By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) – A jailed member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot was hospitalized on Friday after going on a hunger strike to protest prison conditions, her husband said, but her condition was not clear. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was admitted to the hospital at the prison where she is serving a two-year term for a protest against President Vladimir Putin in Russia's main Orthodox Christian cathedral, Pyotr Verzilov said. Verzilov said the acting head of the prison had described Tolokonnikova's condition as "horrible" but had given no further details. …

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hawaiian folk singer Jack Johnson landed his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, while New Zealand newcomer Lorde overtook Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus to top the digital songs chart. Johnson's "From Here to Now to You" sold 117,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. It was the only album to cross the 100,000 sales mark this week. Country music singer Justin Moore debuted at No. …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Colombian singer Carlos Vives and Argentine fusion group Illya Kuryaki & the Valderramas led the Latin Grammy Award nominations with five nods a piece, the Latin Recording Academy said on Wednesday. Veteran singer Vives, 52, snared nominations in key categories of album of the year for "Corazón Profundo," while his song "Volví A Nacer" was nominated for record of the year and song of the year. …

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Few musicians are able to keep their careers alive for more than five decades, but pop diva Cher says her latest album is her "best effort ever." Cher, 67, a staple of American dance music, released her 26th studio album, "Closer to the Truth" on Tuesday, her first record in 12 years. "It's my best effort ever, so I'm happy with that. I'm singing better than ever and the songs are really good. I'm unbelievably proud of it," the singer said in an interview with Reuters at her home in California's beachside community of Malibu. …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian parents' committee has asked President Vladimir Putin to cancel a planned concert by gay musician Elton John, saying he intended to violate a ban on "homosexual propaganda". In an open letter to Putin, the local parents' group in central Ural region was reported by media as saying: "The singer intends to come out in support of local sodomites and break the current Russian law, directed at protecting children. …

By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) – Grammy-winning Kings of Leon marked a decade in music with a new album on Tuesday which critics have praised for showcasing the best of the band's talents while still moving forward in its sound. "Mechanical Bull" is the sixth album by the Nashville-based group, formed by the Followills: brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared and cousin Matthew. The band broke into the mainstream music scene with their 2008 album "Only By the Night," which included the hits "Use Somebody" and "Sex on Fire. …

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A jailed member of Russia's dissident Pussy Riot punk band was moved to a solitary confinement cell on Tuesday after she went on hunger strike to protest against what she called "slave labor" at the penal colony. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was jailed for two years over a "Punk prayer" protest against Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral in August 2012. Kremlin critics say her sentencing along with other band members is part of a crackdown on dissent since Putin returned to the presidency for a third term in May 2012. …

LONDON (Reuters) – American R&B singer Jason Derulo notched up his third British number one single on Sunday with "Talk Dirty", ending U.S. singer Katy Perry's two-week run in the No. 1 slot, sales figures showed. The Official Charts Company said with sales of nearly 160,000 copies over the past week, "Talk Dirty" has become the fastest selling single of Derulo's career in Britain and the fourth fastest selling single of 2013. "Talk Dirty", which also features rapper 2 Chainz, is the second single from Derulo's third album, "Tattoos", which will be released in Britain on Monday. …

By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) – Hungarian violinist Barnabas Kelemen has studied with the late virtuoso Isaac Stern and won Gramophone magazine’s award for best chamber music CD of 2013, but what he is really proud of is his Roma heritage. Kelemen, who was in London this week to accept the prestigious Gramophone award for his disc of Bartok violin sonatas and to appear with his wife Katalin Kokas in the Kelemen Quartet at Wigmore Hall on Sunday, credits his late Roma violinist grandfather as an inspirational figure in his life. …

By Liza Dobkina ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – U.S. pop singer Selena Gomez has scrapped two concerts in Russia after falling foul of new visa rules which critics say can be used to keep out Western artists who promote gay rights. The concert organizers said the "Come and Get It" singer pulled out of the planned performances in St. Petersburg and Moscow next week when it became clear she would not be able to secure a visa in time. …

By Daniel Trotta NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Clash may have proven true the rock ‘n’ roll axiom that it is better to burn out than fade away. Now they are attempting to show that no matter how a band exits the stage, it can always come back with a box set. Punk originals who went on to explore forms of reggae, jazz and rap, the band basically broke up just when they hit their commercial peak with the 1982 album “Combat Rock,” their fifth and final studio album after bursting onto the scene with their eponymous first record in 1977. …

By Michael Roddy BONN, Germany (Reuters) – German violinist Julia Fischer knows that marketing is part of the price to stay at the top of the competitive world of violin soloists, but she was having no part of a photo shoot she said had made her look like a drug addict. “I once did a photo shoot … where I didn’t release a single picture afterwards because I didn’t see myself anywhere,” the 30-year-old mother of two told Reuters in an interview after a concert this week at the annual Beethoven Festival in Bonn. …