatles Songs: An Informed Fan’s Guide.

Yet there Bieber was, in front of thousands of screaming fans, singing the last single released by all four of the original Beatles in 1970, just before Paul McCartney and the others parted ways. Taking it one step further, incomparable guitarist Carlos Santana joined Bieber, and the two created a rocking rendition of the mellow Let it be that certainly did the New Years Eve party-ers, and the original version, justice.

And while we may have always been partial to the gospel inspired version recreated by Carol Woods and Timothy T for The Beatles musical Across the Universe, we’re having a hard time deciding who sang it best.

So tell us, do you prefer The Beatles original of Let it be, inspired by one of McCartney’s dreams, the film version full of soul from Carol Woods, or do you like Justin Bieber’s more modern twist of the classic? We’re waiting to hear from you in the forums… Who sang it best?!?!

Sing Let it be with Java, Flash or purchase the Mp3 to take with you anywhere!