dies

Brad Arnold, the 47-year-old cofounder and lead singer of the Mississippi rock band 3 Doors Down, died Saturday, nine months after revealing a diagnosis of kidney cancer.

The band announced Arnold’s death in a social media post, which said he had “helped redefine mainstream rock music, blending post-grunge accessibility with emotionally direct songwriting.”

In May 2025, Arnold announced that the band would be canceling its summer tour because he had advanced-stage kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs.

“That’s not real good,” he said of his diagnosis. “But you know what? We serve a mighty God, and He can overcome anything. So I have no fear. I really sincerely am not scared of it at all.” He added, “I’d love for you to lift me up in prayer every chance you get.”

He was public about his battle with alcoholism. He said he started drinking in his teens, an addiction fueled by the pressure of stepping on a tour bus at 20 years old.

“It’s just a lot to hand a 20 year old,” he told a Christian podcaster. He thanked religion for his sobriety and took to proclaiming his faith on stage.

Born in Escatawpa, Mississippi in Sept. 1978, Arnold formed the band with friends Todd Harrell and Matt Roberts in the mid-1990s.

As a 15-year-old in algebra class, he wrote the song “Kryptonite,” drumming out the beat on his desk.

“I used to be our drummer,” he told the lead vocalist of the band Candlebox in an interview. “I only became the singer because we didn’t have a singer. That beat just came from just sitting on a desk. I probably wrote that song in the length of time that it took to me to just to write it down. It really was just one of those that kind of fell out of the sky.”

It became the band’s breakout hit in 2000 and earned a Grammy nomination.

“The Better Life,” the first of the band’s six albums, sold more than 6 million copies, and the 2005 album “Seventeen Days” entered the national charts at No. 1. That year, reviewing a Los Angeles performance, a critic noted Arnold’s “heartland drawl” and sleeveless denim shirt, calling him “less punk than Springsteen.”

The band released its final album, “Us And The Night,” in 2016. The following year, the band played at the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Arnold is survived by his wife, Jennifer.

Snooker legend and BBC commentator John Virgo has died aged 79. Virgo enjoyed an 18-year professional career, but is perhaps best known for presenting popular snooker TV show Big Break alongside comedian Jim Davidson from 1991 to 2002.

READ MORE: Snooker legend Virgo dies aged 79

Snooker legend and BBC commentator John Virgo has died aged 79.

Virgo enjoyed an 18-year professional career, winning the 1979 UK Championship among four non-ranking titles.

He is perhaps best known for his post-playing career, co-presenting snooker TV programme Big Break from 1991 to 2002.

Following his retirement in 1994, Virgo took up a full-time commentary position with the BBC.

He was part of its coverage for last month’s Masters.

SNOOP Dogg’s 11-month-old granddaughter has tragically died – as daughter Cori Broadus says ‘I lost the love of my life’.

Cori revealed the news that her daughter Codi Dreaux died on Monday, just 20 days after her release from the NICU.

Cori had welcomed Codi – her first child with photographer fiance Wayne Duece – in February last year.

But Codi was born three months prematurely, and spent the first months of her life in the NICU before being discharged at the beginning of January.

Cori, 26, had excitedly announced “She’s home” on January 6 in an Instagram post, but now she has shared the devastating news that Cori has passed away.

She posted a black and white picture of her holding her baby daughter as she looked down and smiled at her.

Alongside it she wrote: “Monday, I lost the love of my life. My Codi.”

She also reshared her post about Codi coming home and wrote: “20 days later?! dawg im sick.”

Wayne also shared a post to his Instagram Stories on Saturday, which showed Codi gazing up at him as he cradled her.

He wrote: “I been the saddest since u left me Codi Dreaux. But I know u at peace. Daddy will always love you.”

Meanwhile, one of Codi’s nurses also shared a heartbreaking post, which Cori reposted.

It showed a black and white video of a crib and mobile hanging over it, with the caption: “I been sad for 6 days straight. Being a nurse has its ups and downs and this is the biggest down I ever experienced.

“It was such a pleasure being mybabygirls nurse. I gave her one last bath told her I loved her and didn’t even know I was getting her ready for Heaven.”

Cori is the youngest of Snoop’s three daughters with his wife of 28 years, Shante Broadus.

She was diagnosed with Lupus when she was six, and suffered a stroke in early 2024, which made her pregnancy high risk.

She gave birth to Codi when she was just 25 weeks along, but when Codi was six months old and in the NICU, she told Us Weekly her baby girl was “feisty”.

She said: “Codi just has so much character. The doctors and nurses always tell me: ‘Your baby got her mind. She’s smart. She’s alert.

“‘She knows what’s going on. She can hear. She can see. Yeah, the circumstances are not what you thought they would be, but it could be worse.’

“That girl is just a sweet little firecracker.”

Demond Wilson, who was best known for playing Lamont Sanford, the son of Redd Foxx’s character on the 1970s TV show “Sanford and Son,” died in his sleep at his home in the Coachella Valley on Jan. 30. He was 79.

Wilson’s publicist, Mark Goldman, confirmed that he died from complications related to cancer.

“Demond was surrounded by love throughout his final days,” Goldman said in a statement. “A devoted father, actor, author, and minister, Demond lived a life rooted in faith, service, and compassion. Through his work on screen, his writing, and his ministry, he sought to uplift others and leave a meaningful impact on the communities he served.”

Demond Wilson attends the 2016 Chiller Theater Expo at the Parsippany Hilton in New Jersey on April 22, 2016.

(Bobby Bank / WireImage)

Grady Demond Wilson was born in Valdosta, Ga., on Oct. 13, 1946, and grew up in New York City. His mother, Laura, was a dietitian, and his father, Grady Wilson, was a tailor. Wilson learned tap dance and ballet and appeared on Broadway at just 4 years old. After serving in the Army from 1966 to 1968 in Vietnam, where he was wounded, he made his TV debut in 1971, playing a burglar alongside Cleavon Little in Norman Lear’s sitcom “All in the Family.” That role led to his casting in “Sanford and Son” in 1972, which was notable at the time for having a nearly all-Black cast.

Redd Foxx, left, broods next to Demond Wilson about one of the 3,000 pieces used on the “pleasantly junky” set of “Sanford and Son.”

(NBC)

Although “Sanford and Son” was his most famous role, Wilson also appeared in “Baby, I’m Back,” “The New Odd Couple” and “Girlfriends.” His last TV appearance was in “Eleanor’s Bench” in 2023.

Despite his success, Wilson left acting, sold his Bel-Air mansion and Rolls-Royce and became an interdenominational preacher in 1983.

The change was not surprising given his background. “I was raised a Catholic, was an altar boy, and at 14 I seriously considered becoming a priest,” Wilson told The Times in 1986. When he was 12, his appendix ruptured and he nearly died, leading him to promise to serve God as an adult. “I was always aware that God was the guiding force in my life,” he said.

Disillusioned with Hollywood, Wilson moved his wife and children to what he jokingly called a “respectable, Republican, upper-middle-class” neighborhood in Mission Viejo. He wanted his five children at the time to have “normal childhoods.” “We’ve left the rat race and false people behind,” he said.

Wilson was also an author. He published “The New Age Millennium: An Exposé of Symbols, Slogans and Hidden Agendas” in 1998, and his autobiography, “Second Banana: The Bittersweet Memoirs of the Sanford & Son Years,” in 2009. He also wrote 11 children’s books.

Wilson is survived by his wife, Cicely; his six children, Nicole, Melissa, Christopher, Demond Jr., Tabitha and Sarah; and his two grandchildren, Madison and Isabella.