photo: Samir Hussein/Getty ImagesMelanie Brown, aka Mel B, aka Scary Spice, got her showbiz start singing “Wannabe” with Britain’s Spice Girls. And now she’ll be judging America’s wannabes, starting May 28, when she spices up the “America’s Got Talent” Season 8 judging panel alongside returning judges Howard Stern and Howie Mandel.

Mel will replace longtime judge Sharon Osbourne, who acrimoniously left “AGT” last year to protest NBC allegedly firing her multiple-sclerosis-stricken son, Jack Osbourne, from the adventure competition “Stars Earn Stripes.” (NBC reps denied Sharon’s claim, but she quit anyway.)

photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesCall it the Kelly Clarkson vs. Clive Davis rematch. And once again, I'm totally Team Kelly on this one.

Some context: Back in 2007, the Original Idol famously feuded with BMG Records honcho Clive over her "controversial" and largely self-penned third album, My December (aka The Album Clive Davis Didn't Want You To Hear), and its supposed lack of commercial appeal. Along with Kelly's poorly timed decisions to fire her management firm (um, called The Firm) and cancel her summer tour just two weeks before My December's street date, there were those distressing rumors about Clive "I Don't Hear A Single" Davis humiliating her in record-label board meetings. And that gossip about him dangling a $10 million carrot in front of her face, in an attempt to persuade her to excise five tracks from the album that apparently didn't sound enough like "Since U Been Gone Part 2: Electric Boogaloo." And so on.

While My December failed to sell as well Kelly’s first two albums (no doubt partially thanks to Clive's smear campaign and a lack of overall label support), it performed respectably, and her career eventually rebounded. But this battle isn’t over, apparently. This Tuesday, Kelly took to Twitter to blast her old mentor/nemesis over his recollection of their stormy professional relationship in his new autobiography, The Soundtrack Of My Life--and the virtual vitriol she spewed was actually reminiscent of My December’s ferocious first single, "Never Again."

Let me preface this article by stating that I think Dr. Drew Pinsky--the addiction medicine specialist behind "Loveline," "Lifechangers," and most notably VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" and its spinoff shows, "Sex Rehab" and "Sober House"--does some fine work. Many celebrities that he has treated, like Mackenzie Phillips and "American Idol's" Nikki McKibbin, not to mention countless non-celebs, have been greatly helped by the good doctor. But Dr. Drew is not a miracle worker, and a (somewhat exploitative) reality show about addiction treatment is certainly no instant cure-all. And never has this been more apparent than it is now, in light of the suicide of troubled country singer Mindy McCready. Mindy, a veteran of "Celebrity Rehab" Season 3 who famously suffered an on-camera seizure when she was on the show, is the fifth "Rehab" alum to die in just the past two years.

Casey James has become one of the biggest success stories from "American Idol's" otherwise troubled ninth season, signing to Sony Nashville; touring across the nation with the likes of Sugarland; and being embraced by the Nashville community, just like fellow non-winner country Idols Kellie Pickler, Bucky Covington, and Josh Gracin. Last year, the guitar-shredding Texas rocker released his self-titled debut album, and he has been touring nonstop pretty much ever since. So when Casey's never-ending road travels took him through Los Angeles recently, naturally he stopped by Yahoo! Music headquarters to fill Reality Rocks in on what he's been up to, how far he's come since he competed on "Idol" three years ago, and what's in store for him in 2013.