OHMYGOSSIP — Ed Sheeran’s guitar has raised more than £50,000 for charity.
The 30-year-old singer donated the guitar he used as a prototype before composing his latest album ‘=’ to a primary school raffle in his hometown of Framlingham, Suffolk to help raise funds for disability charity GeeWizz.
Tickets for the raffle sold at £5 each with 10,553 sold in over 160 countries across the world, bringing in a total of£52,765.
Gina Long MBE, Founder of GeeWizz said “What a wonderful life-changing fundraiser to finish the year with, it’s the very best Christmas present GeeWizz is able to give, thanks to the generosity and kindness of Ed Sheeran, who is charity champion on every level. We are so grateful to Ed for donating this prototype guitar, a hugely collectible piece of music memorabilia. We are thrilled the raffle has raised £52,765. The money will provide a wonderful space for so many children to enjoy for many years to come. We must also send special thanks to everyone for purchasing a ticket. It really is charity giving at its best.”
The lucky winner was Kellie Myers, who said she was “thrilled” to have won as her sons are currently learning to play the guitar.
She said in a statement: “I’m so excited! I’m thrilled and delighted to have won. The guitar is beautiful. My boys have been learning to play for a couple of years now. As a family we adore Ed. He really supports our community and local charities. GeeWizz is an amazing charity and they’ve been doing a lot for the local community, so we wanted to support them and Ed.”
The ‘Shivers’ hitmaker personally donated the guitar – as well as two signed Ipswich football shirts, which were won by runners up in Canada, France and Essex – to GeeWizz to raise funds for a SMART music room and disabled access facilities at Sir Robert Hitcham’s CEVAP School.
He previously told the BBC: “There is not another guitar like this. This is the guitar that gets sent to me to check that all the other guitars are all right – it says prototype in it. To win this, it’s a £5 raffle which goes to charity. It’s going to build a music centre at a primary school near me, which I’m really excited about.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Arlo Parks wants to record a ” big and emotional” song with Thom Yorke.
The 21-year-old singer has a long list of artists she’d like to collaborate with, including the Radiohead frontman and rockers Arctic Monkeys because she loves to see musicians of different genres come together.
She said: “I’d love to do something with Billie Eilish and Frank Ocean, or Thom Yorke from Radiohead.
“I’d love to do something big and emotional with Thom, like Radiohead’s songs ‘Nude’ or ‘House of Cards’.
“Arctic Monkeys would be an interesting combo too. I love it when people from different genres collide.”
Because of lockdown, the ‘Just Go’ singer completed most of the work on her debut album ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’ – which won the prestigious Mercury Prize in September – in her childhood bedroom.
She told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: “It was definitely strange, writing in lockdown in the bedroom I was in at 17, first wanting people to listen to my music.
“But that got me back into creating music for the sake of it, not focusing on shareability.”
Eventually, Arlo and her writing partner Luca Buccellati needed more space to work on the album – but rather than head for a recording studio, they hired London apartments on Airbnb instead.
Arlo explained: “I’ve always been a little intimidated by the studio set-up.
“Going to such personal places in my songs, I want to be in a comfortable place.”
Arlo is ready to write songs wherever she is or whatever she’s doing.
She admitted: “I wrote the hook for my song ‘Just Go’ in Tesco when I was buying bagels.
“It was really busy in there that day. I had to hide myself, ducking down in the frozen food aisle while quietly singing into my phone.
“I hope no-one saw me but I was oblivious to anyone else while I was singing that melody, so they probably did and thought, ‘What the heck?’ ”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Frank Ocean has debuted new music on the Christmas edition of his radio show.
The 34-year-old singer revealed a surprise for fans on his Apple radio programme ‘Blonded Radio’ on Christmas Day (25.12.21) as he shared a nine-minute track that has been inspired by a conversation he had with the Dutch motivational speaker Wim Hof.
The untitled track was recorded by the ‘Chanel’ hitmaker back in 2020 and Frank can be heard rapping to a lengthy piano piece.
The radio show also contained excerpts of a conversation with the artist’s brother Ryan Breaux, who died in a car crash last year.
Frank wrote on Instagram: “Me and @iceman_hof had a conversation some time ago when I was in the earlier stages of grief and I remember marbling afterwards at how his energy blasted through the phone.
“So much vim in this Wim. We spoke for a while about his work, the purpose of grief and how going into the cold water changed his life.”
Ocean added: “It reminded me of conversations in the studio with players I know. Freewheeling, psychedelic, emotionally charged, intelligent and generous.
“I enjoyed listening to him, so in this edit I just let him speak uninterrupted. Me, (Cory Henry), and (Dylan Patrice) played some sounds underneath to heighten the feeling. I added some writing at the end that I did a single take of w Cory in the summer of 2020.
“I came back and added a few words and parts over the top of that take more recently. Felt like it fit the wabi sabi of Wim’s words. Merry Xmas everyone (sic)”
Frank has not release an album since ‘Blonde’ in 2016, which he was grateful to self-release following a split from record label Def Jam Recordings as he didn’t have to worry about how it performed in the charts.
He said: “With this record [‘Blonde’] in particular, I wanted to feel like I won before the record came out, and I did, and so it took a lot pressure off of me about how the record even would perform after the fact. Once the goal is met, everything else is lagniappe. It’s not essential for me to have a big debut week, it’s not essential for me to have big radio records.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — David Guetta has predicted a bright future for dance music following the pandemic.
The superstar DJ – who has worked with the likes of Nicki Minaj, Sia and the Black Eyed Peas during his career – believes that the dance music genre will be taken to new heights as clubbers party again once the global health crisis comes to an end.
David, 54, told the Evening Standard: “I think it is part of human nature to take things for granted after a while.
“I think people were taking life they way it was for granted. After Covid, parties are now actually insane. It’s a whole different thing, when we get on stage it is a madhouse.
“I think the next few years will be the best years for dance music in history.”
The producer explained that some of his biggest hits have been released in times of global unrest and believes that the public like to seek escapism through the medium of dance music.
David said: “Every time there is a big crisis, it is good for dance music. People just need to forget everything and have a good time and let go and dance.
“As a music producer, my experience shows me that the biggest hits that I have had in my career – the biggest hit was ‘I Gotta Feeling’ (with the Black Eyed Peas) and that was in the middle of the financial crisis.”
The French DJ continued: “With Covid, dance music was not hot anymore, but now it’s back so strong. I think there is a connection with people going through crisis and the need of gathering together and forgetting about everything.”
David has worked with some of music’s biggest stars but has revealed that he is desperate for a collaboration with Adele.
The ‘When Love Takes Over’ hitmaker explained: “I have a dream of making a record with Adele. It is technical but the kind of chords that she loves are exactly the same type of chords I love.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Sayaka Kanda has been found dead at age 35.
The Japanese singer – who had dubbed the singing role of Anna in Disney film ‘Frozen’ and had released two solo albums – was found dead on Saturday (18.12.2021), following a fall which reportedly took place outside the 14th floor of a 22-storey hotel she was staying at.
Her agency said in a translated statement posted to her official website: “I would like to report to everyone who has supported Sayaka Kanda so far. “Sayaka Kanda (35 years old) died suddenly at 9:40pm on December 18, 2021. We are very sorry to give such a report to all the fans who supported us and all the people who took care of us. We are still unable to accept her passing and are trying to cope with it.”
The singer and actress was starring in a production of the musical ‘My Fair Lady’ and suspicions were raised when she failed to turn up for a performance, despite having been at a rehearsal the previous day.
The statement continued: “Today, I would like to report that the family held a funeral in the form of a secret burial at the request of relatives. As a result of detailed examination by the police, it was reported that there was no incident and that the cause of death was polytrauma shock due to the fall.”
Her ‘Frozen’ co-star Takako Matsu – who voiced the role of Elsa in the Japanese dub – wrote on Twitter: “I am speechless. The time we spent together is an irreplaceable treasure for me.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Madonna is back in the studio and will be releasing new music next year.
The 63-year-old hitmaker teased her 17m Instagram followers by letting them know she was in the studio alongside Swae Lee and Lauren D’Elia amongst others as they recorded “surprises for the new year.”
She captioned her post: “So great to be back in the studio making Music again. Surprises in the New Year @swaelee @laurendelia @jozzy @burberry.”(sic).
The ‘Material Girl’ hitmaker – who has released 14 studio albums over her decades-long career – is reportedly re-recording her hit song ‘Frozen’ with the 28-year-old star after the song had a resurgence in popularity due to a viral remix on TikTok.
A source told The Sun: “Madonna has always been an artist who has adapted and moved with the times, which is why she is still proving popular after almost 40 years. The remix [of ‘Frozen’] has been used on loads of TikTok videos and she is hoping that by getting Swae Lee involved it will help the song reach new audiences.”
The song appeared originally appeared on her album ‘Ray of Light’, which has sold in excess of 16 million copies since its release in 1998.
The source added: “It has been a bit of a scramble to get things sorted but they ideally want to get it out as soon as possible.”
Swae Lee – who worked with Madge on her last studio album ‘Madame X’ – previously spoke of his “excitement” at getting to collaborate with the Queen of Pop.
He told Variety: “I was very excited when Madonna approached me. It was dope to hear that she loved MY music, you know what I’m saying?.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Gary Barlow’s fitness regime was inspired by Phil Collins.
The Take That singer has revealed how the Genesis drummer influenced his attitude to touring and keeping fit on the road after spotting him on a treadmill during filming for ‘Top of the Pops’.
He told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: “You don’t ever want to feel like you’re on the back foot on tour, I train now. I got a really good piece of advice in the early ’90s.
“Phil Collins was doing ‘Top of the Pops’ with us and on my way past his dressing room he had a treadmill in there and I asked, ‘What’s all this about?’
“He was physically training to go on tour. It intrigued me because you’re singing for two hours, moving around the stage, just the stamina of being on there not being breathless.”
Gary has been touring the UK this festive season, which proved challenging due to the pandemic as band members had to miss shows and the final night of the run had to be cancelled.
However, the 50-year-old star insisted he has no regrets and did everything he could to stay safe.
He added: “It’s such a strict operation. This isn’t government restrictions; this is touring life at the moment.
“We were all in bubbles – I am in a bubble with my driver, my assistant and my security. I can’t have dinner of visit anyone else’s dressing room.
“No one, including family, is allowed backstage. It’s the opposite of how touring is supposed to be but it’s necessary this time.”
Meanwhile, Gary – who released his first festive album ‘The Dream of Christmas’ this year – joked he’ll have the record playing at home.
He quipped: “Will I be playing my Christmas album at home this Christmas? Yes for sure. Sorry kids. I’ve got a record player and it only comes out at Christmas. We have [Frank] Sinatra and Bing Crosby and now me.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — ZZ Top have sold their publishing rights and back catalogue.
The ‘La Grange’ hitmakers – who have sold more than 50 million albums – have offloaded the assets to music company BMG and investment firm KKR to ensure their legacy will continue “for generations to come”.
ZZ Top’s manager Carl Stubner said in a statement: “We are proud to continue working with and expand our long-standing relationship with BMG.
“This new deal ensures ZZ Top’s remarkable legacy will endure for generations to come.”
BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch insisted the deal showed the company is “committed to respecting and treasuring” the band’s “artistry”.
He said: “This deal is a testament to the success, staying power and continuing musical relevance of ZZ Top, but also to the power of our partnership with KKR.
“This agreement furthers our vision of providing artists and songwriters not just a financial exit, but also a vehicle committed to respecting and treasuring their artistry.”
KKR partner Jenny Box added: “We are excited to invest in ZZ Top’s iconic music and we look forward to collaborating with BMG and ZZ Top to further amplify the reach of their catalogue.”
This news comes after ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill died aged 72 in July, just weeks after he was forced to pull out of a number of shows across the US after suffering an injury to his hip.
Bandmates Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard confirmed the news in a statement, which read: “We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX.
“We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top’.
“We will forever be connected to that ‘Blues Shuffle in C’. You will be missed greatly, amigo.”
Dusty was a founding member of the rock band, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the group in 2004.

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — The Spice Girls are “constantly” discussing a reunion tour, according to Melanie C.
The 47-year-old popstar – who shot to fame as Sporty Spice in the iconic 1990s girl group alongside Mel B, 46, Geri Halliwell, 49, Emma Bunton, 45, and former member Victoria Beckham, 47 – has teased that they could be on the road again, following on from their 2019 stadium tour.
When asked whether there could be another reunion, she said: “I really hope so. We’re talking about it. We are talking about it constantly. It was always the plan. We did these amazing stadium shows two years ago. It was the best thing we’ve ever done. The creative was so incredible. We had the best time.”
The singer-songwriter was speaking on US talk show ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ and told Howard Mandel – who was stepping in for regular host Ellen – that the group have “got to come back to the US, [because] our fans here are amazing.”
The former ‘Dancing with the Stars’ contestant previously opened up about how the bond between the five women is stronger than ever since they all became mothers, insisting that past wounds – caused by the sudden departure of Geri in 1998 – are “all healed.”
She said: “All those wounds are healed. I think becoming mums, we have this new-found respect for each other and now we’re older, I would say now, especially after 2019 – and this includes Victoria, even though she wasn’t on stage with us, she was very involved in that show – we have more love and respect for each other now than we ever have.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Tom Grennan wants to collaborate with Sir Tom Jones.
The 26-year-old singer became friends with the ‘What’s New Pussycat?’ legend Jones, 81, after it became apparent that he was a fan of the young musician.
Tom Grennan said: “I am now good friends with Tom Jones, which is very cool. The stories he’s got are crazy. Tom has seen it all, done it all and and met everybody under the sun but he’s still a really down-to-earth guy. I’d love to do a song with him, but who knows?”
His revelations come after a year which has seen the newcomer score three top ten singles, join forces with fellow pop stars Calvin Harris and Ella Henderson as well as duetting with Mimi Webb at Capital Radio’s Jingle Bell Ball but the ‘Little Bit of Love’ hitmaker – who has been nominated for two BRIT Awards – is now focussing on recording the follow-up to his chart-topping debut album.
He told The Daily Star: “I’d love to get in the studio with Mimi but right now I’m focussing on what I need to do for my next record. I love doing collaborations and there are loads of different people I’d love to work with but the time needs to be right.”
The singer – who covered ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ with Mimi Webb will take to the stage once again for BBC’s ‘Top of the Pops’ Christmas Day special.
He said: “My favourite Christmas song is ‘Fairytale of New York’. [‘Top of the Pops’] will be a lovely festive show to round things off.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Jade Thirlwall is turning her poems into songs.
The Little Mix singer is preparing to launch a solo career and revealed her new music is inspired by verses she’s already written in another format and thinks it’s something that “really works” for her now.
She said: The more writing I’m doing and the more I’ve delved into my love of poetry, I’ve noticed that now when I go into sessions I’ll come in with an existing poem that I’ve written and I’ll be like, ‘I want to turn this into a song’.
“I feel like that really works for me now and has made me a better writer.”
And Jade thinks her boyfriend, Jordan Stephens, has made her a better writer as she learned she doesn’t have to keep her poems and her songwriting separate.
She is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper as saying: “When I wrote poetry, I always think it’s something I keep to myself and I never really present it to the world – I’m so conditioned to be a songwriter that writes pop music.
“But since being with Jordan we have two very different styles of writing. He doesn’t need to rhyme, he just writes how he feels.
“Since being with him, he’s helped teach me that it doesn’t always have to be an obvious structure when it comes to writing.”
Jade feels more “freedom” around her writing now than ever before.
She said: “I’ve definitely felt more of a freedom with the writing than I did before.
“I’m more confident in myself as well.
“One thing I’ve learned from therapy is just because you wake and have a bad morning doesn’t mean it has to be a bad day, there’s still time to turn it around.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Jack Antonoff says Taylor Swift’s 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’ teaches artists to “don’t f****** listen” to the industry.
The Bleachers musician – who produced the extended edition of the track, which features on Taylor’s re-recording of her 2012 album ‘Red’ – has opened up on the track’s success and the lessons to be learned as it broke the record for the longest Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper.
He told Relix: “You’ve gotta love those moments and hold them close. My initial response was to call out everyone in the industry who told me that no one has attention spans anymore.
“By the way, the lesson from that isn’t to go make a 10 minute song, the lesson from that is don’t f****** listen to what the industry says. I mean, it happens time and time again.
“Can you imagine 20 years ago, someone telling you that trap was gonna be the biggest genre at some point? It’s insane.”
Jack – who is nominated for Album of the Year at the 2022 Grammy Awards alongside Taylor for ‘Evermore’ – also had high praise for songwriter Self Esteem.
Discussing the musician – whose real name is Rebecca Lucy Taylor – he said: “There’s a thing I love that’s happening in the UK right now which has these sort of Lou Reed-esque spoken word verses with super melodic choruses that all these bands are doing.
“There’s a specific artist named Self Esteem, who I love. So it’s coming hard and that’s not something you would’ve expected X amount of years ago. Industry predictions on art is an absurd concept and it takes all the joy out of everything.
“The whole excitement of art and music and live performance and record making is we have no f****** clue what’s gonna happen next.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Ed Sheeran’s touring profits plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 30-year-old pop star was thought to be pocketing £192,000 a day before the pandemic hit – which totalled to £70 million across the run of his tour – but in recent times his company has earned just under £600.
A source said: “Ed’s accounts for his company Hayagotatourboi Touring make for funny reading. He has absolutely raked it in from his tours and in the past three years the firm has made more than £250million. Ed made so much cash it worked out at him earning £192,000 a day.”
The source said that the drop in earnings equates to just £1.62 per day, a stark contrast to his ‘Divide’ tour, which became the highest-grossing of all time with 8.9 million tickets sold.
Speaking to The Sun’s Bizarre column, the insider added: ” Ed made so much cash it worked out at him earning £192,000 a day. But now he’s taken a break he’s living a little more like us, with a daily income of £1.62.”
The ‘Bad Habits’ hitmaker stepped back from touring to work on his latest album ‘Equals’, which is also thought to be partly responsible for the drop in earning – but with Ed set to hit the road again in 2022, it is predicted that the tour earn “more cash than ever before.”
The source said: “Taking a break from music in 2019 and working on ‘Equals’ is the reason the cash flow in the account has dropped down. Ed will go back out on the road next year with his ‘+ – = ÷ x’ tour, and given it will have been three years since his last tour, it’s likely he’ll make even more cash than before.

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ has set a new chart record.
The festive pop song – which was written by Mariah back in 1994 and has charted every year since – has hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the third time and in doing so has become the first song in history of the chart to have three separate runs in the top spot.
Mariah said: “Yes! I can’t even know what to say. The kids just woke me up with confetti, [Bryan] Tanaka[boyfriend }brought in two mimosas – one for me, one for him. This type of news – it’s never like ‘Oh my God, I’m so bored of this news’ – to have another Billboard Hot 100 [number one] with this song that means so much to me – I can’t even, I literally don’t know what to say.”
The 52-year-old popstar went on to thank listeners around the world for their support over the years, and gave special mention to the Lambily – the name she gives to her superfans, a combination of the words “lamb” and “family.”
Speaking on a voice note posted to Twitter, she gushed: “I’m just so thankful. I really am thankful – especially the Lambily because you guys never ever gave up on me, with this song especially. I think people supported it through good times, bad times, whatever. I love you. Merry Christmas. Cheers you guys. I cannot thank you enough. ”
The song was originally written for Mariah’s fourth studio album ‘Merry Christmas’ and reached #12 on the charts , hitting the top 10 for the first time in 2017, before hitting the top spot in 2019 and 2020.

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Bros are set to record their first album in over 30 years.
The ‘When Will I Be Famous’ hitmakers – comprising twins Matt and Luke Goss and previously Craig Logan – haven’t released a record since 1991’s ‘Changing Faces’ but are currently in talks about recording new music, which they hope to release next year.
And Matt confirmed he and his brother are also considering making another documentary following the popularity of 2018’s ‘Bros: After The Screaming Stops’.
He said: “In 2022 we’ll address making a new record and possibly entertaining some of the offers we’ve had to make another documentary.
“There’s an energy when we’re together.”
The 53-year-old singer credited their previous documentary for bringing him and Luke closer together as he and the drummer were able to resolve their issues.
He told Sorted magazine: “It was like therapy in front of the world.
“I didn’t realise how angry my brother was about me being the frontman.
“But it was like the never-ending apology. I couldn’t apologise any more. It was 27 years ago.”
Matt recently admitted the coronavirus pandemic had given him time to reflect and he realised he had been “abusing his body” and mind with non-stop “entertaining”.
He said: “I think without question, I think we’ve all been forced into a place of self-reflection. And I think it’s been great at times and it’s also been extremely troubling at times, because we crack on with our lives at such a pace that we do not look left and right sometimes at the things that are distressing to us and disturbing to us, and doing four or five shows a week here for 10 years, you know, in America, and it got to a point where I felt like I was abusing my body and my life.
“It was just about entertainment and making sure people felt transported, and I really wasn’t really addressing some of the things within my own life, and, I realised that this issue of mental health and everything became very, very deeply important to me.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — The final night of the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour was cancelled on Sunday (19.12.21).
The festive concert in Florida was due to feature the likes of Sean Paul, Megan Thee Stallion, and the Black Eyed Peas, but organisers felt the need to pull the plug in order to “minimise any potential risks” due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a tweet, organisers iHeartRadio explained: “Due to the increased transmission of the new Covid-19 variant and to further mimimize any potential risks, as a precautionary measure and for the safety of our staff, talent and guests, we have made the decision to cancel tonight’s iHeartRadio Y100 Jingle Ball.”
The cancellation of the finale night on the tour comes after various difficulties experienced by the company and its stars regarding COVID-19-related issues throughout its 10-night run.
Rap star Meghan Thee Stallion, 26, previously pulled out of the show in Atlanta last week because, despite testing negative for COVID-19, she was “not feeling well”.
She told fans on Instagram: “I’m extremely disappointed to let my hotties down. Hoping to feel better tomorrow and plan to take another test as an extra safety measure.”
Prior to that, ‘Woman’ hitmaker Doja Cat was forced to drop out of the tour entirely after testing positive for COVID-19.
She wrote on Twitter: “As most of you heard earlier, a few members on my team tested positive for COVID-19 and I had to cancel a couple of my upcoming performances as a safety precaution. Unfortunately, I’m sad to share that I just tested positive and will no longer be able to perform on the rest of the iHeart Radio Jingle Ball Tour”.

Source: IconInsider.com