It looks like Tom Petty’s Malibu beach house will soon have a new owner. TMZ reports someone has made an offer on the home, which the late rocker owned until his death in 2017.
The estate went on the market in mid-December, with an asking price of almost $10 million. A source says the estate accepted an offer on Christmas Eve. So far there’s no word on the amount of the offer.
The Escondido Beach home, which reportedly inspired Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ 2010 song “Something Good Coming,” comes with two bedrooms, with 66 feet of beach frontage and views of the Pacific Ocean from the terrace off the living room.
It also has a separate guest house, which is set up as a recording studio.
Who’s the best country singer of all time? According to Rolling Stone‘s new ranking of the 200 best singers across all genres, it’s Patsy Cline. She comes in at #13, just a dozen spaces behind Aretha Franklin, who lands on top.
Elvis Presley‘s at #17, just ahead of George Jones at #24, who’s often referred to as the greatest country singer who ever lived. Tammy Wynette‘s back at #127, while Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris all make the top 100. RS puts Loretta Lynn at #132.
Founding fathers like Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers make the list, alongside legends Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Brenda Lee and George Strait.
Carrie Underwood‘s the highest-ranked contemporary country singer at #158, while Chris Stapleton‘s several spots back at #170. His recent CMA Awards collaborator, Patty Loveless, sneaks in at #177.
You can check out the full list of Rolling Stone‘s 200 Best Singers of All Time here.
De La Soul‘s music catalog will finally be coming to streaming services. According to a statement released Tuesday, their music will be released digitally and on vinyl, CDs and cassettes starting in March.
The statement says Reservoir Media and its label, Chrysalis, worked with De La Soul and their record label, AOI, to bring their music to digital streaming services. De La Soul’s first six albums — 1989’s 3 Feet High and Rising, 1991’s De La Soul Is Dead, 1993’s Buhloone Mindstate, 1996’s Stakes Is High, 2000’s Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump and 2001’s AOI: Bionix — will all be available by March 3, the 34th anniversary of the group’s debut album.
De La Soul dropped their debut in 1989 and followed it up with eight more albums throughout the course of their career. Due to sample clearances and legal issues with former label Tommy Boy Records, their first six albums were held back from streaming services. Reservoir Media, which acquired Tommy Boy in 2021, will now release those projects under its label, Chrysalis Records.
“We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process,” De La Soul wrote in a statement. “We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen.”
They’re dropping their hit single “The Magic Number” on streaming services January 13 ahead of the catalog’s release.
As 2022 ended, Twenty One Pilots bid farewell to the Scaled and Icy era.
In an Instagram post over the holiday weekend, frontman Tyler Joseph reflects on the duo’s latest record, which was released in May 2021 after being recorded amid the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Scaled and Icy was created and born in a time of uncertainty,” Joseph writes. “Live shows were always an important part of our DNA as a band. We probably wouldn’t even exist with out them. We always wrote songs for the show, never the other way around. But I always wondered what it would be like to write a record that never existed in a concert setting.”
With the pandemic shutting down the concert industry in 2020 and for much of 2021, Joseph and drummer Josh Dun found themselves with “no choice but to write that kind of record.”
“As the songs took shape, and we released them, and sat at home, we felt proud,” Joseph writes. “Proud of our fans, mostly. It felt good to release music. But something was off. I wondered, what would happen to these songs if we let them echo through a venue?”
Eventually, live music returned, and Twenty One Pilots began touring in support of Scaled and Icy in September 2021.
“71 shows and 14 countries later, Scaled and Icy became something different,” Joseph writes. “The lyrics meant something different, something more, the colors found their purpose, the chords rubbed together differently. the record came to life. It was confirmed: this band and these specific songs needed live music.”
“I want to thank our crew, who took us around the world during one of the toughest eras of touring ever,” he continues. “This past album cycle has meant so much to me.”
Nothing is stopping Adele from commanding the stage, even extreme nerve pain.
The powerhouse singer returned to Las Vegas to help fans ring in the new year during her Weekends with Adele residency. Fans must have noticed Adele walking a little differently as she was throwing T-shirts to the crowd, which prompted the singer to come clean with the audience.
“I’ve got two more [shirts to give out]. I’ve just got to get over to the other side of the stage,” Adele said, according to fan-captured videos of the event. She then revealed, “I have to waddle these days as I have really bad sciatica.”
Mayo Clinic describes sciatica as a pain of the sciatic nerve, which runs down a person’s leg, starting between one’s buttocks and hip. Sciatica is commonly caused when pressure is put on the nerve due to a bone overgrowth or a herniated disk. Symptoms include pain, inflammation and numbness of the leg.
Sciatica can alleviate overtime, reports Mayo Clinic, but more severe cases may require additional treatment, such as surgery.
Adele previously attributed her pain to injuring several discs. She told The Facein 2021, “I slipped my first disc when I was 15 from sneezing. I was in bed and I sneezed and my fifth one flew out. In January, I slipped my sixth one, my L6. And then where I had a C‑section, my core was useless.”
Adele added she’s been dealing with back pain for “half of my life” and deals with occasional flare-ups “due to stress or from a stupid bit of posture.” She added losing weight and strengthening her core has eased her symptoms.
Adele has not revealed what caused her latest flare-up.
On Tuesday’s installment of Today, the show’s hosts revealed Al Roker will be returning on Friday, January 6.
“We have some great news to share,” Savannah Guthrie said, commenting, “Our sunshine is coming back Friday morning.”
As reported, the beloved weatherman had been sidelined since the end of 2021, hospitalized twice for blood clots. The health scare forced him to miss coverage of both the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree for the first time in decades.
He has since made video appearances on the chat show; in a December 12 appearance from home, Roker called his situation “a tough slog,” adding, “It’s been the hardest one yet, and you know I’ve had my share of surgeries. It gives you a profound sense of gratitude for this outpouring of prayers and thanks. I’m a very fortunate person.”
Weeks later, Guthrie, co-host Hoda Kotb, and dozens of Today staff members donned Santa hats and went caroling outside Roker’s New York City home, surprising him and leaving him in tears.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly half of U.S. states raised their minimum wages at the outset of 2023, helping millions of workers contend with the nation’s ongoing bout of high inflation.
In all, 23 states raised their wage floors at the start of this year in keeping with inflation-adjusted increases or as part of scheduled hikes that take effect at the beginning of each calendar year.
The pay increases affect about 8.4 million workers, who will gain a combined $5 billion over the course of 2023, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found.
After the wave of wage hikes, Washington became the state with the highest minimum wage, offering workers $15.74 per hour. Meanwhile, workers in Massachusetts and the New York City area saw their minimum base pay rise to $15 per hour.
In California, the state with the most workers affected by a pay increase, more than 3 million employees will benefit, the Economic Policy Institute found. That group of workers makes up nearly 20% of the state’s workforce.
Thirteen states raised their minimum wage to adjust for inflation that reached a 40-year high in 2022, including blue states like Massachusetts and red states like Nebraska.
Overall, the states that raised the minimum wage in recent days include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington.
In addition, 27 cities and counties raised their minimum wage at the outset of this year, stretching from San Diego, California, to Portland, Maine. The city with the highest minimum wage, SeaTac, Washington, raised its base pay to $19.06.
The latest round of pay increases, however, will not affect any of the 20 states concentrated in the South that lack a minimum wage or offer a minimum wage that does not exceed the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.
The last federal minimum wage hike took place in 2009, when Congress raised the pay floor to its current level. When adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage last summer reached its lowest level since 1956, the Economic Policy Institute found.
The nationwide push for minimum wage hikes intensified in 2012, when fast food workers launched a campaign called Fight for $15, aiming to raise wages and unionize the fast food sector. The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, one of the nation’s largest labor organizations, spent tens of millions of dollars in support of the effort.
(NEW YORK) — The suspect accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November is set to appear in court Tuesday as he faces first-degree murder and burglary charges.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, a Ph.D. student at Washington State University’s department of criminal justice and criminology, will appear in a Monroe County, Pennsylvania, court to hear the charges and as the first step in his extradition to Idaho.
Kohberger’s parents and two sisters are planning to be in court, according to Kohberger’s attorney, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar.
LaBar said Kohberger “intends to waive his extradition hearing to expedite his transport to Idaho.” LaBar said Kohberger “is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible.”
LaBar told ABC News that the death penalty is on the table.
Kohberger was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains for the Nov. 13 murders of roommates Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin. The four victims were stabbed to death at the girls’ off-campus house in the middle of the night.
After Kohberger’s semester at Washington State ended this December, he and his father drove cross-country together, arriving at the family’s Pennsylvania home on Dec. 13, exactly one month after the murders, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar told ABC News.
They drove the pre-planned road trip in the white Hyundai Elantra which authorities said they were looking for in connection to the murders, according to LaBar.
The father and son were pulled over twice in Indiana, once for speeding and once for tailgating, LaBar said.
Police have not said what led them to Kohberger, but law enforcement sources told ABC News that authorities identified him as a suspect through public DNA genealogy databases.
The probable cause affidavit, which details the reasons for the arrest, is sealed and won’t be released until he returns to Idaho, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said.
Kohberger’s family said in a statement, “We care deeply for the four families who have lost their precious children. There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel.”
“We will continue to let the legal process unfold and as a family we will love and support our son and brother,” the family said.
Steve Goncalves, dad of victim Kaylee Goncalves, said the arrest has brought relief and comfort.
It “felt like a cloud was lifted off of us,” he told Good Morning America. “All this torture of waiting had a purpose and a meaning.”
ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth, Luke Barr, Nick Cirone, Matt Foster and Christopher Looft contributed to this report.
While Iggy Popwanted to be your dog, AC/DC apparently wanted him to be their singer.
In an interview with The New York Times Magazine, the Godfather of Punk reveals that the “Back in Black” outfit reached out to him about joining the group.
“They had a manager many years ago, when I hadn’t re-formed the Stooges, I hadn’t moved to England, and this guy said, ‘Are you interested in joining AC/DC?'” Pop recalls. “They were looking for a singer.”
Presumably, Iggy was approached following the death of vocalist Bon Scott in 1980. Scott was eventually replaced by Brian Johnson for AC/DC’s iconic comeback album, Back in Black. Johnson has remained AC/DC’s vocalist since, save for when he was sidelined from tour in 2016 due to hearing issues, during which Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses filled in.
As for whether Pop considered the offer, the “Lust for Life” rocker says he didn’t feel like it would’ve been a good fit.
“I listened to their record. I thought, ‘I can’t fill that bill,'” Iggy shares. “I wasn’t like, ‘Ugh, I don’t like them.’ It was quite well made. They do careful work. But I’m not what they needed.”
While Iggy isn’t jamming with AC/DC, he’s collaborating with a bunch of artists on his upcoming album, Every Loser, dropping this Friday. The record includes contributions from Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, GN’R’s Duff McKagan, Blink-182‘s Travis Barker and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, among others.
Rolling Stone magazine is out with their picks for the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, anointing Aretha Franklin with the top spot.
The mag calls Aretha, who died in August 2018, “A force of nature. A work of genius. A gift from the heavens,” adding, “Aretha Franklin’s voice is all that and more, which is why she remains the unchallenged Queen, years after her final bow.”
Coming in just behind Aretha at #2 is Whitney Houston, whom Rolling Stone calls the “standard-bearer for R&B vocals,” followed by Sam Cooke at three, Billie Holiday at four and Mariah Carey at five.
Rounding out the top 10 are Ray Charles at six, Stevie Wonder at seven, Beyoncé at eight, Otis Redding at nine and Al Green at 10.
The list is a combination of classic and contemporary artists, with both John Lennon and Paul McCartney landing on it — Lennon at #12, and McCartney at #26. Other artists placing fairly high include Freddie Mercury at 14, Bob Dylan at 15, Prince at 16, Frank Sinatra at 19 and Marvin Gaye at 20.
The list has caused some controversy, with omissions including Annie Lennox and Celine Dion, forcing some to question how it was actually compiled. The mag says it was based on “originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy,” adding, “this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List.”
