HARROWING new details have emerged after a decomposing body was found stowed in a bag inside a Tesla car belonging to the singer D4vd.
Cops are still working out how the person ended up in the vehicle and how they died.
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Human remains were found inside a Tesla belonging to the singer D4vd
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D4vd at Paris Fashion Week in June 2025Credit: Getty
The body was found inside the car that had been impounded and sitting in a Hollywood, Los Angeles, tow yard.
Cops suspect the human remains had been in the abandoned car for about five days before it was towed.
The grim discovery has sparked a probe and coroners have now started to release details about the person found inside the car.
A Los Angeles County medical examiner revealed a woman with “wavy black hair” was found inside the car.
The body had been put inside a bag and was discovered in the front trunk.
She had a distinctive tattoo that said: “Shhh,” as reported by TMZ.
The woman was wearing black leggings and a tube top.
She was also wearing a metallic stud earring and a bracelet that was in the shape of a letter W.
Cops are probing the case as a homicide.
But, coroners didn’t reveal her age, nor the cause of death.
D4vd himself has not commented on the investigation.
More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.
Terry Reid, the bombastic British singer who famously passed on fronting both Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, has died. He was 75.
Reid’s representatives confirmed his death in a statement to the Guardian. He had been treated for cancer just before his death, and a GoFundMe had been set up for donations.
Reid, born in Cambridgeshire, England, had a uniquely resonant and soulful voice with an enormous range that earned him the nickname “Superlungs.” He was a coveted figure among the arena-rock titans of the era — even vocal powerhouse Aretha Franklin once claimed in 1968 that “There are only three things happening in England: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Terry Reid.”
Reid first found local success in the teen rock group the Redbeats, and soon joined the band Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers. After a performance at London’s Marquee club, where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards caught Reid’s set with the Jaywalkers, the Rolling Stones brought the group on a support tour. Also on that package — Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds, then the main project of guitarist Jimmy Page.
Reid, who had also become close friends with Jimi Hendrix then, left the Jaywalkers to become a solo act. The Stones asked him to support them on a U.S. tour. Citing those tour obligations, he declined Page’s offer to front a new group he was forming. Reid instead recommended vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham of Band of Joy, and that group soon debuted as Led Zeppelin.
“Lots of people asked me to join their bands,” Reid told the Guardian. “I was intent on doing my own thing. I contributed half the band — that’s enough on my part!”
Led Zeppelin wasn’t only the massive act Reid nearly fronted. He also turned down Ritchie Blackmore’s pitch to front Deep Purple, after Rod Evans left the band in 1969. Ian Gillan took the job instead.
As a solo artist, Reid signed a deal with the influential talent manager Mickie Most, and his debut 1968 LP, “Bang Bang, You’re Terry Reid,” included a song, “Without Expression,” he wrote at 14. That song would become a popular cover of the era — John Mellencamp, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and REO Speedwagon all took a crack at it.
He supported Cream, Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull on tour (and nearly opened for the Stones at the infamous Altamont festival, but skipped that date), but he never achieved chart success commensurate with his proximity to fame. Yet exquisitely performed albums like 1973’s ‘River” remain cult classics in the ’70s rock canon, and in the ’80s he turned to session work with Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley and Jackson Browne. Reid befriended Brazilian musicians Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso after they moved to the U.K. during Brazil’s military coup, and he played both the first Isle of Wight festival and opened the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury’s 1971 festival, with David Bowie side stage.
Reid later moved to California and lived outside Palm Springs in his later years. His musical reputation was revived by both the crate-digger era of DJs (the virtuoso turntablist DJ Shadow collaborated with him) and the ’90s and 2000s rockers enamored with his vocal prowess. Chris Cornell, Marianne Faithfull and Jack White’s band the Raconteurs covered his songs. He reportedly recorded a number of unreleased tracks with Dr Dre. Reid told the Guardian the rap mogul “became fascinated with [Reid’s album] ‘Seed of Memory’ and invited me into his studio where we reworked it alongside his rappers, a fascinating experience.”
Reid is survived by his wife, Annette, and daughters Kelly and Holly.
The Times spoke with De los Reyes’ son Daniel, who shared his father’s last words to him: “Always play your best.”
Walfredo de los Reyes Sr., the internationally lauded Cuban percussionist who had a prodigious six-decade career in the music industry, died Aug. 28 in Concord, Calif. He was 92.
Walfredo de los Reyes Jr. — who plays drums for the legendary rock band Chicago — shared the news of his father’s death in an Instagram post last week.
“My father, Walfredo de los Reyes Sr., passed away last night, surrounded by his loving wife, Debbie, my brother Danny, and my wife, Kirsten,” he wrote. “He was not only an incredible father, but also a mentor in music and in life. He will always live in my heart. … His spirit, his rhythm will never stop.”
Speaking with The Times, De los Reyes’ son Daniel, drummer of the Grammy-winning country group Zac Brown Band, recalled his most recent memories of his father and the pain of his loss.
“I did everything I could to help him in his last months, his last days, as far as comfort,” he said. “You see a bunch of testimonials that everybody’s been writing in… but to me, he’s just my father. He’s just my father that I help out and I go to work with. To process everything [has] been very, very difficult. He was my Superman. He was like my Bionic Man. I thought, ‘Nothing’s ever going to happen to him.’ And the end has finally come.”
Walfredo de los Reyes Sr. plays congas onstage.
(Courtesy of Daniel de los Reyes)
While he hopes that his father’s musical legacy is preserved and appreciated, Daniel also wants people to remember the person his father was outside the industry.
“He would take in whoever it was and help them,” Daniel said. “[It] didn’t matter where they were from. If they called him, I can assure you, he would invite him to the house he would share with them — make them feel like they were part of his family immediately.”
Daniel also shared his father’s last words to him: “Always play your best.”
“It wasn’t just playing in the music instrument,” he said. “It was being the best person that you could possibly be. And that when you close your eyes at night, you feel good with yourself.
“I’m going to take those last words and that’s going to be my mantra for the rest of my life. I always try to be the best person as possible, but now it’s just I have my father’s love shining through me.”
Walfredo de los Reyes III was born in Havana on June 16, 1933, into a musical family. His father, Walfredo de los Reyes II, was a trumpeter who helped found the Orquesta Casino de la Playa in 1937.
De los Reyes would go on to play percussions alongside Latin music icons like Tito Puente, Cachao López, Willie Bobo and Cuban singer La Lupe. He also performed with famous American acts such as Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Linda Ronstadt, Dionne Warwick, Steve Winwood and Debbie Reynolds. He expanded his list of featured performances through his longtime residence in Las Vegas where he shared the stage with Milton Berle, Wayne Newton, Robert Goulet, Bernadette Peters and Rita Moreno.
His signature style of simultaneously playing a drum kit and percussion instruments was inspired by both Cuban and American influences — like Candido Segarra and Ed Shaughnessy — but also by necessity.
Tito Puente, left, poses for a photo with Walfredo de los Reyes Sr.
(Courtesy of Daniel de los Reyes)
“When I got my band at the Casino Parisien [in Havana], I didn’t have enough [money] to [hire] a conga player,” De los Reyes said in a 2011 interview with the National Assn. of Music Merchants. “I had to decide between a conga and a singer. I got the singer, because you always need a singer. [Then] I started putting congas on the left side [of my drum set] and playing with my left hand, the tumbao. … Why should I play only a conga drum? My feet just lay there.”
He is survived by his wife, Debbie Bellamy de los Reyes, his five children and 10 grandchildren. His son, actor Kamar de los Reyes, died of cancer in 2023 at age 56.
Pop superstardom, it turns out, did absolutely nothing to improve Sabrina Carpenter’s love life.
That’s the thrust of the singer’s shrewd and tangy “Man’s Best Friend,” which dropped Thursday night, just a year after last summer’s chart-topping “Short n’ Sweet.” The earlier album, which spun off a pair of smash singles in “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” went on to be certified triple platinum and to win two Grammy Awards — more than enough to transform Carpenter, now 26, from a former Disney kid into the latest (and horniest) member of pop’s A list.
Yet all that success seems only to have attracted more of the losers she sang about last time. Here she’s dealing with a smooth talker doling out empty promises, a crybaby who can’t decide what he wants, even a guy so fixated on self-betterment that he’s lost interest in the bedroom.
“He’s busy, he’s working, he doesn’t have time for me,” she trills exasperatedly in “My Man on Willpower,” “My slutty pajamas not tempting him in the least.”
It’s a veritable gallery of rogues, this LP, not least the dude in the dark suit pictured on the cover of “Man’s Best Friend” with a hank of Carpenter’s blond hair in his fist as she kneels before him. The image inspired an instant controversy when she unveiled it in June, with critics accusing her of propping up dangerous ideas about the submission of women in the age of the tradwife.
Responded the singer in a CBS News interview that aired Friday: “Y’all need to get out more.”
Indeed, to take the album artwork at face value is to miss the whole point of Sabrina Carpenter, which is not just lampooning a prudish instinct — of course she’s in on the joke — but demonstrating the limits of a dating scene — of an entire social power structure — in which this is what a girl at the top has to work with.
“I like my boys playing hard to get / And I like my men all incompetent,” she sings in the LP’s opener and lead single, “Manchild.” She swears she’s not choosing them — that they keep choosing her. Then she punctuates the claim by batting her fake eyelashes and rhyming “Amen” with a flirty “Hey, men.”
As with “Short n’ Sweet,” Carpenter made “Man’s Best Friend” with a tight crew of accomplices — Jack Antonoff, John Ryan and Amy Allen, plus a bunch of tasty studio players — and once again they get a sound that combines the hooky splendor of ’70s-era AM-radio pop (think ELO, Wings and especially ABBA) with touches of country and dance music.
“Tears,” in which Carpenter lusts after a guy capable of putting together a chair from IKEA, is a pillowy disco thumper with echoes of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “That’s the Way (I Like It)”; “Nobody’s Son” puts starchy palm-court strings over a bouncy reggae groove. Carpenter’s singing plays like an actor’s sizzle reel, by turns winsome, sneering, bubbly and resigned; in the twangy “Go Go Juice” alone — it’s about a woman who’s woken up at 10 a.m. and opted to spend the day drunk-dialing exes — she runs through every emotional gradient separating determination from shame.
Song for song — line for line, really — “Man’s Best Friend” isn’t quite as sharp as “Short n’ Sweet,” which offered the rare thrill of a young artist coming into her own on her sixth studio album. Occasionally, you can sense Carpenter reaching for a memeable lyric, as in the many gags about wetness in “Tears”; “When Did You Get Hot?,” meanwhile, feels like something Ariana Grande abandoned after workshopping for a minute.
When she’s on, though, she’s on: “Goodbye” is a dazzling orchestral-pop number in which she gives the boot to a hot-and-cold lover — “Arrivederci, au revoir / Forgive my French, but f— you, ta-ta” — and “House Tour” a winking sex romp whose thwacking drums and rubbery funk bass call to mind Paula Abdul’s “Opposites Attract.” (After Doja Cat’s Antonoff-produced “Jealous Type,” might this signal a coming Abdul-aissance?)
Near the end of the album, Carpenter dials down the comedy for “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry,” a sad and shimmery ballad about the thin line between love and war. “Silent treatment and humbling your ass / Well, that’s some of my best work,” she sings over strummed acoustic guitar before promising oh so sweetly to “leave you feeling like a shell of a man.”
Sabrina Carpenter doesn’t care what “Tommy from Arkansas” thinks about her artistic choices.
In an interview with “CBS Mornings” on Friday, the “Espresso” singer talked about her reaction to the controversy behind the cover of her seventh album, “Man’s Best Friend,” which displays Carpenter on her knees at the feet of a male figure pulling her hair.
Gayle King read aloud a comment in which a fan said that Carpenter “can’t have it both ways. If it’s satire of how men treat us, it can’t also be a straightforward image of a woman being submissive just because it’s sexy.”
“Y’all need to get out more,” Carpenter told King. “I think I was actually shocked because I think between me and my friends and my family and the people that I always share my music and my art with first, it just wasn’t even a conversation.”
During the 67th Grammys ceremony, the record took home two awards — pop vocal album and pop solo performance for “Espresso.”
Her follow-up effort was released on Thursday; the original artwork dropped months before, on June 11. By June 25, and amid the backlash, the artist posted an alternative cover on her Instagram that was “approved by God.” In it, the former Disney Channel co-star of “Girl Meets World” — she also sang the theme song — is simply standing by a man.
During the interview, the “Please Please Please” singer discussed her intentions behind the original cover art that divided fans.
“My interpretation is being in on the control, being in on your lack of control and when you want to be in control,” Carpenter said. “I think as a young woman, you’re just as aware of when you’re in control as to when you’re not.”
She added: “[‘Man’s Best Friend’ is] about the humanity of allowing yourself to make those mistakes, knowing when you’re putting yourself in a situation that will probably end up poorly, but it’s going to teach you something.”
But what do her parents think?
“My parents actually saw the photo, and they loved it.”
Add one more to the number of kids that will have Enrique Iglesias as a personal hero. The singer and his wife, Anna Kournikova, are expecting their fourth child.
They are already parents of 7-year-old twins Lucy and Nicholas and 5-year-old Mary. Iglesias and Kournikova are “overjoyed,” according to Hola! Kournikova is halfway through the pregnancy.
Iglesias, 50, returned to Spain in July to perform at the Granca Live Fest — it was his first show in his native country in six years. He has planned appearances in Mexico, India and Abu Dhabi. In 2024, the pop singer released “FINAL (Vol. 2),” the last installment of his serialized studio album farewell.
While promoting his tour in 2021, Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin Live in Concert with special guest Sebastián Yatra on Instagram, the singer said his “FINAL” series “might be” his last album.
“I’m in that moment in my life, that chapter in my life, where I think it’s the right time to put it out and I’ve been thinking about this since 2015,” Iglesias said.
Kournikova, 44, retired from tennis in 2003 because of injuries. In 2011, during the 12th season of NBC’s reality weight-loss competition “The Biggest Loser,” she replaced Jillian Michaels as the trainer for that one season.
The “Hero” singer and the former professional tennis player have been together since 2001. They live a private life in Miami — raising their family away from the spotlight, according to People. The two “love being parents” and spend their time “raising their children,” a source familiar with the couple told People in February.
Looks like whoever called the cops on Lil Nas X last week wasn’t exaggerating when they reported the Grammy winner as a “nude man walking in the street.”
Initial video posted last week by TMZ showed the performer wearing only tighty-whities and white cowboy boots, strolling and posing on an L.A. street just before sunrise — and just before his arrest on suspicion of charging at a police officer. But it turns out that’s not the exact condition he was in when law enforcement took him in.
In new video TMZ posted over the weekend, the “Old Town Road” singer can be seen walking down the middle of a street fully naked, having shed the boots and underpants that had barely covered his modesty. (That he disrobed explains how a concerned citizen-slash-amateur videographer was able to snatch his boots up from off the street and list them for sale on EBay, seeking $10,000 — or best offer.)
In the new footage, Lil Nas X recites some Nicki Minaj lyrics from the Kanye West tune “Monster” as he struts runway-style toward the person shooting the video, who appears to be in the driver’s seat of a car.
“And if I’m fake, I ain’t notice ‘cause my money ain’t / So let me get this straight, wait, I’m the rookie? / But my features and my shows 10 times your pay? / 50K for a verse, no album out,” Lil Nas X says in the video.
An LAPD spokesperson told The Times last week that the 26-year-old, who was arrested around 6 a.m. Thursday, initially was taken to a hospital for a possible overdose. Lil Nas X was booked a little over five hours later and ultimately spent the weekend in a Van Nuys jail pending a court date Monday to set bail.
Both the LAPD and Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene on Thursday. LAFD did not give The Times additional information about the singer’s condition.
The performer, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer after he allegedly charged at officers who responded to the call. Although TMZ reported that he was being held on a misdemeanor, online arrest records list him as being held on a felony count.
Representatives for Lil Nas X did not respond immediately to The Times’ request for comment Monday.
His arrest came soon after he apparently wiped his Instagram grid of old photos and posted a couple dozen new ones, including a selfie posted Tuesday of himself wearing a fur coat, bright red lipstick and both a cowboy hat and crown. “OH NO sHES GONE MAD! CRAZY I TELL U!,” he captioned the post.
In another photo, Lil Nas X posed in front of a backlit mirror in a gold gown, white cowboy boots and a tiara.
“And just like that she’s back,” he wrote in that caption. “We’ve all waited so long. When dreamworld needed her the most.”
Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario, Christopher Buchanan and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
Grammy winner Lil Nas X’s stroll through Studio City early Thursday morning ended in his hospitalization and his arrest on suspicion of charging at a police officer.
The 26-year-old musician, known for hits including “Old Town Road” and “Industry Baby,” was transported to a local hospital for a possible overdose, an LAPD spokesperson confirmed to The Times on Thursday. Police did not confirm the singer’s identity but told The Times that at around 5:50 a.m., officers responded to the 11000 block of Ventura Boulevard to reports of a “nude man walking in the street.”
TMZ, which first reported on the singer’s hospitalization, shared video of the singer (real name Montero Lamar Hill) strutting in the street down a mostly empty Ventura Boulevard wearing only white underpants and cowboy boots. Police alleged that the “suspect charged at officers” upon their arrival, and he was taken into custody.
The Los Angeles Fire Department also reported to the 3700 block of North Cahuenga Boulevard where they picked up the musician, a spokesperson confirmed to The Times. The spokesperson did not share additional information about the singer’s condition.
Police booked the singer at the LAPD’s Valley Jail section in Van Nuys later Thursday morning on suspicion of misdemeanor battery on a police officer. A representative for Lil Nas X did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
In the clips shared with TMZ, the “Call Me By Your Name” artist speaks to a driver behind the camera about a party and repeatedly tells him to put away his phone. Lil Nas X also posed with an orange traffic cone over his head, as seen in photos published by TMZ.
Lil Nas X, who broke out in 2019 with the viral “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, was hospitalized earlier this year after he said in a since-expired Instagram story that he had “lost control” of the right side of his face. He reassured fans, “It’s getting better y’all, I promise.”
On Tuesday, the singer also seemingly wiped his Instagram page of old posts and shared 26 photos and videos. Several new posts seem to point to a new chapter in his music, including a brief snippet of his song “KIMBO” featuring Lil Jon. His recent photos take a more cryptic approach, with several featuring random items scattered in different parts of a room.
Lil Nas X also posted a selfie on Tuesday of himself wearing a fur coat, bright red lipstick, and both a cowboy hat and crown. “OH NO sHES GONE MAD! CRAZY I TELL U!,” he captioned the post.
In another photo, Lil Nas X poses in front of a backlit mirror as he wears a gold gown, white cowboy boots and a tiara.
He wrote in the caption: “And just like that she’s back. We’ve all waited so long. When dreamworld needed her the most.”
Times staff writers Christopher Buchanan and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
The lead singer of the regional Mexican band Enigma Norteño, Ernesto Barajas, was shot and killed on Tuesday in the municipality of Zapopan in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, according to ABC 7.
The singer was killed by two individuals riding a motorcycle, according to authorities. The prosecutor’s office of the state of Jalisco has already opened an investigation into the murder, according to ABC 7.
The band from Sinaloa is known for its “viral drug ballads,” a musical style known to glorify organized crime. Enigma Norteño has dedicated its songs to members of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Sinaloa cartels. The genre has been banned by a third of the states in Mexico.
In July, the Council of the Judiciary of the State of Jalisco agreed to drop the criminal case against the Mexican regional band Los Alegres Del Barranco. The band came under investigation after it displayed a photograph of a leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación during a show.
In April, the Mexican government announced a music contest to encourage Mexican artists to create music that does not glorify a violent lifestyle. The competition was created to encourage musicians to write songs about love, heartbreak and peace, according to Billboard.
“While the contest won’t solve this issue overnight, and we’re not neglecting the underlying causes — for that, there’s a whole national security program — we felt it was important to create creative spaces through culture for Mexican and Mexican-American youth who are passionate about music,” Claudia Curiel de Icaza, secretary of culture for Mexico, told Billboard Español.
Authorities from the state of Jalisco did not respond to a request for a comment in time for publication.
Jimmie Allen, the Grammy-nominated singer known for “Best Shot” and “Warrior,” is liable for sexually assaulting a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2022 and filming it, a federal judge decided this week.
Judge Aleta A. Trauger on Monday filed an order in Tennessee federal court granting a motion for sanctions and judgment against the 40-year-old country musician, according to court documents reviewed by The Times. Allen’s accuser — identified in court documents as “Jane Doe 2” — filed her motion against the singer and his co-defendants in May, but they failed to respond in a timely manner, the order said.
“The court therefore interprets this motion to be unopposed,” Trauger said, adding later in her order, “defendants throughout have failed to comply with case management discovery deadlines and even failed to comply with specific Orders of this court.”
The order adds that Allen and the co-defendants — his bodyguard and Aadyn’s Dad Touring Inc. — also failed to pay the plaintiff $5,950 in nonrefundable legal fees, as ordered in March. A legal representative for the defendants did not immediately respond on Wednesday to The Times’ request for comment.
Elizabeth Fegan, an attorney for the plaintiff, told The Times on Wednesday that her legal team is “pleased with the Court’s decision to grant judgment for Plaintiff in light of Jimmie Allen’s refusal to participate in the litigation process.”
“We look forward to proving up Plaintiff’s damages caused by Allen’s predatory acts,” Fegan added.
Allen faced multiple sexual assault lawsuits in the summer of 2023, which took a toll on his career and professional opportunities. In May 2023, a woman who said she was Allen’s former manager accused him of sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, sex trafficking and emotional distress. The woman — identified in court documents as “Jane Doe” — dropped her complaint against Allen in March 2024 after reaching a settlement with the singer, and eventually dismissed the case with prejudice in October 2024.
Jane Doe 2 sued Allen in June 2023, requesting a jury trial and an unspecified amount in damages. She alleged in her complaint that Allen sexually assaulted her in his hotel room in Las Vegas in July 2022. She also accused the singer of filming the alleged assault without her consent, causing her to “suffer extreme emotional distress, including anxiety and depression.”
Allen responded to the two lawsuits with a countersuit of his own in July 2023. At the time, he denied the allegations and accused one woman of defaming him, and the other woman of illegally taking his cellphone after consenting to being recorded.
Amid the final weeks of litigation in Jane Doe 2’s suit, Allen promoted new music and live concerts on social media. Earlier this month, he also addressed the sexual assault allegations on the “Playlisted Podcast,” hosted by Austin Burke.
“I always tell people, ‘No matter where you go in life, the more successful you become … be careful because you have a target on your back,’” he said in an episode published Aug. 10. “Anytime you hear the word ‘lawsuit,’ know there’s money involved.”
He added later in the episode: “As the world moves forward, I just wish people are smarter. I hope people aren’t ‘sheeple’ anymore. That people actually use their brain in every decision, in everything they read.”
“Beautiful Girls” hitmaker Sean Kingston will spend three and a half years behind bars for his involvement in a months-long scheme that defrauded luxury goods businesses of more than $1 million.
U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz handed down the 35-year-old performer’s sentence Friday, months after a Florida jury convicted the singer (born Kisean Paul Anderson) and his mother, Janice Turner, in March on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud each.
“We respect the Court’s decision and the judicial process,” Kingston attorney Zeljka Bozanic told The Times in a statement. Bozanic said Kingston’s defense team is “content” the court opted for a shorter prison sentence — the government had requested five years in prison — and said “most of the restitution in this case was paid back, even before these charges were brought.”
“Sean is taking this as a learning experience and will continue moving forward in a positive direction,” Bozanic added. “We are actively reviewing all available options, including potential appeals, to ensure his rights are fully protected.”
During his court appearance in a South Florida courtroom Friday, Kingston apologized to the judge and said he had learned from his actions. Under house arrest since his conviction, Kingston was taken into custody immediately despite a defense attorney’s request that Kingston self-surrender at a later date due to health issues. Prior to the sentencing, Bozanic filed a sentencing memorandum requesting that the court consider a shorter sentence.
“Mr. Anderson accepted responsibility in this case and has made all the positive steps toward learning and growing from this situation,” Bozanic said in the memorandum, which also describes the singer’s previous charitable acts. The document notes that Kingston has “never served prison time before” and that a “high sentence is not necessary to deter future conduct.”
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida accused Kingston and his mother of swindling more than $480,000 worth of jewelry from one person and, from others, a Cadillac Escalade worth nearly $160,000 and furniture costing upward of $86,500. Prosecutors said Kingston and his mother also stole more than $200,000 from Bank of America and more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank — allegations they initially denied.
SWAT officers descended on the “Take You There” singer’s Florida home last May. His mother was arrested during the raid and Kingston was arrested soon after near the Fort Irwin Army base in San Bernardino County. Turner was sentenced to five years in prison last month.
Kingston rose to popularity in the early 2000s for “Beautiful Girls,” which samples Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.” He is also known for the songs “Eenie Meenie,” “Fire Burning” and “Me Love.”
Times editorial library director Cary Schneider and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former S Club 7 star emotionally opened up about his father’s death during tonight’s Celebs Go Dating, and how he didn’t speak to his mum for two years while he was grieving
21:17, 14 Aug 2025Updated 21:22, 14 Aug 2025
Jon emotionally opened up about his father’s death during last night’s episode(Image: Channel 4)
It was former S Club 7 star Jon Lee who became emotional during tonight’s episode of Celebs Go Dating, as he opened up about his father’s tragic death.
Jon’s sadly lost his father in 2014, after he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. The star, who was very close to his dad, told dating experts Anna Williamson and Dr Tara that he “lost the plot” after his fathers death.
Opening up to the agents in Ibiza, the star opened up about how his dad had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at the same time he found out his boyfriend had been unfaithful the entire time they were together.
Jon joined the agency after not having dated for six years(Image: E4)
“I had an emotional slap from this relationship, and then that happened. And I hadn’t quite recovered myself from that, and then that happened as well and everything fell apart.”
Opening up further, Jon expressed how close he was to his father, as he was seen tearing up in front of the agents. “Within the first year, he’d completely lost the ability to move, he couldn’t speak, he had to be fed through a tube in his stomach. He couldn’t talk to me. To go out like that, I literally lost the plot. I thought, ‘What the f**k is the point?’ It broke my heart.
Explaining on how he dealt with the grief, Jon continued: “I went out, I was taking loads of drugs. I went completely off the rails. That got to a point where I had to make a decision. I had to sort myself out or it wasn’t going to end well.”
Jon then recalled packing a bag, and never going back to his home. “I wrote to my mum, I sent her my front door key. I wrote her a note saying I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I need to sort myself out.”
The former popstar then left the country for four years, telling the agents how he didn’t even speak to his mum for two of them. “She didn’t know where I was. She said every time the phone rang she thought it was going to be the police saying, ‘We found Jon and he’s dead.’ That’s my biggest regret, that I caused her…” he said as he broke down in tears.
Jon went on his first date during last night’s episode(Image: Channel 4)
Earlier in the conversation, Jon opened up about how he felt he had to hide his sexuality while in the band, and didn’t really get to experience dating until they broke up in 2003. Jon was just 15 when the band started, as he told the agents he didn’t have an opportunity to figure out who he was in the real world.
Although Jon’s S Club 7 bandmades and his family knew he was gay, the star never spoke about it publicly. “Throughout the band, I wasn’t comfortable with my sexuality at all, so it would happen when I was drunk,” he explained.
“I didn’t feel comfortable enough to be in a relationship until after the band and when I went back into musical theatre,” he admitted. “It felt like I was out of the limelight then and no one cared about me anymore. That’s when I started my dating life, so I was massively behind and very emotionally immature.”
Jon’s time in the agency comes after a six year break from dating, as he told the cameras during the first episode that he had been celibate for six years.
“Jon has had a really interesting journey since S Club and I know a lot of it hasn’t been shared anywhere else. It’s a really interesting and insightful investigation into what really has been happening in his life since S Club and what he’s been doing in the recent years,” she told us.
“One of his revelations I was shocked,” Tara exclaimed, as she revealed Jon was the celebrity who surprised her the most in the agency. “I thought Jon would come in a lot more guarded but he’s not,” Tara said. “He’s ready to bare it all emotionally and it’s a beautiful thing. I’ve been learning a lot about him already, and I have to say it’s a very touching story.”
That could change in a couple of days, based on a tease posted on the “New Heights” social media accounts Monday — and on Swifties’ interpretations of the tease. The text is straightforward, simply informing fans of the special nature of the episode and the guest and noting it will drop Wednesday at 4 p.m. PDT.
The real juicy bits, though — if Swift’s fans are to be believed — are apparently found in the post’s graphic. Over the years, Swifties have become pretty good at spotting and deciphering Easter Eggs, so here’s what jumped out at the “You Need to Calm Down” singer’s diehard fans (based on observations they posted on social media and Reddit):
1. A silhouette of a slender person with long hair appears between images of the Kelce brothers, and naturally fans are convinced it can only be that of one particular slender woman with long hair. One commenter on X insists they can see Swift’s bangs in the completely darkened image.
2. Jason Kelce appears to be wearing a shirt bearing Swift’s image. Swifties are noting that the garment is from the Eras tour and that Travis is wearing one from that tour as well. This reporter, who did not attend the Eras tour, has no reason to doubt them on this.
3. The graphic’s background color is orange and sparkly. This apparently is seen as a reference to a particular dress Swift wore during the Eras tour. (Although didn’t she famously change her outfit more than a dozen times during each performance? Or so we’ve heard.)
4. Travis Kelce has a giant smile on his face. OK, sure, he has probably smiled numerous times during his life — like, say, maybe after at least one of the three Super Bowls he won with the Chiefs. But apparently he has a special grin reserved for the “Lover” singer, which one X commenter refers to as his “Tay smile.”
There are many other observations — including several that involve numbers, math and calendar dates — all of which clearly add up not only to Swift being the podcast’s “VERY special guest” but also that she will be there to announce something else very special, like perhaps a new album. (Reminder: This is only a fan theory; please remain calm.)
It wouldn’t be the first time this summer that Swift has made an appearance during one of her boyfriend’s projects. In June, she gave a surprise acoustic performance of her hit “Shake It Off” at a concert linked to Kelce’s Tight End University camp.
Come to think of it, Swift was introduced onstage that night by singer Kane Brown as a “really, really, really special guest.” That’s pretty darn close to “VERY special guest,” don’t you think?
Rochelle and her JLS pop star husband Marvin were also pictured with Graham in Ibiza.
READ MORE ON MYLEENE KLASS
A source last night told The Sun: “Rochelle was doing what she saw as looking out for a friend in a time of need.
“Rochelle and Marvin are still clearly very much friends with Graham.
“Myleene is of the view that Rochelle took sides from the beginning of her marriage breakdown.
“The fact Rochelle and Graham’s friendship is still there after all these years has put an everlasting rift between Myleene and Rochelle.
“They both do everything in their power to avoid each other.”
Rochelle and Frankie, 36, previously enjoyed a close friendship with Classic FM host Myleene.
Watch the awkward moment feuding stars Myleene Klass and Frankie Bridge come face to face on live TV
In 2012, Myleene and Frankie, both hosts on Loose Women, attended Rochelle’s hen do.
But they have not appeared together on the ITV show since an awkward episode last year.
The alleged unzipping incident is said to have happened before Myleene and Graham married.
The couple — who share daughters Ava, 17, and 13-year-old Hero — wed in 2011 and divorced two years later, with Myleene citing “unreasonable behaviour”.
THE SKINT celebrities that are struggling to make ends meet – from Dawn O’Porter to Mischa Barton.
Even if you have made lots of money, it doesn’t always mean you’re not going to run into money problems as these celebrities have found out.
Mischa Barton
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Mischa Barton even sued her mother over moneyCredit: Rex Features
The OC actress Mischa, 39, has had a widely-publicised battle with her former momager, Nuala Barton, over her money.
In July 2015, she even sued her mother, alleging that she lied about how much Mischa was being paid for a film role and pocketed the rest of the cash herself.
She’s also struggled to make mortgage payments on her home in the past, at one point falling five months behind.
Though she eventually sold the Beverly Hills mansion in summer 2016 for $7.05 million reports The BBC.
The television presenter, 46, who has been married to Bridesmaids actor Chris O’Dowd since 2012, has opened up about her money woes.
She expressed to MailOnline: “I work pay cheque to pay cheque. I’m always broke. My card got declined last week. I’m like, what the f*** is happening? When will this end?”
The Scottish writer and director has had a varied career, presenting several documentaries and shows including BBC’s Super Slim Me and How To Look Good Naked on Channel 4.
Meanwhile, Chris, 45, has starred in some of Hollywood’s biggest productions, including This Is 40, Thor: The Dark World, Gulliver’s Travels and St. Vincent.
The couple have two children, sons Art, 11, and Valentine, who is eight years old.
Wife of Hollywood actor claims she’s ‘always broke’ and ‘lives pay cheque to pay cheque’
Lindsay Lohan
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Lindsay Lohan had her bank accounts seized in 2012Credit: Getty
The Parent Trap’s Lindsay Lohan had her bank accounts seized in 2012, for reportedly owing $234,000 in tax.
Lindsay apparently sent her 18-year-old sister to haggle with second hand stores to make some emergency cash from her old clothes.
Ali Lohan went to the vintage clothing store Wasteland to flog the singer’s most valuable designer gear.
Ali was seen arriving at the Los Angeles store with bags bursting with shoes, clothes and accessories.
But she was reportedly shocked when she was offered a lot less than she was expecting.
She went through items including a pair of Chanel pumps and a Balenciaga handbag, saying: “These have to be worth more, Lindsay was photographed wearing them, that has to add value.”
But the manager would not be swayed, and Ali had to settle much lower than she had planned.
Her Scary Movie 5 co-star, Charlie Sheen, gave her $100,000 towards the bill and Lindsay now appears to have her finances under control.
50 Cent
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50 Cent declared himself bankrupt in 2015Credit: Getty
50 Cent declared himself bankrupt in 2015, but said the move was a ‘strategic’ one, and not because he’d spent all of his money.
He made the decision after he was sued for leaking a sex tape of Lastonia Leviston, who has a child with his rap rival Rick Ross, and didn’t want other people to follow suit.
He told US talk show host Larry King in 2015L “It’s a move that was necessary for me to make at this point.
“So I didn’t allow myself to create that big red and white bulls eye on my back, where I become the person that people consistently come to.”
He still had to pay off debts of more than $22 million, though, with $6 million going to Lastonia for invasion of privacy.
Shane Richie
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Shane Richie had to borrow from friends and familyCredit: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron
Back in 2020, the EastEnders legend said the coronavirus pandemic hit him hard and left him begging friends and family for loans.
Shane revealed how the pandemic and years of daft spending had left him “literally skint.”
At the time he was relying on loans from friends and family, and government help to pay his mortgage.
He told the Mirror at the time: “I was going on tour, doing a TV series and panto but it all got cancelled in March. Now I am literally skint!
“You save for a rainy day but you don’t expect the rainy day to last eight months. Thankfully, I’ve been able to borrow money from mates, my family and the bank.”
He added: “I got rid of my car but only cos I lease a car for my wife for the school run. I can get around on a moped.
“I am alright, I have had a career and if it all finishes tomorrow, so be it. If the worst comes to the worst, I’ll do stand-up or resurrect a musical.”
Shane also revealed that he blew thousands on the strangest things, in particular Planet of the Apes memorabilia.
He said: “It was my favourite show as a boy, I couldn’t resist. It harks back to Christmases when mum and dad couldn’t afford much.”
In April 2014, Courtney was hit with a $320,000 tax bill, as well as being ordered to pay $96,000 to a fashion designer she defamed on Twitter.
Later that year, the singer told the Sunday Times, “I lost about $27 million.
“I know that’s a lifetime of money to most people, but I’m a big girl, it’s rock ‘n roll, it’s Nirvana money, I had to let it go.
“I make enough to live on, I’m financially solvent, I focus on what I make now.”
And back in 2021 according to official tax records, theHole lead singerhad five outstanding tax debts that have accumulated from 2017 to 2021.
The iconic artist was hit with three outstanding Internal Revenue Service liens, totaling $1.9 million, while the rest of the debt was owed to the State of California.
The Grammy nominee explained that she was living with her parents for a while in Las Vegas before the situation became unfavourable.
She eventually moved back to Los Angeles after her manager suggested she move in with him for a bit.
But the home was too small so Dawn ultimately resided in a hotel for eight months before deciding to research “car life.”
Following her search, the singer began living in her car in 2022 and said that she “felt free.”
She added: “I felt free. I felt like I was on a camping trip. It just felt like it was the right thing to do.
“I didn’t regret it. You know, a lot of celebrities have lived in their cars.”
The singer admitted that though the experience is sometimes “scary” she’s learned “what to do in my car and how to do it, like, how to cover my windows and you don’t talk to certain people.”
She explained: “You’re careful of telling people that you’re alone, as a woman especially.”
Cat Power had to cancel her European TourCredit: Getty
Charlyn Marie “Chan” Marshall, better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter.
She spent a lot of her own money on recording 2012 album, Sun.
Then, when it came time to tour Sun, she took to Instagram to share some bad news with fans.
She wrote: “I may have to cancel my European tour due to bankruptcy & my health struggle with angioedema.
“I have not thrown in any towel, I am trying to figure out what best I can do.”
The tour was indeed postponed, with Chan later adding: “The American tour has been wonderful and amazing, and with me being unable to afford to bring my show with full production (which i helped create), to Europe.
“Financially, really dumped a huge additional amount of stress on me as I was and still am fighting trying to get tour support.”
As Justin Timberlake bid farewell to his Forget Tomorrow world tour, he got candid with fans about his health.
The “Mirrors” and “SexyBack” pop star, 44, on Thursday revealed in a heartfelt Instagram post that he powered through his circuit of live performances as he battled a “relentlessly debilitating” bout of Lyme disease. The singer, who faced backlash for his low-energy performances in recent weeks, said in his lengthy caption that sharing his health issues was to help him “shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes.”
The Grammy-winning singer and actor went in depth about the disease’s mental and physical toll. Although he said he was “shocked” by the diagnosis, he said it provided some clarity.
“At least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness,” he continued. “I was faced with a personal decision. Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out.”
The Mayo Clinic defines Lyme disease as an illness “caused by borrelia bacteria” that humans can get if they are bitten by an infected tick. Symptoms of Lyme disease can include joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains, fever and headache. Antibiotics are used to treat the disease.
Timberlake, amid the “fleeting stress my body was feeling,” said he opted to continue with his tour. “I’m so glad I kept going,” he said.
Pushing through with the tour, which began in April 2024 in Vancouver and ended Wednesday in Turkey, allowed Timberlake to prove his “mental tenacity,” he said. The singer said he would also work to be “more transparent about my struggles” with fans.
Throughout his tour, Timberlake faced a handful of personal and public obstacles. In October 2024, he announced the postponement of several shows to recover from bronchitis and laryngitis. That same month, he also abruptly called off a concert in Newark, N.J., because of an injury.
Notably, the former ‘NSYNC frontman carried on with his slate of shows last year after his DWI arrest in the Hamptons in June 2024. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of impaired driving, his driving privileges were suspended and he was sentenced in September to 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choosing. He was also required to make a public safety announcement about the dangers of impaired driving.
After sharing his health update, Timberlake reminisced on his touring experience, continuing his post in his own comments section. He thanked supporters for their “energy and love” and the crew and artists who joined him on the road. Though performing live is “sacred” to the “Suit & Tie” music star, he said the status of his stage career remains unclear.
“I honestly don’t know what my future is onstage but I’ll always cherish this run! And all of them before,” he wrote. “It’s been the stuff of LEGEND for me.”
He ended his post sending love to his actor wife Jessica Biel and their two children. His caption accompanied a carousel of behind-the-scenes photos.
Former Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.
DAKAR, Senegal — U.S. singer Ciara is one of the first public figures to become a citizen of Benin under a recent law by the small West African country granting citizenship to descendants of enslaved people.
The Grammy-winning performer’s acquisition of citizenship at a ceremony Saturday in the city of Cotonou is part of a broader initiative by Benin to attract the Black diaspora, acknowledge the country’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and promote tourism focused on slavery-related sites of remembrance.
“By legally recognizing these children of Africa, Benin is healing a historical wound. It is an act of justice, but also one of belonging and hope,” Justice Minister Yvon Détchénou said at the ceremony.
Here’s what to know about Benin’s efforts to welcome descendants of enslaved people:
Benin’s Afro-descendant citizenship law
In September, Benin passed a law granting citizenship to those who can trace their lineage to the slave trade.
It is open to anyone older than 18 who doesn’t already hold other African citizenship and can provide proof that an ancestor was deported via the slave trade from anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Beninese authorities accept DNA tests, authenticated testimonies and family records.
Last week, the government launched My Afro Origins, the digital platform that processes applications.
Although Benin is not the first country to grant citizenship to descendants of enslaved people, its citizenship law carries added significance, in part because of the role it played in the transatlantic slave trade.
A national reckoning with its role in the slave trade
European merchants deported an estimated 1.5 million enslaved people from the Bight of Benin — a region that includes present-day Benin, Togo and parts of Nigeria — to the Americas.
Beninese kings actively participated in capturing and selling enslaved people to Portuguese, French and British merchants. The former kingdoms and the communities they raided still exist today as tribal networks.
Benin has long been working to reconcile with its legacy of complicity. It has openly acknowledged its role in the slave trade, a stance not shared by many other African nations that participated.
In the 1990s, it hosted an international conference to examine how and where enslaved people were sold. In 1999, then-President Mathieu Kérékou apologized to African Americans during a visit to a church in Baltimore.
‘Memorial tourism’
Alongside this national reckoning, “memorial tourism” around the legacy of the slave trade has become a key approach of Benin’s government to attract Afro-descendants.
Memorial sites are mostly in Ouidah, one of Africa’s most active slave-trading ports in the 18th and 19th centuries. They include the Slave Route, which was the path marking enslaved people’s final journey to ships, and the Door of No Return, a haunting doorway that opens to the Atlantic Ocean where they left Africa, and their families, for the last time.
Sindé Chekete, the head of Benin’s state-run tourism agency, said these sites give Afro-descendants the opportunity to learn about and honor the struggles and resilience of their ancestors.
“It may inspire some people to say ‘I want to return to Africa and choose Benin to understand this history’,” Chekete said.
Following her citizenship ceremony, Ciara toured the historic city, where she walked the Slave Route to the Door of No Return.
“Between emotion, reflection and heritage, I experienced a profound return to what truly matters,” she said.
Ciara is best known for chart-topping hits such as “Goodies” and “Level Up,” her dynamic choreography as well as her work in fashion and philanthropy.
Taylor Swift’s life and legacy are to be showcased in a new Channel 4 series, which will explore the Americana star’s stratospheric rise to global stardom
Taylor Swift fans are in for a treat (Image: PA)
Taylor Swift fans are in for a treat as a new two-part documentary about the Starlight star is winging its way to Channel 4. With a working title of ‘Taylor’, the series, which is set to air later this year, will explore the Bad Blood billionaire’s rise to global stardom as one of the world’s most successful pop stars.
According to Channel 4, the programme will ‘dig deep’ into Taylor’s 20-year career through interviews with high-profile commentators, industry insiders, and fans.
The documentary will also ‘examine the forces that have shaped her trajectory and the devoted community she has inspired’. And ‘rare archive will reveal fresh insights into Taylor and her story as the series charts her journey from ambitious teen with towering dreams to one of the most influential and scrutinised figures of our time’.
Taylor Swift’s life and legacy is to be showcased in a new Channel 4 series(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Director, Guy Fall (The Fall, Bombing Brighton), Guy King, claims the billionaire is “unprecedentedly powerful”, saying: “Taylor Swift is an unprecedentedly powerful 21st Century voice for women and young people.
“Under the microscope of social media since the earliest days of MySpace and Tumblr, she came of age during a new feminist wave.
“With her fame came controversy, which she so skilfully wrestled to the floor. We’re excited to tell her story.”
Meanwhile, Shaminder Nahal, Head of Specialist Factual at Channel 4 and Commissioning Editor said: “We’re thrilled that Sandpaper and director Guy King will be bringing their calibre of storytelling to chart the impact of Taylor Swift on today’s culture.
“Her journey has been nothing short of epic, and we’re keen for this series to reflect all the joy and artistry, the heartbreaks and high stakes, of her stunning career, while also showing viewers sides of Taylor Swift that they might not know or expect.”
Taylor, 35, was at her father’s side last month after Scott Swift underwent major heart surgery after going to the doctor for a check-up.
Scott, 73, who played a significant role in his daughter’s music career, had quintuple bypass surgery last month after his GP “saw something” in worrying news for the family.
Thankfully, Scott, is now said to be “doing great” after the operation, according to TMZ, after being supported by Taylor‘s mum and Scott’s wife, Mrs Swift, who has been married to Scott for 37 years, and the singer’s brother, Austin, throughout the surgery and during the recovery process.
Taylor’s rep also told the outlet that the procedure was not the result of a heart attack, but because Scott’s doctor “saw something” while confirming that the dad-of-two is now “feeling just great”.
The singer’s spokesperson told the outlet: “Scott Swift had quintuple bypass surgery over a month ago and his wife, Andrea, and their kids, Taylor and Austin, were with him through the entire surgery and recovery process.”
Connie Francis, the angelic-voiced singer who was one of the biggest recording stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s, has died. She was 87.
Her friend and publicist, Ron Roberts, announced the singer’s death Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
A month prior to her death, Francis was hospitalized for “extreme pain” following a fracture in her pelvic area. The singer, who shared details about her health with fans on social media, used a wheelchair in her later years and said she lived with a “troublesome painful hip.”
Francis emerged when rock ’n’ roll first captivated America. Her earliest hits — a dreamy arrangement of the old standard “Who’s Sorry Now?,” the cheerfully silly “Stupid Cupid” and the galloping “Lipstick on Your Collar” — fit neatly into the emerging genre’s lighter side. Although she targeted teen listeners with such songs as the spring break anthem “Where the Boys Are,” Francis ultimately gravitated toward the middle of the road, singing softly lit, tasteful pop for adult audiences.
Francis’ commercial peak roughly spanned from Elvis Presley’s induction into the U.S. Army to the Beatles first setting foot on American soil. Over that five-year period, Francis was one of the biggest stars in music, earning three No. 1 hits: “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You.” As her singles offered familiar adolescent fare, her albums were constructed for specific demographics. During the early ’60s, she cut records dedicated to “Italian Favorites,” “Rock ’n’ Roll Million Sellers,” “Country & Western,” “Fun Songs for Children,” “Jewish Favorites” and “Spanish and Latin American Favorites,” even recording versions of her hits in Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese.
This adaptability became a considerable asset once her pop hits dried up in the mid-’60s. Francis continued to be a popular concert attraction through the 1960s, her live success sustaining her as she eased into adult contemporary fare. A number of personal tragedies stalled her career in the 1970s, but by the ’90s, her life stabilized enough for her to return to the stage, playing venues in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and elsewhere until her retirement in the 2010s.
Connie Francis circa 1960.
(Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Connie Francis was born Concetta Maria Franconero on Dec. 12, 1938, in Newark, N.J. When she was 3, her father bought her an accordion and she spent her childhood learning Italian folk songs. By age 10, her parents enrolled her in local talent contests. When her father attempted to book her on the New York-based television show “Startime,” producer George Scheck only agreed because Francis played the accordion and he was “up to here in singers.” Francis remained a fixture on “Startime” through her early teens — Scheck served as her manager during these formative years — during which time she also appeared on Arthur Grodfrey’s “Talent Scouts.” Godfrey stumbled over her Italian name, suggesting she shorten it to something “easy and Irish,” thereby giving birth to her stage name.
Scheck managed to secure Francis a record contract with MGM in 1955. As she received work dubbing her singing voice for film actresses — she subbed for Tuesday Weld in 1956’s “Rock, Rock, Rock” and Freda Holloway in 1957’s “Jamboree” — MGM steadily attempted to move her from pop to rock. Nothing clicked until Francis recorded “Who’s Sorry Now?” as a favor to her father, giving the 1923 tune a romantic sway.
“Who’s Sorry Now?” caught the ear of Dick Clark, who regularly played the record on his “American Bandstand,” which had just expanded into the national market. Clark’s endorsement helped break “Who’s Sorry Now?” and sent it into the Billboard Top 10. MGM attempted to replicate its success by having Francis spruce up old chestnuts, but to no avail. The singer didn’t have another hit until she cut “Stupid Cupid,” a song co-written by Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield, a pair of young songwriters at the Brill Building who were navigating the distance separating Broadway-bound pop and rock ’n’ roll.
“Stupid Cupid” was the first of many hits she’d have with the songwriters, including the slinky ‘Fallin’” and the ballad “Frankie.” She later said, “Neil and Howie never failed to come up with a hit for me. It was a great marriage. We thought the same way.” Sedaka and Greenfield weren’t the only Brill Building songwriters to command Francis’ attention: She developed a romance with a pre-fame Bobby Darin, who was chased away by her father.
Over the next few years, Francis recorded both standards and new songs from Sedaka and Greenfield, along with material from other emerging songwriters, such as George Goehring and Edna Lewis, who wrote the lively “Lipstick on Your Collar.” Within less than two years, her popularity was such that MGM released five different Connie Francis LPs for Christmas 1959: a set of holiday tunes, a greatest-hits record, an LP dedicated to country, one dedicated to rock ’n’ roll and a set of Italian music, performed partially in the original language.
Connie Francis and Neil Sedaka in 2007.
(George Napolitano / FilmMagic / Getty Images)
With her popularity at an apex, Connie Francis made her cinematic debut in the 1960 teen comedy “Where the Boys Are,” which also featured a Sedaka and Greenfield song as its theme. Francis appeared in three quasi-sequels culminating in 1965’s “When the Boys Meet the Girls,” but she never felt entirely comfortable onscreen, preferring live performance. “Vacation” became her last Top 10 single in 1962 — the same year she published the book “For Every Young Heart: Connie Francis Talks to Teenagers.” Too young to be an oldies act, Francis spent the remainder of the 1960s chasing a few trends — in 1968, she released “Connie & Clyde — Hit Songs of the ’30s,” a rushed attempt to cash in on the popularity of Arthur Penn’s controversial hit film “Bonnie and Clyde” — while busying herself on a showbiz circuit that encompassed Vegas, television variety shows and singing for troops in Vietnam.
A comeback attempt in the early 1970s was swiftly derailed by tragedy. After appearing at Long Island’s Westbury Music Fair on Nov. 8, 1974, she was sexually assaulted in her Howard Johnson’s hotel room; the culprit was never caught. Francis sued the hotel chain; she’d later win a $2.5-million settlement that helped reshape security practices in the hospitality industry. As she was recovering from her assault, she underwent a nasal surgery that went astray, leading her to lose her voice for years; it took three subsequent surgeries before she regained her ability to sing. Francis spent much of the remainder of the ’70s battling severe depression, but once her voice returned, recordings happened on occasion, including a disco version of “Where the Boys Are” in 1978.
Connie Francis.
(ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Francis returned to the public eye in the early 1980s, first as a victims rights activist, then as a live performer. Her comeback was marred by further tragedy — the murder of her brother George, a lawyer who became a government witness after pleading guilty to bank fraud; the police indicated the killing was related to organized crime.
Francis continued to work in the wake of his death, playing shows and writing her 1984 autobiography, “Who’s Sorry Now?,” but she continued to be plagued with personal problems. She told the Village Voice’s Michael Musto, “In the ’80s I was involuntarily committed to mental institutions 17 times in nine years in five different states. I was misdiagnosed as bipolar, ADD, ADHD, and a few other letters the scientific community had never heard of.” After receiving a diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder, Francis returned to live performances in the 1990s; one of her shows was documented on “The Return Concert Live at Trump’s Castle,” a 1996 album that was her last major-label release. When asked by the Las Vegas Sun in 2004 if life was still a struggle, she responded, “Not for the past 12 years.”
Francis regularly played casinos and theaters in the 2000s as she developed a biopic of her life with Gloria Estefan, who planned to play the former teen idol. The film never materialized. In 2010, Francis became the national spokesperson for Mental Health America’s trauma campaign. By the end of the 2010s, she retired to Parkland, Fla., and published her second memoir, “Among My Souvenirs: The Real Story, Vol. 1,” in 2017.
Connie Francis married four times. Her first marriage, to Dick Kanellis in 1964, ended after three months; her second, to Izzy Marion, lasted from 1971 to 1972. She adopted a child with her third husband, Joseph Garzilli, to whom she was wed from 1973 to 1978. Her fourth marriage, to Bob Parkinson, ended in 1986 after one year.
Is it finally clocking to you? Justin Bieber is back.
The 31-year-old singer surprise-released a new album, “Swag,” Friday after teasing fans the previous morning with a series of billboards and social media posts. Bieber’s first album since 2021’s “Justice,” the new music prompted an online frenzy and revived a devoted community of Beliebers.
From his marriage to his paparazzi encounters, Bieber has faced incredible scrutiny over the last few months, which he addresses head-on in “Swag.” After listening to all 21 tracks, here are our biggest takeaways.
R&Bieber is back
Bieber has incorporated R&B elements in his music since early in his career and embraced the genre fully on the 2013 compilation album “Journals.” But even after coining R&Bieber in 2019, he’s struggled to be taken seriously.
When 2020’s “Changes” received a Grammy nomination for pop vocal album, Bieber expressed his confusion at not being nominated in the R&B category.
“To the Grammys I am flattered to be acknowledged and appreciated for my artistry. I am very meticulous and intentional about my music. With that being said I set out to make an R&B album. ‘Changes’ was and is an R&B album,” he wrote on Instagram. “It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me. I grew up admiring R&B music and wished to make a project that would embody that sound.”
“To be clear I absolutely love Pop music,” he added. “It just wasn’t what I set out to make this time around. My gratitude for feeling respected for my work remains and I am honored to be nominated either way.”
On “Swag,” Bieber shows off his R&B chops. From opening track “All I Can Take” and the seemingly SZA-inspired “Yukon” to “Daisies” (which reportedly features Mk.gee on the guitar), he takes a more intimate approach than on previous albums. But still, longtime fans will hear hints of “Journals” and “Changes” throughout the project.
In one of the album’s unconventional moments, comedian Druski comments on Bieber’s more “soulful,” R&B-infused sound.
“I said this album kinda sound, you got some soul on this album too, bro,” he says on the interlude track “Soulful.” “Your skin white but your soul Black, Justin. I promise you, man.”
He’s not ‘Walking Away’ from his marriage
Since Justin and Hailey Bieber wed in 2018, their marriage has been under a microscope. Divorce rumors circulated within months of them tying the knot, and it didn’t help that many fans were still rooting for the singer to get back with ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez.
Bieber’s love for his wife is evident throughout his catalog — from 2020’s “All Around Me” to 2021’s “Hailey.” But in case anyone is still skeptical (they are), Bieber sets the record straight on “Swag.”
On album standout “Walking Away,” Bieber gets candid about his relationship troubles but also reaffirms that he’s committed to his marriage. “You were my diamond / Gave you a ring / I made you a promise / I told you I’d change / It’s just human nature / These growing pains / And baby, I ain’t walking away,” he sings.
Elsewhere on the album, he cheers on his wife. On “Go Baby” (which lyrically echoes 2021’s “There She Go”), he sings, “That’s my baby, she’s iconic, iPhone case, lip gloss on it” — a reference to the Rhode founder’s famous lip gloss-holder phone case.
Recently, Hailey sold her skin-care company, which she launched in 2022, to e.l.f Beauty for $1 billion. There she goes indeed.
Justin Bieber addresses scrutiny over his marriage to Hailey Bieber throughout his new album, “Swag.”
(Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
The pregnancy announcement song
The Biebers’ pregnancy announcement in May 2024 was accompanied by an unknown instrumental track. Now, fans have identified it as “Devotion” featuring Dijon.
On the heartwarming track, Bieber sings, “When your lips and fingernails are all mine / I promise to take my time givin’ you devotion.”
The singer also celebrates being a father to Jack Blues Bieber, born Aug. 23, 2024, on “Dadz Love.” As rapper Lil B declares we need “less hatin’” and “more love,” Bieber repeats the track title (which sounds like “that’s love”) over and over.
There’s no cure for Bieber fever
Soon after the singer announced the surprise album, fans flocked to social media to express their excitement.
“New album – bieber fever hitting like it’s 2010,” TikTok user @jennyboba posted to the will.i.am collab “#thatPOWER.”
“Justin Bieber is back… I used to pray for times like this,” singer d4vd posted on X.
Others reactivated their old X fan accounts and created group chats to celebrate the release. “We’re creating a SWAG group chat to keep up with all the updates! Like or reply so I can add you,” @statsonbieber announced in a post that’s since received almost 6,000 likes and more than 600 comments.
Bieber fever may have been latent for years, but it’s making the rounds once again.
Bieber’s ‘Standing on Business’
Bieber’s had his fair share of viral paparazzi moments over the past year. Most notable was his encounter with photographers while leaving Malibu’s SoHo House, when he declared, “It’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business.”
The singer’s misuse of African American Vernacular English has turned into an internet meme, but Bieber’s in on the joke. He’s shared several fan edits of the encounter on his Instagram, including one that riffs off the hilarious “I’m a mommy” moment on “Love Island USA.” And on “Swag,” Bieber includes an interlude aptly titled “Standing on Business.”
“I like that you pronounce business. Usually, when I say, ‘Standin’ on business,’ I say, ‘Standin’ on bih’ ’ness,’ ” Druski says after the now-famous audio plays. “I think that’s why he ain’t leave right there. You were pronunciatin’ every word — you can’t pronunciate every word when you doin’ that.”
Bieber samples another paparazzi moment on “Butterflies”: “You just want money. Money, money, money, money, money, money, money. Get out of here, bro. Money, that’s all you want, you don’t care about human beings. All you want is money.”
The song then transitions into an honest reflection on money and fame: “When the money comes and the money goes / Only thing that’s left, uh, is the love we hold,” he sings.
To be clear, Bieber’s contentious exchanges with the paparazzi are nothing new. “[What] do your parents think about what you do?” he asked one in 2012. “You tell them, ‘Yeah, I stalk people for a living’?”
But recently, these encounters — coupled with his sometimes outlandish social media activity — have led to increased scrutiny and speculation about Bieber’s mental health. Many have even drawn comparisons to Britney Spears.
“People are always askin’ if I’m OK, and that starts to really weigh on me,” Bieber tells Druski on the track “Therapy Session.” “It starts to make me feel like I’m the one with issues and everyone else is perfect.”
Following her husband’s surprise album announcement, Hailey reposted the tracklist on her Instagram story with the caption, “Is it finally clocking to you f— losers?”
