The Beatles are getting a two-hour special on CBS.

"The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles," which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four's U.S. debut performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964, will air Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014 from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT, the network announced Thursday.

Taping the day after the Grammys on Monday, Jan. 27, the special will also highlight the legacy of the seven-time Grammy-winning group.

Though though no names were announced, CBS says that "today's top artists" will cover songs performed by the Beatles while appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show," as well as other songs throughout the group's career. Various presenters will also highlight the impact -- musical, cultural and historical -- of the group and their TV appearance, which drew 74 million viewers.

“That night 50 years ago on the Ed Sullivan stage, the Beatles delivered a momentous performance, and America witnessed a historic television event and the beginning of a new era in music,” said Jack Sussman, CBS Entertainment executive VP of specials and events.

Added Neil Portnow, president/CEO of The Academy: "As the Grammy Awards are music’s biggest night, it's only fitting that we recognize this milestone moment in music history and pay tribute to this larger-than-life group and their enduring music and legacy.”

AEG Ehrlich Ventures will produce the special, with Ken Ehrlich as executive producer.

With the 50th anniversary of "Beatlemania" arriving early next year, Capitol Records will re-release all of 13 the Beatles' American releases in a set titled "The U.S. Albums."

The set drops Jan. 21 in North America and features reissues of the band's 13 American albums -- albums that often held different track lists, song mixes, titles, and art than their U.K. counterparts. Five of them (listed below) have never been available on CD before. Pre-orders are available here.

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The collection begins with 1964's "Meet the Beatles!" and concludes with 1970's "Hey Jude," though all albums except from the latter fall between the years 1964 and 1966, when the band most often released differing albums in the U.S. and Britain.

The 13 CDs come with carefully-replicated album art (including the albums' inner sleeves), along with a 64-page booklet with photos and original LP artwork. All titles come in mono and stereo, except "The Beatles’ Story" and "Hey Jude," which are stereo only.

For a limited time, the CDs (with the exception of the audio commentary album "The Beatles' Story") all titles will be available individually as well.

Weeks after the Jan. 21 release of the box set, the music world will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' arrival in America on Feb. 7, 1964, when the quartet famously touched down in New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. Two nights later, they made their legendary 5-song performance on the "Ed Sullivan Show," and on Feb. 11, they played their first U.S. concert at Washington, DC's Washington Coliseum.

A two-hour special titled “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles,” will air on CBS on Feb. 9 at 8 PM (ET), marking the exact 50-year anniversary of the "Sullivan" performance.

Here's a full list of the 13 albums included:

Meet The Beatles! (1964)
The Beatles’ Second Album (1964)
A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1964) *
Something New (1964)
The Beatles’ Story (1964) *
Beatles ’65 (1965)
The Early Beatles (1965)
Beatles VI (1965)
Help! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1965)
Rubber Soul (1965)
Yesterday And Today (1966) *
Revolver (1966) *
Hey Jude (1970) *

* American version previously unavailable on CD

The Queen of Soul plans to give the royal treatment to some songs made famous by other iconic female singers for her next album.

Aretha Franklin tells Billboard that she plans to hit the studio on Jan. 1 near her home town of Detroit to lay vocals atop of tracks currently being made by producers Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Don Was, with Clive Davis serving as executive producer.

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"It's a concept CD," says Franklin, noting that the 10 tracks she and Davis selected from an "ultimate list" include Barbra Streisand's "People" and Donna Summer's "Last Dance."

"I'm even thinking of (Destiny's Child's) 'Bootylicious'," Franklin adds with a laugh.

"It's just re-working some things that were very, very good and certainly chartworthy and sold a lot of records," says Franklin, who hopes to have the album out during the second quarter of 2014 on RCA Records. "They're records that, musically, I respected and that I liked a lot and that I would love to have one go-'round with. I aspire for musical excellence. I have very high standards where music is concerned, and I'm looking for something I haven't done, something that you haven't heard and something just absolutely smashing."

Franklin says she's been leaving Babyface and Was to their own devices while recording the instrumental tracks.

"We haven't had a lot of discussion," she notes. "I'm pretty much leaving it up to their expertise in that area. We all have a great deal of respect for each other. They're not anybody that I would question. They've got great track records and I believe they're going to bring it home, and I'll do the rest. So I'm waiting with baited breath to hear what they're doing."

Franklin is also intrigued by the prospect of working for the first time with Detroit homeboy Was.

"I just met him and learned about the things that he's been doing with Bonnie Raitt and the Rolling Stones and all the people that he's been working with," Franklin says. "Each person that I spoke with about him had nothing but good things to say about him and a lot of praise and admiration. I know for certain Mr. Davis would not have asked him if he couldn't do the job."

Franklin had to cancel a number of shows earlier this year due to an unspecified medical condition, but she says she's "feeling well and ready to go." She performs Dec. 21 in Detroit and is booked for shows on Jan. 17-18 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, with plans to perform during March in Atlantic City, with Toronto also in the spring and make-up dates for canceled shows in Montreal and Ottawa. She's also pursuing a distribution deal for her Aretha's Records label, which will be putting out albums by her son Kecalf, a Christian rapper, and grandson Jordan, a pop singer.

Once the ball drops in Times Square, Billy Joel will be the first singer to welcome in 2014 on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest."

The ABC telecast will cross the East River to Joel’s concert at Brooklyn’s Barclay Center at five minutes past midnight for a live broadcast from his New Year’s Eve show.

“This should be one of our more memorable new year’s eves,” says “New Year's Rockin' Eve” executive producer Barry Adelman. “With Miley Cyrus at 11:40 pm and Billy Joel at 12:05 am it should be a great great night.”

Blondie, Miley Cyrus, Mac...NYE Lineup

The 5-1/2 hours of music programming on Dec. 31 begins at 8 p.m. with the two-hour “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Presents the 30 Greatest Women in Music,” continues with the live broadcast from New York City from 10 to 11 p.m. before a half-hour break. Performances continue from 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Blondie, Icona Pop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Cyrus will perform in New York; Capital Cities, Daughtry, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy, Florida Georgia Line, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Enrique Iglesias, Robin Thicke and the Fray perform in Los Angeles. Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy will be the hosts in Times Square; Fergie is emcee of the L.A. portion.

“We like ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ to be a review of the year in music,” Adelman says of the bookings. “It’s people who made a great impact on the charts. Icona Pop was so big throughout the year, Macklemore dominated the charts all year long and Robin Thicke has the (No. 2) song of the year on the Billboard (Hot 100). We always give artists a chance to do new material as well.”

Dick Clark Leaves a Rocki...preciation

Last year’s edition of the 11:30 p.m.-1 a.m. show posted its highest ratings in 11 years. “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Part 1” was watched by 22.2 million total viewers, 9.7 million of which are in the 18-49 demographic. It was ABC’s second most watched non-sports telecast behind only the Academy Awards. “Part 2” had an average audience of 6.4 million total viewers.

“We have become an American tradition,” Adelman says of a show that began in 1972 aboard the Queen Mary on Long Beach, Calif., with Three Dog Night as the talent. “So many people have grown up with the show.”

Numerous digital activations will occur during the show via Twitter and on abc.com that are designed to “complement and enhance” the show. “Anybody who wants to join the conversation will have plenty of opportunity,” he says. “It’s something we encourage.”

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Simon Cowell Calls Gaga A 'Boring Singer,' Disses Beyonce & Katy Perry

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By Jeff Benjamin | September 28, 2011 2:35 PM EDT

Simon Cowell may have blacklisted a few top names from performing on his newly launched stateside "X Factor." The blatant brute recently spoke to the UK's The Daily Mirror about several chart-topping females' voices, as well as his former co-worker Ryan Seacrest.

"If you only ever heard Lady Gaga, she's the most boring singer in the world," Cowell said of the pop star, who has performed both on "American Idol" and the UK version of "X Factor" while Simon was on the judging panel.

"You've got to see her [Gaga] -- you need TV. Same with Beyoncé. Or Katy Perry. We're all about image. You have to have that X factor," he continued. Beyoncé had appeared on the finale of the 2008 season of "X Factor" to duet with finalist Alexandra Burke, while Perry sat next to Cowell as a guest judge during season nine "Idol" national auditions.

Cowell continued to push his new musical venture -- which will give the winner a recording contract and five million dollars -- by dissing the host of his former show, "Idol's" Ryan Seacrest, while upping "X Factor" host Steve Jones. "He's tall, dark, British -- he's basically completely the opposite of Ryan Seacrest. You've got to add in intelligent as well."

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