By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Jay Z's upcoming studio album will go to a million users of Samsung smartphones three days before its official release in a promotional deal, but the distribution is unlikely to count toward official sales figures, an industry expert said on Monday. Jay Z, 43, announced on Sunday in a three-minute television commercial during the telecast of basketball's NBA Finals that his latest album "Magna Carter Holy Grail" will be released on July 4 exclusively to 1 million users of Samsung smartphones who had downloaded a special app. ...

By Ellen Sowerby LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran British rock bands Motorhead and Black Sabbath were crowned the kings of heavy metal on Monday, winning the top accolades at the UK's top metal music awards, the Metal Hammer Golden Gods. Motorhead, best known for its 1980 hit "Ace of Spades", received the Golden Gods awards at the 11th annual ceremony for making a significant contribution to the rock and heavy metal industry over nearly four decades. Black Sabbath won the award for best album for "13" which soared to No. ...

By Costas Pitas LONDON (Reuters) - The British rock band Black Sabbath's album "13!" has given them a first British Number One album in nearly 43 years, a record interval between chart-toppers, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday. Black Sabbath were last at the top of the UK chart with their second album, "Paranoid". "I'm in shock!" Black Sabbath front man Ozzy Osbourne told the Official Charts Company. "The success of this album has blown me off my feet. We've never had a record climb the charts so fast. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kim Deal, the bass player behind some of the Pixies' biggest hits, has left the 1980s alternative rock band, its remaining members said on Friday. Deal's pulsing bass and understated singing punctuated the influential group's early songs, which won critical acclaim for their quick bursts of sound and wild guitars. "We are sad to say that Kim Deal has decided to leave the Pixies," the band's singer-guitarist Black Francis, drummer David Lovering and guitarist Joey Santiago said in a statement posted on their Facebook page. ...

By Andrea Burzynski NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger appear in the new film "Twenty Feet from Stardom," but only to shine the spotlight on the unsung backup singers who make them sound even better. Opening in New York and Los Angeles on Friday and expanding across the United States in coming weeks, the music documentary features the lives and careers of singers who have harmonized with the likes of Ray Charles, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and many more. ...

By Constance Watson LONDON (Reuters) - Singer Bob Dylan will embark on a 33-date tour of Europe starting in Oslo on October 10 and ending at London's Royal Albert Hall on November 28, a statement on his website said on Friday. The "Blowin in the Wind" singer - who is scheduled to finish his "AmericanaramA" tour in Mountain View, California on August 4 - said tickets for "Bob Dylan in Europe" would go on sale on Friday. "Bob Dylan and his band will tour Europe this fall," the statement on his website said of the 10-country tour. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The wife of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus has filed for divorce in Los Angeles after 19 years of marriage, the couple said in a statement. Tish Finley Cyrus, the mother of 20-year-old pop star and actress Miley Cyrus, married the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer in December 1993, and the couple have three children together. "This is a personal matter and we are doing what is in the best interest of our family," the couple said in a statement late on Thursday. "We ask that you respect our privacy at this time. ...

By Constance Watson LONDON (Reuters) - British singer George Michael is writing a new album while he recovers from head injuries sustained during a car accident last month, his spokeswoman said on Thursday. The 49-year-old former Wham! frontman has been recuperating at home after nearly two weeks in hospital. British media reported that Michael fell out of a car at speed on a busy motorway outside London during rush hour on May 16. "He's doing extremely well," Michael's spokeswoman said. "He is writing a new album." There was no release date for the new material. ...

By Constance Watson LONDON (Reuters) - British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons canceled the final three U.S. dates of their "Summer Stampede" tour on Friday and said bassist Ted Dwane was out of hospital after brain surgery. The Grammy award-winning band said Dwane was on the road to a full recovery and that the decision to cancel all concerts until a June 30th performance at the Glastonbury Festival in Britain was based on medical advice. ...

By Tim Kenneally LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Christina Aguilera is returning to "The Voice" sooner than expected. The "Bionic" singer, who took a break from her coaching duties on the current cycle of the NBC singing competition but will return for its next cycle in the fall, will be back on the show for its season finale June 18. NBC also said Tuesday that Bruno Mars, Nelly, Pitbull and country duo Florida Georgia Line will also perform during the two-hour finale. ...

VIENNA (Reuters) - The Salzburg Festival has agreed to let director Alexander Pereira go early after falling out over his new post as manager of Milan opera house La Scala. Pereira, who upset Austria's cultural establishment by taking on the La Scala role before finishing his term at the Salzburg classical music festival, will now leave two years early at the end of September 2014. He is due to start at La Scala in 2015. "When I came to Salzburg, I could not have imagined that I would ever do anything other than Salzburg," Pereira told Austrian ORF radio in an interview aired on Wednesday. ...

By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's summer music festival season kicks off this week with a line-up ranging from the Rolling Stones to Beyonce to exiled Tibetan monks designed to attract the modern festival-goer - a 36-year-old with a well-padded wallet. Music festivals have become an integral part of summer for British music fans with Bon Jovi and Blondie at the Isle of Wight festival this weekend, Slipknot and Iron Maiden at metal-fest Download, and Iggy Pop at Yoko Ono's Meltdown in London. ...