Shark Bytes

Jumped for good when that fat, egotistical bitch Aretha "I'll have four double cheeseburgers, extra large fries, and a Diet Coke please" Franklin hijacked the first show. As if her showing up in one of her hideous unflattering outfits and shrieking like a cat in heat wasn't enough, the audience also had to put up with her arrogant disregard for the other women sharing the stage with her. Miss Ree proved that day that, in spite of all her wealth, she remains pure ghetto trash to this day!

VH1 made their first wrong turn in 1999, the year after the first landmark concert. Okay, so they didn't think they were going to produce any future shows post "Divas Live 1999." Well, they did and it was all downhill from there. While the 1998 show had a little bit of something for everyone and was well constructed, the second show was seemed to be inexplicably thrown together at the last minute. Brandy, a diva? Don't get me wrong, I like the girl to a point, but at then 20 years old she had NO BUSINESS being a headliner at a concert with the word "Diva" in the title.

VH1 screwed up that year by making eventual Divas 2004 headliner Patti LaBelle their second choice. According to some of the reviews on IMDb.com VH1 wanted Brandy FIRST and would have only asked Patti if Brandy was unavailable. When Brandy was booked, Pattie was then asked to be her guest. Ha! Ms. LaBelle was understandably insulted as she has been performing longer than "Moesha" star has been alive. Can you blame her for being upset? It took them five years to get her to reconsider.

It's that little anecdote there, that makes me realize how deluded todays mass market is. When psycho Britney Spears fan Chris Crocker can get a reality show for posting a rant filled video on YouTube, you know we've got a problem.

In short, in 1998 VH1 had a fresh idea: create a show with some high profile entertainers brought together to perform their biggest hits along with a few once in a lifetime collaborations.

Over the years, the idea went stale, mostly due to the marketing consultants pushing to get fresh out of the starting gate newbies who have only ONE hit single/album to their names, over time tested veterans we all know by one name: Bette, Anita, Dolly, Pat, Shirley, Taylor, Annie, Sade, Patti (Austin), Natalie, etc.

I'm sure there are others, but hopfully you get the point.

When Celin Dion played air guitar to "You Shook Me All Night Long". That, and the majority of the performers were just flavors-of-the-month, and not actual legendary divas with impressive careers or, more importantly, voices. I would have rather seen RuPaul than Jessica Simpson.

Mariah was absolutely great her duet with Aretha was good.

The show with Mariah Carey was the best Divas Live concert I've seen. Even then, Aretha tried to take over the show. I've got nothing against Aretha, but everyone should have gotten a fair shake. Not a Celine fan, though she can definitely sing, but not a great sight to see. Mariah is the best talent out there by a long shot (and gorgeous too), so any Divas show without her won't qualify. That goes for all the other talents (Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Patti La belle, etc) as well. I think they should do the show less often to keep respect for those who truly are the most talented. To me a diva also has to be around for while and possess raw talent as well as grace. Some of the younger talents (such as Christina Aguilera) may possess the latter, but haven't been around long enough. Make them wait. Or better yet, have a "Divas to be" concert. But by no means should they be considered a Diva yet. Even Mariah (after over 10 years of topping the charts said she was only a "diva in training". In the end, you're sending the message that anyone with one hit can be called a Diva. There need to be stricter measures out there. And no more than one new person inducted into the "Divadom" at a time.

This show was great when it was Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and the like. Actual DIVAS who can/could actually sing. Then The headliner was Patti Labelle. Oh no.

This last show was the last straw. Why do they insist on putting these fifteen-minutes-of-famers like Jessica Simpson, Ashanti, Joss Stone on these shows to draw a young audience and have them sing not only on the same stage but multiple times WITH such great and talented artists like Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight?! Knight makes singing look like an effortless task and LaBelle sends chills up your spine. Jessica Simpson is not only a bad singer, but a bad screamer--and if she is going to continue to perform, someone needs to give her lessons on gracefulness and physical movement while onstage. During each song, she at any given time looked like she was going to devour the microphone, jerk her head off her body by thrusting it forward, and had trouble with simple rhythmic movements that appeared painful for her. To have her perform in that manner next to a great talent like Gladys Knight, and no less one of Knight's signature songs is bordering on disrespectful to such a legend as Knight. This Joss Stone is so not talented that it is almost embarrassing. And what is with the harem outfits? Is that suppose to be her bohemian version of Alanis Morrissette look? Because it certainly doesn't divert anyone's attention from her below average talent. So she has a raspy alto voice that is loud. How many smoker's don't? When did that pass for talent? And could we please stop with the spanning the octaves in the air with our hands movement? Okay, we get. You are trying to show some sort of scary range with your voice. Unfortunately, the only person that can actually do that is, I believe Mariah Carey, and it's even annoying when she does it. If you don't have a voice, showing us the hand movement while you are singing is not going to make us believe you can do it. The thing is LaBelle and Knight don't resort to that sort of nonsense. They have voices that are original, high-quality, and full of emotion and sincerity. Why? Because these two women have personalities and character that they bring to each performance. Jessica Simpson has nothing to offer in a rendition of any song-much less a soulful one. If you watch her show, she is about as shallow as a puddle on a slab of sidewalk. Joss Stone is all of 20-somehthing and tries to sing like she is a 50 yr. old reincarnation of Odetta. I'm not even going to discuss Ashanti. That would take pages. Ladies, you have to live life in order to sing with feeling and soulfulness. Unfortunately, the personality and charisma part doesn't come with age, so can't help you there...unless they invent personality transplants in the near future, you're all doomed. Better hope your looks last a loooonnng time........

I thought "VH1 Divas" was the worst idea VH1 had ever conceived. It so jumped the shark from day one. I recently saw Sunday night's performance and my god! It was terrible. Ashanti cannot sing a single note. She has a very thin voice. Jessica Simpson was even worse with her cover of Berlin's "Take My Breathe Away". Judging by the way she looked when she was performing the song, she looked awfully constipated. There was not one good moment from Sunday's concert. The only good thing to come out of the show is the money going to save the music program.

This year's VH1 Divas line-up: Jessica Simpson? No! She can sing but hits way too many high notes and manages to ruin songs like TAKE MY BREATH AWAY. It also doesn't help that whoever picks her songs needs to be bitch-slapped. Ashanti? No! As a background singer, she's perfect. As a lead singer, her voice is very thin. If it wasn't for her collaborations with Ja Rule, would anyone even remember her? I think not. Joss Stone? Not yet, but she shows promise. Patti LaBelle, Cyndi Lauper, & Debbie Harry? Absolutely!!

In "The American Heritage College Dictionary", diva is defined as "An operatic prima donna." Prima donna is defined as "The leading woman soloist in an opera company." The definition for prima donna goes further when describing "A temperamental, conceited person." So both have similar definitions, if not the same definition. Over time, both terms have developed connotations that involve bitchy behavior. So I am aware of the term "prima donna." It wasn't my intention to start a flame war.

DIVA DEFINITIONS CROSS-SECTIONED UNDER PRIMA DONNA: 1 : a principal female singer in an opera or concert organization 2 : an extremely sensitive, vain, or undisciplined person OK, if we want to call Aretha a diva, or Madonna a diva, they've earned it. Not only have they been around longer than dirt, whether you like their personal styles or not, they have talent and appeal, which makes them the icons that they are. While they don't exactly fit the "opera" bill, which is really where the term diva belongs, you can still call them this if you use it in a careful, modern sense of the word. Heck, if Elton John wants to be a diva, by God, let him because we all know that he's more woman than some of the women (like Brandee) that have been on this show. That's just it, though. If you want to count divas in the music world, there are few, which means that this show should have aired once, and all the "pop divas" should have been on there, and that's that. No more.At that point, it's not divas, it's flavor of the month female entertainers, or female singers that happen to be pretty darn good. I hate Celine Dion with a purple passion, but that hardly means she's got no talent. She's just not a diva. So, this show jumped by being a regular show and not a one time special.

Thanks to the person who supplied the definition of "diva." To the person who decided that it means "bitch," perhaps the term you're thinking of is "prima donna." I like watching the Divas from time to time (although I too am of the opinion that none of them qualify for that title) because, as a singer, I get a kick out of seeing what passes for talent these days. Aretha kicks ass; Celine is seriously overrated. But taste is individual and no one should have to apologize for what entertains them, as long as they're not hurting anyone!

First, to the poster who gave us the webster's definition of Diva--thanks, but it was superfluous. I don't agree that a Diva is "simply" a bitch (though she MAY have bitch qualities). To ME, a Diva is a strong woman (in any field) who has paid dues, evolved, made mistakes, continued to deepen herself, made a mark BEYOND HER OWN INDUSTRY, is UNAPOLOGETIC about her fabulousness, oh yeah and has ass-kicking talent. I agree with one of the first posts: "Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Gloria Estefan, Cher, Brandy and especially Faith Hill, do not strike me as being divas" Me either! The last one I could make it all the way through was the Ross one. I think Ree IS a diva and my only comment about her weight is that I hope I don't wake up one day soon to a news story beginning "Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin is......" I can't even type it! Get help, Ree--we love you and want you to be HEALTHY! A lot of this is subjective, but in MY definition (and I go back farther than many of you apparently do) THESE ladies are Divas: Leontyne Price (fitting the "correct" definition), Mahalia Jackson, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day (yes I said Doris Day--get some of her jazz cds--she kicks ASS)Edith Piaf, Martha Reeves, Ross (although she should be suspended from "Divadom" until she stops singing flat and forgetting lyrics), Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Pat Benatar, Nancy Wilson (jazz), Nancy Wilson (rock), Grace Slick, Donna Summer, Flora Purim (sang w/ Chick Corea) --I could go on. DIVAS IN WAITING: Jill Scott, Faith Evans, Christina Aguilera (I grant you she has to work on image and material)

LeeAnn Rimes as a Diva. I would think that to be called a Diva, you have to at least be a grown up! When I think of Diva, I think of a woman, not a child.

The first Divas was entertaining only for the vocal catfights, but as it went on they focused on one diva. Yes Diana Ross and Aretha are divas, but this year, who did they get? Reruns basically (Celine Dion and Cher). I enjoyed Ellen Degeneres' rap and Cyndi Lauper, but otherwise it continued to suck. I think it's all right to feature newcomers but some are not divas (Brandy, Nelly Furtado, etc.). Whoever said that Shakira was not a diva was wrong, she is a very famous artist in latin america, despite the fact that she only has one english album to her name. I will say this though: They need someone who would kick ass like Madonna.