Month: July 2022

Travis Barker gave an update on his health after being hospitalized in Los Angeles earlier this week.

The producer and Blink-182 drummer told fans that he’s feeling “much better” after facing “life-threatening pancreatitis.”

Barker uploaded a note on Instagram Stories on Saturday (July 2) to share details about how he developed pancreatitis following what seemed to be a routine endoscopy on Monday (June 27).

“I went in for an endoscopy Monday feeling great,” Barker wrote. “But after dinner, I developed excruciating pain and have been hospitalized ever since.”

He said, “During the endoscopy, I had a very small polyp removed right in a very sensitive area, usually handled by specialists, which unfortunately damaged a critical pancreatic drainage tube. This resulted in severe life threatening pancreatitis.”

“I am so very very grateful that with intensive treatment I am currently much better,” wrote Barker.

Wife Kourtney Kardashian also shared an update Saturday afternoon via Instagram Stories: “Oh what a scary and emotional week it has been. Our health is everything and sometimes we take for granted how quickly it can change … I am so grateful to God for healing my husband, for all of your prayers for him and for us, for the overwhelming outpouring of love and support. I am so touched and so appreciative. I am so thankful to our specialists, doctors, and nurses at Cedars Sinai for taking such wonderful care of my husband and me during our stay.”

The rocker was spotted being taken into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on a stretcher, with Kardashian following behind him, on Tuesday. That morning, he had tweeted “God save me” — though it was unclear if the tweet was related to the medical situation.

Barker’s daughter Alabama and stepdaughter Atiana both addressed fans with messages on Instagram Stories on Wednesday.

“Thank you guys for all the prayers and love, I appreciate you & love all of you,” Alabama wrote, while Atiana posted, “Thank you for the outpouring of love and prayers sent our way at this time. It is heard, felt and appreciated. Xx.”

His ex-wife Shanna Moakler released a statement on Friday that said, “Thank you to everyone who has reached out with concern to my ex and father of my children. I know he is in great hands and surrounded by loving support and the best medical teams available and his beautiful wife Kourtney.”

Halsey revealed that they’ve suffered three miscarriages in the past, one of which required a medically necessary abortion so that the singer didn’t “risk going into sepsis.”

In a personal response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade penned for Vogue, Halsey shared details about their experience with abortion, and whether eventually giving birth to a child changed her opinion on the right to abortion. The essay was published on Friday (July 1).

“Many people have asked me if, since carrying a child to term after years of struggling to do so, I have reconsidered my stance on abortion,” wrote Halsey, who welcomed her first child, Ender, in July 2021. “The answer is firmly no. In fact, I have never felt more strongly about it. My abortion saved my life and gave way for my son to have his. Every person deserves the right to choose when, if, and how they have this dangerous and life-altering experience. I will hold my son in one arm, and fight with all my might with the other.”

In the essay, Halsey explained how having an abortion saved her life.

“I miscarried three times before my 24th birthday,” the pop star said. “It seemed a cruel irony that I could get pregnant with ease but struggled to maintain a pregnancy. One of my miscarriages required ‘aftercare,’ a gentle way of saying that I would need an abortion, because my body could not terminate the pregnancy completely on its own and I would risk going into sepsis without medical intervention. During this procedure, I cried. I was afraid for myself and I was helpless. I was desperate to end the pregnancy that was threatening my life.”

She noted that her previous experience led her to rewriting her will during the third trimester of her pregnancy with Ender.

“I was prepared for the worst,” Halsey wrote. “I gave detailed instructions regarding the donation of my organs should I die or be declared brain-dead, meaning if my heart beat on but my brain wasn’t functioning, the state would have permission to cut into my warm and still flush flesh and take my organs to save other lives. How funny that while my own heart would amount to nothing more than a series of involuntary movements on an operating table, a beating heart in my womb could mean I couldn’t consent to saving my own life.”

Halsey has been been leading “My body, my choice” chants at their concerts to voice opposition to the June 24 reversal of Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that had previously guaranteed one’s federal rights to abortion. They reacted to backlash from anti-choice conservatives on Twitter last week, writing: “Downside of doing outdoor venues: no door to hit them on the way out.”

In another tweet, she added, “The ‘people pay to see you sing not hear your views’ argument is so dumb. No, you paid to see me use a stage as a form of expression in the manner that I choose. Sorry you lack the critical thinking to realize that the rhetorical power of music doesn’t always serve your escapism.”

“Honored to have my audience,” Halsey also tweeted. “Proud they cultivate a space where emotion and action meet. Love doing what I do. And expect me to always tell the truth when I get up there. Show must go on.”

Read Halsey’s essay for Vogue in full here.

Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman’s long search came to an end Friday (July 1) when he was reunited in Tokyo with a cherished guitar 45 years after it was stolen from a Toronto hotel.

“My girlfriend is right there,” said Bachman, 78, a former member of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, as the Gretsch guitar on which he wrote “American Woman” and other hits was handed to him by a Japanese musician who had bought it at a Tokyo store in 2014 without knowing its history.

He said all guitars are special, but the orange 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins he bought as a teenager was exceptional. He worked at multiple jobs to save money to buy the $400 guitar, his first purchase of an expensive instrument, he said.

“It made my whole life. It was my hammer and a tool to write songs, make music and make money,” Bachman told the Associated Press before the handover at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.

When it was stolen from the Toronto hotel in 1977, “I cried for three days. It was part of me,” he said. “It was very, very upsetting.” He ended up buying about 300 guitars in unsuccessful attempts to replace it, he said.

Bachman talked frequently about the missing guitar in interviews and on radio shows, and more recently on YouTube programs on which he performed with his son, Tal.

In 2020, a Canadian fan who heard the story of the guitar launched an internet search and successfully located it in Tokyo within two weeks.

The fan, William Long, used a small spot in the guitar’s wood grain visible in old images as a “digital fingerprint” and tracked the instrument down to a vintage guitar shop site in Tokyo. A further search led him to a YouTube video showing the instrument being played by a Japanese musician, Takeshi, in December 2019.

After receiving the news from Long, Bachman contacted Takeshi immediately, and recognized the guitar in a video chat they had.

“I was crying,” Bachman said. “The guitar almost spoke to me over the video, like, ’Hey, I’m coming home.’”

Takeshi agreed to give it to Bachman in exchange for one that was very similar. So Bachman searched and found the guitar’s “sister” — made during the same week, with a close serial number, no modifications and no repairs.

“To find my guitar again was a miracle, to find its twin sister was another miracle,” Bachman said.

Takeshi said he decided to return the guitar because as a guitar player he could imagine how much Bachman missed it.

“I owned it and played it for only eight years and I’m extremely sad to return it now. But he has been feeling sad for 46 years, and it’s time for someone else to be sad,” Takeshi said. “I felt sorry for this legend.”

He said he felt good after returning the guitar to its rightful owner, but it may take time for him to love his new Gretsch as much as that one.

“It’s a guitar, and it has a soul. So even if it has the same shape, I cannot say for sure if I can love a replacement the same way I loved this one,” he said. “There is no doubt Randy thought of me and searched hard (for the replacement), so I will gradually develop an affection for it, but it may take time.”

Bachman said he and Takeshi are now like brothers who own guitars that are “twin sisters.” They are participating in a documentary about the guitar on which they plan to perform a song, “Lost and Found,” together.

They also performed several songs at Friday’s handover, including “American Woman.”

Bachman said he will lock the guitar up in his home so he will never lose it again. “I am never ever going to take it out of my house again,” he said.

Actress and singer Lindsay Lohan is celebrating her 36th birthday on Saturday (July 2) as a married woman.

The Freaky Friday star said she was the “luckiest woman in the world” in an Instagram post Friday that pictured her with financier Bader Shammas, who had been her fiance.

“You found me and knew that I wanted to find happiness and grace, all at the same time,” Lohan wrote in the post. “I am stunned that you are my husband. My life and my everything. Every woman should feel like this everyday.”

The couple had announced their engagement last November. People and Entertainment Tonight confirmed there had been a wedding, but no details were offered.

While still single a few years ago, Lohan told Entertainment Tonight that she was looking for “a smart businessman” and someone who doesn’t like the spotlight. Shammas’ Instagram account is private.

The Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen actress and sometimes singer has worked through some sobriety issues in recent years, and has recently filmed a romantic comedy that is due to be released on Netflix later this year.

See Lohan’s post on Instagram here.

Adele made the safety of her fans a priority during her triumphant return to the stage at London’s BST Hyde Park Festival on Friday (July 1).

During the headlining set, her first public concert in five years, the 34-year-old British songstress stopped numerous times to assist distressed fans in the approximately 65,000-person crowd.

“Stop, stop, stop,” Adele said abruptly after delivering the opening line of “Skyfall,” pointing to a section of the crowd. “Do you need security’s help? Right in the middle there, can you see where they’re all waving? Can you see over there, can you get over there? They’re coming, they’re coming. Everyone move out of the way, please.”

After receiving cheers from festival-goers and seeing that everything was under control, the hitmaker continued performing the theme song from the 2012 James Bond film. Watch a video of “Skyfall” performance here.

Adele’s two-hour set also included such hits as “Hello,” “Rumour Has It” and “Rolling In the Deep,” as well as the live debut of her 30 album track “Oh My God.”

“My God, I’m back at home,” the multi-Grammy Award winner told the sold-out audience. “It’s so strange to be in front of a crowd again. I get so nervous before each show but I love being up here.”

The BST Hyde Park Festival marked Adele’s first public concert since a pair of shows London’s Wembley Stadium in 2017. She last performed at the Brit Awards in February, and appeared at televised events leading up to the November 2021 release of her fourth studio album, 30.

The superstar singer was scheduled to begin her highly anticipated Las Vegas residency in January, but she postponed the 24-show run at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace because of production delays caused by COVID-19.

Adele is scheduled to perform again at London’s Hyde Park on Saturday night.

Guns N’ Roses was joined by surprise guest Carrie Underwood during the band’s concert at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday (July 1).

The country music superstar, a longtime GNR fan, stepped onstage midway through the show to assist the legendary rockers with “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and she later returned during the encore for “Paradise City.”

Underwood was visiting the United Kingdom to promote her ninth studio album, Denim & Rhinestones, which arrives on June 10. The upcoming set follows her 2020 holiday release, My Gift, and her 2021 gospel project, My Savior.

“Ladies and gentlemen, from Nashville, Tennessee, Miss Carrie Underwood,” GNR frontman Axl Rose told the crowd when introducing Underwood, who is known to cover the band during her own live performances.

This wasn’t Underwood’s first time sharing the stage with Rose. The country singer was joined earlier this year by the rock icon during her headlining set at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. After duetting on “Sweet Child O’ Mine and “Paradise City,” Underwood told festival-goers that it was “the best night of my life.”

Underwood also spoke about the unforgettable onstage experience with Rose during a recent interview with Billboard.

“Axl was my pinnacle moment, the one that I’ve been waiting almost my whole life for,” the singer-songwriter said. “I had previously asked him about other things, if he would be interested in singing, and it never quite panned out. So I like to think I just wore him down. I wrote him a letter — an email — and explained why I really wanted to sing with him. I was like, ‘You are such an influence on me and my music. I think it would be wonderful and we would burn the stage down together.’ And he finally said yes. At the end of my letter, I was like, ‘If you can’t do it this time, I understand, but I will keep asking.’”

In late April, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” ruled Billboard‘s Hot Hard Rock Songs for the first time after being featured in the trailer for the Chris Hemsworth-starring superhero movie Thor: Love and Thunder. The classic track — from GNR’s debut album, Appetite for Destruction — topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1988, becoming the group’s first of six top 10s. “Paradise City” peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100 in 1989.

Guns N’ Roses will perform a second concert at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday. Watch Underwood’s performances with GNR here and here.

On what would have Jenni Rivera‘s 53rd birthday, Billboard honors La Diva de la Banda by remembering her five top hits on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart. With more than 30 entries on the tally, fourteen of those hit the top 10 and including her No. 1 hit “De Contrabando” and “Inolvidable.”

When she passed, in December 2012, she was at the peak of her career and on the verge of a major crossover across with a residency in Las Vegas in the works and her very own television series. Still, the regional Mexican icon may no longer be here but her presence on and off the Billboard charts looms larger than life.

Today (July 2), we remember Rivera and her chart milestones. Below, check out Rivera’s top five hits on Billboard‘s Regional Mexican Airplay chart.

“De Contrabando,” peaked at No. 1 (chart dated June 3, 2006)

This slowed down banda track sings about a forbidden love. In it, Rivera asks the guy she’s fallen for to agree to be with her and she’ll keep it on the down low. “I know you’re not available but we can be discreet and we won’t see each other often,” she proposes.

“Resulta,” peaked at No. 2 (chart dated July 19, 2014)

The evoking lyrics to this melancholic tune sing of a heartbreak. In it, an emotional Rivera confronts the guy who cheated on her but she knows one day, he’ll regret it.

“Ahora Que Estuviste Lejos,” peaked at No. 3 (chart dated Jan. 26, 2008)

Rivera’s take on “Ahora Que Estuviste Lejos” became a feminist anthem. After spending time alone, she realized that she doesn’t need a man. “During the time you were gone, I realized that the only thing that unites us is fear of being alone. You don’t love me and I don’t love you, so let’s end it,” she sings.

“Culpable O Inocente,” peaked at No. 4 (chart dated Dec. 6, 2008)

In this track, Rivera declares her unconditional love to a man who she doesn’t know if he’s guilty or innocent of the rumors she’s been hearing about him. “My love, they say you’re fake and that sooner or later, I will see the truth. They say you’re not capable of loving but they won’t convince me,” Rivera sings expressing her loyalty.

“Inolvidable,” peaked at No. 5 (chart dated June 14, 2008)

Rivera has one clear message for all those who broke her heart: [I’m] unforgettable, baby.

From career milestones and new music releases to major announcements and more, Billboard editors highlight the latest news buzz in Latin music every week. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week.

4 of the Top 5 tracks on YouTube’s Global Top Songs Chart Are in Spanish

According to the most recent YouTube Music Charts and trends recap, Puerto Rican hitmaker Bad Bunny takes the first two spots with his chart-topping hits “Titi Me Preguntó” and “Me Porto Bonito,” featuring Chencho Corleono. Both are part of his latest record-breaking album Un Verano Sin Ti. Coming in at No. 3 is Shakira and Rauw Alejandro‘s “Te Felicito.” In fourth place is Joji‘s “Glimpse of Us,” and Karol G rounds out the top five with her anthem “Provenza.”

On the Billboard charts, “Te Felicito” is currently No. 11 on the Hot Latin Songs tally.

Maluma’s new clothing line

Maluma has released his second clothing collection via Macy’s, which includes matching sets for men and women. Royalty by Maluma, as the collection is called, is all about self-expression and embracing his extraordinary sense of style, says the Colombian hitmaker who adds that he wanted to make sure the collection’s style and colors — which feature prints in bright mojito green, scuba blue and more — were inclusive to everyone and enhanced creativity and imagination.

“Fashion for me is a way of self-expression,” Maluma told Billboard, describing his vision in fashion. “Depending on colors and style, it can describe your mood or enhance it positively. Fashion is like music; creativity and imagination.”

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Andrés Cepeda is hitting the road

Colombian singer-songwriter Andrés Cepeda is hitting the road this fall with his La Ruta Púrpura Tour. The trek, a celebration of his more than 20 years as an artist, will be a trip down memory lane as the Latin Grammy-winning musician sings “some of the most important songs of his career that have turned him into one of the most important pop artists of his country,” according to a press release.

The Ruta Púrpura stint is set to kick off Oct. 6 at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and will make stops in major cities such as Atlanta, Miami and Washington, D.C. Cepeda will wrap up the tour at Boston’s Berklee College of Music in November. See the dates here.

Antonio Banderas’ new venture

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Antonio Banderas have announced a new production company, Amigos Para Siempre (APS), that will produce Spanish-language theater, musicals and live entertainment shows. According to the announcement, the forthcoming projects will be licensed, produced and developed by APS for Spanish-speaking markets around the globe, including the United States.

“I had the great privilege to work closely with Andrew during the recording and shooting of his celebrated musical Evita in 1996, but it was when I saw Jesus Christ Superstar back in the early 70’s that I became attached to the music, the theatre and the fabulous talent of Andrew Lloyd Webber,” Banderas, who played Che in Lloyd Webber’s Evita, said. “It wouldn’t be wrong to say that I became an actor because of the enormous influence and the strong impression I experienced when I saw Andrew’s musicals. To have the opportunity to work with one of the most respected and admired composers of all times, offering his amazing works for Spanish speaking audiences, is one of the highlights of my career in show business.”

Best Latin songs and albums of 2022 (so far) … 

Billboard Latin editors have unveiled their top Latin songs and albums of the year so far. Read all about the 22 songs made the list here. As for the albums, check out the 22 that were included.