Rock star Stevie Van Zandt in plea for more arts and music in English schools

Exclusive: E Street Band and Sopranos star visits south London to see his TeachRock programme in action

Legendary guitarist and Sopranos star Stevie Van Zandt has made an impassioned plea for more arts and music in England’s schools as a way of engaging disaffected young people during a visit to south London.

It was a last day of term like no other for pupils at Beckmead College – a school for students aged 14-19 with social, emotional and mental health needs – when the E Street Band member turned up, dressed like a rock star in purple velvet, winkle picker boots and trademark bandana.

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Snoop Dogg to carry Olympic torch on final stages through Paris

US rapper will conclude torch’s relay through Saint-Denis and Olympic Village to mark start of 33rd Games

Snoop Dogg will carry the Olympic torch through the final stages when it passes through Paris before the opening ceremony on Friday.

The US rapper will be hoping he won’t Drop It Like It’s Hot when he holds the torch in Saint-Denis to mark the start of the 33rd Games.

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Adele announces ‘big break’ from music

Speaking to German media ahead of Munich concert residency, singer says she ‘wants to do other creative things’ and has no plans for new material

Adele has announced she intends to go on hiatus from music after a forthcoming concert residency in Munich.

The British singer told German broadcaster ZDF: “My tank is quite empty from being on stage every weekend in Las Vegas. I don’t have any plans for new music, at all.

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Drake’s Toronto mansion seriously flooded amid record-breaking storms

Rapper films muddy water pouring through 50,000 sq ft home, quipping ‘this better be espresso martini’

The Toronto mansion of rap superstar Drake has been seriously flooded following record-breaking storms in the city.

He shared footage on Instagram of ankle-deep muddy water rushing into an area of his home, with the caption “this better be espresso martini”.

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Billie Eilish latest star to read CBeebies bedtime story

Oscar-winning singer chooses book by Oliver Jeffers that highlights importance of protecting nature

Billie Eilish has become the latest star to read a CBeebies bedtime story, having chosen a book that teaches children about interacting with nature.

The Oscar-winning singer of What Was I Made For? and Birds of a Feather read This Moose Belongs to Me by the author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers.

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Ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist sued for wrongful death in alleged fatal collision

Josh Klinghoffer, who is touring with Pearl Jam, is being sued after allegedly hitting and killing a pedestrian in a crash in Alhambra earlier this year

Ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer is being sued for wrongful death and negligence after allegedly hitting and killing a pedestrian earlier this year.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Ashley Sanchez, the daughter of 47-year-old Israel Sanchez, who died after being hit while walking in a crosswalk in Alhambra, east of Los Angeles.

The collision happened the afternoon of 18 March, when plaintiffs allege Klinghoffer was driving a black SUV with no licence plates and turned left at an intersection with a marked crosswalk.

Video from the plaintiffs shows a black car hitting a man, who was Israel Sanchez, during the turn before pulling over. The footage was obtained from a neighbor’s Ring camera.

Israel Sanchez suffered blunt force trauma to the head and died from his injuries a few hours later at the hospital, the lawsuit said. No arrest was made in the incident.

The lawsuit also alleges Klinghoffer was using a cellphone while driving, as video footage shows the driver holding an object above the steering wheel. Video also shows a 40-foot-wide grassy median dividing the road that should have given Klinghoffer time to see pedestrians in the crosswalk, the lawsuit said.

“My dad was known for being a great chef, the most talented of his family, the greatest grandpa always full of love and joy,” Ashley Sanchez said in a news release. “His smile was so infectious. His life was taken by a careless act of a person who didn’t bother to look where he was driving.”

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French artists, DJs and musicians unite to fight threat of far-right government

Front Électronique acts as ‘world of the night’ to combat rise of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally

More than 1,200 artists, DJs and promoters from the French music industry have come together in a bid to galvanise “the world of the night” into political action and to protest at the possibility of the first far-right French government since the second world war.

Members of the Front Électronique (FE) have organised live debates on video streaming service Twitch and free concerts, and released a fund-raising album Siamo Tutti Antifascisti Vol.1 (We are all Anti-Fascists) featuring 38 artists. The compilation is described as a “call to arms”.

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The summer of green music festivals – podcast

It’s festival season! But are festivals any good for the environment? This week Chanté chats to Lewis Jamieson of Music Declares Emergency and the Grammy-nominated House DJ Jayda G about how festivals can become more sustainable and why the music industry can be an important voice in the fight for climate justice.

Jayda G’s documentary Blue Carbon can be watched here

Archive – BBC, TikTok (billsvids), CNN, Blue Carbon (WaterBear), Instagram (liamcmusic_), BBC 5Live,

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Ann Wilson, frontwoman of Heart, diagnosed with cancer

Chart-topping singer cancels remainder of 2024 tour dates but says she hopes to return next year

Ann Wilson, the lead singer of rock band Heart, has announced that she has been diagnosed with cancer.

The 74-year-old wrote in an Instagram post: “I recently underwent an operation to remove something that, as it turns out, was cancerous. The operation was successful & I’m feeling great but my doctors are now advising me to undergo a course of preventive chemotherapy & I’ve decided to do it. And so my doctors are instructing me to take the rest of the year away from the stage in order to fully recover.”

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One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson stages impromptu England match screening at Glastonbury

After festival organisers refused to screen Euros clash, pop singer bought flat screen TV and generator from Argos on Sunday morning and set them up in camping area

Festivalgoers at Glastonbury were given the opportunity to watch England’s Euro 2024 last-16 match against Slovakia by an unlikely figure: former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, who livestreamed the game in the festival campsite on a flatscreen television he’d bought from Argos earlier in the day.

Glastonbury officials had announced earlier in the week that the match would not be shown at the festival due to clashes with performances on the major stages, forcing fans to find enterprising ways to watch it. Tomlinson was more enterprising than most, purchasing a flat screen TV and generator on Sunday morning and streaming the game using wifi. He said that he had initially intended to watch the game in the hospitality section but was thwarted by spotty reception, so brought the TV to the main festival site instead.

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England fans go to great lengths to watch match at Glastonbury

Music festival eschews football screening out of respect for headliners, but people wheel out portable TVs

As the Glastonbury festival filled up on Sunday, there was an incongruous mix of England football shirts and cowgirl get-ups among the crowds.

England’s Euro 2024 football match against Slovakia kicked off at 5pm on Sunday, immediately after Shania Twain’s Legends slot and shortly before Avril Lavigne took to the Other stage at 6pm.

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Crazy Town singer Seth Binzer died of accidental overdose, band manager says

Frontman, who spoke before about substance addiction, said to have taken mix of pharmaceutical and street drugs

The US singer Seth Binzer, whose rap-rock band Crazy Town became a No 1 hit with 2001’s Butterfly, died as a result of an accidental drug overdose, his group’s manager told the Guardian on Friday.

Crazy Town manager Howie Hubberman said the death on Monday of the musician known as Shifty Shellshock occurred after he ingested an unintentionally lethal combination of pharmaceutical and street drugs, though the medical examiner in the vocalist’s home town of Los Angeles had not yet provided details on an official cause or manner of death.

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Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now: UK radio listeners nominate songs to sum up election campaign

Exclusive: Boom Radio listeners share in election fatigue but demographic arguably has less to lose than younger voters

Sometimes only a song can sum up the national mood.

When a soggy Rishi Sunak fired the starting gun on the general election in May, D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better blared across Downing Street. Five long weeks later and voters are cueing up rather more mordant tracks to capture their political fatigue.

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Michael Jackson was more than $500m in debt when he died in 2009

Court filing details how the King of Pop was in financial straits as he was preparing to embark on his This Is It tour

Michael Jackson had accumulated more than half a billion dollars of debt when he died in 2009, new court documents reveal.

A 21 June court filing by the executors of his estate provided some of the most complete details yet about the strained finances with which the 13-time Grammy winner was grappling at the time of his death.

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French court rules Boléro was Ravel’s work alone

Claimants, backed by composer’s estate, lose claim of co-authorship, described as ‘historical fiction’

A French court has ruled that Boléro, one of the best-known works of classical music in the world, was written by Maurice Ravel alone, in a verdict on a case with big financial stakes that could have taken the work out of the public domain.

Ravel first performed Boléro at the Paris Opera in 1928 and it was an immediate sensation. He died 10 years later and his heirs were paid millions of dollars until the copyright ran out in 2016.

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Belgrade authorities cancel ethnic bridge-building arts festival after nationalist protests

Youth groups from Serbia and Kosovo who organise the Mirëdita Dobar Dan cultural event accuse Serbia’s interior ministry of failing to protect them from intimidation

Organisers of a festival designed to promote cultural exchange between Kosovo and Serbia say Belgrade authorities have caved in to pressure from hooligan groups by banning this year’s event.

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Belgrade police cited security concerns as the reason to cancel the event Mirëdita Dobar Dan (meaning “Good day” in Albanian and Serbian), which was due to start in the Serbian capital yesterday.

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Elvis Presley’s blue suede shoes could sell for £120,000 at auction

Singer wore footwear on and off stage during 1950s before giving them to a friend when called up to US army

Well it’s one for the money … a lot of money actually.

The blue suede shoes worn by Elvis Presley during the early part of his career are expected to fetch £120,000 at auction on Friday.

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African and Asian artists condemn ‘humiliating’ UK and EU visa refusals

‘Unfair’ rejection rates of up to 70% harm cultural diversity and create a ‘global apartheid’, say promoters and musicians

Musicians, authors, producers and festival managers have hit out at “humiliating” and costly visa-rejection rates for African and Asian artists visiting Britain and European Union countries, saying it is having a chilling impact on cultural diversity.

Analysis shows the UK last year raised £44m in fees for visa applications that were then rejected, mainly coming from low- and middle-income countries. The EU made €130m (£110m).

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Florida rapper Foolio, 26, killed in car park shooting

Rapper who amassed tens of millions of streams for his emotional trap music was reportedly ambushed outside a Tampa hotel

US rapper Foolio has died at the age of 26 after being shot in a hotel car park in Tampa, Florida.

The rapper, real name Charles Jones, had amassed tens of millions of streams for a discography that stretches back to 2017.

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Justin Timberlake tells fans ‘it’s been a tough week’ after drunk-driving charge

Singer addresses crowd at first concert since being arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated

Justin Timberlake acknowledged having “a tough week” and thanked fans for their support at a concert Friday in what was the first time the pop star spoke publicly since police in the Hamptons arrested him on allegations of driving while intoxicated days earlier.

“We’ve been together through ups and downs, lefts and rights,” Timberlake told a crowd at the United Center in Chicago three days after his 18 June arrest. “It’s been a tough week, but you’re here and I’m here, and nothing can change this moment right now.”

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