Month: June 2022

Ken Williams, the prolific songwriter who rose from participating in his U.S. Air Force singing group in the ’60s to co-writing The Main Ingredient’s timeless 1972 R&B smash “Everybody Plays the Fool,” died June 17 in Manhasset, N.Y. He was 83.

“It has been going since ’72 and it’s still going. That’s one of the classics,” he said of “Everybody Plays the Fool,” which he co-wrote with Rudy Clark and J.R. Bailey, in a 2018 interview. “It’s mind-boggling. Every time you sit back and hear it, you say, ‘Wow.’”

Before writing hundreds of songs for Peaches & Herb, Donny Hathaway, the Four Tops and many others, Williams was in an Air Force group, the Chuck-A-Lucks, stationed in Great Falls, Mt. They were supposed to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, but a scheduling conflict forced the singers back to the base. “Talk about a hurt group,” Williams said. “But you can’t win ’em all.”

After the Air Force, Williams moved to New York City and, playing in jazz clubs, made enough music-industry connections to begin working with Peaches & Herb. He wrote and produced several of the pop duo’s hits, including “Two Little Kids,” “We’ve Got to Love One Another,” “For Your Love” and “Love Is Strange.” After that, he was hot, and wrote for the Four Tops (“Seven Lonely Nights”), Hathaway (“Love, Love, Love”) and many others.

In 2003, Alicia Keys sampled “Let Me Prove My Love to You,” Williams’ co-written 1975 hit for The Main Ingredient, on her album The Diary of Alicia Keys — which led to Williams’ first Grammy Award. “Alicia was looking through music,” he said. “I guess she wanted to do the song. I said, ‘Thank you.’”

Williams grew up in Fernandina Beach, Fl. — he received the key to the city in 2004 — and learned music in high school band class. His first public gig was a talent show in nearby Jacksonville, and a cousin had to talk Williams’ parents into letting him go. He sang Roy Hamilton‘s “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Later, he toured with the Chuck-A-Lucks and once shared a stage with the late Jackie Wilson.

But it was songwriting, not singing, that would make his career, and in 1968, he founded a publishing company called A Dish-A-Tunes LLC, which owns more than 500 songs. “Mine just kind of happen,” said Williams, who was based in Long Island, N.Y., in his later years. “Some writers can say, ‘OK, we’re going to sit down and write three or four songs a day.’ Mine don’t work that way. I’m not a robot. I’ve got to feel it and get that flow.”

Williams is survived by his wife, Mary Seymour Williams, a Broadway performer; a sister, Dorothy Jones; sons Kenny Williams Jr., Kevin D. Williams and Kalvin Williams; a daughter, Cheryl Nicholson; and a stepson, Kenny J. Seymour.

While Britney Spears is a frequent Instagram user, she also falls victim to the toxicity of watching people’s highlight reels on the platform.

“Do you know how many times I literally wanted to crawl in a hole and feel like an idiot while looking at social media ???” she wrote on Instagram on Monday (June 27). “These women with a style game and hot bodies … shit !!! The excitement of fast shooting with edits these days … In my conservatorship, each shot in my videos was like 4 years !!!”

She went on to recall her commercial with Elizabeth Arden, whom she would often team up with to launch her popular fragrances. “I did somewhat of a fast edit … so I’m well aware by saying ‘f— i’” and leaving the whole system behind … I am sure it looks like a huge fail dancing in my garage or having a huge hole in the wall from burning down my gym … but the truth is the path of doing shows in Vegas … the responsibility of so many people … well I got older and the restrictions on just being human having to call a doctor for permission to get Tylenol for a headache made me lose it … for a headache !!!”

“I was literally losing it … I still lose it … I lose my phone 3x a day, can’t find my shades when they are on top of my head … I’m human and I do my best !!!” she added, alongside a video of herself dancing to Katy Perry’s “Firework,” mimicking the dance moves from a viral TikTok edit of a fake Robert Pattinson. “Here is a post of me trying to be like Batman … it’s a hard world but we’re all fireworks as @katyperry says … I mean ask Batman if he knows !!!”

See her post below.

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While opera singers often grace the America’s Got Talent auditions in hopes of proceeding to the next round, Merissa Beddows may be the first voice-shifting opera vocalist to step foot on that stage.

The 23-year-old New Yorker appeared onstage in front of judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara, introducing herself as an opera singer who is also a student at the Curtis Institute of Music.

“Whoopee,” Cowell whispered to Vergara sarcastically, clearly not a fan of opera music. Then, in a surprising twist, Klum was handed a large die, with different names on each side. “Heidi, I’d like to play a game,” Beddows explained to the model. “This die has six of my most favorite impressions that I do on it. I’m going to begin singing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ as me, and then I’m going to ask you to give me a name.”

The music then began with Beddow’s rich vocals, before she seamlessly transitioned through flawless impressions of Ariana Grande, Stevie Nicks, Celine Dion, Snow White, Apple digital assistant Siri and even her own grandmother.

The performance was met with a standing ovation by all four judges. Watch the full audition below, and see if Beddows makes it to the next round by tuning in to America’s Got Talent on Tuesday (June 28) at 8 p.m. on NBC.

Chaka Zulu, longtime manager of Ludacris, is recovering from injuries sustained from a shooting that took place on Sunday in Atlanta.

According to an incident report filed by the Atlanta Police Department on Monday (June 27), officers were notified around 11: 35 p.m. that “multiple persons [were] shot at the location of 2293 Peachtree Rd.”

When police arrived on the scene, they “located three adult males with gunshot wounds.” One victim was pronounced dead after the victims were transported to a local hospital. The Atlanta Police Department did not disclose the identities of the victims.

The incident report continues: “Homicide investigators responded to the scene to begin investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. This investigation remains active and ongoing at this time.”

Per a tweet shared Monday from Atlanta news reporter Michael Seiden, “Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed just sent me the following statement on Chaka Zulu: We are fortunate to report that Chaka Zulu is in stable condition and recovering. The family thanks everyone for their well wishes and prayers, and asks for their privacy at this time.”

Ludacris and Zulu have been acquainted for more than two decades. On Dec. 16, 2012, the Karma’s World children’s animated series creator shared an Instagram post in which he posed alongside Zulu, writing, “Me & my manager of 14 years Chaka Zulu #loyalty.”

Under the guidance of Chaka Zulu, Ludacris has released 11 albums that landed on the Billboard 200, including two No. 1s and a total of eight top 10 LPs. Ludacris has also appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 56 times.

Bono stopped by the BBC’s Desert Discs podcast on Sunday (June 26) and shared the story of finding out he had a secret brother back in 2000.

“I do have another brother whom I love and adore that I didn’t know I didn’t have — or maybe I did,” the U2 frontman told host Lauren Laverne with a chuckle. “My father was obviously going through a lot [when Bono’s mother died], but partly his head was elsewhere ’cause his heart was elsewhere. So I think that was part of the problem I was probably pickin’ up as a kid.”

He continued: “It’s a very close family, and I could tell that my father had a deep friendship with this gorgeous woman who was part of the family. And then they had a child, and this was all kept a secret.”

Bono went on to explain that his mother never found out before her sudden death when he was just 14, but that he did get the opportunity to confront his father about the affair years later.

“I asked him, did he love my mother? And he said yes,” the Grammy winner said. “And I said, you know, ‘How could this happen?’ And he said, ‘It can.’ And that he was trying to put it right, trying to do the right thing. He wasn’t apologizing, he was just stating, ‘These are the facts.’”

Recalling the life-changing revelation that rocked his world came between the rock singer choosing the eight records he would bring with him to a desert island, including Peter Frampton‘s “Show Me the Way,” Bob Dylan‘s “Every Grain of Sand,” Emeli Sande‘s version of the classic Anglican hymn “Abide With Me” with The Fron Choir, and the live version of “Dead in the Water” performed by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Dublin’s RTÉ 2FM Studios.

The other four songs he selected later in the podcast were Inhaler’s “Ice Cream Sundae,” Angelique Kidjo’s “Agolo,” Verdi’s “La Traviata Prelude to Act 1” as performed by Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Simple Minds’ “Someone Somewhere in Summertime.”

Listen to Bono’s full Desert Discs interview here.

It was an iconic 1980s extravaganza on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Monday afternoon (June 27), when both New Kids on the Block and Salt-N-Pepa joined Kelly Clarkson to reminisce on some of their most beloved fashion choices from nearly 40 years ago.

Clarkson, dressed in a neon yellow and black patterned dress “to try and fit in,” shared a number of photos of NKOTB on the screen, in which the five-piece boy band is seen with in baggy, color-blocking outfits, complete with fluffy hair.

When asked if there are “any looks that you’d prefer to never see again,” Danny Wood owned his past looks by replying, “We look alright. Not bad.”

Salt-N-Pepa, meanwhile, called out a photo in which they were rocking their own merch. “Do you do that, though?” Clarkson responded, before revealing that she has a sweatshirt for her 2017 track, “Love So Soft,” that she loves wearing. “I have to wear it around my house, because I’m like, ‘What? I’m going to show up with my name on me?’ And maybe I will.”

“Why not?” Salt, a.k.a Cheryl James, encouraged Clarkson.

Watch the full interview clip below.

Detroit rapper and social media personality Veeze is fairly new to Billboard‘s charts, having appeared on the Billboard Hot 100’s Bubbling Under ranking for one week before the latest listings. Now, as of this week’s July 2-dated charts, he’s officially a Billboard Hot 100 hitmaker.

His collaboration with Lil Baby and 42 Dugg, “U-Digg,” debuts at No. 52 on the Hot 100 with 11.3 million U.S. streams in the June 17-23 tracking week, according to Luminate. It’s Veeze’s first visit to the Hot 100, while the track earns Lil Baby and 42 Dugg their 104th and ninth entries, respectively.

The song, released via Quality Control/Motown Capitol, concurrently arrives at No. 8 on Hot Rap Songs, No. 16 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 29 on the all-genre Streaming Songs chart.

Prior to “U-Digg,” Veeze had appeared on Billboard’s charts once. Pooh Shiesty’s “Making a Mess,” on which he’s featured with BIG30, hit No. 23 on the Hot 100’s Bubbling Under chart in February 2021.

Veeze broke through in 2019 with his mixtape Navy Wavy and in 2020 with “Law N Order,” which Pitchfork named one of the best rap songs of that year.

“U-Digg” is slated to appear on Lil Baby’s forthcoming third LP, Lamborghini Boys.

Japanese hitmaker Gen Hoshino dropped the remix version of his viral hit “Kigeki” featuring DJ Jazzy Jeff and Kaidi Tatham on Monday (June 27).

“Kigeki” (Comedy) is the ending theme of the anime series SPY×FAMILY. After being released in April, the track charted on Spotify’s Global Viral Chart (songs popular on social media around the world as measured by shares from Spotify, among other metrics). The song has also charted in the upper ranks of viral charts around the world including Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines) and the Americas (U.S., Canada, Chile, Peru) and hit No. 1 on Spotify’s Viral Songs Charts in Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The music video has racked up more than 10 million views.

“Kigeki” peaked at No. 5 on Spotify’s Viral Chart in the U.S. as well, which eventually led to the launch of the remix project after DJ Jazzy Jeff took a liking to the track. Along with Jeff, Kaidi Tatham — a leading figure in the UK jazz/house/crossover scene — and Hoshino got together to create the brand-new rendition of the globally popular tune.

Listen to “Kigeki feat. DJ Jazzy Jeff & Kaidi Tatham” below: