Lainey Wilson was announced an early ACM Awards winner on Wednesday, May 10, when her HARDY-assisted duet, “wait in the truck,” was crowned Visual Media of the Year.
Now Lainey, who won New Female Artist and Song of the Year at last year’s ACM Awards, is hoping to continue her winning streak in the Female Artist, Album, Single and Music Event of the Year categories — all of which she’s nominated in this year.
“I hope we continue this streak. I really do,” Lainey tells ABC Audio. “All I’ve ever wanted is to be a part of the country music industry and the family. I will say I have spent my entire life loving country music. I’ve dedicated my life to country music. And it really does feel like country music is finally starting to love me back. It just took a really long time.”
While the Louisiana native’s got her fingers crossed tight, she’s also excited for her fiery performance of an as-yet-unannounced song.
“My performance is spicy. It’s showing a side of me that I haven’t shown on a live television performance just yet,” Lainey teases. “It’s going to be fun. If you’ve seen a live show of mine then you know that I like to cut up and dance around and that’s what it’s going to be.”
The 58th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, streams live on Prime Video Thursday, May 11, at 7 p.m. ET.
The Pretenders are back with their first new album in three years. The rockers are set to drop the new studio album Relentless on September 1 and have shared the first single from the record, “Let The Sun Come In.”
In discussing the album’s title, frontwoman Chrissie Hynde shares, “I enjoy seeing the various meanings and origins of a word. And I liked the definition: ‘showing no abatement of intensity.’ So when it came to an album title, it seemed fitting. You know … to keep doing it.”
She adds, “I think anyone in a band is constantly questioning if they should keep going. It starts as a youthful pursuit and eventually, it makes you wonder, why am I doing this? It’s the life of the artist. You never retire. You become relentless.”
Relentless is the follow-up to 2020’s Hate for Sale, and is the second consecutive album where Hynde and Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne collaborated on all the songwriting. The album’s closing track, “I Think About You Daily,” features Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, who provided the string arrangements for the tune.
“I met Jonny a couple of times and we’re obviously big fans of him because he’s done some incredible music over the years,” Hynde says, noting she was “thrilled and very surprised” when he said he wanted to do something together.
Here is the track list for Relentless:
“Losing My Sense Of Taste”
“A Love”
“Domestic Silence”
“The Copa”
“Promise Of Love”
“Merry Widow”
“Let The Sun Come In”
“Look Away”
“Your House Is On Fire”
“Just Let It Go”
“Vainglorious”
“I Think About You Daily”
Next up, The Pretenders kick off a U.K. tour on Friday, May 12, in Brighton, England. They are set to open for GunsN’ Roses on their European tour starting in July. A complete list of dates can be found at thepretenders.com.
With Mother’s Day on Sunday, a new survey has revealed Americans’ favorite famous mom is none other than Lois Griffin from Family Guy.
Since moms’ special day coincides with National Brioche Day — don’t you dare forget — brioche brand St Pierre commissioned a survey of 2,000 Americans as to which matriarchs, both real and fictional, were their faves.
The acerbic Lois topped the list, besting Michelle Obama (#2), Serena Williams (#3), Beyoncé (#4) and Jennifer Lopez (#5).
Others who made the Top 20 were Rihanna (#6); Florence Henderson‘s Carol Brady from The Brady Bunch (#10); Katy Perry (#12); Katey Sagal‘s Peggy Bundy from Married With Children; and Linda Hamilton‘s Sarah Connor from the Terminator movies (#19).
Here’s the Top 20:
1. Lois Griffin (Family Guy)
2. Michelle Obama
3. Serena Williams
4. Beyoncé
5. Jennifer Lopez
6. Rihanna
7. Drew Barrymore
8. Goldie Hawn
9. Kate Middleton
10. Carol Brady (The Brady Bunch)
11. Morticia Addams (The Addams Family)
12. Katy Perry
13. Kate Hudson
14. Angelina Jolie
15. Peggy Bundy (Married with Children)
16. Madonna
17. Meghan Markle
18. Joyce Byers (Stranger Things)
19. Sarah Connor (The Terminator)
20. Cameron Diaz
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
After a long wait, the world may now finally know the name of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky‘s baby boy.
The little one is reportedly named RZA Athelston Mayers, according to The Daily Mail, who obtained a copy of the official birth certificate. It seems the couple found inspiration in music producer and Wu-Tang leader RZA for their son’s first name, while his middle name is a nod to his father, who was born Rakim Athelston Mayers.
The superstar singer and her rapper beau welcomed their baby boy into the world in May 2022. Rihanna is currently pregnant with the couple’s second child, which she revealed during her Super Bowl performance earlier this year.
The new EP from Belinda Carlisle — her first English-language pop collection in decades — is called Kismet. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer says “kismet” pretty much describes how she ended up coming out of semiretirement to record it.
It all started, she says, when her son ran into legendary songwriter Diane Warren, who wrote Belinda’s 1987 hit “I Get Weak,” in an LA coffee shop.
“She said, ‘What is your mom doing? Let’s call her!'” Belinda tells ABC Audio. “So they FaceTimed me, and she goes, ‘Get down to the studio. I have some hits for you!’ And I was like, ‘OK, well, do I really want to do that?’ Because that’s a big commitment.”
“So I thought, ‘Well, you don’t say no to Diane.’ And I thought, y’know, you never know,” she continues. “So I went to the studio and she played me a few of the songs, and I completely freaked out about them.”
That’s Kismet: five songs, all written by Diane, including the single “Big Big Love.”
“It was all kind of magical,” Belinda says. And she’s not ruling out more music in the future.
“I just think you can never say never … I learned that lesson over and over again,” Belinda notes. “I’m not planning on doing anything else, [but] … if something comes up … I’m not opposed to that.”
What she is opposed to is her band The Go-Go’s reuniting again.
“It’s done,” she says of the band. “I can’t possibly fit that in anymore. And I also, like, it has to end at some point. And I think it can go on too long. And I don’t want that with the Go-Go’s. And a few of the other girls felt the same way.”
Congratulations are in order for HARDY, who won ACM Artist-Songwriter of the Year and Visual Media of the Year for his song with Lainey Wilson, “wait in the truck,” ahead of the 2023 ACM Awards.
These categories, however, are not the only ones in which the Mississippi native nabbed a nomination. “wait in the truck” is nominated in two more categories, Music Event of the Year and Song of the Year; while Morgan Wallen‘s “Sand in My Boots,” which HARDY co-wrote, is vying for Song of the Year, as well.
Of being this year’s top ACM nominee, HARDY shares, “I went into the whole nomination process very blind and very unassuming. And to come out of it that way was a truly really, really amazing surprise because I truly had no idea. I didn’t know. I didn’t know about any of it.”
“But man, it just makes me think about all the people that have worked so hard for me for the past five years,” he tells ABC Audio. “It’s not just me. I feel like we all are nominated and everybody — and I know that sounds a little hacky but it’s really true — like, everybody worked so hard for me and I’m just glad we can all celebrate that together here.”
In addition to being nominated, HARDY’s also set to perform an as-yet-unannounced song.
“It’s not ‘wait in the truck.’ Let’s just put it that way,” teases HARDY. “It will be the heaviest thing ever performed on the ACMs. I can guarantee you that.”
The 58th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, will stream live on Prime Video Thursday, May 11, at 7 p.m. ET.
Robert De Niro hasn’t officially revealed the name or gender of his newborn, but the Daily Mail spotted his girlfriend Tiffany Chen out and about with a lavender onesie-wearing newborn covered in a blanket.
In the photos, the new mom is cradling the crying baby to her chest, while a male assistant flanks the pair, pushing a stroller.
Over the weekend, De Niro, 79, surprised fans — and a journalist from ET Canada — when he corrected her on a routine question about him being a “father of six.” The Oscar winner, who was promoting his upcoming comedy About My Father, interjected, “Seven, actually. I just had a baby.”
Days later, he toldPage Six at the red carpet premiere for the film that the baby wasn’t a surprise to him. “No,” he answered, adding, “How you could not plan that kind of thing?”
The Raging Bull and Godfather star’s other children, with three former partners, range in age from 51 to 11.
At the same event, his co-star and onscreen son in the movie, Sebastian Maniscalco, insisted he found out about the “great” baby news that day in the press, “like everybody else did.”
Digman! — the adult comedy series co-created by Saturday Night Live vet Andy Samberg, has been renewed at Comedy Central, according to Deadline. “Set in a world where archaeologists are massive celebrities and the coolest people on the planet,” Digman! features the voice of Samberg as Rip Digman. Mitra Jouhari, Tim Robinson, Dale Soules, Guz Khan, Melissa Fumero and Tim Meadows round out the main voice cast. The season 1 finale of Digman! premiered Wednesday, May 10 on Comedy Central…
Animal Control has been picked up for a second season at Fox, according to Variety. The show’s premiere was the network’s most streamed scripted debut ever, drawing an estimated 4.5 million viewers across all platforms in its first three days of availability, per Fox. The Joel McHale-led series, about a group of animal control workers, also stars Michael Rowland, Vella Lovell, Ravi Patel, Grace Palmer, Alvina August, Kelli Ogmundson, and Gerry Dee…
Tracker, the new CBS drama starring Justin Hartley, will debut after the network’s telecast of Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, the network announced on Wednesday. Hartley’s first post-This Is Us series regular TV role, formerly titled The Never Game, features Hartley as, “a lone-wolf survivalist Colter Shaw, who roams the country as a ‘reward seeker,’ using his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries, while contending with his own fractured family,” per CBS…
Jacklyn Zeman, longtime General Hospital star has died at 70, according to a “heartbroken” tweet from the show’s producer and director. Frank Valentini noted, “Just like her character, the legendary Bobbie Spencer, she was a bright light and true professional that brought so much positive energy with her to work.” Valentini concluded by saying, “Jackie will be greatly missed, but her positive spirit will always live on with our cast and crew. We send our heartfelt sympathy to her loved ones, friends, and family, especially her daughters Cassidy and Lacey.”…
(LONDON) — The prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway could soon be extradited from Peru to face criminal charges in the United States, ABC News has learned.
The Peruvian government issued an executive order on Wednesday accepting a request by U.S. authorities for the temporary extradition of jailed Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot, who has been serving a 28-year sentence in Peru for the 2010 murder of Stephany Flores, a 21-year-old college student from a prominent Peruvian family. Upon arrival in the U.S., van der Sloot will face a federal trial on extortion and wire fraud charges stemming from an accusation that he tried to profit from his connection to the Holloway case.
“We will continue to collaborate on legal issues with allies such as the United States, and many others with which we have extradition treaties,” Edgar Alfredo Rebaza, director of Peru’s Office of International Judicial Cooperation and Extraditions of the National Prosecutor’s Office, said in a statement on Wednesday.
A source familiar with the matter told ABC News on Wednesday that van der Sloot’s extradition flight could happen as early as this weekend but will likely happen within a week. U.S. Marshals will accompany van der Sloot on the flight, which will depart from Lima. It was not immediately clear where exactly the plane would land in the U.S.
If van der Sloot is found not guilty of the charges, he will be returned to Peru to serve the remainder of his sentence there. If he is convicted, the Peruvian and U.S. governments will have to agree on where he serves his U.S. sentence as well as the rest of his Peruvian sentence.
Holloway, an 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, vanished on the night of May 30, 2005, while celebrating her high school graduation with classmates on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba. She was last seen leaving a bar called Carlos’n Charlie’s in Oranjestad and getting in a grey Honda with then-17-year-old van der Sloot and two of his friends.
Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and detained weeks later but ultimately released without charge due to a lack of evidence. An Alabama judge later declared Holloway dead, though her body was never found. No charges have been filed in the case.
On June 30, 2010, a federal grand jury in Alabama indicted van der Sloot for allegedly trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from Holloway’s family after her disappearance.
Federal prosecutors alleged that on March 29, 2010, van der Sloot contacted Beth Holloway through her lawyer and claimed he would reveal the location of her daughter’s remains in exchange for $250,000 — $25,000 up front. During a recorded sting operation with the FBI, Beth Holloway’s attorney, John Q. Kelly, met with van der Sloot in a hotel room on Aruba, giving him $10,000 in cash as Beth Holloway wired $15,000 to van der Sloot’s bank account, according to prosecutors.
Then van der Sloot led Kelly to a location away from the hotel and changed his story about the night he had been with Natalee Holloway, prosecutors said. He now claimed he had picked her up but that she had demanded to be put down, so he threw her to the ground. He said her head hit a rock and she was killed instantly by the impact, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said van der Sloot then took Kelly to a nearby home and claimed that his father, who had since died, buried Natalee Holloway’s body in the building’s foundation. Van der Sloot parted ways with Kelly after the exchange and later emailed him saying the information he had provided was “worthless,” according to prosecutors. Within days, van der Sloot had slipped away to Peru.
Natalee Holloway’s mother released a statement on Wednesday reacting to the news that van der Sloot, now 35, would be temporarily extradited from Peru to the U.S.
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now,” Beth Holloway said. “It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”
