Elf is considered a holiday staple and fans have long wondered why the popular film doesn’t have a sequel. Star Will Ferrell revealed in a new interview that he stopped it from being made.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor opened up about his decision to table Elf 2, saying it had nothing to do with money. In fact, he says he was offered a handsome $29 million to reprise the lovable Buddy the Elf.
According to the actor, he hints the only good thing about the potential sequel was the paycheck.
“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place,” Ferrell reflected, “which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money.'”
Noting of the script’s rehashed premise, he said he mulled over what his motivation would be for doing such a film and confessed, “I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.'”
Elf, also starring Zooey Deschanel, Ed Asner and James Caan, danced into theaters in October 2003 and Ferrell admits he once thought the now iconic Christmas film would be the death of his acting career.
There was a moment, he admits, when he was in New York City wearing Buddy’s fashionable yellow tights and thought to himself, “Boy, this could be the end.”
Then the movie charmed its test audience, with the actor gaining hope — especially after one test group of what appeared to be “USC frat boys” also enjoyed the feel-good film.
Elf proved to be a hit and a boon for Ferrell’s career, amassing $222.3 million during its box office run and, according to some critics, is considered one of the greatest Christmas films of all time.
(NEW YORK) — Britain’s Prince Andrew faces a deadline Friday to file a response to a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him in New York by an alleged victim of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Virginia Giuffre, 38, claims she was directed by Epstein and his former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, to have sex with the prince at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and elsewhere in 2001, before she turned 18.
Prince Andrew and Maxwell have both denied Giuffre’s allegations.
According to a letter filed earlier this week by Andrew Brettler, a California-based attorney for the prince, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, intends to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
During a telephonic hearing in the case earlier this month, Brettler assailed Giuffre’s lawsuit as “baseless, non-viable and potentially unlawful.”
Among the royal’s arguments for dismissal is his claim that a settlement agreement Giuffre signed with Epstein in 2009 “releases [the prince] and others from any and all liability, including any purported liability arising from the claims Ms. Giuffre asserted against Prince Andrew here.”
But Giuffre’s attorneys contend that the prince’s attempt to rely on the previous settlement agreement with Epstein to forestall the case is destined to fail.
“There is no evidence from any of the parties to the release, or Prince Andrew, that the release was ever intended to include Prince Andrew, and we believe the evidence will be that it wasn’t,” wrote Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, in a court filing earlier this month.
The prince’s legal team recently received a copy of the 2009 settlement from Giuffre’s attorneys, but it will not be filed publicly this week. The deal’s contents have been placed under seal by another judge in a related lawsuit. Any references to the particulars of the agreement are expected to be redacted from the prince’s submissions to the court.
Giuffre’s lawsuit, filed on Aug. 9, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and accuses Andrew, 61, of sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“Twenty years ago, Prince Andrew’s wealth, power, position, and connections enabled him to abuse a frightened, vulnerable child with no one there to protect her. It is long past the time for him to be held to account,” the lawsuit states.
Giuffre, now a 38-year-old mother living in Australia, first accused the prince of sexual abuse in public court filings in December 2014, in a case brought by alleged Epstein victims against the U.S. Department of Justice. That lawsuit challenged Epstein’s lenient deal with federal prosecutors in Florida in 2008.
Her claims were met then with vehement denials from Maxwell and from Buckingham Palace on behalf of the prince.
“It is emphatically denied that [Prince Andrew] had any form of sexual contact or relationship with [Giuffre]. The allegations made are false and without any foundation,” the palace said in a statement.
After Epstein’s death while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges, the prince once again found himself under scrutiny for his prior association with the disgraced financier.
In a 2019 interview with the BBC, Andrew denied having sexual contact with Giuffre and claimed to have no recollection of ever meeting her.
“I’ve said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever,” the prince said, responding to a question about allegations from Giuffre.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is overseeing Giuffre’s case, has scheduled the next hearing for Nov. 3.
Daylight Saving Time is ending! And turning back the clock is actually good for your heart! Typically, there are 20%more heart attacks on Mondays, according to the British Medical Journal. It’s a combination of a lack of sleep from the weekend, increased activity, rising blood pressure, and the stress of a starting a work week. But the switch back to Standard Time actually changes that dynamic.
In March, when we “spring forward” and move our clocks ahead one hour, there’s a 5% increase in heart attacks on Monday, and 10% on Tuesday. Researchers figure it’s because we’re already sleep-deprived – and the extra hour of lost sleep pushes those prone to a heart attack over the edge. However, in November when we “fall back” and move our clocks back an hour, there’s actually a 5% drop in heart attacks that week. Again, it’s because a lot of people take advantage of that extra hour and sleep longer. Or do something relaxing, like reading the morning paper until it’s time to get ready.
So, what’s the takeaway on this? It’s simple: Get more sleep! Dr. Lori Mosca, the director of preventive cardiology at New York Presbyterian Hospital, says getting the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep a night improves blood sugar, and reduces your blood pressure, blood clotting, cholesterol, and inflammation of your arteries. All of which reduce your risk for heart disease and heart attack. On the flip side, the disappearance of Daylight Saving Time can make you more tired. Why? Studies show that earlier sunsets, and long, dark evenings make fatigue worse, and can make you feel draggy all day.
The fix: Stop hitting the snooze button and get moving the moment your alarm goes off. Take advantage of the extra morning light by opening your blinds, or taking a walk outside. Sunlight suppresses the sleep hormone melatonin, and helps boost your energy and your mood.
We recently turned the clocks back an hour and even though sleep experts say that the time change is good news – because we typically get more rest – it can also trigger Seasonal Affective Disorder. And it can hit anyone, no matter how healthy you are. The disorder makes you feel tired, have less energy and feel hungrier – and your risk of depression jumps. So, here are a few ways to fight off Seasonal Affective Disorder:
Load up on light. The idea is to get your mind out of “it’s getting dark outside, time to sleep mode.” So, go outside during your lunch break to get your daylight fix! And as soon as you get home, turn on the lights so your brain doesn’t get lulled into “sleep zone.”
Go for a nighttime workout. Studies show that early evening exercise can help keep you energized during the evening. The key? Work out two hours before bed. That way, your brain has time to come off the dopamine exercise high so you’ll actually be able to fall asleep.
Don’t sleep late on weekends. Dr. Michael Terman, a psychologist and SAD specialist, says that oversleeping allows your body clock to drift later. And when you’re out of sync with local time, it can make you sluggish and depressed.
Use a light-therapy box. This mimics natural outdoor light. Dr. Terman believes that half the population would benefit from 30 minutes of light box therapy every morning. It’ll help increase your energy by mimicking natural sunlight, so a regular lamp won’t do the trick.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City firefighters and other city workers protested outside the mayor’s residence Thursday, as a COVID-19 vaccination deadline quickly approaches.
Nearly all municipal employees, including police officers, sanitation workers and firefighters, have until 5 p.m. Friday to submit proof of receiving at least one dose of vaccine. Those who don’t get vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave, starting Monday, for at least 30 days, and their future employment will be resolved in negotiations with individual labor unions. Uniformed correction officers have until Dec. 1 to show proof of vaccination.
The city’s firefighters’ unions organized Thursday’s anti-vaccine mandate rally, which filled the entire block in front of Gracie Mansion, home to Mayor Bill de Blasio. Municipal employees, including FDNY union members, and others gathered, some holding signs that said “My body my choice” and “Coercion is not consent.”
Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York President Andrew Ansbro previously told reporters that “a lot” of the union’s members were “still struggling with making this decision.” James McCarthy, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, has also argued that the deadline, announced on Oct. 20, is “not enough time to make a retirement decision if you are going to retire from this job.”
Ansbro has warned of a “catastrophic manpower shortage” if some 3,500 firefighters who are currently unvaccinated are unable to report to work. The FDNY said Wednesday that 65% of its members were vaccinated.
The mayor stood by his vaccine mandate Thursday, saying there are no plans to change the deadline.
“My job is to keep people safe, my employees, and 8.8 million people, and until we defeat COVID, people are not safe,” de Blasio said during a press briefing. “If we don’t stop COVID, New Yorkers will die. We must, must stop COVID and the way to do that is vaccination. And that must include our public employees.”
On potential shortages in the city’s fire, police and sanitation departments, de Blasio said that the agencies are “confident” about contingency plans, and that the city has anticipated that “a lot of the vaccinations would happen toward the end of the deadline.”
Overall, 86% of the city’s 300,000-plus workforce is vaccinated, de Blasio said. That includes school and hospital employees who faced earlier deadlines.
For outstanding city workers, that number drops to 76%, including 74% of police officers and 67% of sanitation workers, he said.
“We are very confident those numbers are going to go up a lot,” de Blasio said.
Legal challenges to pause the city’s vaccination mandate have so far been unsuccessful.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A popular plan to let the government directly negotiate lower prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies — extracting significant savings for taxpayers and patients — will likely not be part of the Democrats’ sweeping social spending package, the White House said Thursday.
The development dashed hopes for what many consumer advocates had considered the best chance in decades for immediate relief to families burdened by soaring costs of medication. It also marks a major victory for drug makers who have spent millions of dollars lobbying against direct government intervention in pricing.
“Unless the government steps in and fights the fight for us, we have to fight it. And we don’t have a choice,” said Laura Marston, 39, of Washington, D.C., who needs daily doses of insulin to survive. The drug’s list price has risen 1000% over the last 25 years.
“Every day I feel like I live in a country that prides itself on freedom, but I don’t get to be free because at 14 I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic,” she said.
Americans pay more for prescription drugs than citizens of any other country in the world, on average $1,200 per person, per year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
While individual American insurance companies negotiate discounts with drug makers, federal law prohibits the government from doing the same thing.
Most Democrats and patient groups have pushed for changes to the law that would allow the government to negotiate prices through Medicare under a cap pegged to what other wealthy nations pay. Former President Donald Trump also campaigned on the idea in 2016.
“The idea is not just to have Medicare negotiate prices for its own program but to extend those negotiated prices to private insurance plans as well,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “This would put drugs on equal footing with other types of health care. Medicare negotiates or sets the price for hospital care, for doctor visits.”
The federal government could save $450 billion over 10 years, according to one Congressional Budget Office analysis — savings that could help offset the costs of other initiatives or reduce the deficit. Consumers would also reap savings at the pharmacy counter.
“Everyone would feel it through a couple of different channels. In some cases, it would mean less out of pocket at the pharmacy, and in some other cases it would mean less that we pay for prescription drug coverage,” said Andrew Mulcahy, a health policy researcher at RAND Corporation, who has studied the issue.
Drug companies have warned that the trade-offs from lost revenue would be significant, upending a key part of the U.S. economy, leading to job losses and less money for research and development of new drugs.
“Of course we make profit, but it’s not like we keep it, right? We return it to shareholders who give us money to take huge risk on R&D,” said Lilly CEO Dave Ricks, whom public filings show received a $23 million compensation package last year.
Ricks estimates that despite earning billions in profits, the company would have to cut experimental drug projects in half if the government capped prices — curbing the kind of innovation seen from manufacturers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Five of the six medicines approved globally to treat COVID are from American companies — two from mine, and three of vaccines that are used globally are from American companies,” Ricks said.
An independent government analysis forecasts there would be two fewer new drugs brought to market over the next 10 years, with 23 fewer over the decade after that.
Sue Millikan of Ohio, a retiree and grandmother covered by Medicare, says high prices concern her but so does the prospect of missing out on medical breakthroughs.
“We are able to do things here in this country because of our freedoms and invent things and produce things, and I don’t want to see restrictions to that,” Millikan said. “I can see where it’s happening in other countries where it limits how many drugs they get, when they get them, how fast you can get stuff, and I don’t want to see that happen here.”
While many Americans share those concerns, polls show that large majorities of Americans — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — have consistently supported government negotiation of drug prices.
“It’s really speculative to try to figure out what might happen, you know, 10, 20, 30 years from now,” said Levitt. “We don’t even know what scientific breakthroughs there will be, let alone what drugs might or might not come to market.”
“The United States is alone among developed countries in not having a role for the government in negotiating or setting the price of drugs, and that’s why we pay much higher prices than the rest of the world,” he said.
For diabetics like Marston, government negotiation of drug prices could mean between $28 and $176 less for a monthly supply of insulin, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress.
“It would be a great first step to demonstrate that and I think more people across both parties would benefit from that and appreciate that,” she said.
But the White House on Thursday said the idea doesn’t have enough votes in Congress.
“At the end of the day, there are not yet enough votes to get something across the line,” a senior Biden administration official, who asked not to be identified, told reporters.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oreg., who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and is a leading advocate for Medicare drug negotiations, says he is still fighting for a slimmed-down version of the plan.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is also adamant that the proposal be restored before a final vote on the social spending plan.
“The American people are very, very clear that they are sick and tired of paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” he said. “It is really outrageous that year after year, members of Congress talk about the high cost of prescription drugs and yet, year after year, we are not able to do anything about it.”
For now, the drug companies appear to be winning the debate. The industry is pushing alternatives for relief, like caps on out-of-pocket expenses for critical medicines and expansion of Medicare coverage of some drugs.
“Our understanding is this is a framework. We continue to stand ready to work with policymakers this year to enact meaningful reforms that will lower out-of-pocket drug costs for patients,” said Brian Newell, spokesman for PhRMA, the drug industry trade group.
In the meantime, millions of Americans hope Congress won’t squander this moment, and years of debate over drug prices will finally lead to some action.
“I don’t think anybody’s happy with how drug prices have gone up,” Millikan said.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Allison Pecorin contributed reporting.
(WASHINGTON) — House Democratic leaders are pulling the plug on infrastructure this week.
The plan to vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill Thursday is now officially canceled, according to sources familiar with the situation.
That means President Joe Biden will not get a vote on the bill Thursday night as he lands in Rome.
Sources confirm that the House will instead vote on a short-term bill to extend surface transportation authorization Thursday, as it’s due to expire Sunday.
In a last-minute push before heading overseas, and after months of torturous negotiations, Biden on Thursday announced a “framework” of his economic plan in an effort to get all Democrats behind his social spending and climate policy agenda.
“No one got everything they wanted, including me, but that’s what compromise is. That’s consensus. And that’s what I ran on,” Biden said in remarks from the White House East Room.
Before taking the world stage, Biden put public pressure on members of his own party, especially House progressives, to come together to support what he pitched as a “fundamental game-changer,” laying out the details of the $1.75 trillion package he presented to House Democrats earlier Thursday morning.
“I ran for president saying it was time to reduce the burden on the middle class to rebuild the backbone of this nation working people in the middle class. It couldn’t have been any clearer — the very moment I announced my candidacy. That’s why I wrote these bills in the first place and took them to the people,” Biden said, using the presidential bully pulpit.
“I campaigned on that and the American people spoke. This agenda that’s in these bills is what 81 million Americans voted for. More people voted than any time in American history,” Biden said. “Their voices deserve to be heard. Not denied, or worse, ignored.”
But as the day went on it still wasn’t clear all Democrats, especially progressives, were on board, even at the risk of a major embarrassment for Biden.
In an afternoon news conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared upbeat when announcing the roughly 2,500-page social spending proposal was headed for markup, but did not commit to a vote on the bipartisan package on Thursday. She dodged when asked by ABC News Congressional Correspondent whether she trusts Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have been holdouts on provisions most Democrats support.
“I trust the president of the United States,” she said. “And again, the text is out there if they have some — anybody, any senator, any House member — have some suggestions about where their comfort level is or their dismay might be — then we welcome that, but I trust the president of the United States.”
Four weeks of federally paid family leave is out — a major blow to progressives — but done to cut the framework’s price tag in hopes that holdouts Manchin and Sinema would pledge their support for the social spending framework. House progressives were insisting on that before a House vote on the already Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Sinema signaled her support for the framework in a statement hailing “significant progress” — but it didn’t mention the word “deal.”
Late in the day Thursday, Manchin said, “We negotiated a good number.”
But Sen. Bernie Sanders, who wields large influence with the House progressive caucus, actively encouraged progressive colleagues in the House to hold out and oppose a vote now on the bipartisan infrastructure package until they see the legislative text of the larger social spending package and get assurances from all 50 senators that they support it.
“I want to see it improved,” Sanders told reporters. He noted the significance of the proposal but said “it has some major gaps in it.”
The progressive caucus later voted internally to endorse Biden’s framework but to hold the line until the social spending bill is ready for a vote.
That all but guaranteed the bipartisan bill would not pass Thursday, even if a vote was held.
A senior Capitol Hill official confirmed that Pelosi had told House Democrats to not “embarrass” Biden by voting down the infrastructure bill Thursday as he headed overseas.
The remarks were made behind closed doors at the Democratic caucus meeting Thursday morning and were first reported by CNN.
In his speech, Biden promoted the framework’s provisions on climate policy, another progressive priority, ahead of the COP26 UN global climate summit, saying even his scaled-back plan will “grow the domestic industries, create good-paying union jobs” and address “long-standing environmental injustices.”
“We’ll build up our resilience for the next storm, drought, wildfires and hurricanes that indicate a blinking code red for America and the world,” he said, noting natural disasters have cost $99 billion in damage to the U.S. in the last several years. Setting up a question to those who argue his plan costs too much, “We’re not spending any money to deal with this?”
He said his plan would not raise taxes on the middle class but “would continue cutting taxes for the middle class,” and instead raise them on the nation’s wealthiest Americans and corporations, whom Democrats argue haven’t been paying their fair share.
Biden can’t afford to lose a single vote in the Senate and only three votes in the House. He delayed his foreign trip to head to the Hill and lobby members of his own party to back the legislation he campaigned on.
Earlier, he pulled up to the Capitol shortly after 9 a.m., and then flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, responded only with “It’s a good day” to a reporter asking what his message is to House progressives who don’t trust Manchin and Sinema — holdouts throughout the extended and often chaotic bargaining.
When reporters shouted, “Do you think you have enough of a framework to get progressives to support the infrastructure bill?” Biden responded “Yes.”
About an hour later, as he emerged, Biden told reporters, “I think we’re going to be in good shape,” but declined to answer more questions as he left the Capitol.
Biden was met inside the meeting with multiple standing ovations, sources told to ABC News, with some members standing up and shouting, “Vote, vote, vote!”
Democratic leaders were eager to put the infrastructure bill on the floor as soon as Thursday, but Pelosi — who doesn’t call for votes unless she knows has the support for passage — hadn’t officially called for one.
House Progressives emerged from a closed-door meeting and commended Biden for framework, but they still insisted they will vote no on the infrastructure bill if it hit the floor until a firm deal is made on the larger spending package.
“There are too many no votes for the BIF to pass today,” said Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.
“He did not ask for a vote on the bill today,” she said earlier in the day, referring to the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill. “The speaker did. He did not. He said he wants votes on both bills and said what we do on these two bills is going to be determinative for how the world sees us.”
Before his speech, the White House teased Biden’s remarks on his domestic agenda ahead his international trip, saying he is “delivering” on his promises to rebuild the middle class.
“After hearing input from all sides and negotiating in good faith with Senators Manchin and Sinema, Congressional Leadership, and a broad swath of Members of Congress, President Biden is announcing a framework for the Build Back Better Act,” said a White House statement that notably did not say he had an agreement.
“President Biden is confident this is a framework that can pass both houses of Congress, and he looks forward to signing it into law. He calls on Congress to take up this historic bill – in addition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – as quickly as possible,” the statement said.
The White House said “the framework will save most American families more than half of their spending on child care, deliver two years of free preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old in America, give more than 35 million families a major tax cut by extending the expanded Child Tax Credit, and expand access to high-quality home care for older Americans and people with disabilities.”
The Child Tax Credit expansion, which Biden proposed extending until 2025, would now be only until the end of 2022. Paid family and medical leave, which Biden had originally proposed to be 12 weeks and then scaled back to four weeks, appeared to have been dropped altogether after Manchin objected, despite progressives fighting back. Two free years of community college that Biden had promised is not included.
It also claimed it represents “the largest effort to combat climate change in American history” and “the biggest expansion of affordable health care coverage in a decade,” saying it would “reduce premiums for more than 9 million Americans by extending the expanded Premium Tax Credit, deliver health care coverage to up to 4 million uninsured people in states that have locked them out of Medicaid, and help older Americans access affordable hearing care by expanding Medicare.”
An expansion of Medicare to cover dental and vision, a top priority of Sen. Bernie Sanders, is not in the framework.
And, the White House said, “it is fully paid for … by making sure that large, profitable corporations can’t zero out their tax bills, no longer rewarding corporations that shift jobs and profits overseas, asking more from millionaires and billionaires, and stopping rich Americans from cheating on their tax bills.”
Foo Fighters are headlining the 2022 editions of Lollapalooza Argentina and Brazil.
Dave Grohl and company will be joined on the lineups for both festivals by artists including Jane’s Addiction, The Strokes, Machine Gun Kelly and many others.
Lolla Argentina will be held March 18-20 in Buenos Aires, while Lolla Brazil takes place March 25-27 in São Paulo. For the full lineups and all ticket info, visit LollapaloozaAR.com and LollapaloozaBR.com.
Foo Fighters headlined the U.S. Lollapalooza in Chicago this past summer. The 2022 edition of that festival is set for July 28-31.
In other news, Foo Fighters are among the nominees for the 2021 American Music Awards.
The band, who will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this Saturday, will compete in the Favorite Rock Artists category against Machine Gun Kelly, All Time Low, Glass Animals and AJR.
The 2021 American Music Awards will take place Sunday, November 21 at 8 p.m. ET. The ceremony will broadcast live on ABC.
With The Go-Go’s being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, October 30, AXS TV will launch a three-day celebration of the all-female group at the AXS.tv website and the network’s app, kicking off on Friday, the 29th.
“The Go-Go’s Weekend Giveaway” streaming event will include exclusive interviews, performances and more, as well as offering fans the chance to win a prize pack. Among the programs that will stream during the weekend are two episodes of At Home and Social featuring, respectively, singer Belinda Carlisle and drummer Gina Schock.
Carlisle’s episode is a brand-new installment that will feature her reminiscing about The Go-Go’s being part of Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip scene and revealing how she found out about the group’s Rock Hall induction.
Schock will be featured chatting about her new photo book, Made in Hollywood: All Access with The Go-Go’s, sharing some of her favorite pics from the book and discussing how she’s getting ready for the induction ceremony.
The weekend special also will include an episode of Rock & Tell featuring Gina displaying some of her favorite pieces of memorabilia. In addition, a Go-Go’s-themed edition of Nothing but Videos will highlight six of the group’s classic music videos, as well as the clip for their 2020 single, “Club Zero.”
As for the giveaway, five winners will be chosen to receive a prize pack that includes Schock’s Made in Hollywood book and a copy of the 2020 documentary The Go-Go’s. To enter, you can visit AXS.tv through Sunday, October 31.
In other news, The Go-Go’s will take part in a Q&A event at the Rock Hall museum in Cleveland on Friday that will stream live online at 12 p.m. ET on YouTube and Facebook.
Legendary rapper Doug E. Fresh recorded and toured with Prince, and he reveals that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer agreed to produce live album for him before passing away in 2016.
“When I was touring with him, he loved go-go,” the “Human Beat Box” tells HipHopDX. “So based on him loving go-go, he was going to produce my live album before he transitioned.”
Fresh was featured on the Purple Rain star’s 1998 tour with Chaka Khan and Larry Graham, and he recorded two songs on The New Power Generation‘s Newpower Soul album released the same year. Also in 1998, Prince, Khan, Graham and Fresh taped the Beautiful Strange concert video at London’s Cafe de Paris.
Meanwhile, the 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards Icon honoree recently released his first album in 26 years, This One’s for Chuck Brown: Doug E. Fresh Salutes the Godfather of Go-Go.
Grammy nominee Brown is known as the leading force behind the go-go music created in the 1960s in Washington, D.C. In 1979, his signature song, “Bustin’ Loose,” remained at number one on the Billboard R&B singles chart for four weeks. The pulsating track has been used as a theme song for the Washington Nationals baseball team, Washington Wizards NBA team and Washington Capitals hockey team.
Brown died from heart failure in 2012 at the age of 75.
“Just from a cultural perspective, Chuck Brown is a culture icon, but not just from the culture of go-go music, more like what he represents,” Fresh says.
This One’s For Chuck Brown: Doug E. Fresh Salutes the Godfather of Go-Go, released September 24, includes the last verse recorded by the late Biz Markie, who passed away July 16 at the age of 57.
