Video - Austin Mahone Mobbed in Chicago – Police Shut Down “Meet and Greet”

Mahone in a Chicago Hotel

It seems that becoming famous can be a hard job at times.

Fifteen-year-old singer Austin Mahone visited Chicago today to have a simple meet-and-greet with his fans when he was over-run by Mahomies.

Austin, who had been sending Keek’s all morning keeping his fans updated on his trip to Chicago, at first told his Mahomies NOT to meet him at Navy Pier because there were too many people expected.

After moving the event to “The Bean” sculpture in Millennium Park, thousands of Austin fans rushed to the area causing quite an influx of excited and hyperventilated young girls.



Police quickly whisked Austin and his mother away to a secure building next to the park until they could figure out what to do.

The meetup was eventually cancelled out of concern for the safety of Austin, his Mother, and his fans.

Police told the singer that if he plans to use the park in the future he needs his own security team and must notify the city several weeks in advance so they can plan for crowd control.

Mahone took to twitter to tell his fans that the event had been cancelled.

“Mahomies, it’s really hard for me to say this but i can’t do a meetup on this trip - the police won’t let me do it, I’m so sorry... Dont worry I’m okay and you didn’t do anything wrong!!”

Where was Kenny Hamilton when we really needed him?

World Famous Body Guard Kenny Hamilton

For those of you who don’t know who Austin Mahone is, then you must have been living under a rock.

Austin is a 15-year-old singer from Houston Texas whose YouTube videos have created a grass-roots sensation around him created by his diehard fans.

Related: Meet Austin Mahone. Social Media Genius or the Next Justin Bieber? – Video

Austin just released his first collaborated music video cover “NO AIR” by Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks.

The singer teamed up with singer Alyssa Shouse for his first professional music video.

Watch Austin Mahone and Alyssa Shouse “No Air” Music Video


Not bad for a kid who still goes to school and records all his covers in his bedroom with store bought recording equipment.

Let’s see… the last time that happened, it turned out to be - Justin Bieber.

Austin, if you need any bail money just let us know… we know a few people in Chicago.

Just saying…

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We love Chicago...

Video - Austin Mahone Might Have Just Hit the Big Time with His “How to Love” Cover by Lil Wayne

Austin Mahone

Okay, we’ve been watching Austin Mahone for the last year - watching him slowly improve his covers and voice quality over time.

While we we’re impressed in the early days, he seemed a bit timid and a bit unwilling to totally let himself get lost in a song. He seemed a bit shy.

But a couple of months ago, Mahone started using either reverb, compression, or a delay with his video recordings and it stepped up his game by a mile.

A big fat Texas style mile…

There was a HUGE improvement over his earlier videos.

And tonight, Austin Mahone just released his latest cover which is “How to Love” by Lil Wayne – a song that’s been covered by a lot of singers including Justin Bieber.

And we got to say that Austin’s version just blew us away. In fact, we think that his version of “How to Love” may very well be the video that finally gets him noticed.

For those of you who aren’t musicians, “How to Love” is a very hard and somewhat technical song to play and sing.

It is NOT for the timid and shy – and he NAILED it.

Austin Mahone has grown up. He has improved. He now seems able to quickly learn any song he wants, and compile a very professional sounding video with just the right amount of effects to make it sound great.

That may not sound impressive until you realize he is NOT in a $10 million dollar digital studio with sound technicians and guru mixers.

He does it in his bedroom!

You have to listen to it to see what we mean….



As much as we hate to admit it, we like Austin’s version better than Lil Wayne’s.

Now, that brings us to Justin Bieber…

Justin also covered the song and it WAS in a $10 million dollar studio. While Justin’s version was powerful, we think Mahone’s was almost as good but in a more pleasurable, romantic, and “pure acoustic” way – without all the HIV drama and hip/hop rap that’s in Lil Wayne’s music video.

Anyway, we think that this cover is the one that some producer for Ellen, L.A. Reid, or some other Indy label or A/R person is going to hear – AND THEY’RE GOING TO TAKE NOTICE AND COME KNOCKING.

Did you hear that Austin?

You better sit down and take a deep breath because it may be awhile before you have a chance to rest those tired feet once they find you.

Get ready – we think you just recorded the video that’s going to make you famous.

We hope we’re right. We first wrote about Austin in in July when we we’re blown away by the fan following he had accumulated via social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and his Blog.

Related: Meet Austin Mahone – Social Media Genius or the Next Justin Bieber? – Video

Mahone seems to be hitting on all the right cylinders, and doing everything right in the social media world. He has a great voice and the ability to pick up various music styles quickly.

We’re afraid the only thing left to happen now is for his fans to help get him noticed by an important person or music label so he can get famous and start recording his own music.

Austin on the beach

Personally, we can’t wait.

And we know about 500,000 other people who will be beating down the doors of the record store to buy his first album.

Hear that L.A. Reid? Hear That Ellen? Hear that music industry people? Hear that A/R scouts?

We’re just saying – you better snap this kid up because he is going to leave you in the dust if you don’t get him a deal fast.

And Austin, when you hit it big - please don’t forget about us small, yet humble blogs that helped get your story out.

Congrats. You have come a long way.

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We are Mahomies now.

Photos - Austin Mahone Shirtless Pictures and Video

Okay Austin Mahone fans, we heard you.

For months you have been asking for a page of shirtless Austin Mahone pictures so we figured we would put one up for you die hard super fans and Mahomies.

We even added an extra video of Austin on the beach surfing and acting like a goof!

We searched the world and assembled what we thought were the best photos of Austin Mahone shirtless while at the beach, at the pool, or just hanging out around town having fun.

For those of you who don’t know that much about Austin, here is a little background on him with thoughts about his music, YouTube Channel, and social media strategy:

Video - Meet Austin Mahone: Social Media Genius or the Next Justin Bieber?

Now that you know who he is, you should know that Mahone is poised to be the next big thing on the teen music scene.

With his release of the cover “How to Love” by Lil Wayne, Austin may well be on the brink of hitting it big.

Video - Austin Mahone Might Have Just Hit the Big Time with His “How to Love” Cover by Lil Wayne

Anyway, back to the pictures.

Austin Mahone Shirtless in a boat!!!

Here is a little extra video of Austin on the beach in a funny movie trailer spoof video.



We think this kid is going to be a star.

If you like this post, please “Like” it to your Facebook by clicking the “Like” button at the bottom of the screen.

Let’s help get the word out and help Austin become famous!

Be a Mahomie and share the love!

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We wish we were at the beach today.

Video - Jamie Laou, Justin Bieber’s Mirror Image Takes Internet by Storm - What’s His Story?

The internet can be a fickle thing.

It can make you a star or it can cause your downfall.

Is Australian teenager Jamie Laou going to be the next Justin Bieber?

Probably not – and that’s OK with him.

But 17-year-old Laou is taking the internet by storm anyway, and is quickly building a fan base – simply because he looks just like pop singing sensation Justin Bieber.

What's Jamie Laou's bio?

Jamie lives in Sydney Australia and admits that he has a little Maltese blood in him. He also likes cupcakes and knows he is not the best singer or dancer in the world.

He says he just makes videos for fun – and nothing more.

It all started in 2009 when Jamie started a twitter account called @iJever then later changed to @Swagical, and a personal YouTube Channel.

"Everyone just ignored me at first, but whenever I got on a webcam on different sites the little girls would start crying. It was crazy. They all thought I was Justin Bieber. When I finally told them I wasn’t they didn’t seem to care and kept following me and watching my videos."

Today, Laou has almost 3 million views on his YouTube account and 122,000 Twitter followers on @iJever and @Swagical.

Just to prove a point, a local radio station took Laou out in public near Adele Australia to try and fool people into thinking he was Justin Bieber, and it was a smashing success.

There were fans running after the car and chasing him down in the mall. It was insane – everybody thought he was Justin.

Watch Jamie Laou Prank Fans in Adele


But when Jamie tried his hand at singing on his videos he quickly learned there were a lot of people out there that didn’t much care for his talent.

He admits he is not the best singer and says he is not trying to be the next Biebs.



And that doesn’t matter because Laou is a splitting image of Bieber and his fans don’t care if he can’t sing. He is not trying to duplicate the success and style of other splitting images like Austin Mahone who can sing, dance, and play the guitar and piano.

Jamie even admits,

“I do dance in a dance class, I sing girls to sleep over the phone and when I want to sing well they say I can, but when it’s just for fun, I’m an idiot ha-ha. It’s more of an alone in your room type of thing that everyone does.”

And after watching a few of his videos, you will realize that Jamie is not going to put Bieber out of business anytime soon with his singing.

But he does admit to being obsessed with Justin and his career, and even sparked a controversy when he tweeted that he felt the singer had changed and was no longer the sweet innocent little kid that everybody fell in love with.

That single tweet started an international dispute.

So much so, that Bieber himself got into a vicious DM direct message feud with Jamie and both sides said a few things they probably wish they could take back.

Laou was so upset by the exchange that he took to YouTube and made a video detailing his side of the story and actually showed the DM’s that Bieber had sent him.

Watch Jamie Laou and Justin Bieber Twitter Fight


Another controversy erupted with his fans when he announced he had a new girlfriend whose name coincidentally was Selina.

His fans were none too happy and immediately started sending messages and hate mail to her.

But at the end of the day, what is Jamie Laou trying to accomplish from this journey?

“I hope it will help with my acting, Haha. I hope I can make more people smile in the future and make sick kids forget they are sick and laugh a little. I want to show people that if I can do it then they can also. Making people laugh and smile is my goal. I’m trying to get people to join in on my videos by replying and leaving comments. Acting is what I’m doing. Drama is the funniest class in school. I guess it helps me in life.”

We also suspect there is a certain financial incentive for Jamie to get more followers.

The young entrepreneur currently sells advertising on his YouTube channel, sends paid sponsor advertisements via his twitter account, and sells various styles of wristbands on his website at laouver.com.

And just to show you the power of his social media skills, he frequently sets up a Tiny Chat session when he goes to bed at night and can have as many as 250 viewers do nothing but watch him sleep.

That is power.

What are some of the pitfalls Jamie has had to deal with?

Haters and bullies.

Jamie has his share of haters out there and they are constantly trying to start controversy. He frequently goes to bat for those who he sees being bullied telling his twitter followers,

"Promise me if you see anyone getting bullied that you will tell somebody, even a friend. You know that person is nice and doesn't deserve that.."

He says he has been called names and constantly has people tweeting him and his fans with negative and hateful comments.

“The worst thing somebody can do is call me a Wannabe. I just hate that word. They also call me fag and gay and all the other bully words. They accuse me of trying to be like Justin when all I’m trying to do is have fun. I do NOT make singing videos; I make random YouTube videos that make people laugh and ask them to come into my world where they can forget their problems.”

Jamie also realizes these types of problems come with the territory and affect any celebrity.

When asked if he can understand what Bieber must be going through he says,

“Yes, Bieber has it so hard I don’t know how he does it, I feel sorry for him and I see all these gossip sites starting rumors and telling lies about him. He’s 17-years-old not 34. People should leave him alone because this is the time of his life where you start to discover the world and do things - not hide from it and run away.”

And if you need advice on how to refine your appearance and be able to fool people into thinking your Bieber - then Jamie has some advice for you in the following video.

Jamie Laou Shows How to Look Like Justin Bieber


Time will tell where this grand adventure will take Mr. Laou, but we suspect he will graduate from High School soon and move on to his next adventure, and Bieber will become the next Justin Timberlake.

Jamie will be able to keep his fan base as long as he continues to interact with them on a daily basis and keeps cranking out the videos – and does not become too controversial.

He has already been removed from the search function in twitter due to the high number of swear words he uses in his comments.

But we all know that being a celebrity can be a slippery slope – one false move, one bad comment, and it can all be over.

Jamie says it best - "I'm not a Bieber wannabe. I'm myself; I'm just a teenage kid that has cool hair."

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We follow back!

Video - Meet Austin Mahone – Social Media Genius or the Next Justin Bieber?

Have you ever heard of Austin Mahone?

I bet your kids have. And they either love him or hate him – but they have heard of him.

So, who is Austin Mahone? What’s his bio?

Mahone lives in San Antonia Texas and is a 15-year-old singer and musician known for looking like Justin Bieber and recording cover songs on YouTube.

So what? There are lots of kids uploading videos and singing covers these days right?

But Mahone and his fans are different.

His fans are known as Mahomies - and he has his own Blog, Facebook, YouTube, Dailybooth, Tumblr, Twitter, SoundCloud, Formspring, and Myspace accounts.

He records popular cover songs and posts them to YouTube and interacts with his fans on a daily basis and claims that Justin Bieber is his favorite artist.



And oh yea, Mahone LOOKS like Justin Bieber and his fans love him.

The thing that fascinates us about this young man is his savvy for working the social media to create a name for himself while building his own fan base from the ground up without a record label or marketing rep.

He has learned to do what many adults and big companies have failed to do – create a successful brand.

In addition to uploading covers he has hundreds of thousands of Facebook fans, dedicated fan sites, over 13 million YouTube views, and sells t-shirts, posters, wristbands, Stickers, and Necklaces.

Heck, he's even been know to run around shirtless just to tease his female fans.

This is the kind of interaction that defines social media.

His fans love him but he admits that he also has haters saying,

“Haterz don’t matter to me because they are just jealous and the hateful words that they say are garbage. That’s why I don't listen to hate. I am curious of what haterz have to say sometimes just because I'm a curious person. But their opinions of me don't matter to me, because I’m not trying to please them.

What is important are my fans. I love them so much and everything they do for me. Haterz can't hurt you unless you let them. And I just have one last thing to say.... Haterz gonna hate Mahomies gonna love.”

Austin’s success is a prime example of how social media can springboard you into fame, build a fan base, and possibly launch a music career if you’re good enough.

So how powerful can a homegrown fan base be to a young artist like Mahone?



One day last week his fans decided he should appear on the “Ellen Show” with Ellen DeGeneres, and in one magnificent push of social media network power trended the phrase “#MahoneOnEllen” on twitter for the day as a worldwide trending topic.

His fans also bombarded DeGeneres’s Twitter and Facebook account and called her studio’s switchboard requesting she book Austin as a guest.

Why is this significant?

Because it was Ellen DeGeneres and her “eleveneleven” record label that discovered 14-year-old Greyson Chance.

And with less effort than Austin, Greyson has been propelled into a celebrity status with his first album “Hold on ‘til the Night” due to release next week.

Related: Greyson Chance gives video tour of his home town - Video

That kind of power by your own fans is exactly what made Justin Bieber what he is today.

One thing that helps make Mahone a fan favorite is he covers songs that are popular in today’s young music culture ranging from Cody Simpson, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Ne-yo, Usher, Adele, Chris Brown, and Edwin McCain.



So take note big record labels.

The youth of today have developed the social media skills to find, fall in love, promote, and make famous the musical artists THEY want to see and listen to - not who YOU want them to listen to.

Not that there’s not any place for “big music”, but things are changing these days and kids have grown frustrated with the “business as usual” mentality shown by the music industry.

They say that “necessity is the mother of invention”, and our kids are inventing a new way to communicate and enjoy their favorite artists and musicians.

We hope some of the adults out there are listening because these kids can teach us a thing or two about what makes them tick – and they are showing us what it is they want to listen to and who they want to fall in love with as a fan.

After all, if Justin Bieber's pet cat "Spaz" can get his own @Justins_Cat twitter account - than anything is possible!

Related: Justin Bieber's pet cat Spaz joins Twitter

Time will tell if a shirtless Austin Mahone will become the next big teen idol or music sensation…

But shouldn’t we be listening to what they are trying to tell us?

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter - We follow back!