MUSIC NEWS: D’ANGELO HEADLINING ‘ESSENCE MUSIC FESTIVAL’ / MARIAH WRITES MUSIC FOR NEW MOVIE / NICKI MINAJ ANNOUNCES TOUR

After returning from his 10-year hiatus, D’Angelo recently embarked on a mini European tour. Now months later, the R&B soul singer is heading to this year’s Essence Music Festival and will take the stage alongside the likes of Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, SWV and more:

Lovers of steamy R&B will need to bring a fan to New Orleans this July 4th weekend because Grammy-award winning crooner D’Angelo and the oh-so-sexy Trey Songz will be turning up the heat at the 2012 ESSENCE Music Festival.

While this will be Songz’s third EMF appearance in three years, D’Angelo’s performance will mark his highly-anticipated return to the stage after 10 years away from the spotlight. The EMF performance will be his first U.S. appearance in a decade. [SOURCE]

Looks like the Essence Music Festival is going to be pretty good this year. For more information on how you can attend the 3-day music festival weekend, visit EssenceMusicFestival.com.

After recently celebrating her fourth anniversary in Paris, France, Mariah Carey is back to business. The singer-songwriter took to her Twitter page and announced that she’ll be taking part in the soundtrack for the Lee Daniels-directed movie, ‘The Paperboy.’ The mother of two excitedly tweeted: “Lil’ excited to share with you that I wrote a song for Lee Daniels’ new movie “The Paperboy” called Mesmerized!”

You may remember that Daniels and Carey worked together for the Oscar-nominated film, ‘Precious’ back in 2009. ‘The Paperboy,’ which will premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, follows a reporter’s return to his hometown to start an investigation of a death row inmate’s case. Congrats to Mariah!

Nicki MInaj is taking on a North American tour to promote her latest album, ‘Pink Friday: Roman Friday.’ The “Starships” singer will kick it off in the Windy City of Chicago at The Chicago Theatre and end in Canada at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Below are the scheduled dates:

July 16 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre July 17 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre Detroit July 19 – Cleveland, OH – State Theatre at Playhouse Square July 22 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre Atlanta July 24 – Miami, FL – James L. Knight Center July 26 – Birmingham, AL – Boutwell Auditorium July 28 – Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center July 29 – Dallas, TX – Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie July 31 – St. Louis, MO – Peabody Opera House August 2 – Denver, CO – Wells Fargo Theatre August 4 – Las Vegas, NV – Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino August 7 – Phoenix, AZ – Comerica Theatre August 11 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre August 12 – Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Visit Nicki Minaj’s official website, MyPinkFriday.com for more info on tickets.