singer

THE two nepo-baby sons of an iconic American pop star have made their modelling debut at Paris Fashion Week – can you guess who their mum is?

Her debut single skyrocketed her to fame in the late 1990s and at the time she was just 16-years-old.

The hitmaker, from Louisiana, bagged herself nine Billboard Music Awards, one Grammy and one American Music Award throughout the years she was actively performing and making new music.

She is best known for her tunes Toxic, Baby, One More Time, Oops!… I did It Again and Gimme More.

The princess of pop thrilled her millions of fans with her high-energy performances, memorable outfits and complex dance moves.

Her most unforgettable moment was perhaps when she danced to I’m A Slave 4 You at the VMAs with a huge yellow python.

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The legendary singer in question is of course Britney Spears.

Her two sons – Sean Preston and Jayden – made their official runway debut in Paris on Friday.

The 44-year-old shares her boys with her ex-husband Kevin Federline.

They married in 2004 but later divorced just three years later after Britney filed citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split.

Sean, 20, and Jayden, 19, looked unbelievably stylish as they walked for Vetements.

They donned the brands Y2K-leaning menswears Spring/Summer 2027 collection.

The Circus singers’ eldest son looked very chic wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans, an untucked black shirt, matching tie and a satin longline coat.

Meanwhile, Jayden’s outfit was much more rugged – he was dressed in a classic white vest top, a pair of light-wash denim jeans and some black boots.

He accessorised with a chunky brown belt, which had silver chains clipped to the side.

The nepo stars were seen strutting with confidence along the runway despite barely ever being seen publicly.

Britney was not present at the event but has been spending much more time with her boys recently after several years of public estrangement.

Sean and Jayden rallied around the music icon earlier this year after she was arrested for a DUI in California.

They flew straight to her side after finding out the news and just a month later they were spotted holidaying all together on a yacht.

Before her court date, Britney checked substance abuse and wellness treatment facility.

She successfully completed her stay and checked out right before her legal team finalised her plea deal.

At only 24, Samuel Kim Arredondo, better known as Samuel, has lived through nearly every iteration possible in a K-pop idol’s career.

As a child growing up in L.A.’s Koreatown, he attended Wilshire Park Elementary School — but by the fifth grade he had moved to South Korea with his mother, Kyung-ju, with dreams of K-pop stardom. There, he became a trainee under Pledis Entertainment.

Now a subsidiary label of Hybe — parent company of K-pop superstars BTS — Pledis was forming what became one of the most successful “third generation” K-pop groups of all time: Seventeen. Samuel, who was in the running to debut with the group, is even captured in early footage from their “Seventeen TV” variety show.

Though he didn’t make the cut, he remained close with the members and helped write lyrics for their 10-year anniversary album. Just last week, he filmed a dance challenge with singer-MC Mingyu for the reggaeton-infused pop number “Zigi Zigi Zigi” — the lead single off of his new EP, “Samuelito,” which dropped June 8.

After leaving Pledis, Samuel — who is fluent in both English and Korean — signed to a new agency, Brave Entertainment, then formed one half of a short-lived hip-hop duo, 1Punch. (He was Punch, the other kid was One.)

In 2017 he competed on the second season of Produce 101, a globally popular Korean competition franchise, where he made it to the penultimate episode before the debut of the group Wanna One. That same year, he released his first solo album, “Sixteen,” fully showcasing his outstanding dance ability, youthful swagger and velvety tenor.

Yet before he could finally make headway, he suffered a devastating loss.

Samuel’s father, José Arredondo, who came to the U.S. from Michoacán as a child, died tragically in a 2019 case that made national and local headlines. After having spent years apart from his father while living in Korea, Samuel spent quality time with him shortly before his death.

José was a pillar of his community; he rose from washing cars to owning his own car dealership, alongside other businesses in Bakersfield. A precocious young Samuel can still be found showing off his dance and Spanish skills in an old commercial for the dealership. (“Volkswagen me hace bailar,” he says before busting a move.)

The loss of his father was made more harrowing when the news went public, Samuel recalls over a Zoom interview from Seoul, where he is promoting his new album.

“The articles went out first,” he explains. “It was everywhere before I even wanted to talk about it, so I had no choice to keep it private … of course it’s definitely hard for me.”

In the aftermath, Samuel went under the radar — but after a year or two, he started to pave a way forward. After getting out of the contract with his former label, and with the support of his mother, he launched his own company, Samuel Music Group.

“If I kept on staying in the past, I think no one would like it — even my dad wouldn’t like it,” he says. “I learned a lot through that emotion as well. Always be grateful, always be thankful every time, and try to say ‘thank you’ always, especially to parents.”

Composed of three songs and one interlude, “Samuelito” takes its name from the childhood moniker some know him by today. As the follow-up to his 2024 EP, “Now,” it is his second record release since he became independent. It’s also his first record sung predominantly in Spanish — along with the occasional sprinkle of English and Korean. (Take the onomatopoeic “Ddook Ddak,” which is Korean slang for “just like that.”)

Singing in Spanish for the first time, he tells me, to music he created himself, made his “heart race.”

“Samuelito” is not so much an exploration of Mexican musical traditions, but of Latin-influenced rhythms and sounds filtered through his uniquely multicultural lens. In the future, he dreams of working with genre-spanning Latino pop artists who crossed over culturally, like Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello and Rauw Alejandro.

In an Instagram reel from earlier this year he described his efforts as “K-tone” — a Latin and reggaeton fusion, powered by K-pop discipline. The comments below were peppered with encouraging responses from fans in multiple languages.

Wrote Liz Zeledon, from Oceanside: “As a Korean-Nicaraguan who grew up with exposure to both cultures, I love hearing Latin influences in K-pop… Korean Latines are so underrepresented in the Korean music industry.”

Reached by phone, Zeledon is a K-pop fan who has kept tabs on Samuel since his Seventeen trainee days; she is also a child of immigrant parents.”Representation is so important, because existence and visibility are not the same thing,” she says.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, Samuel posted photos and videos of himself as a young child. In one, his dad holds him up as a baby, dressed in all-white with a tam hat. Though Samuel says the EP is not an on-the-nose tribute to the elder Arredondo, his spirit resonates through the lyrics of the poignant downtempo track, “Never Say Goodbye.”

“Gritos que yo sé/Que llegan hasta El Cielo/Gotitas en el suelo/Y se me cae el mundo entero,” he sings. (“Cries that I know/Reach all the way to Heaven/Little drops on the ground/And my whole world comes crashing down.”)

“I used to listen to a lot of Spanish music while I was growing up … I used to eat a lot of Mexican food too,” he says. “While I was in the studio last year, I had [this] big vision: [‘What if] I bring back my roots and just be the true me and call this album “Samuelito?”’ It just felt fresh.”

Samuel started songwriting and producing for himself in the making of “Now.” On his new album, only three writers are credited, including himself — which is somewhat of a rarity these days in K-pop. One of them is Canadian Mexican singer-songwriter Andrea Rocha.

From her new home in L.A., Rocha said the main goal was to seamlessly blend two distinct musical cultures. Although Samuel came to the studio with the structure for his songs already in place, they worked on melodies and writing in Spanish together, since this was his first time penning lyrics in the language.

Rocha says she was taken aback by Samuel’s professionalism. “I’d be like, ‘Oh, what about this melody?’ And then he would sing it perfectly,” she says. “I did ask him about his K-pop training, because it sounds really intense. I think it shows how hard he’s worked in those years because he’s got all the star qualities. Compared to a lot of newer artists that I work with, I’m like, ‘Ooh, they’ve [done] a lot of work to get to that level.’”

These days, Samuel splits his time between Seoul and Los Angeles — once again calling Koreatown his permanent home. He also continues to spend time with his dad’s side of the family in Bakersfield.

“I think the biggest thing that I am happy about is getting back to my roots, where I started,” says Samuel.

Barry Manilow has told the story behind his first big hit so many times that I had no intention of bringing up the half-century-old “Mandy” when I sat down with the singer on a recent afternoon at his home in Palm Springs. Among the questions I did ask was how he ended up recording the song that opens his new album, and the answer — as it’s so often been throughout Manilow’s career, beginning with that 1975 chart-topper — was Clive Davis.

“It was all Clive,” Manilow said of “Once Before I Go,” the Peter Allen/Dean Pitchford number that leads off his just-released “What a Time” LP. Davis, the star-making record executive with the so-called golden ears, had been urging him to record the song for years, Manilow told me, which inevitably brought him back to the well-rehearsed tale of “Mandy” — to Davis’ decision that Manilow’s debut for his Arista label lacked a breakout smash and to his suggestion that the singer cut a version of a modest hit called “Brandy” by Scott English.

“So I went in the studio and did it trying to sound like that guy,” Manilow recalled, stomping his foot to approximate a lumbering rock beat. “Clive came in and said, ‘That’s terrible.’ I said, ‘I know it’s terrible.’ But in order to learn the song, I’d slowed it down and changed the key — I found the love song hiding in ‘Brandy,’” Manilow continued. (He also changed the title to avoid any confusion with Looking Glass’ “Brandy,” which had recently reached No. 1.) Manilow played the tune in his more romantic style for the exec. “I’ll never forget it — Clive said, ‘Just do that.’ And that was the record.” He laughed.

“He’s a kind of a genius.”

Davis, who died Monday at age 94, didn’t sing or play an instrument. “I knew nothing about music,” he once said, looking back at his entry into the record business. Yet his instincts made him one of the surest spotters and nurturers of talent in pop history, with a long — and varied — line of success stories that included Manilow, Janis Joplin, Neil Diamond, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Maroon 5, among many others. He even helped the Grateful Dead score a Top 10 single with “Touch of Grey” in 1987.

Davis, who got his start in Columbia Records’ legal department, could identify original voices and seemed to intuit which songs were likely to become hits. Sometimes the hits came from the voices themselves, as in the case of Bruce Springsteen, whom Davis cajoled into writing “Blinded by the Light” for his Columbia debut; sometimes the exec match-made performers and composers, as in the case of “Mandy” or “Freeway of Love,” a zippy Narada Michael Walden jam that launched Franklin’s comeback in the mid-1980s.

A natty dresser with a cosmopolitan air, Davis founded Arista in 1974 after he was fired from Columbia (where he’d ascended to the presidency) amid an embezzlement scandal of which he was later cleared. In 2000, he was ousted from Arista in a corporate shakeup — just months after the label won eight Grammy Awards with Carlos Santana’s 15-times-platinum “Supernatural” LP — then launched a new label, J Records, which scored an immediate blockbuster with Keys’ “Songs in A Minor.”

Clive Davis at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2020.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Wherever he worked, Davis’ goal was shepherding hits that spanned formats and generations; he delighted in projects like “Smooth,” the inescapable Santana single pairing the rock guitarist and Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, and a series of Great American Songbook albums by the once-scruffy Rod Stewart. He might also have been the music industry’s biggest believer in ballads, at least among suits: Between 1985 and 1992, Houston alone released almost a dozen of music’s all-timers, including “Saving All My Love for You,” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” and — perhaps the greatest pop ballad ever recorded — her take on Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” (It wasn’t a huge hit, but listen to Houston and Jermaine Jackson’s pedal-steel-drenched “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” from Houston’s debut, for an early instance of that crossover ambition.)

One of relatively few nonperformers inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Davis brought his flair for variety to the party he threw at the Beverly Hilton every year on the night before the Grammys — a famously hot ticket that drew A-list celebs from the worlds of music and Hollywood as well as business and politics. You could always count on the exec to have persuaded some number of the year’s splashiest new acts to perform; this year’s bash, in January, had Sombr, Olivia Dean and the women of “KPop Demon Hunters.” But my favorite part of the show was always seeing which veteran Davis had tapped to mix it up with the youngsters — Diamond or Manilow, for instance, or Johnny Mathis, who absolutely killed in 2015.

Davis horrified many in 2012 when he opted to proceed with his party just hours after Houston was found dead in a hotel room at the Beverly Hilton. In the years after the singer’s death, Davis drew criticism for taking too much credit for Houston’s artistic achievements; to some, he became a symbol of the music industry’s efforts to tone down Houston’s Blackness in order to reach white audiences. Five years ago, I asked Warwick, who was Houston’s cousin, whether she’d taken on any kind of consulting role on “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” the 2022 Whitney biopic that Davis produced.

Bobby Brown, from left, Whitney Houston and Clive Davis in New York in 1998.

(Stuart Ramson / AP)

“Not one thing,” she told me. “I want them to let Whitney rest in peace. Leave her alone. Ten years [since she died] — it’s time to let her sleep.” (In a statement Monday, Warwick called Davis her “dear friend” and said she “can think of no other record man that seemed to have that magical ability to know a hit when he heard a song.”)

I spoke with Davis many times over the years and was always struck by his enthusiasm about music and about his recall of events from decades ago. In 2017, I interviewed the exec alongside Mathis and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds about a record the three made together that had Mathis singing newish pop songs like Adele’s “Hello” and Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” — a concept Manilow told me in March he and Davis had been talking about replicating. After my story ran, Davis emailed me and said he’d enjoyed the piece, which had a couple of lines about Davis’ tendency to go overboard hyping his projects.

“Yes, a few of your bites required a personal Band-Aid,” he wrote, “but I did appreciate your perspective of the Mathis album’s quality.”

He knew the music was good; Clive Davis always knew when the music was good.

Lil Nas X says he feels “less fear in my heart” as he opens up about receiving treatment for bipolar disorder and moving forward from the mental health episode that landed him in hot water with law officials last year.

The Grammy winner (real name Montero Lamar Hill) addressed last year’s events in a video Wednesday morning on Instagram. Lil Nas X, 27, informed fans that he has been in a rehab program “for a few months,” spending time with family in Atlanta and with friends in Los Angeles. Since last year’s incident, the singer said he has been focused on “trying to ground myself down to Earth and get out of my head.”

Lil Nas X was hospitalized and arrested in August after he was seen strolling in only his underwear and white boots through Studio City, eventually shedding those items as the night progressed. The singer received treatment at a nearby hospital for a possible overdose but was accused of assaulting police officers.

He was charged with four felony counts: three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer. Police accused the singer of assaulting the officers who were trying to take him into custody. Lil Nas X pleaded not guilty to all those counts.

In Wednesday’s video, Lil Nas X explained that he has also started seeing a therapist and psychiatrist to help address his mental condition — one he initially refused to accept. The singer, smiling and standing against a blue sky in his video, told fans that he was hesitant to take medication that would help address his bipolar disorder and joked that living with mental illness would add more to his plate: “I mean I’m already Black and gay…I’m like already living life on extreme hard mode.”

According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, bipolar disorder is a treatable mental health condition marked by extreme changes in mood, thought, energy and behavior. Manic episodes, marked by elevated changes in mood or behavior, are a symptom of the condition. People with a bipolar disorder diagnosis more commonly experience depressive episodes.

Lil Nas X spoke candidly about his diagnosis months after a Los Angeles judge in April granted the “Industry Baby” and “Old Town Road” singer’s motion for diversion, ordering the musician to enter a two-year mental health program. TMZ reported at the time that the musician would be cleared of his four felony counts if he complies with treatment and commits no other crimes.

The singer assured fans on Wednesday: “I’m doing better, I’m feeling better, I’m creating freely and there’s less fear in my heart and I’m just like smelling the roses.”

He also reflected on his career thus far — he quickly ascended to fame in 2019 with his viral hit “Old Town Road” — and teased that new music is on the way. Lil Nas X concluded his video by thanking fans for their support and for “holding it down.”

“I love you, and all I wanna do is continue to try to make you proud and make myself proud,” he said. “Let’s go dreamboy, let’s go.”

Country singer Tyler Farr is recovering after he missed his weekend show.

The “Rednecks Like Me” singer was slated to perform at the Goshen Stampede in Goshen, Conn., on Saturday, but the festival announced just hours before gates opened that Farr had an accident on his Chapel Hill farm, about 45 minutes outside of Nashville.

“Due to a motor vehicle incident on his farm, Tyler Farr was taken to a local hospital and diagnosed with a severe concussion,” read the Instagram post. “Tyler Farr will no longer be able to perform at the Goshen Stampede on June 13, 2026. We appreciate everyone’s understanding and will share additional event information as it becomes available. We wish Tyler a speedy recovery.”

David Foster and the All Stars took Farr’s place in the lineup. The event featured two rodeos with bull riding and steer wrestling, monster trucks, carnival rides and country music. Farr shared Goshen Stampede’s post to his since-expired Instagram stories but hasn’t shared any further updates.

Representatives for the country musician did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

This isn’t the country music star’s first rodeo. Farr, who released “Quit Bein’ Country” last fall, stopped by Taste of Country’s podcast to promote his new EP and told the outlet that he got into a car wreck on the way there and said his truck was too high.

“There’s a big lift on it, and if it had been a normal vehicle, it’d probably been something you could have just buffed out, but the reinforced-steel, ultra off-road bumper I have broke a taillight and knocked the bumper off [the other vehicle],” he said, adding that his truck didn’t have a scratch. “Luckily the person was cool, cop was cool.”

Apparently the last time he was in an accident (before the one in December), his 2013 hit “Redneck Crazy” went to No. 1 on the charts.

The singer has also been candid about his love for country living and turkey hunting.

“When I moved to Nashville, it wasn’t to be in the Hall of Fame,” he told Land.com last year. “That wasn’t a goal … I’m a pretty simple person. My goal was literally to be on the Opry, have a hit song, little country house in the woods, some land, a tractor.”

Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater have reportedly ended their relationship after almost three years together.

According to multiple outlets, the former couple — who met on the set of the 2024 musical blockbuster “Wicked” — quietly called it quits several months ago.

“It’s amicable, they gave lots of time and careful consideration and decided to go their separate ways,” a source told People. “They are still friends and very supportive of one another. They have been quietly broken up for several months.”

The “Thank U, Next” singer, 32, and “SpongeBob SquarePants” actor, 34, had been linked since 2023. They made their relationship Instagram-official in 2024 in the lead-up to the release of “Wicked,” in which Grande starred as G(a)linda the Good while Slater portrayed Munchkin and future-Tin Man Boq.

Their dating rumors were scrutinized at the time because Grande and Slater both had highly publicized splits from former spouses around the same time. Grande was previously married to real estate agent Dalton Gomez, while Slater had been married to psychologist Lilly Jay, his high-school sweetheart with whom he shares a child.

In March, Slater wrapped the off-Broadway run of “Marcel on the Run.” In addition to co-writing the play with Marshall Pailet, Slater portrayed mime artist Marcel Marceau.

Grande, meanwhile, embarked on her Eternal Sunshine tour in Oakland on Saturday. This marks the “Hate That I Made You Love Me” singer’s first tour since 2019. Grande is slated for five shows in Los Angeles beginning June 13.

This might be the last time fans can catch Grande at a live concert — at least for a while. In November, she mentioned these shows might be her “last hurrah” as a touring pop star.

“I’m very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long time,” she said on the “Good Hang With Amy Poehler” podcast. “So I’m going to give it my all, and it’s going to be beautiful, and I think that’s why I’m doing it, because it’s like, one last hurrah.”

Grande’s next album, “Petal,” will be released July 31.

Peabo Bryson, a Grammy-winning R&B singer known for his duets from Disney classics “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast,” has died. He was 75.

His family confirmed to The Times that he died Tuesday in Marietta, Ga. The cause was complications from a stroke he suffered over the weekend.

“We are tremendously moved by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from fans, friends, and colleagues around the world,” the family shared. “While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit. His legacy and music will live on for generations to come.”

Bryson was a fixture on the R&B scene for decades, scoring with such hits as “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” and “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again.”

Peabo Bryson, pictured performing in Washington, D.C., in 2016, won Grammy Awards in back-to-back years in 1993 and 1994.

(Teresa Kroeger / Getty Images)

In a career peak in 1992, the singer was featured on recordings that topped four separate charts: “A Whole New World,” a duet with Regina Belle from the Disney animated movie “Aladdin,” topped the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts; “The King and I” album, featuring Bryson, was No. 1 on the Classical Crossover charts, and Kenny G’s “Breathless” album, featuring Bryson on “By the Time the Night Is Over,” topped the Contemporary Jazz charts.

He nabbed two Grammy Awards back to back in 1993 and 1994 for his performance of “Beauty and the Beast” with Céline Dion, and his performance of “A Whole New World” with Regina Belle.

“I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do,” Bryson told The Times. “I see myself as a true Renaissance man. I don’t like one-dimensional concepts of myself.”

Robert Peapo Bryson was born on April 13, 1951, in Greenville, S.C. He grew up attending concerts his mother would bring the family to, and by the time he was in high school, he knew he wanted a career in music.

In 1978, he told David Nathan, an editor for Blues & Soul magazine, that his mother wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of him chasing his dreams in the rhythm-and-blues biz and worried he’d get into trouble.

“As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been into music,” Bryson said. “It’s all I ever wanted to really deal with. … I had to make that decision, when I was around 14, as to what I was going to get into, career-wise. Well, I’d thought about being a doctor or something like that, but I really felt that music was my thing.”

He cut his teeth as a backing vocalist in various groups, but none of his bandmates could properly pronounce “Peapo,” his French West Indian name, so he changed up the spelling to make it simpler. The stage name Peabo was born. In the late 1960s, he linked up with “My Elusive Dreams” hitmaker Moses Dillard. “I started out just singing, although I progressed into percussion, guitar and, much later, playing piano — that was basically when I started getting into songwriting,” he told Nathan.

In 1967, he signed his first record deal, with Bang Records, and in 1976, he made his solo debut with the single “Underground Music” and his eponymous album, “Peabo.” The next year, he hit it big time and signed with Capitol Records, where he put out back-to-back gold-selling albums: “Reaching for the Sky” in 1977 and “Crosswinds” in 1978.

Peabo Bryson performs at the Centennial Olympic Park’s Fourth of July Celebration in Atlanta.

(Robb D. Cohen / Invision / Associated Press)

By the ’90s, Bryson was at a career high, collected Grammy nominations and became the definitive voice of Disney duets. But the music scene was changing, and Bryson wasn’t keen on the new direction. He told The Times in 1994 that MTV had stopped considering talent as the criteria to be played on the music channel and that he thought mainstream music had taken a hostile and negative turn.

“I guess I [tick] people off because I don’t go away,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m like a tenacious forest fire — you snuff me out over here, and I’m still burning down the back 40 just when you think it’s over. I have a great faith in God, and because of my great faith in God, I have faith in the self.”

Fortunately for legions of fans of the soulful balladeer, Bryson was right and he wasn’t going anywhere for another couple of decades. The Grammy winner continued to grace stages with his flashy blazers and smooth baritone, and recently performed a concert with Jeffrey Osborne at Trilith Live in Fayetteville, Ga.

The event in early May was a standalone performance, apart from the crooner’s Golden Touch tour, which he announced last year, amid his celebration of 50 years in the music industry.

In recent years, Bryson said he had been hitting the gym and prioritizing his health after a scare seven years ago when the artist suffered a heart attack at his Georgia home. He told the Soul Train Cruise 2020 that he flat-lined for nearly 30 minutes, “long enough to make friends on the other side.”

“It turns out that dying is not that hard,” Bryson said. “Didn’t hurt that much. It’s the living afterwards that’s the really difficult part. I mean, why are you still here? You have to ask yourself those hard questions: Are you a good father? Are you a good husband? Are you a good friend? Are you a good brother? Are you a good human being?”

Bryson said he was able to answer yes.

“Then you have to ask yourself the question that makes the answer null and void — can you be better?”

Bryson is survived by his wife, Tanya Boniface Bryson; son Robert Bryson (who goes by Kit); daughter Linda Bryson; and three grandchildren.

Memorial arrangements will be announced at a later date.

R&B singer Peabo Bryson, well known for his duets from beloved Disney classics “Aladdin” and “Beauty and the Beast,” suffered a stroke over the weekend.

A representative for the artist told The Times that the singer is undergoing treatment but provided no details about his condition.

“Two-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and balladeer, Peabo Bryson — the voice behind the Oscar-winning Disney songs ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘A Whole New World’ — has suffered a stroke and is currently under medical care,” the representative said in an emailed statement. “At this time, the family requests privacy as they navigate this deeply personal moment together. The thoughts, prayers and love of friends and fans are welcomed and deeply appreciated.”

Bryson recently performed a concert with Jeffrey Osborne at Trilith Live in Fayetteville, Ga., in early May. The event was a standalone performance, apart from the crooner’s Golden Touch tour, which he announced last year, amid his celebration of 50 years in the music industry. In April, the Grammy winner turned 75 and posted photos on Instagram from a birthday bash showing him surrounded by friends and family. In early May, he posted a video of his son, Kitt, performing a Michael Jackson dance routine, writing “Super proud Dad moment from last nights Gig in Atlanta.”

Soul and funk band Maze, which was fronted by the late Frankie Beverly, shared some love for Bryson on social media.

“The entire Maze The Music Forever family sends our heartfelt prayers, love, and support to Peabo Bryson during this time of healing,” read the post. “Peabo’s extraordinary voice, timeless artistry, and unwavering contributions to music have touched millions around the world. We pray for God’s healing hand, renewed strength, comfort, and a full recovery.”

Dua Lipa and Callum Turner are writing a new chapter in their romance, tying the knot two years after a meeting that would make most bookworms swoon.

The Grammy-winning “Levitating” pop diva, 30, and “Eternity” actor, 36, exchanged their vows Sunday morning at the historic Old Marylebone Town Hall in Westminster, London, officials confirmed to the Associated Press. The Daily Mail published photos of the newlyweds all smiles and hand-in-hand descending town hall steps. Callum was spotted wearing a navy suit as his bride donned a custom Schiaparelli skirt suit, white gloves and a wide-brimmed hat, according to the Daily Mail. The singer also wore white Louboutin heels and a serpentine necklace by Bulgari.

Lipa and “Masters of the Sky” star Turner began dating in January 2024, after numerous missed opportunities. Turner told the Times of London in October 2025 that he and his now-wife (“I just thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world”) first met in Los Angeles before a mutual friend’s birthday and struck up an instant connection. “We sat next to each other and realized we were reading the same book, which is crazy,” Turner said.

Lipa runs her own book club and blog, titled Service95, and announces the selected reads on Instagram. When they met, the bookworms-turned-lovebirds were each making their way through Hernán Díaz’s “Trust.”The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2023.

“I had just finished the first chapter and I told her and she looked at me and said, ‘I just finished the first chapter too.’ I said, ‘So we’re on the same page,’” he told the Times. “In the movie version of it I look up to the sky and I’m like, ‘I hear you. I understand. The signs are loud, don’t worry.’ And that was really the first [moment].”

Lipa hard-launched her romance with Turner on Instagram in July 2024, sharing photos from Glastonbury. Over the following years, the singer continued sharing photos of sweet moments between herself and Turner, who does not have an Instagram account, and the pair were spotted together at numerous public events including the 2025 Met Gala. In December 2024, Lipa posted photos featuring a diamond ring on her left ring finger, spurring engagement chatter. After months of flaunting the ring on social media posts, Lipa confirmed the engagement to British Vogue in June 2025.

“It’s very exciting … This decision to grow old together, to see a life and just, I don’t know, be best friends for ever — it’s a really special feeling,” she told the outlet at the time.

A HUGE British band has been forced to cancel their UK tour after one of the member’s revealed a devastating diagnosis.

Popular indie duo Seafret have scrapped the remainder of their current UK tour after the band’s lead guitarist Harry Draper was diagnosed with a debilitating eye disease that will eventually cause him to go blind.

The band, who consist of Harry alongside frontman Jack Sedman and first formed in 2011, shared the news in a statement on the band’s social media on Tuesday afternoon.

Harry explained he had been diagnosed with Stargardt, which is a rare genetic eye condition that causes progressive central vision loss.

The post read: “Hey everyone, I’m so sorry to have to do this, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to cancel the remainder of the tour.

“I’m going to be totally honest with you, I’m struggling. I’ve recently been diagnosed with an eye disease called Stargardt, which will sadly mean I’m going to go blind.”

OFF STAGE

Legendary UK band cancel Radio 1 event as member battles mystery illness

No Show

Mystery as huge UK band cancel two gigs just hours before they’re due on stage

The musician said he was going to take some time out but thanked his fans for their support and insisted “I won’t let this stop me”.

“It’s been so much to get my head around, and I’ve really struggled to see last few nights on stage,” the statement continued.

“I just need to take a bit of time out to get my head around all of this.

“I won’t let this stop me, but I do just need a little time.

“I know you’ll understand, you’re the best fans in the world. From the bottom of my heart, I’m so sorry. Harry xx.”

The band’s fans rushed to show their support for the musician following his statement regarding his diagnosis. 

The duo kicked off their huge UK and European tour last week and were due to visit a number of cities around the UK before heading over to Europe next month. 

The band first achieved chart success in 2016 when their debut album charted on the official album charts.

They then went on to release a number of singles and EPs. Their biggest success came in 2022, when a sped-up version of their song “Atlantis” went viral on TikTok.

Following this, they released an official version of the song, leading it to chart all across Europe and pass over 400 million streams on Spotify.

While their monthly listeners on the platform increased to over 13 million.

Ricky Martin had to stop his concert Thursday in Montenegro after someone in the audience “discharged tear gas toward the stage,” causing an “abrupt” interruption to the show as fans retreated and got any needed medical attention, the singer’s publicist said in a statement posted on Instagram.

The show did go on.

“As a precautionary measure, Ricky Martin and his entire team exited the stage while security personnel and local authorities worked to contain the situation and ensure the safety of those in attendance,” the statement said.

“We didn’t understand what was happening,” one shaken Montenegran concertgoer said on Instagram during the outdoor show. “Suddenly, people started pushing each other, and we smelled pepper spray. Many people quickly covered their mouths and left the area. I don’t know if there’s still anyone in the area right now. I didn’t see what the police did. I can hear that the concert has started again, but I left the area. I hope everyone is OK.”

Whether the substance was tear gas — which, incidentally, is a powder, not a gas — or pepper spray is unclear. Both substances have similarly irritating effects, despite different ingredients. Tear gas is typically employed by law enforcement for crowd control while pepper spray is often used by individuals for self-defense, according to hazmat and crime-scene cleanup company Bio Recovery, which operates mainly in the American south. Both substances can disperse widely in the air.

Martin, 54, decided to resume the show once authorities said everything was back under control even though “members of the artist’s team advised against continuing the performance,” the publicist’s statement explained.

The headlining performance, which was part of festivities marking the 20th anniversary of Montenegro’s restored independence following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, came as the “Livin’ la Vida Loca” singer gets ready to embark on a European tour with dates in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Istanbul and more from June into August.

Also Friday, Martin announced he would join the U.K.’s Heritage Live Festivals with a show Aug. 22 at the Royal Sandringham Estate in Norfolk with Sugababes, Olly Alexander and Sophie Castillo. It will be his only U.K. show in 2026. Other artists appearing in Heritage Live shows in July and August include UB40, Lionel Richie and Eric Clapton.

“The rise of Latin music as a global force has been phenomenal, and we’re thrilled to welcome one of the true pioneers who helped bring it to a massive international audience,” Giles Cooper of Heritage Live Festivals told the BBC. “It’s set to be an incredible party.”

Martin, who hails from Puerto Rico, joined Bad Bunny’s all-Spanish halftime show at Super Bowl LX in February with a 30-second cameo in a scene invoking the cover of the latter singer’s album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” Clad in all white, Martin sat in a white chair and dove into “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” a ballad that implores Puerto Ricans, should the opportunity arise, to resist compromises that Hawaiians made when those islands became a U.S. state in 1959.

Colombian folk music icon Totó La Momposina, known as the “Queen of Cumbia,” has died. She was 85.

The Colombian Ministry of Culture announced the lauded vocalist’s death Tuesday morning.

“Today we bid farewell to the eternal Totó. (1940-2026) To the eternal teacher who traveled the entire world to the rhythm of cumbias, porros, mapalés, and bullerengues born in the heart of our land,” the ministry wrote in an X post. “To the eternal Momposina who spoke of the traditional music of the Caribbean, empowered it, and enriched it for decades to write an entire chapter in the cultural history of our country.”

In an Instagram post from the artist’s official account, her children provided a cause of death.

“With profound sorrow, we, her children Marco Vinicio, Angelica Maria, and Euridice Salome Oyaga Bazanta, announce the passing of our mother, Sonia Bazanta Vides, better known as Totó la Momposina, surrounded by her family in Celaya, Mexico, on Sunday, May 17. Cause of death: myocardial infarction,” the post read.

The children also touched on the enduring legacy that their mother left behind.

“Totó was a woman who, with her voice and extraordinary dedication, carried the culture and memory of the Colombian people to the far corners of the world. Her joy, light, wisdom, talent, generosity, and many other virtues touched the lives of countless people,” they continued in the post. “She shared with the world the music, culture, dances, and essence of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Her name will forever remain in the memory of those who admired her, accompanied her and loved her.”

Born Sonia Bazanta Vides in 1940 in the Colombian town of Talaigua Nuevo, Totó la Momposina was born to a family with Afro-Colombian and Indigenous roots. Her music was renowned for incorporating the percussive and melodic instruments unique to her cultural identity. Both of her parents were amateur musicians and she began performing on stage at the age of six.

Her musical taste and sound was informed by the Afro-Indigenous rhythms of the traditional mapalé, chalupa, porro, bullerengue and cumbia genres that originated in Columbia and which she studied by visiting musicians in neighboring villages throughout her youth.

After moving to the Colombian capital of Bogotá in the 1960s, she immersed herself in the city’s music scene and began performing as part of a group. Totó la Momposina moved to Paris in the 1980s to study music at the Sorbonne University.

When Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1982, she accompanied him to Stockholm and was among several Colombian artists to perform at the ceremony.

Hot on the heels of some international recognition, Totó la Momposina released her debut solo album “La Verdolaga” in 1983. She would later catapult to greater worldwide fame after she formed an artistic relationship with English musician Peter Gabriel. Under Gabriel’s Real World Records label, Totó la Momposina released her 1993 album “La Candela Viva,” which received international acclaim and a formative text in the cumbia and bullerengue genres.

In 2011, she was award record of the year at the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards, alongside Calle 13, Susana Baca and Maria Rita for the track “Latinoamérica.” The singer also received a Latin Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2013.

Clarence Carter, the blues and soul singer famous for songs including the raunchy hit “Strokin’” featured in Eddie Murphy’s “The Nutty Professor,” has died.

Fame Recording Studios in Carter’s native Alabama announced the singer-songwriter’s death Thursday morning. In a statement shared to Facebook, the studio said Carter “was more than an artist to us,” adding he “was family.” The post did not disclose additional details about Carter’s passing, including the cause of death. Carter was 90.

The Grammy-nominated musician, who was blind since age 1, was most popular in the late 1960s and early ’70s, with chart-busting hits including 1968’s romantic “Slip Away,” 1970’s “Patches” and the Christmas hit “Back Door Santa.” He released a steady stream of music through the ’90s — Carter released 22 studio albums over the course of his career — and earned two Grammy Award nominations.

Carter received his first nod in 1970 for composing ex-wife Candi Staton’s single “I’d Rather Be an Old Man’s Sweetheart,” which was nominated for the rhythm & blues song category. He received his own nomination in R&B vocal performance the following year for his story-driven “Patches,” about a young man fulfilling his father’s expectations.

Former Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn wrote in 1992: “Clarence Carter is one of the most overlooked soul stylists of the modern pop era.”

Among Carter’s musical talents was a knack for descriptive lyricism, which he channeled for unapologetically sexual songs “G Spot” and “Strokin’.” In these numbers, Carter spares no detail in his approach to lovemaking. “Strokin’,’” released in 1986, notably received play in 1996‘s “The Nutty Professor” as Murphy’s titular character drives over to a date.

Born in 1936 in Montgomery, Ala., Carter took an interest in music in his youth, enjoying the blues records his stepfather bought and learning to play the guitar. “I would lie in my bed and hear those bands playing and say to myself, ‘One of these days I’m going to play just like that,’” he told The Times in 1987.

He graduated from Alabama State College in 1960 with a bachelor’s in music and worked briefly as a schoolteacher before beginning his professional music career. Carter formed a duo with friend and singer Calvin Scott, but his collaborator was later seriously injured in an automobile accident. Carter then went solo and began recording music with producer Rick Hall and Fame in Muscle Shoals, amid the late-’60s soul boom.

After the success of his early hits in the ’70s, Carter struggled to find the same chart success amid disco’s popularity. “Nobody’s gonna keep a hit record all the time,” he told The Times. In the early ’80s, his “Working on a Love Building” was a moderate hit. Carter signed to Ichiban Records to record his 1986 album “Dr. C.C.,” which featured “Strokin’” among its tracks.

“By the time I finished doing that song and walked back up to the control room, [the engineer] was laughing so hard he hadn’t even turned the tape machine off,” he said a year after the hit’s release.

Carter released his final studio album, “Sing Along With Clarence Carter,” in 2011 but continued to release live albums and compilations until 2020. He also continued performing live through the 2010s.

The singer-songwriter was married to Staton from 1970 to 1973 and they share a son, Clarence Carter Jr. He married Joyce Jenkins in 2001 and has lived in DeKalb County, Ga., since 1983.

“Clarence Carter leaves behind a legacy of timeless music, unforgettable performances, and a friendship we will always cherish,” Fame Studios said in its statement. “We extend our love and prayers to his family, friends, and fans around the world.”

A man accused of nabbing unreleased music by Beyoncé in a vehicle break-in last summer has pleaded guilty to the theft and has been sentenced to serve time in prison.

Kelvin Evans, 41, on Tuesday entered guilty pleas in Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia to counts of entering an automobile and criminal trespass. Fulton County Superior Court Senior Judge Jane C. Barwick sentenced Evans, who was set to go on trial this week, to two years in prison and three years on probation. Evans was also warned to keep his distance from the victims and the scene of the theft.

Evans was sentenced less than a year after stealing the pop diva’s unreleased music from her choreographer’s van in Atlanta. According to police, Evans broke into the Jeep Wagoneer rented by choreographer Christopher Grant and dancer Diandre Blue when they stopped at a restaurant to eat. The artists were in town for the “Diva” singer’s four-night takeover of Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for her Cowboy Carter tour.

Evans damaged the trunk window and stole a pair of suitcases that contained two computers and five jump drives of unreleased music as well as footage, plans for the tour production and past and future set lists, the police report said. He also stole clothing, Apple AirPods Max headphones and designer sunglasses, police said.

Police arrested Evans in August. He was indicted in October and initially pleaded not guilty in January and even rejected the plea deal during a hearing last month.

Despite his arrest, police have not recovered the stolen items.

The chances of Beyonce releasing new music was already pretty slim heading into Evan’s scheduled trial. Speculation swirled online that the Grammy winner would drop the third act of her planned music trilogy timed to the summer. The singer’s rep Yvette Noel-Schure put a hard stop on those rumors in late April.

“This is unequivocally false!!” Noel-Schure posted on X.

Times assistant editor Christie D’Zurilla and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

A preliminary hearing the murder case against David Anthony Burke, the 21-year-old singer better known as D4vd, will go forward at the end of June, setting a timeline for when more detailed evidence about the gruesome murder and dismemberment of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez will become public.

Burke — who prosecutors say sexually abused the teen for a year before stabbing her to death and mutilating her corpse last year — will face the hearing on June 29, attorneys said during a brief hearing Tuesday morning.

After the singer’s arrest in April, his legal team pushed for an immediate preliminary hearing — where a judge determines if prosecutors have enough evidence to bring a case to trial — but they backed off after prosecutors began turning over what they have described as a massive amount of digital evidence linking Burke to the teenager’s brutal slaying. Burke has pleaded not guilty in the case.

The hearing is expected to last at least five days. A status conference hearing will take place on June 17.

Questions about the singer’s connection to Hernandez’s grisly end have circled since last summer, ever since her badly decomposed and dismembered body was found in the trunk of a Tesla linked to Burke. Late last month, prosecutors filed a nine-page brief laying out what they believe to be Hernandez’s final moments and Burke’s alleged horrific actions after her death.

In the filing, prosecutors said Burke stabbed Hernandez to death inside a Hollywood Hills residence after she threatened to go public about the ascendant singer’s continual sexual abuse. After killing her, Burke ordered a chainsaw, a “burn cage,” a shovel and other implements he used to dismember her remains in his garage, prosecutors alleged last week.

The motion also laid out the dramatic steps Burke went to in order to continue his relationship with the teen. In February 2024, Hernandez was reported missing to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department by her parents, who were concerned about her involvement with Burke, according to the filing. Hernandez went home and had her phone taken away, but Burke allegedly paid a junior high school student $1,000 to give her a new device so they could stay in touch.

Prosecutors also said they found images of Hernandez naked and performing sex acts on Burke’s phone, according to the document. Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman said in court last month that search warrants turned up “a significant amount of child pornography” on Burke’s devices.

Burke’s lawyers have not commented on their defense strategy.

Just weeks after Justin Bieber’s well-received Coachella headline gig, the singer played a small private event for tech, entertainment and defense industry moguls. Executives at controversial firms, such as surveillance tech giant Palantir, were also on the bill.

Bieber was a headliner at WNDR, entertainment executive Jeffrey Katzenberg’s invitation-only confab at the Rosewood Miramar in Montecito last week. The programming for the event was first reported by Puck.

The ultra A-list talks and guests included director James Cameron and former Disney CEO Bob Iger, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts, comedians Chris Rock and Trevor Noah and artist Jeff Koons on a panel discussion with LACMA chief Michael Govan.

Bieber, meanwhile, performed a Wednesday poolside set for attendees at the Rosewood. The “Swag” singer reportedly became the highest-paid headliner in Coachella history last month, and its most lucrative merch seller.

Representatives for Bieber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While there was lighter programming (like a karaoke party with pop producers StarGate and a talk about snacks with chef Nancy Silverton), the bill included talks and cameos from major weapons and surveillance technology firms noted for their support for — or deep engagement with — the Trump administration.

One panel featured Anduril Industries’ Palmer Luckey, who recently welcomed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to its Southern California headquarters. “We are rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom,” Hegseth said after the Anduril visit.

Palantir Chief Executive Alex Karp led another talk. Palantir’s AI-driven defense and surveillance software has faced scrutiny around how tech like its Maven Smart System may have been used to target civilians in the Iran war.

Karp also published a recent book, “The Technological Republic,” where he wrote that “We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism. We, in America and more broadly the West, have for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity. But inclusion into what?”

Katzenberg’s WNDR conference is one of several recent multi-discipline, ultra-elite gatherings hosted by CEOs, including Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt. Katzenberg founded his investment firm WndrCo in 2017.

LAS VEGAS — “You know, I was thinking,” Gwen Stefani said, looking out at the crowd before her on Wednesday night at Sphere. The singer was maybe an hour and a half into the first show of No Doubt’s monthlong residency at the dome-shaped venue just off the Las Vegas Strip, and now the moment had come for the hit that changed everything for this once-scrappy ska-punk band from Orange County.

“I was thinking about this next song, and I was thinking about Anaheim,” she continued. “Do you know where Anaheim is?”

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The song, of course, was “Just a Girl,” which Stefani said she wrote “out of pure innocence in a time where I was just becoming aware of myself and my surroundings.” She added that she’d always assumed she’d outgrow the song — that someday it would feel disconnected from the life of a woman who went on to become a pop star with a clothing line and a gig on TV. Here she was, though, about to do “Just a Girl” for 20,000 or so fans eager to sing along.

“You tell me if you think it’s still relevant,” she said.

In a built-to-please town where old hits are welcome on any stage — not least Sphere’s, which these days also hosts the Eagles and the Backstreet Boys — the crowd’s verdict was no surprise. Yet this was a more committed look back than might have been expected, with a loose narrative arc tracing No Doubt’s ascent (rather than its peak) and a set list filled with deep cuts well beyond the catchy singles that once blanketed KROQ and MTV.

Beneath a massive wraparound screen that flickered with vintage camcorder-style footage from the early 1990s, the group played “Excuse Me Mr.” and “New” and “Total Hate ’95”; Stefani and her bandmates — guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young — did “Trapped in a Box,” “End It on This” and “The Climb,” which No Doubt heads on the internet say they hadn’t performed live in nearly three decades.

Then again, for one of those decades, No Doubt wasn’t performing at all. The band made its ballyhooed comeback in 2024 at Coachella, where it delivered a punchy, compact set of hits and brought out Olivia Rodrigo for a guest spot that demonstrated Stefani’s influence — musical, attitudinal, sartorial — on the generation of female pop stars that came after her. (At Sphere, Stefani’s taste in plaids and animal prints was clearly still casting a spell among her admirers.)

No Doubt’s Sphere residency is scheduled to run through mid-June.

(John Shearer)

The takeaway from Coachella was that the band had worked itself back into fighting shape; Stefani, in particular, seemed eager to prove that her years doling out niceties on “The Voice” and dabbling in country music with her husband, Blake Shelton, hadn’t dulled her edge. Here, the band went further, using Sphere’s state-of-the-art environs to imagine itself back in a dingy club or student union.

There were big visual moments, including a simulated trip through a crumbling amusement park — the “Tragic Kingdom” of the group’s breakout 1995 LP — and a bit with a stories-tall cartoon Stefani towering over the room in her fishnets and combat boots. And even with all of the obscurities, it’s not as though No Doubt skipped its best-known songs: “Bathwater” and “Spiderwebs” were bouncy yet propulsive, while “Underneath It All” and “Hella Good” showcased the players’ nimble rhythmic interplay. Stefani’s voice was at its pleading best in “Don’t Speak,” one of the great pop ballads of the last 30 years, and “Simple Kind of Life,” which was accompanied by a video starring Stefani and Kanal acting out some episode from their ancient romance.

Before “Ex-Girlfriend,” which Stefani wrote amid her doomed marriage to Gavin Rossdale of Bush, the singer said, “It gives me — what is it? The PTSD. But because I absolutely adore you guys, I’m gonna suffer.”

Yet this was the chapter of No Doubt’s story — basically the apex of its popularity — that the band seemed least interested in exploring on Wednesday. The impression you got was that Stefani and her pals hadn’t come to Vegas to cruise or to gloat or even to soak up the easy adulation that’s always on offer here; weirdly, they’d come to remember the struggle.

Sam Smith is engaged to Christian Cowan, according to a “hotel lobby spy” who spilled the tea to Page Six.

“From what I understand, it was a private engagement,” the hotel lobby spy told the outlet after allegedly overhearing the couple discussing their betrothal. “They are over the moon, and from what I hear, so in love!”

We will not pause to consider whether the spy was a publicist, an assistant, a second assistant, a hotel employee or perhaps even a stray NYPD officer employed that night as a security guard, but Page Six says a second person confirmed the news.

The Times has reached out to Smith’s record label for independent confirmation, but has not heard back.

The two Brits were first spotted together in late 2022, when Smith sang at the White House to mark then-President Biden signing the Respect for Marriage Act guaranteeing federal protection for same-sex and interracial marriages. After numerous sightings of the couple out together and sharing kisses in 2023, they confirmed to the New York Times at the 2024 Met Gala that they were dating.

Back in May 2024, the couple made a small splash on the red carpet with Cowan in an ivory suit and Smith in a black one with a sheer suggestion of skirt laying over the pants. But on Monday night, with Cowan in an evocative-of-the-1920s black suit and tie flecked with beads, Smith pulled out the stops, donning a black Cowan-designed gown that weighed more than a fully loaded checked bag on the airline of your choice.

“This is the heaviest thing I’ve ever worn in my life. It’s a massive workout,” Smith told Vogue on the Met Gala red carpet.

“It’s 52 pounds,” Cowan chimed in quietly. “Fifty-two pounds. Sorry.”

Once the smiling designer was prompted to explain the collaboration, he said, “Sam was like, ‘Babe, please make something that’s lighter weight.’ And I didn’t do that. Sorry.” Smith noted that the outfit was “like a corset” on the shoulders.

“There’s no one who knows my body more than this man,” Smith said, which made it easy for them, sitting at home with their Pekingese pups Haggis and Pudding, to dream up what the singer would wear to the couple’s third Met Gala together.

With its mermaid-style skirt, full sleeves, furry collar and panache of tall black feathers on a crowning headpiece, the ensemble was a callback to the opulence of the 1920s, Cowan said, finished off with 255,000 crystals and beads. Two thousand hours of “artisanal hand sewing” got the job done, he said in a quote posted on Smith’s Instagram.

“I feel very lucky to be here and to wear your incredible talent like this, it’s amazing,” the 33-year-old “Stay With Me” vocalist told Cowan.

Can’t wait to see what Smith wears on the big day — hopefully it will be a tad less weighty. Here’s hoping a wedding reception spy is on the guest list.

Singer Alex Ligertwood, best known for providing lead vocals for Santana over several decades, has died. He was 79.

Ligertwood’s wife and agent, Shawn Brogan, announced in a Saturday evening Facebook post that the vocalist died at his Santa Monica home.

“It’s with great sadness and heartache to announce the passing of my sweet dear Alex Ligertwood, my husband of 25 years, we knew each other for 36 years,” Brogan wrote. “Alex passed peacefully in his sleep with his doggy Bobo by his side yesterday.”

Ligertwood’s cause of death was not revealed.

Alex Ligertwood, left, and Jorge Santana of the band Santana perform Oct. 9, 1993, at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif.

(Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Images)

“Alex was loved by so many. If you knew him, you loved him. He touched so many with his extraordinary voice. He was all heart and soul,” Brogan’s statement continued. “His favorite thing in life was to make music, sing and to share his gift with us. He performed his last show just two weeks ago. I’m grateful for that. He did it his way, on his terms, till the end.”

The singer had five separate stints as Santana’s lead vocalist between 1979 and 1994.

He famously served as the group’s singer when it performed at Live Aid in 1985. His voice was notably featured on the tracks “You Know That I Love You,” “Winning,” “All I Ever Wanted” and “Hold On.”

Ligertwood also co-wrote such songs as “Somewhere in Heaven” and “Make Somebody Happy,” among others.

Aside from his contributions to Santana, Ligertwood played alongside guitar legend Jeff Beck as part of the Jeff Beck Group in the early ‘70s. He also played in jazz-rock keyboardist Brian Auger’s band Oblivion Express.

Auger, who has played with Rod Stewart and Jimi Hendrix, paid tribute to Ligertwood in a Facebook post Saturday evening.

“To me, Alex aka ‘Wee Eck’ was simply the best singer to ever do it. In all my years of music, I never heard anyone who possessed that kind of range or that effortless, carefree ability to soar through a melody. He didn’t just sing songs; he lived them,” Auger wrote. “The world feels much quieter today without his voice, and I will miss my friend more than words can say. The big band in the sky just got infinitely better with Alex’s arrival.”

The singer also appeared on records with French jazz group Troc in the 1970s, American rock band the Dregs in the 1980s, and the Grateful Dead spinoff project Go Ahead in the late 1980s.

Ligertwood was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on Dec. 18, 1946.

He grew up in a musical household as his father was an amateur drummer. His earliest musical influences were the swooning Motown singers of the ‘50s and ‘60s, including Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye. He first performed as a vocalist as part of his school’s choir and at family events.

Zayn Malik, the former One Direction star turned solo artist, canceled all U.S. dates for his upcoming tour. The hitmaker was recently hospitalized for an undisclosed illness.

“To my fans: Thank you so much for all the support and love you’ve shown me on the album release and more importantly your love, prayers, and well wishes for my health,” Malik wrote Friday in an Instagram story. “I’ve felt it, and it’s meant the world. I’ve been at home recovering and I’m doing well and will be better and stronger than before.

“I’ve had to take another look at my schedule for the months ahead and have to reduce the number of shows on the KONNAKOL Tour,” he continued. “I want to make sure I still get out and see as many of you as I possibly can. I’m really looking forward to playing these shows for you, and I hope to see the rest of you around the world very soon. Big Love, Z”

While the “Side Effects” singer still has forthcoming shows in the United Kingdom and Mexico later this month, he nixed the U.S. leg of the tour, which was slated to kick off this July in Philadelphia. Other major stops included Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, San Diego, Inglewood, Anaheim, San Francisco and Seattle, with the tour concluding in Miami on Nov. 20.

The announcement comes weeks after Malik, 33, revealed he was hospitalized. The singer didn’t disclose what condition he was suffering from, but on April 17 — the day his latest album “Konnakol” dropped — he shared a since-expired Instagram story that included selfies of the singer in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV.

“To my fans – Thank you to all of you for your love & support now & always – been a long week and am still unexpectedly recovering,” he wrote alongside the photo. “Heartbroken that I can’t see you all this week, I wouldn’t be in the place I am today without you guys and am so thankful for your understanding.”

The “Prayers” singer also thanked “all the incredible hospital staff of [doctors], nurses, cardiologist, management, admin and everyone who had helped along the way and continue to”.

Earlier this year, Malik performed his first ever seven-night residency in Las Vegas at Dolby Live at Park MGM.

A cellphone belonging to David Anthony Burke, better known as the singer D4vd, contained “a significant amount of child pornography,” a prosecutor said in court Thursday morning.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman made the claim during a court proceeding to schedule a preliminary hearing on murder charges in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The images were uncovered as part of a broad series of search warrants executed on Burke’s phone and iCloud account, Silverman said.

Burke’s attorneys have insisted he is innocent and are demanding his preliminary hearing begin next week, meaning evidence in the closely followed case could become public as soon as May 1. He appeared in court Thursday in an orange jail jumpsuit and walked into court with his hands in his pockets.

A status hearing was set for April 29. Silverman and a district attorney’s office spokesperson declined to comment outside the courtroom. The singer’s attorney, Blair Berk, also declined to comment.

The D.A.’s office spokesperson declined to say if the child sex abuse material allegedly found on Burke’s phone was related to Hernandez or another victim.

Burke was arrested by Los Angeles police last week and charged Monday with murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child and corpse mutilation, according to a criminal complaint. He has pleaded not guilty.

Defendants have a right to have a preliminary hearing, in which a judge determines whether prosecutors have enough evidence to bring a case to trial, within 10 business days. But Berk’s push to move quickly is unorthodox. She has publicly grilled Silverman about needing access to more discovery materials, and the medical examiner’s report detailing how Hernandez died was not made public until Wednesday.

Joshua Ritter, a former L.A. County prosecutor, said Berk was playing a “hell of a game of chicken” but she may be aiming to pressure test the prosecution’s case.

“The defense might want to put the D.A. on their heels if they feel for some reason there was a rush to make an arrest. But this case is nearly the opposite of that,” he said. “They’ve had more than adequate time … this does not seem like a situation where the D.A. made a hasty decision to file.”

Silverman said police amassed “40 terabytes” of digital evidence in the case, which has made uploading and transmitting materials to the defense difficult. Silverman also said police had conducted a wiretap operation in the case, but did not disclose the nature of it. The veteran prosecutor said even she had “not received anything” related to that operation.

She also confirmed prosecutors convened three secret grand jury hearings after Hernandez’s death — two in November and December in 2025 and one in February. Those were investigative grand jury hearings, meaning prosecutors could use them to enshrine testimony against Burke, but could not use the proceedings to secure an indictment against Burke. Transcripts from all three hearings will also need to be unsealed.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo also warned Berk that if she does push for the immediate preliminary hearing, she may not have access to the entire compendium of evidence before May 1.

Ritter also mused that Burke could be pushing his attorneys to fight the case without delay. Beyond that, he said, the approach “makes no sense.”

“The defense is seven months behind the eight ball on this. They not only have the grand jury transcripts to catch up on but who knows what kind of digital forensics and wiretaps and everything else,” he said.

Silverman also seems intent on bringing the case to trial as soon as possible. Silverman noted Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the date prosecutors believe Hernandez was killed, and said she intended to put the case before a jury within 60 days of the completion of a preliminary hearing.

The singer allegedly began sexually abusing Hernandez in September 2023, when she was just 13. Burke’s attorneys have said the case cannot stand up to scrutiny and pushed for the immediate preliminary hearing.

Hernandez was reported missing from her family’s Lake Elsinore neighborhood three times in 2024, and she was spotted at some of D4vd’s concerts during that time frame.

Prosecutors allege Hernandez was last seen at Burke’s Hollywood Hills residence on April 23. She “threatened to expose his criminal conduct and devastate his musical career,” according to L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, though the prosecutor has not answered questions about whether Hernandez was going to report Burke to police.

Burke surged in popularity after one of his tracks was included in the wildly popular video game “Fortnite,” and he has also collaborated with artists like 21 Savage. He was beginning to tour in support of his debut album, “Withered,” when reports surfaced linking him to Hernandez’s death. He quickly canceled all shows.

The details of the crime echoed some of the violent imagery associated with Burke’s songs. The Queens-born vocalist has appeared in a music video filled with violent imagery: a young woman with an apparent chest wound lies on a bed as the singer hovers over her, blindfolded, his white shirt spattered with blood. In another video, “One More Dance,” D4vd drags a person — who bears the singer’s likeness — to a car, where a couple stuffs the person into the trunk.

Hernandez’s badly decomposed body was found in the trunk of a Tesla at a Hollywood tow yard last September. An autopsy report made public this week revealed she died from a pair of stab wounds to the chest and abdomen. When police arrived on the scene, they found Hernandez’s body was “dismembered” and two of her fingers had been amputated, according to the medical examiner’s report.

Prosecutors charged Burke with murder with special circumstances, including allegations that Hernandez was a witness to a crime — her own sexual abuse — and that Burke killed her for financial gain to protect his ascendant music career. If convicted as charged, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Prosecutors have yet to decide if they will seek capital punishment in the case.