Coldplay gives away song

Coldplay gives away song

LONDON — Coldplay will make the first single from their new album available as a free download to fans who visit the English band’s Web site. “Violet Hill,” the first single from “Viva La Vida,” will be available on www.coldplay.com from 7:15 a.m. today, one week before it goes on sale at digital retailers. It will be available as a free download from the Web site for one week, a statement said. The new album comes out in June.

The Web site will also give preliminary details about free shows at London’s Brixton Academy on June 16 and at New York’s Madison Square Garden on June 23.

Miley doesn’t like photo

LOS ANGELES — Miley Cyrus is taking issue with a photo of herself that’s going around, and it’s not another amateur, truth-or-dare Internet snapshot — it’s the handiwork of Annie Leibovitz. “I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ’artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed,” Cyrus said Sunday in a statement through her publicist. “I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.”

The photos, appearing in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, were taken by Leibovitz, a renowned celebrity photographer whose edgy, silver-toned portraits have included subjects such as Angelina Jolie and a naked, pregnant Demi Moore.

The Cyrus pictures accompany an interview with the 15-year-old pop star and her father, singer Billy Ray Cyrus. They include shots of the teen wrapped in what appears to be a satin bedsheet, looking over her shoulder with her back exposed.

Today’s birthdays

Country singer Duane Allen of The Oak Ridge Boys is 65. Singer Tommy James is 61. Bassist Wayne Secrest of Confederate Railroad is 58. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is 54. Actress Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek: Voyager”) is 53. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is 51. Actress Michelle Pfeiffer is 50. Actress Eve Plumb (“The Brady Bunch”) is 50. Singer Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips is 40. Actress Uma Thurman is 38. Rapper Master P is 38. Country singer James Bonamy is 36. Bassist Mike Hogan of The Cranberries is 35.