Charlie Puth started off 2022 by collaborating with Megan Thee Stallion on a new Super Bowl commercial, but the “Light Switch” singer says there’s another collaboration that blew him away.
Speaking with PopCulture, Charlie recalled working with Elton John on his The Lockdown Sessions series, and says teaming up with the legend was a humbling and “surreal experience.”
As for why he was so moved, 30-year-old Charlie says “he didn’t make it seem like he was Elton John” and that the legend “humanizes himself a lot.” One thing Sir Elton did was chat up Charlie’s parents and walk them through his songwriting process — saying his folks were stunned the “entire time.”
“He kind of just sits down, and he invited my parents to come in and he started talking about how he wrote ‘Tiny Dancer,'” Charlie described. “It was a surreal experience. But I felt like I was talking to just another fellow musician. Not intimidating in the least.”
Another lesson Elton gave was how “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” came to be, which Elton co-wrote with longtime musical partner Bernie Taupin. Charlie recalled that the British singer was handed a poem and he was able to “see the music come out of the words.”
“He showcased that when he sat down on the keyboard, this keyboard that I have over here,” Charlie continued and said Elton gave him the instrument following their collaboration.
The Grammy nominee saluted Sir Elton for his “incredible genius attribute” and said he provided solid constructive criticism when looking over music Charlie felt “wasn’t very good.”
Elton agreed “[the] music that I was working on wasn’t good enough,” which Charlie said “reaffirmed to me [how] I have to truly be myself.”
Tyrese and mother Priscilla Murray in 2003; Maury Phillips/WireImage
Tyrese is calling on his fans to pray for his mother, whom he says was placed in an induced coma after being hospitalized with pneumonia and COVID-19.
The Fast & Furious franchise star posted several Instagram updates Sunday as he held vigil at the hospital hoping his mom, Priscilla Murray, will recover. He explained that he was on a film set when he got “the worst phone call I’ve ever gotten.” He added, “I need prayers, the most sincere prayers from you prayer warriors.”
In a 15-minute video shared Sunday night, the actor/singer gave fans an extended update from inside the hospital.
“My mom is here, she’s on six or seven different things that’s got her relaxed and calm,” the 43-year-old entertainer said. “What I wanna tell you guys is that the Lord Jesus Christ is responsible for every breath that I see entering into my mom’s body right now. We’ve had our share of issues over the years but as I sit here I’m thanking God for every breath.”
He also urged those offering him support to reach out to any family members they may have had issues with in the past. “Just forgive them. … Nobody is perfect,” Tyrese said. He also filmed himself speaking to his mother as he informed her of the support she’s receiving.
“People around the world are praying for you, Mom,” he said. “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me, Mom. I love you. Where would I be without you, Mom? I love you. Just keep fighting. … I am strong because of you. I know Jesus because of you.”
Several stars responded with words of compassion, including Jermaine Dupri and D.L. Hughley. Busta Rhymes commented, “The Queen will Prevail.”
(TRUCKEE, Calif.) — A desperate search was on in Northern California for one of six ice skaters who fell through the melting surface of a frozen-over reservoir as the temperature soared well above freezing, authorities said.
Disaster struck Saturday afternoon at the Stampede Meadows Reservoir near Truckee in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when the ice broke under the weight of a group of ice skaters, according to a statement from the Truckee Fire Protection District.
Five of the skaters managed to pull themselves from the frigid water, but one person failed to emerge, fire officials said.
As a dive team from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office responded to assist in the search, fire officials cautioned people to stay off the iced-over reservoir and lakes and ponds in the area about 16 miles north of Lake Tahoe.
“It is impossible to know the safety and stability of the ice, especially with the recent warmer temperatures,” the Truckee Fire Protection District said in its statement.
Temperatures in the Truckee-Lake Tahoe area climbed into the mid-40s on Saturday from a low of about 12, according to the National Weather Service.
The incident occurred a week after the fire protection district firefighters conducted surface ice rescue training and sent out a warning on Facebook of the dangers of people and their pets venturing out on the area’s frozen waterways.
Meanwhile, some Southern California residents were being warned of escalating winter wildfire danger as strong Santa Ana winds kick up and temperatures climb into the unseasonably warm upper 80s.
Moderate to locally strong Santa Ana winds are forecast for Sunday night and into Monday across Ventura and Los Angeles counties in Southern California, according to ABC News meteorologists. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph were expected for the region, with isolated gusts up to 60 mph.
Blowing dust is also expected to reduce visibility across the region, and downed power lines and tree limbs are possible with the strongest gusts.
Another round of Santa Ana winds is likely on Wednesday and into Thursday, coupled with unseasonably warm temperatures. Record high temperatures in the mid-70s and upper 80s are possible for parts of Southern California on Thursday.
Burbank, California, is forecast to reach 86 degrees, coming within two degrees of the record of 87 degrees set in 1939.
(PORT CLINTON, Ohio) — More than a dozen people were rescued in Lake Erie after a sheet of ice broke away while they were riding snowmobiles, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard and a good Samaritan saved 18 people off the coast of Catawba Island in Ohio after the ice floe broke away, the agency said. All of the rescued were on ATVs and snowmobiles, according to the Coast Guard.
Rescue efforts started at about 1 p.m. after a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Detroit noticed people stuck on the ice.
Seven people were rescued by helicopter, while four were rescued by a Coast Guard airboat. Seven others were rescued by a good Samaritan who arrived at the scene with an airboat.
No one required medical attention once they were brought back to shore, the Coast Guard said.
Officials warned people seeking recreation on the ice “to take precautions, not chances” by dressing appropriately for the water temperature, not the air temperature; wearing a life jacket; carrying a reliable form of communication; and carrying icepicks or screwdrivers that can help them self-rescue if they go through the ice.
“There’s no such thing as safe ice, but people can mitigate their risks,” Lt. Jeremiah Schiessel of the Coast Guard Sector Detroit said in a statement. “Always be sure to tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back. Great Lakes ice is unpredictable, and conditions can change fast.”
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
Considered to be the greatest gymnast of all time, gold medal winner Simone Biles stunned fans last year when she withdrew from the team final at the Toyko Olympics.
Biles’ decision, made for mental health reasons, drew praise from fans, famous friends and fellow athletes, including tennis great Naomi Osaka, who herself previously pulled out of the French Open to focus on her own mental health.
“I do believe everything happens for a reason,” Biles reflects to the fashion website Net-A-Porter in a new interview about her decision, and her life both in and out of the spotlight.
The athlete explained she began suffering from a disorienting condition gymnasts call “the twisties,” when mind and body feel dangerously out of sync. “I felt scared,” she recalls of telling her coaches about her decision to sit out three major events during the Games.
Biles explains while her coaches were “100 percent supportive,” there were some seeds of doubt. They asked her, “‘Are you sure you want to do this?'” Simone recalls, “‘Because, a couple of years from now, you don’t want to have any regrets.'”
The athlete instead says she’d regret it if she didn’t withdraw.
Biles’ decision was hailed by the likes of Michelle Obama, Justin Bieber and even her “idol,” Osaka herself. “I definitely felt all those messages,” Simone said, adding, “I want people to know that they were heard and they were seen – even if I didn’t get to respond.”
The athlete explains she’s putting her downtime to good use with a “self-care” regimen she describes as “taking baths, going to the spa, having movie nights with my boyfriend and spending time at the pool with my dogs,” French Bulldogs Lilo and Rambo.
Biles got Lilo in 2017, to give her much-needed emotional support to deal with the mental health blowback from the arrest of former U.S. Olympics doctor Larry Nassar on charges he sexually abused the athletes in his care, including Biles and her teammates. Simone later joined her team on Capitol Hill to testify against the “entire system that enabled and perpetuated” the abuse — including the FBI, the inaction of which allowed it to continue even after complaints were filed.
Biles said, “That’s when I realized the power that I had.” She added, “I’ll always continue to be a voice for the voiceless. Gymnastics can be a safe place.”
Luke Bryan is reflecting on how he’s turned tragedy into art.
Throughout his career, Luke has been open about how the sudden deaths of his siblings have impacted him. His brother Chris was killed in a car accident not long before Luke left for Nashville. In 2007, his sister Kelly passed away unexpectedly, followed by her husband Lee, who died of a heart attack in 2014. Since then, the singer and his wife Caroline have been taking care of his late sister’s three children, along with their two sons, Tate and Bo.
“I think me telling my story of what my family has been through, we’ve always really put it out there and told the world all of the ups and downs and challenges, so I think when I do that, it helps people that have been in similar scenarios not feel alone,” Luke expresses to Good Morning America.
He captures this in the video for his latest single, “Up,” where Luke can be seen sitting in a dimly lit barn adorned with twinkle lights, watching footage of his life on screen. Clips include Luke hunting with his sons and photos from his childhood with his family, the singer revealing that he didn’t see the footage in the video until the day of the shoot.
“I’m watching that in real time also, so it was a really special moment and love how the video came together,” he shares. “It’s a really beautifully done song.”
Luke is currently prepping for his first Las Vegas residency, which opens at the Resorts World Theatre on Friday.
Grab the tissues because the music video for Coldplay and Selena Gomez‘s super-sad single, “Let Somebody Go,” is finally here. The song is about the end of a relationship that both parties fought hard to save.
“All the storms we weathered/ Everything that we went through/ Now, without you, what on earth am I to do?/ When I called the mathematicians and I ask them to explain/ They said love is only equal to the pain,” they sing during the emotional, melancholy ballad.
The music video for “Let Somebody Go” was released Monday, which depicts how one’s world can become fractured by the heartbreak and the dizzying emotions that come with that final hug goodbye. In the black-and-white clip, Chris Martin and Selenaare seen reaching for one another, but they drift further apart as their worlds are literally turned upside down.
Although the music video is heartbreaking in nature, Selena says she is “excited” that fans can finally watch her latest work and shared a photo that shows her and Chris goofing off during filming.
“Let Somebody Go” is the latest single off Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres album, which has amassed over a billion streams. The track follows Coldplay’s “My Universe” collaboration with BTS.
In support of their new album, Coldplay is about to embark on their global stadium tour, which kicks off in Costa Rica next month.
After India.Arie announced last week that she was pulling her music from Spotify partly because of racist language used by podcast host Joe Rogan on the streaming service, she followed up by sharing clips of Rogan previously using the N-word.
The four-time Grammy winner posted edited footage of YouTube clips to her Instagram Stories Highlights showing Rogan using the racial slur several times.
Rogan responded on Instagram by saying the clips were taken out of context, but acknowledged, “It looks f****** horrible, even to me.”
He added. “I never used it to be racist because I’m not racist. But whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say, ‘I’m not racist,’ you’ve f***** up. And I clearly have f***** up.”
In announcing she was removing her music from Spotify, Arie said, “One [reason] is the Joe Rogan conversation, and for me his language around race and some of the things I’ve seen and heard, but also coupled with that, there is the treatment of artists by Spotify.” The “Strength, Courage & Wisdom” singer added that the platform underpays musical artists, and that she doesn’t want to support a company that prioritizes giving Rogan a hefty salary.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a memo Sunday to employees that he was “deeply sorry” for how the Rogan controversy has affected them. Spotify has also removed 70 past episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience, with Ek’s memo saying Rogan “chose to remove a number of episodes from Spotify.” Ek further said the Rogan podcast will continue.
In responding to the criticism of Spotify, Ek also announced that the company is “committing to an incremental investment of $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music and audio content from historically marginalized groups.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 902,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 07, 11:54 am
New Jersey governor to end mask mandate for schools
New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy announced Monday that the state’s requirement to wear face masks in schools will end on March 7.
“Balancing public health with getting back to some semblance of normalcy is not easy. But we can responsibly take this step due to declining COVID numbers and growth in vaccinations,” Murphy tweeted.
Murphy, a Democrat, has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the country. New Jersey, an early hot spot for COVID-19 cases, has lost more than 31,000 residents to the virus.
This move follows a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month.
Feb 07, 11:47 am
All states reporting declining or stable new case rates
After months of rising cases due to the omicron surge, every state in the U.S. is now reporting declining or stable new case rates, according to federal data.
Less than one month ago, the U.S. was averaging more than 800,000 new cases per day. Now that average has plummeted to just over 313,000 new cases per day — a 61% drop since the nation’s peak in mid-January and a 56% drop in the last two weeks.
Even so, the U.S. still reported nearly 2.2 million new COVID-19 cases last week; the nation’s daily case average remains higher than during any other wave of the pandemic.
Hospitalizations are also falling. About 14,000 Americans are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 each day — down by more than 23% in the last week, according to federal data.
Deaths, however, remain very high, with 16,800 Americans dying from COVID-19 over the last week. Deaths are a lagging indicator and usually take a few weeks to dip after the country sees a decline in cases and hospitalizations.
Feb 07, 9:42 am
Delaware to end universal indoor mask mandate
Delaware will lift its universal mask mandate on Friday morning after an improvement in cases and hospitalizations, Gov. John Carney said.
“We’re in a much better place than we were several weeks ago,” Carney said in a statement Monday. “I want to be clear about this point — COVID is still circulating in our communities. And the virus still poses a risk of serious illness, particularly among those who are not up to date on their vaccinations. But we have the tools to keep ourselves and each other safe.”
The mask requirement for Delaware schools was extended and is now set to expire on March 31.
Feb 07, 8:09 am
New Jersey governor to end mask mandate for schools
New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy is expected to announce Monday that the state’s requirement to wear face masks in schools will end the second week of March.
Murphy, a Democrat, has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the United States. The move would follow a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Feb 07, 5:48 am
Ottawa declares state of emergency over trucker-led protests
Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency on Sunday because of trucker-led protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic-related restrictions.
The move by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson “reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” according to a statement from the city.
“It also provides greater flexibility within the municipal administration to enable the City of Ottawa to manage business continuity for essential services for its residents and enables a more flexible procurement process, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders,” the city said.
Seven people were arrested in Ottawa on Sunday due to enforcement measures around the demonstration, according to a press release from the Ottawa Police Service.
“There are over 60 criminal investigations so far related to the demonstration,” police said. “They are primarily for mischief, thefts, hate crimes and property damage.”
Sunday marked the 10th straight day of the so-called “freedom convoy” protests, which began with truckers critical of a new rule that they must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to cross the United States-Canada border. The demonstrations have since grown into broader challenges to pandemic-related public health measures and opposition to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Thousands of protesters have occupied the streets of Ottawa and other cities across Canada in support of the movement, paralyzing the capital’s city center with traffic jams, nonstop noise and complaints of harassment. Protesters have said they won’t leave until all COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions are lifted nationwide. They are also calling for the removal of Trudeau’s government, even though most of the public health measures were put in place by provincial governments.
