The Wanted has crossed the pond and made a relatively big splash given the recent track record of “boy-bands” in the United States. The UK-based group performed on “Ellen” and has “Chelsea Lately” on the docket for next week. “Glad You Came” is climbing the American charts and has been well-received on the radio.

But just as their U.S. career is taking off, the fellas are also experiencing other highlights, not related to music. For example, with the British tabloids documenting their every relationship and sighting, Tom Parker notes that their American lifestyle has been a welcome change of pace.

“It’s been good to just walk around the streets with no press or paps, or just not that many people noticing to be honest with you,” Parker told me when The Wanted chatted on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “It does get a bit much, coming from being so normal to just being shot in to this lifestyle. It’s so bewildering sometimes.”

The band feels so comfortable in public that Siva Kaneswaran joked he might walk the streets of New York naked the next time they’re in town. The transition to the States has thus far been successful, including sneaking 18 year-old Nathan Sykes in to bars and clubs. Parker admits the five man group, with their lone underage singer, has already visited a number of alcohol-serving establishments here.

“I’ve done well so far,” Sykes said. “I’ve got a way about me somehow, which is hiding in the group.”

“It don’t cost him a penny!” Max George chimed in. “The other night all he did was stand in the corner going, ‘Uh, Max, can you get me a beer mate?’”

The Wanted already has three number one hits under its belt back in England. With the band’s exclusive announcement on my show that Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun has signed them, it looks as if there will be many more pennies, and possibly even celebratory beverages, to pass around.

Neon Hitch comes off as an aggressive ex-girlfriend in her track, “F*** You Betta,” the first single from her soon-to-be-released album, Beg, Borrow, and Steal. Apparently while shooting the music video, which will premiere online next month, she mimicked the aggressiveness of the song.

“I still have cuts from (the shoot),” Hitch said to me during a Skype interview, while showing me a bruise on her webcam. “I did a lot of training for it, but it was all worth it.”

The interesting thing is – the injuries are self-inflicted. The singer is the only person in the production.

“Me and a mannequin, we’re the only people in the video,” she divulged. “But there was a lot of dance routines, like there’s this one where I’m doing this whole dance routine in this black oil, and you know, it got pretty painful.”

Neon Hitch, yes that’s her real name, is no stranger to pain or bizarre. She was born in the UK and spent a good part of her childhood as a gypsy, traveling in a circus. Fast forward a few years to when super-producer Benny Blanco (Ke$ha, 3OH!3) found her on MySpace and flew her to the States, and voila, Neon Hitch has a record deal and a forthcoming LP.

Hitch is also featured on the latest single from Gym Class Heroes, “Ass Back Home.” Performing the track live with Travie McCoy and crew has taken her to Madison Square Garden and now next month, the Super Bowl.

“I’m so excited!” the singer exclaimed from her bed. “I’m so grateful to Gym Class Heroes for involving me. This is so amazing.”

The singer will join GCH at the VH1 Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam, airing live on the cable network Thursday February 2 at 9 PM from Indianapolis, the host city for this year’s big game.

Sammy Adams is ready to “blow up” and fill a void that he sees in the current pop music landscape.

“There’s not really a white pop star or singer/rapper/hybrid that really has footing like Katy Perry and Britney Spears and the female pop artists,” Adams said in a Skype interview from Miami this week. And he makes a point, although immediately when he gave that example, I thought of his record label-mate, Mike Posner.

“We are both making pop music, but he’s a little more R&B, even a little more urban, especially with some of his new records,” Adams explained, while also mentioning that he and Posner are good friends and he loves the singer’s music. “But yeah, we get compared.”

Adams, real name Samuel Adams Wisner, shares another similarity with the “Cooler Than Me” emcee: both attended college and began recording music in their dorm rooms. But while Posner graduated from Duke, Wisner ditched his political science major and soccer scholarship at Trinity College to tour the globe. He had attended college for a total of three and a half years.

“Once I started touring, my plans to get my work in…” Adams trailed off, while making a guillotine-like motion by his neck, signaling that the plans were cut off. “I was a college kid, traveling around the country, playing shows, making music that I wanted to hear; music that most college kids could relate to.”

And can still relate to. “Blow Up” is a college kid’s anthem, for every student pulling all-nighters and wondering when enough is finally enough. When Adams had enough and focused solely on music, he believes he figured out what the key to success was.

“You have to find your identity as an artist,” he advised. “It really comes down to finding out who you are, what kind of music you want to make. Yunno, these days, a lot of stuff’s changed, and you got to be able to build your fan base and really stay true to yourself.”

Adams was in Miami finishing up the recording for his major label debut album, which he says is “probably 90 percent” done. He still has a couple working titles, and is looking at a spring release on RCA Records.

It’s official: Justin Bieber’s manager has signed another musical act. In an interview set to air this Monday on “The Ralphie Radio Show,” The Wanted confirmed that the band is now managed by Scooter Braun.

“Def Jam and Scoot got together and were like, ‘We want these boys,’” said The Wanted’s Tom Parker. The group, who are currently in the midst of a small U.S. tour, agreed that Braun’s previous work with Island Def Jam helped in the process.

Rumors first surfaced of the manager’s involvement with the UK-based boy band when reports emerged that it was Braun who landed The Wanted on “Ellen,” the group’s first American TV performance.

“I mean, he’s got a really good relationship with Ellen, and she heard about us in the UK and we were obviously trying to come to the U.S.,” Parker explained, before Nathan Sykes downplayed the notion that they appeared on the show simply because of Braun.

“She did say that she wouldn’t have us on the show unless she actually liked us,” the youngest of the five boys chimed in. “She did say, ‘I want to be the one to break them out here.’”

The Wanted’s current single, “Glad You Came,” is climbing up the charts here in the States. Braun and the band finalized the contract for management on Tuesday. This came on the heels of The Wanted finding out that the group will make their second national TV appearance in Los Angeles next week, although the guys would not divulge which show it will be on.

Boston-based female vocal group Jada is back with the release of Supersonique, a five track EP.

“This one was in the making for a while,” April Forrest said of the extended play. All four members of the group joined “The Ralphie Radio Show” via Skype. “We took some of our really older songs that we really wanted to release… recorded like, a year and a half ago, and then some of the other songs are brand new.”

“This Party is on Fire” is one of the older singles released with Supersonique, which also includes the new club-friendly title track, produced by RIO.
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Jada – “Supersonique”

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“You know when you go out and you just feel that beat and you want to put your arms up in the air?” Forrest asked, explaining the inspiration behind the song and its up-tempo sound. “But we didn’t want the message to be like, ‘We’re partying! Cool.’ It has a deeper message of how music inspires us.”

In addition to Forrest, Elle Wine, Jacyn Tremblay, and Lauren O’Keefe all talked about the EP’s creation and confirmed that the group will shoot a music video for “Supersonique,” while even extending an invite my way to appear in the video.

David Rush is signed to Pitbull’s Mr. 305, Inc. While the “Give Me Everything” rapper had an all-star type year in 2011, his artist’s past year and a half could be considered even more spectacular.

Rush, who first linked up with the Miami emcee on the 2007 track, “Go Girl,” received a kidney transplant, got married, and welcomed a baby son in to the world all within the span of about a year. Apparently that isn’t enough for Rush, who now returns to the music scene with “She Ain’t You,” an up-tempo single that features Jason Derulo crooning on the chorus.

“I work hard,” Rush stated from his New Jersey home in a Skype interview on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “But now, it’s like I’m working not just for me, not for my wife, but just our son and it’s another inspiration, another reason to wake up, another reason to get what I want.”

The Jersey-native’s story is an inspiration in its own. Rush dealt with kidney issues for years, and traveled across the country supporting Pitbull on a 40 date tour with a dialysis machine in tow, used every night at every hotel room he stayed at before performing. The artist earned the distinction of the first person to successful tour cross-country with the piece of equipment.

In November of 2010, Rush received a kidney transplant from his brother, who also doubles as the rapper’s road manager. Currently, Rush is healthy, and ready to arrive back in DJ crates with a single that he says “fell on to his lap.”
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David Rush f. Jason Derulo – “She Ain’t You”

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“Mr. 305, they always want (their artists) to produce hits,” Rush explained. “We had an opportunity to get the record; I sent it back as a reference, not knowing where it was going to go.”

“She Ain’t You” struck Rush as such a big song he literally couldn’t wait to finish it, sending back the first treatment about two hours after it hit his e-mail. He didn’t even realize Derulo was on the hook until after he wrote to the track. Thankfully, Pitbull’s camp and Pit himself also liked the track, and made the necessary calls to secure it for their artist.

And despite his large amount of success and superstar status, Pitbull is just a call… or rather, text message, away from Rush at all times.

“He’s usually a great texter,” Rush said of Pitbull. “Calls is another deal. But text message, I can guarantee a text message or e-mail response within a day. Even if it’s just a, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ or ‘Chico, rooting for you,’ you know what I mean?”

R&B singer Jeremih’s biggest song to date rose up the charts in part due to a viral video recorded by rapper 50 Cent and YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill. But the crooner revealed in an interview on “The Ralphie Radio Show” that he had no idea “Down on Me” would be used in a video that initially aired on E!’s “Chelsea Lately.”

“I saw it when everybody else did,” the Chicago native said. “Whatever (50 Cent) does in his life, he has a strategy behind it… I never really know what he’s going to do, but I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be very impactful.”

50’s move to lip-sync with Cahill on camera proved more than impactful: the video has over 42 million views, and the single has sold almost three million copies in the United States.

“I think (Cahill) was very instrumental to the success of ‘Down on Me’” admitted Jeremih. “I give credit to where it’s due.”

No word on if Cahill will team up with the singer and rapper again for “Girls Go Wild” – but the marketing guru that is 50 Cent already has a plan. The emcee is using the song in the campaign for his new line of headphones, SMS by 50.

“I didn’t even know they were available for purchase,” the singer said. “I saw Waka Flocka earlier at ‘106 & Park,’ and he had a pair, so now I know they’re available.”

Speaking of BET, Jeremih will end his 2011 on a strong note, with an appearance on the TV network’s New Year’s Eve special, which was taped in part last weekend.

If you’re still not convinced that Taylor Swift possesses a pretty good amount of clout these days, look no further than Ryan Follese, the lead singer of Hot Chelle Rae. Ryan used to go by R.K. (his middle name is Keith). Then, Taylor Swift tweeted.

“Taylor Swift called me ‘Ryan’ to her 8 million followers,” Follese explained of the change, while also noting it is easier to search for Ryan Follese on the Internet than R.K. “That many fans rolled over to our fan base and our stuff and it was just easier.”

Swift is far from the only reason though that more people are discovering the Nashville quartet. After scoring a number one hit this year with, “Tonight Tonight,” HCR released its sophomore LP, Whatever. Promoting the new album took the band all across national TV, from “The Tonight Show” to “Live! with Kelly.” Although for guitarist Nash Overstreet, the group’s performance on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” stood out from the rest.

“’Fallon’ was the coolest just because of like, the set, and it was later in the day so we’re not waking up and all groggy,” Overstreet said. “He was one of the coolest guys ever, just really friendly, and so it was great to be on that show.”

Certainly it didn’t hurt that the other guests that evening were actor Jeremy Piven and rapper T.I. It also didn’t hurt that Fallon told Hot Chelle Rae he was a big fan of the group’s work.

“He was like, ‘Next time you come back we’re doing (a parody),’” recalled Follese. Fallon spoofed the band’s hit single with The Roots in an earlier episode. “It was really cool to meet somebody in that realm, and do the show, who is also a fan.”

But as cool as “Fallon” was for HCR, perhaps the guys’ biggest TV appearance to date was during the American Music Awards, when the band won the Sprint New Artist of the Year award. The nominees and winner were voted on by the fans.

“We weren’t expecting to make it past the first round,” the lead singer admitted. “But our fans, they mobilized on another level.”

Hot Chelle Rae recently announced dates for the 2012 Beautiful Freaks Tour, which the band headlines across the country. In between those dates, HCR will once again rub elbows with the oh-so-influential Swift, as the band supports her through a tour of Australia.

The life of a rock star is not all fun and games, especially around the holiday season. Just ask The Fray lead singer Isaac Slade.

“We’re doing a big Christmas party that we had to switch the date on because of the ‘Today’ show,” the front man revealed recently on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “I called the family and everybody moved the date, sent out a new e-mail, and they were really sweet about it.”

The Fray will be making the national media rounds over the next two months, leading up to the release of the band’s third studio album, Scars and Stories, due out February 7, 2012. Despite the success of the LP’s first single, “Heartbeat,” Slade insisted that the release date will not be pushed up.

“The (music) industry is a funny thing. You want to give the single enough chance, and give it some air, and then we’ll go to a second single when the album comes out,” Slade said of the thought process behind the later release. “It’s a really sexy record for us, and Valentine’s Day seems like the good time to put out a sexy record.”

Slade is already lobbying the band to tab “Run For Your Life” as the second single – a song that he thought could have been the lead track. In an interview last month on the show, the front man characterized the song as more of a “cliché Fray” production.

“That’s just a song that came together towards the end of the record,” he explained. “We kind of had the whole thing recorded and it felt like one was missing.”

A studio session deep in the backwoods of Tennessee yielded the track. Slade had also revealed in that earlier interview that the new album is completely finished and ready to go.

Jason Derülo said “The Ralphie Radio Show” that he is never discouraged when an artist doesn’t want him to use a sample or portion of their original song for a track that Derülo is working on. His attitude is relatively laid back on the issue, and a piece of body art on his back may explain his disposition.

“The tattoo is a feather pen, and it goes in to birds,” he described. “The meaning behind it is basically, I write all these songs and after I’m finished writing the song, it just goes out and does its own thing. Whether that bird goes all the way to Japan, or whether that bird just does a little flap and then drops on the floor, it doesn’t matter, because there’s more birds.”

He continued that his outlook on songs is similar to my outlook on women. Not true, but point taken.

“If I go to you and I’m like, ‘Here’s this joint, let me know if you like it, let me know if you’re in love with it,’” Derülo said as an example of how he goes about asking for and receiving artists’ blessings to use their work. “And if you’re not, then that’s totally fine, then I’ll do my own thing.”

Derülo’s debut LP linked him to both the approval and denial of sample usage. His first hit, “Whatcha Say,” used Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek.” His third hit, “Ridin’ Solo,” initially used a sample of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” which itself is borrowed from the Rolling Stones. It wasn’t until after the song leaked on to the Internet that the sample did not clear. Derülo went back to the lab with producer J.R. Rotem, switched out the sample, and released the record. The song cracked the top ten in five countries and sold about five million copies worldwide.

On Derülo’s latest album, Future History, the beat on Robyn’s “Show Me Love” was reworked for the lead single, “Don’t Wanna Go Home.” In the song “Fight For You,” which Derülo recently released a music video for, portions of Toto’s “Africa” are borrowed.

“There’s different markets around the world that move faster than America does,” explained Derülo of why there are already four music videos for songs off his last LP despite only two singles hitting radio here in the States. “Right now, ‘Breathing’ is top five in Australia. In different areas, there are different singles, so it is kind of confusing.”

A representative for Warner Brothers Records said “Breathing” would probably be the next single for radio off of Future History. Derülo will wrap his year with some more radio commitments, before returning home to his family in Miami for the holidays.