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Roy Ayers, the multi-hyphenate composer and artist nicknamed the ‘Godfather of Neo Soul,’ has passed away at the age of 84.
News of Ayers’ passing was confirmed on Wednesday (March 5), with a statement shared via his official Facebook page.
“It is with great sadness that the family of legendary vibraphonist, composer and producer Roy Ayers announce his passing which occurred on March 4th, 2025 in New York City after a long illness,” the post wrote. “He lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed. His family ask that you respect their privacy at this time, a celebration of Roy’s life will be forthcoming.”
Born in Los Angeles in 1940, Ayers was surrounded by music from a young age thanks to his pianist mother and trombonist father. Ayers himself took to the vibraphone at the age of five when he was gifted a pair of mallets from Lionel Hampton.
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Performing music throughout high school thanks to a church choir and local bands, Ayers launched his musical career in earnest in 1962, serving as a sideman for saxophonist Curtis Amy and cool jazz outfit The Jack Wilson Quartet, releasing his debut solo album West Coast Vibes in 1963.
By 1970, Ayers had formed his own group under the name Roy Ayers Ubiquity, and in 1973 he found wider fame after soundtracking Jack Hill’s blaxploitation film Coffy, starring Pam Grier. Roy Ayers Ubiquity experienced years of chart success in the latter half of the decade, starting with 1975’s Mystic Voyage, which hit No. 13 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and 1976’s Everybody Loves the Sunshine, which reached No. 10 on the same chart, and No. 51 on the Billboard 200.
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The title track to the latter record would become one of Ayers’ best-known compositions, going on to be sampled by artists such as Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige and Common, and covered by the likes of D’Angelo, Jamie Cullum and Robert Glasper. It also cemented his status as one of the more prominent figures in the neo-soul scene, with the likes of Pharrell Williams citing Ayers as one of his most influential artists.
While 1977’s Lifeline saw “Running Away” hitting No. 19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Ayers’ career continued as a solo artist in the coming decades, with his biggest chart success coming by way of 1980’s No Stranger to Love, which reached No. 22 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
He remained a prominent force on the charts throughout the ‘80s, and while he never scored a track on the Hot 100, 1986’s “Hot” would hit No. 20 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while his Eric Benet collaboration “When You Think Of Me” would give him his last appearance on the same chart, peaking at No. 46 in 2000.
Ayers would continue composing and performing into the 21st century, working with the likes of Erykah Badu, Tyler, the Creator, Kerri Chandler, and more. He is survived by his wife Argerie, and their two children Mtume and Ayana Ayers.
Haim is back with new music and their characteristic sense of humor. The sister trio took to Instagram on Wednesday (March 5) to post a photo in promotion of their upcoming single “Relationships.” In the snap, Danielle, Este and Alana Haim are seen walking in a parking lot, basking in the sun with huge smiles […]
Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin is working with FIFA to curate the first Super Bowl-style halftime show at the World Cup final next year. The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — to be known as New York New Jersey Stadium for the World Cup — will host the final on July 19, 2026. FIFA is also […]
Diplo is taking off on foot across the country, with the announcement that Diplo’s Run Club will happen in six U.S. cities in 2025 and 2026. Featuring a 5k run and what’s being categorized as a “mini music festival” headlined by the namesake producer, Diplo’s Run Club will take place in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, […]
Calvin Harris is getting ready to release a country-oriented song, featuring himself on vocals. Today (March 5), the Scottish superstar producer posted a 30-second clip of himself singing a new song called “Smoke the Pain Away.” In the video, occasionally filmed in soft focus, Harris sits on a chair and plays an acoustic guitar to […]
Hamilton is taking a stand.
The beloved musical was scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center for the third time in March and April of 2026, but have since canceled the run due to President Donald Trump‘s recent takeover of the performing arts institution. “Political disagreement and debate are vital expressions of democracy,” lead producer Jeffrey Seller said in a statement, shared to the official Hamilton X page. “These basic concepts of freedom are at the very heart of Hamilton. However, some institutions are sacred and should be protected from politics. The Kennedy Center is one such institution.”
He continued, “The Kennedy Center was founded over 50 years ago with a sincere bipartisan spirit. Indeed, it was founded during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower, named after President John F. Kennedy, and opened in 1971 under the administration of Richard M. Nixon. The Kennedy Center was meant to be for all Americans, a place where we could all come together in celebration of the arts. Politics have never affected the presentation of thousands of shows and the display of extraordinary visual arts.”
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However, Seller noted that, “Given the recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center.”
In the first month of his second term, Trump fired the Kennedy Center’s leadership and replaced the board of trustees with his supporters, ultimately announcing he had been “unanimously” elected the board’s chair. “At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” he wrote on his social media website at the time, according to the Associated Press. “I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
Several other famous names associated with the Kennedy Center resigned following the news, including Ben Folds, Renée Fleming and Shonda Rhimes. Like the Hamilton production, Issa Rae is also among those who cancelled shows at the Kennedy Center.
As Carrie Underwood‘s career is about to come full-circle, the onetime American Idol hopeful is looking back to where she started.
In a new episode of the reality show’s Icon to Idol series posted to YouTube on Tuesday — just days ahead of the season 23 premiere, on which Underwood will make her debut as a judge — the country star rewatches her 2005 audition and gets emotional. In the old footage, a much younger version of herself sings Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” for the O.G. panel comprised of Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul, who unanimously push her through to Hollywood.
“I have no idea how that 21-year-old Carrie was able to muster up enough guts to walk into a room and audition in front of Simon, Paula and Randy, and the world,” Underwood says after the footage ends.
“At my audition, I think I was just trying to hold in all my emotions — literally, hold them into my body,” she continues, revealing that she still has her audition number memorized: “It’s tattooed in my brain. I should actually get a tattoo of that somewhere on my body. Because I will always be 14887.”
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A few months after her tryout, Underwood would go on to win the fourth season of Idol and kickstart a long, successful career in country music, complete with four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. She’ll soon experience what it’s like to be on the other side of the Idol auditions process once the next season of the show officially premieres Sunday (March 9), taking over Katy Perry’s vacant spot on the panel next to co-judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
She’ll also be the only judge to know exactly what it’s like to go through the show’s wringer. After rewatching her audition on Idol to Icon, Underwood also looked through the two-decade-old journal she kept while she was a contestant on the show and got choked up.
“I don’t even know if I could tell her what she’s about to experience,” she says in the video, fighting back tears. “Seeing myself, 21 years old, the world ahead of you. Obviously, it’s overwhelming, but you’re gonna do fine, kid. You’re gonna be OK. Just hold on.”
Watch Underwood get emotional after rewatching her Idol audition above.
Speaking with Saint Levant feels like encountering two personalities at once. One moment, you hear Marwan Abdelhamid (his real name), his intimate voice carrying the warmth of distant days spent with his father in Gaza. He recalls them in detail, as if each melody holds a story refusing to fade. The next moment, the more widely known artistic persona of Saint Levant takes over, exuding charisma and absolute confidence in front of the camera. The seamless blend of personal memory and stagecraft, nostalgia and defiance, defines his presence.
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As Billboard Arabia’s February cover star, Saint Levant’s artistic journey has taken him from Jerusalem and the alleys of Gaza to global stages from The Olympia in Paris and Coachella and Lollapalooza. Born into several cultures and languages, his identity is a fusion of Arabic, English and French, shaped by his Palestinian-Serbian father and Palestinian-Algerian mother. His migration to France and the U.S. further enriched his artistic outlook, injecting his work with a globally intertwined essence. This diverse background enables him to merge different musical styles, from funk to traditional Eastern rhythms, making him a rising star in Arabic music.
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When discussing the Arab artists who inspired him, Saint Levant looks back to his time in Gaza. He reminisces about road trips with his father, who played music in the car, filling the air with the voices of global stars like Lenny Kravitz and Michael Jackson. “Before any singer, my father was my inspiration,” he says. Yet, diving deeper into memory, he adds with nostalgia, “But if we’re talking about Arab singers, definitely Cheb Khaled. We used to listen to his albums, especially Sahra and Khaled, with songs like “El ‘Arbi” and “Wahran”—those are incredible. To me, Cheb Khaled is the top.”
Saint Levant’s first professional track carried his real name. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he released “Jerusalem Freestyle,” a rap song about the Palestinian cause. “That was my first real track where I put my name —on Spotify, I was Marwan Abdelhamid.”
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What sets Saint Levant apart are his multicultural roots, which grant him a broad perspective on music. He seamlessly sings in three languages, English, French and Arabic, within a single song. Explaining his unique lyrical structure, he says, “From my very first song, I was using three languages because that’s just how I talk. The same goes for my music. Now, I’ve learned to separate them more. Before, I used to mix all three languages in one sentence, but I realized not everyone is like me—they can’t follow that. So now, I do one chorus in English, one in Arabic and one in French, which makes it easier. But it all happened naturally. I never planned to be a trilingual artist.”
This cultural foundation also influences the structure of his music. When asked to define his genre, Saint Levant explains that his work transcends classification. He blends 1980s funk with traditional Palestinian and Algerian sounds, making it difficult to stick a single label to it. His team frequently revisits this question, reflecting the fluid nature of his artistic identity. Instead, he describes his music as part of a “New Wave Arab” movement, blending futuristic Arab sounds.
Hussein Mardini
His latest project, the album Love Letters, is an open letter to love in all its forms, released in February to align with Valentine’s Day. Elaborating on the title, he says, “Each song is a love letter in its own way. ‘Daloona,’ which I did with Qassem Alnajjar, Shadi Borini and 47Soul, isn’t a romantic love letter. It’s a love letter to my country and my people. I brought together seven Palestinian artists in one track, so it’s a love letter to Palestine. ‘Diva’ is a love letter to the golden girl and to Algeria. ‘Wazira’ is a tribute to the minister of love and ambassador of emotion. And ‘Wayn Ma’addi Wayn’ is a Libyan song, a love letter to Libya, and also a song for broken hearts. So to me, they are all different love letters.”
Explaining the album’s structure, he says, “I divided it into two sides: Side A and Side B, because there’s a difference. Songs like ‘Daloona,’ ‘Wazira’ and ‘Carmentina,’ those are love letters from Marwan. But ‘Diva’ and the rest are love letters from Saint Levant, the persona. Of course, I feel more comfortable as Marwan, but I have to play Saint Levant.”
Speaking about his collaborations, Saint Levant highlights his long-anticipated project with Marwan Moussa. “I’ve wanted to work with Marwan Moussa for a while. Since 2020, in interviews, whenever they asked me which rappers I’d like to collaborate with, I always said Shabjdeed and Marwan Moussa. To me, those two played a big role in my journey. So finally meeting him and being in the studio together was an insane experience.”
Before this project, Saint Levant released his debut full-length album, Deira, in 2024, following the success of his 2023 EP From Gaza with Love. The latter gained widespread attention for its raw and heartfelt expression. Deira is named after the hotel his father built in Gaza in 2000 when their family moved there. The hotel bore witness to many tragedies before being completely destroyed in the recent war. Singing about “Deira” became a celebration of Palestinian daily life and Gaza’s landmarks through a deeply personal lens, reflecting Saint Levant’s lasting bond with his hometown and how that bond has endured over time, adding a profoundly personal and emotional dimension to his work.
In Deira, he worked with prominent artists from different musical landscapes to expand its impact and make it a shared experience. His collaboration with Cheb Bilal on “Let Her Go” and the standout track “Allah Yihmeeki” with global artist Kehlani, who has publicly supported the Palestinian cause, are among the highlights. The album also features tracks that capture Saint Levant’s mix of defiance and emotion, alongside romantic ballads like “Forgive Me” and “Qalbi.”
Saint Levant has secured a consistent presence on the Billboard Arabia Top 100 Artists chart, holding a spot for 46 consecutive weeks. His single “Wazira” released before “Love Letters” entered the Hot 100 last week, with more songs from the album expected to follow in the coming weeks.
This article was originally published by Billboard Arabia, written by Omar Bakbouk.
Adidas split from doing business with Ye (formerly Kanye West) in October 2022 following his antisemitic remarks, and nearly 2.5 years later, the apparel giant says it has finally sold the last of its Yeezy supply.
Adidas hosted an earnings report on Wednesday (March 5) when chief financial officer Harm Ohlmeyer revealed that the Yeezy stock has run dry. “There is not one Yeezy shoe left,” he said, per Rolling Stone. “It has all been sold and that episode is behind us.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for Adidas and Ye for further comment.
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Ye and Adidas joined forces for a lucrative partnership in 2013, as the Yeezy footwear line was reportedly worth $1.5 billion at the time of the termination.
Adidas and other companies such as Balenciaga, Gap and Def Jam cut ties with West in late 2022 following the debut of his “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and his social media rant that included a promise to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.”
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” an Adidas spokesperson said at the time. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
The split left Adidas with $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezys, which contributed to a loss of $655 million in sales for 2022’s fourth quarter. The company went on to donate a portion of Yeezy sales to the Anti-Defamation League and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.
All subsequent litigation between Ye and Adidas came to a close in October when both parties reached a settlement. The terms were not disclosed.
“Both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims,” Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said that neither side would pay the other as part of the settlement. “No one owes anybody anything anymore. So whatever was is history.”
In other Ye news, he once again caused a stir on X on Wednesday when he professed his appreciation for Drake and hopes that the 6 God will speak at his funeral when the time comes. “I SAW A VIDEO OF DRAKE WALKING THROUGH HIS HOUSE AND SHOWING HE HAD A LIBRARY OF RYHME BOOKS MAN I WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN AND REMEMBERED THIS WHEN MY JEALOUSY OVERTOOK ME,” he wrote. “I LOVE DRAKE IMA SAY THIS WHEN I DIE I NEED YOU TO SPEAK AT ME FUNERAL.”
While he’s repeatedly dissed Drake in the past and throughout the Kendrick Lamar feud, Kanye has turned a new leaf when it comes to Drizzy and showed him love. Even earlier this year, West said that you can’t ever count out a Drake comeback in the rap game.
“You can’t ever count out Steph Curry. That man might get 200 points in one song,” he said. Kanye credited Drake with adding “something to the algorithm to our frequency. He advanced us. Future advanced us and now Kendrick advanced the frequency.”
Well, here’s a surprise: The audience for the Oscar telecast on Sunday (March 2), where indie film darling Anora led with five awards, showed a slight uptick from last year, when two certified blockbusters, Oppenheimer and Barbie, went head-to-head for best picture. Updated Nielsen data released Tuesday showed that the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre […]
