Music

Olivia Newton-John would have turned 74 on Monday, so friends of the late singer are paying their respects.

John Travolta, who starred alongside Newton-John in the movie adaptation of Grease, saluted the late legend in a meaningful post on social media. “Happy birthday my Olivia,” he wrote in an Instagram Story, sharing a still of their characters — Danny and Sandy — glancing adoringly at the other.

Olivia’s family also honored her on her birthday. Her husband, John Easterling, shared a heartfelt tribute in the form of a beautiful memory. He recalled a trip to the Bahamas and how they were caught up in a storm that they feared would blow their boat off course.

The storm quickly subsided and left behind a beautiful rainbow while “dolphins started jumping at the bow of the boat.” He closed the memory, saying, “Every day with Olivia there was a hint of magic and everyday with Olivia was a bit of the supernatural.”

Olivia’s daughter, Chloe Lattanzi, paid tribute to the late singer on her birthday writing, “We love you mama” along with a dolphin emoji. She shared a video of the family celebrating the late legend’s birthday with a family dinner.

Newton-John died on August 8 after a years-long battle with cancer.

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Kanye West teased three new songs during an appearance in London Monday night.

Ye, who was in town for London Fashion Week, previewed the unreleased tracks at Burberry’s aftershow party at The Twenty Two. The songs were all collaborations with British singer/producer James Blake.

After fan-captured videos of Ye playing the tracks hit social media, Blake took to Twitter to confirm that he produced all three songs.

“It’s my birthday and @kanyewest is playing tracks we made I’m good for presents thanks,” he wrote on Monday.

No word yet on when the songs will be released.

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There’s already a slew of country artists slated to appear on the new show Monarch, but the show’s star, Trace Adkins, has another one he’d like to add to the mix — Blake Shelton. 

Trace portrays the character Albie Roman, a legendary singer-songwriter and husband to Susan Sarandon‘s Dottie Cantrell Roman, known as the “Queen of Country Music” on the show.

While the new season of Monarch features several of Trace’s country music peers, including Shania Twain, Martina McBride and Little Big Town, in guest starring roles, he hopes that he can get Blake on board for a special appearance.

“I think we should bring Blake Shelton, let him play my stupid younger brother,” Trace says. “That’s kind of what he is anyway.”

Trace and Blake’s friendship spans multiple years; the two teamed up for the hit 2009 duet “Hillbilly Bone.” In addition to their playful jabs, the singers have also ventured out on the road together, with Trace joining Blake’s 2021 Friends and Heroes Tour. Trace also inducted Blake as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2010. 

Though Blake has over a decade of experience coaching on The Voice, Trace says he didn’t ask his longtime pal for acting tips. “Blake’s thing is a completely different animal. You can’t compare that stuff,” Trace says. 

Monarch airs on Fox Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.  

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Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett has opened up regarding the response to drummer Taylor Hawkins‘ death.

In an interview with The Plug podcast, Shiflett takes aim at “yahoo[s] on Twitter” spreading conspiracy theories about Hawkins and how he died.

“Especially right after [Hawkins] died, all these Twitter private investigators, they absolutely know what happened, and are sure of it, and it’s all wrong,” Shiflett says. “That’s been really strange to watch.”

“I understand people’s fascination with it, Taylor was this big character and he meant a lot to millions of people all over the world,” the guitarist continues. “But it’s, like, so much of what I’ve seen out there is so completely wrong.”

In addition to conspiracy theories on social media, Shiflett calls Rolling Stone‘s article about Hawkins’ death “complete nonsense, for the most part.” The article, titled “Inside Taylor Hawkins’ Final Days as a Foo Fighter,” features quotes from artists — including Pearl Jam‘s Matt Cameron and Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith — claiming that Hawkins had expressed concern with the amount of touring he had to do with Foo Fighters leading up to his death. Both Cameron and Smith distanced themselves from the article and apologized for taking part.

In speaking about the reaction to Hawkins death, Shiflett seemingly suggests that another Foo Fighters album could be possible. When asked if he’s found in recent press interviews that people have been “awkwardly not asking” about the subject, Shiflett replies, “It probably will be when we ever get around to putting out another Foo Fighter record and go back into the promo boogie woogie.”

Shiflett recently released two singles with his solo country project. He’ll join Foo Fighters for the second of their two tribute concerts to Hawkins Tuesday in Los Angeles.

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The second of Foo Fighters‘ two tribute concerts honoring late drummer Taylor Hawkins takes place tonight, Tuesday, at the Kia Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, Caliornia.

The first show was held at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 3. Many of the artists who performed at the London tribute will be making the trip back across the pond for the LA concert, including Led Zeppelin‘s John Paul Jones, Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich, Rush‘s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Queen‘s Brian May and Roger Taylor, The Police‘s Stewart Copeland, the Joe Walsh-fronted James Gang, Wolfgang Van Halen, David Bowie drummer Omar Hakim, Blink-182‘s Travis Barker, Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Kesha, session drummer Josh Freese and Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal.

The LA lineup also includes Def Leppard‘s Joe Elliott, Phil Collen and Rick Savage, Joan Jett, Heart‘s Nancy Wilson, The Cars‘ Elliot Easton, Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx, Soundgarden‘s Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil, Black Sabbath‘s Geezer Butler, Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic, Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, Yes vocalist and Hawkins’ childhood friend Jon Davison, Miley Cyrus, Tool‘s Danny Carey, Alanis Morissette, ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, Pink and Rage Against the Machine‘s Brad Wilk.

Additionally, Dave Grohl‘s daughter Violet and Hawkins’ son Shane will perform. Foo Fighters’ performance of “My Hero” with Shane on drums was widely considered to be the highlight of the six-hour London concert.

Like with the London show, proceeds from the LA tribute will be donated to MusiCares and Music Support. Unlike the London show, however, no streaming details have been announced for the LA concert.

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Shakira will stand trial in Spain after being accused of dodging roughly $14 million dollars in unpaid taxes.

A spokesperson in Barcelona for the Audiencia Nacional confirmed to ABC News that the Grammy winner has been ordered to stand trial. Shakira has been charged with tax fraud for allegedly not paying income taxes in Spain between 2012 and 2014. Prosecutors allege she owes the nation roughly 14.5 million euros or $14 million USD.

Spanish prosecutors allege Spain was Shakira’s primary residence during that time period, so she was obligated to pay the country’s income tax.  

The “Objection (Tango)” singer denies any wrongdoing. In a recent interview with ELLE, the hitmaker addressed her legal woes and called them “false accusations.”

Shakira refuted the claim she mainly resided in Spain between 2012 and 2014, adding she was “busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world.” She noted further, “I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So as of today, I owe zero to them.”

The singer also said she was advised by “one of the four biggest tax specialist firms in the world” at the time and is “confident” she was “doing things correctly and transparently from day one.”

She then accused prosecutors of intentionally harming her reputation by planting “salacious” stories about her in the press.

In all, Shakira believes she will be vindicated in court. “I’m confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor,” she declared.

If convicted, however, Shakira could spend up to eight years in prison and pay a hefty fine.

A trial date has not been announced.  

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Earlier this year, Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine told ABC Audio that a Las Vegas residency was something the band would “absolutely love” to do. Well, now their wish has come true.

The band has announced a residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM starting Friday, March 24, 2023. Called M5LV The Residency, it’ll be custom-designed for the 5,200-seat theater. Right now, the residency has 16 performances scheduled: four in March, four in April, two in July and six in August.

Tickets go on sale Monday, October 3 at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketmaster;  a fan pre-sale starts Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT. In addition, members of MGM Resorts’ loyalty program, plus Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers, will get pre-sale access on Friday at 10 a.m. PT.

James told ABC Audio that one reason the band wanted to do a residency was because, “It opens up possibilities for production, because if you’re doing that many shows in a row in the same place, you can get a little bit more creative on different elements that you can bring to the show.” 

As for what sort of elements they’d like to have, James laughed, “Adam [Levine] has been lobbying to get me to fly above the crowd since day one. So maybe that’s finally going to happen in Vegas!”

Here are the scheduled dates for M5LV:

March 2023: 24, 25, 29 & 31

April 2023: 1, 5, 7 & 8

July 2023: 28 & 29

August 2023: 2, 4, 5, 9, 11 & 12

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Summer Pardi is opening up about how she told husband Jon Pardi she was pregnant. 

Summer found out she was expecting their first child not long after they got a new boat. She used the new watercraft as a way to tell her husband the good news, taping a “baby on board” sign, along with the positive pregnancy test, to the back of the boat. 

Summer told Jon that there was a “big scratch” on the back of the boat that he needed to check out, but when he went to inspect the damage, he instead found the surprise. 

“Even with the baby on board sign AND pregnancy test he still didn’t get it.. he thought i was just making fun of him because the boat was his new baby,” Summer recalls of the special moment. “5 minutes later he was blasting ‘Baby Shark’ in the kitchen, already thriving hahah.” 

Summer also shares a series of pregnancy selfies that show off her growing baby bump and a video dancing onstage with her husband, set to the tune of Ruelle’s “I Get to Love You.” 

Jon and Summer are expecting the baby in early 2023. 

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