Guard was shot inside Drake’s home and had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, while the assailant fled in a vehicle
A security guard at the mansion of Canadian hip-hop artist Drake has been “seriously injured” in a shooting outside the musician’s Toronto home.
The victim, an adult male, was rushed to a Toronto hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries following the shooting early on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Audience had ‘vitriolic reaction’ to European tone of musical, forced to close early
Rufus Wainwright has defended his musical Opening Night, which was forced to close early after mixed reviews, saying West End audiences lack “curiosity” after Brexit and the British press had turned on the project because it was “too European”.
Opening Night was Wainwright’s first musical and is an adaptation of John Cassavetes’ 1977 film about an actor struggling to cope, who is played by Sheridan Smith. Directed by Ivo van Hove, it opened in March at the Gielgud theatre but a month later announced it would be closing two months early.
Continue reading...Drake says ‘I feel disgusted’ by allegations, as enmity between rap superstars deepens following weekend flurry of diss tracks
Drake has denied allegations of child sex offences and of him harbouring a secret child, both levelled at him by Kendrick Lamar in recent days.
The enmity between the rap superstars has escalated over a series of diss tracks in the past few weeks, culminating in a flurry of activity during the weekend with three tracks by Lamar and two by Drake.
Continue reading...Area around Rio de Janeiro beach filled for several blocks as singer closes her Celebration world tour
With the world-famous statue towering over it from Corcovado mountain, Rio de Janeiro is well used to Christ the Redeemer. For one night only this weekend, it also had Madonna.
More than a million people thronged Copacabana beach on Saturday night, turning its vast stretch of sand into a massive dancefloor for a free concert by the pop star as she completed her world tour.
Continue reading...Daniel Rooney stood in at 30-minutes’ notice on Friday night when Murs’ flight from London was cancelled
A Scottish singer has said he is “still on a high” after being plucked from obscurity to replace Olly Murs as the opening act for Take That at the last minute.
Murs was due to open for Take That at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on Friday but had to pull out after getting stuck in London after his flight was cancelled.
Continue reading...She’s set to depose Taylor Swift from No 1 and has the most-streamed song in the world this week – the culmination of a decade of slow-burn success
Capped with one of the most brilliantly nonsensical chorus lines in pop history – “That’s that me, espresso” – Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso is the most streamed song in the world this week, deposed Taylor Swift as the UK’s No 1 single yesterday and is shaping up to be the critics’ pick for the song you won’t be able to escape this summer.
Since its release in mid-April, this irresistible shot of nu-disco has been steadily climbing the charts to become one of the only tracks holding its own against the tidal wave of songs from Taylor Swift’s double-disc The Tortured Poets Department. Carpenter was recently released from Swift’s Eras tour juggernaut, having supported the superstar on her dates in Latin America, Australia and Singapore. Anointed by Swift as a “sweet angel princess”, she is now rising through the ranks to become pop royalty in her own right.
Continue reading...Papy Booom runs outings for older people, and late-night dancing is proving a successful way of socialising and staying active
A Belgian initiative with the motto “happiness overcomes old age” has found a novel way to counter feelings of loneliness among nursing home residents: unleashing them on to the dancefloor of Brussels’ largest nightclub.
As part of a series of unconventional activities designed to keep retired people active, a nonprofit association, Papy Booom, recently arranged for 11 pensioners to visit Lift Brussels, a 1,360 sq metre (14,500 sq ft) venue specialising in R&B, reggaeton and Latin dance.
Continue reading...Some fans of A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie were already at the arena, which has been beset by delays, when the gig was called off
The troubled Co-op Live arena has again cancelled its opening concert at the last minute because of a “technical issue”.
The US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s show was supposed to be the first official event at the 23,500-capacity Manchester venue, after several shows were cancelled or postponed in the past two weeks.
Continue reading...Euphoria is the latest in the hip-hop heavyweights’ fight via songs, which has now drawn in some of the biggest names in rap
Kendrick Lamar has released a new diss track against Drake titled Euphoria – the latest in a long-running feud between the two hip-hop heavyweights which was reignited earlier this year and has since ballooned into a “civil war” among rap’s upper echelons.
The song, which shares a name with the HBO series on which Drake serves as executive producer, was released on Lamar’s YouTube channel on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Fortitude Valley institution and sister venue Stranded will soon shut as owner cites cost-of-living pressures and young people drinking less
The Brisbane music venue the Zoo will call last drinks in July, with the owner listing a “perfect storm” of forces leading to its closure, including cost-of-living pressures and declining alcohol consumption among young people.
The 500-capacity room, which first opened its doors on Ann Street in 1992 in the formerly down-at-heel but now heavily gentrified inner suburb of Fortitude Valley, is one of Australia’s oldest music venues.
Continue reading...Swift now has joint highest number of chart-toppers for a female artist, as The Tortured Poets Department earns biggest opening week in seven years
Taylor Swift has tied with Madonna to become the female artist with the most UK No 1 albums, earning her twelfth chart-topper with the global phenomenon that is The Tortured Poets Department.
Swift also dominates this week’s singles chart, with three songs in the Top Five including a No 1 for Fortnight, featuring Post Malone. It’s her fourth No 1 single, and her third chart double.
Continue reading...French singer dedicates top prizes at Les Flammes ‘to all black women’ after backlash over rumoured Paris show
The French pop star Aya Nakamura, who found herself at the centre of a racist row after rumours she was going to sing at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, has thanked fans for their support after winning three big prizes at France’s Les Flammes awards for rap, R&B and pop.
“I’m very honoured because being a black artist and coming from the banlieue is very difficult,” Nakamura told the audience at the ceremony, which she opened with a medley of her songs. She dedicated her awards – female artist of the year, pop album of the year, and international star of the year – “to all black women”.
Continue reading...Former employee Emilio Garcia alleges chart-topping rapper had sex in front of him in a moving car, and made abusive comments and employment law violations
Megan Thee Stallion has been sued by a former employee who alleges she withheld payment and created an “abusive work environment”, including having sex with a woman next to him in a moving car.
Cameraman Emilio Garcia alleges “severe” and “pervasive” harassment by the chart-topping rapper following the incident, including sexual comments and fat-shaming insults, as well as a loss of earnings. He is seeking unpaid wages and interest on them, as well as damages, and wage penalties under California labour laws.
Continue reading...Guitar also played by George Harrison on Norwegian Wood could sell for millions in May auction, alongside other memorabilia including a book of Tupac Shakur’s handwritten lyrics
A guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison in sessions for the albums Help! and Rubber Soul, which has spent the last 50 years lying in an attic, is to go up for auction alongside other memorabilia items such as a handwritten concert setlist by Kurt Cobain, a book of handwritten lyrics by Tupac Shakur and a Fendi dress worn by Amy Winehouse.
The 12-string acoustic guitar, a Hootenanny model made by Bavarian firm Framus in the early 1960s, was primarily played by Lennon and also appears in the movie Help!, used to perform You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away. The studio version of that song also features the guitar, as well as Help!’s title track, It’s Only Love and I’ve Just Seen a Face. Harrison, meanwhile, used it to play the rhythm guitar part on Norwegian Wood, and it appears on another Rubber Soul song, Girl.
Continue reading...Cher finally recognised 60 years after her first recordings, while Mary J Blige, Peter Frampton and Dave Matthews Band are among the other inductees
Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Mary J Blige and A Tribe Called Quest are among the stars to be added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year – many of them rather overdue.
Artists can be added to the US institution 25 years after their first recording, but Cher – who once described her snub by the Hall as “kind of rude” – has had to wait until 60 years after her first releases with Sonny & Cher to be included.
Continue reading...Myra Carvalho sentenced to 14 weeks’ imprisonment and banned from seeing singer perform
A woman who stalked Harry Styles has been jailed and banned from seeing him perform.
Myra Carvalho, who appeared at Harrow crown court sitting at Hendon magistrates court in London, was said to have stalked the singer by sending him 8,000 cards in less than a month.
Continue reading...Following reports of battery investigation into West against unnamed man, rapper’s team allege wife Bianca Censori was being assaulted
Representatives for Kanye West have alleged that a man physically and sexually assaulted his wife Bianca Censori in an incident in Los Angeles.
Sources previously told TMZ that West was being investigated as a suspect in a battery incident earlier this week, after the rapper was alleged to have struck a man who had grabbed Censori.
Continue reading...Shares in Beyoncé and Neil Young song fund rise amid hopes uncertainty over its future could be over
The embattled British music royalties investment fund Hipgnosis, which owns the rights to songs by artists from Beyoncé to Neil Young, has agreed to a $1.4bn (£1.1bn) takeover by a music and theatrical rights rival after months of turmoil over the company’s structure and leadership.
The Concord Chorus deal, which offers Hipgnosis shareholders a 32% premium to Thursday’s share price at $1.16 a share, could put an end to uncertainty over the FTSE 250 firm’s future.
Continue reading...Tributes paid to music producer who helped write TLC’s Waterfalls and worked on albums by OutKast and CeeLo Green
Rico Wade, one of the architects of Atlanta’s “dirty south” hip-hop sound, who co-produced albums by OutKast, Goodie Mob and CeeLo Green and who co-wrote TLC’s 1994 hit Waterfalls, has died. He was 52.
Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens paid tribute to Wade, saying he had “led in the creation of a hip-hop sound that has spanned decades and genres. Rico left an indelible mark on music and culture around the world and for that, the south will always have something to say.”
Continue reading...The superstar arrives in Europe next month – and Swifties, tourist boards and venues are already preparing
Tim Brown, 44, and his wife, Marcella, 34, may not consider themselves bona fide “Swifties”, but when it was announced last June that Taylor Swift would be visiting their corner of the globe this summer they could not resist joining the scramble for a pair of tickets.
A post-pandemic appetite for live music events has fuelled huge worldwide interest in the American singer-songwriter’s Eras tour, which surpassed in $1bn sales in November to become the highest-grossing series of concerts in history.
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