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25 Jan 2023

Víctor Manuelle to Receive Premio Lo Nuestro’s 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award

In recognition of Víctor Manuelle’s impact and influence in Latin music, the 35th annual Premio Lo Nuestro will honor the salsa musician with the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award on Feb. 23.  

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“The fact that I have been able to make a living from what I am so passionate about is very meaningful to me,” the Puerto Rican superstar tells Billboard Español. “It’s very exciting to know that the award ceremony, which is a very important platform, decided to give me this recognition. It fills me with pride, and it is a sign of the effort of what I have wanted to represent in the salsa genre throughout my entire career.”    

“I still can’t believe that we are already celebrating 30 years of my career! When I grew up in my hometown of Isabela I just wanted to sing,” he muses. To his loyal fan base, he is endearingly known as El Sonero de la Juventud (or the Singer of Youths).

Widely recognized as a true sonero since his 1993 debut Justo A Tiempo, the Latin music icon helped globalize salsa romántica while boldly continuing to update the tropical formula for more modern times, as exemplified on his latest album. On his 19th conceptual release, 2022’s Lado A Lado B, Manuelle embraces his two trademark shades: his traditional salsa mastery and his tropical-charged fusions, where he embraces contemporary currents.

“For me it was important to capture in this album what have been my two facets throughout my career. Taking the risk of creating new sounds without abandoning the salsa genre, is one of the main reasons why I have been able to stay current and has allowed me to reach new generations,” he explains of the set, which includes features with urbano luminaries Miky Woodz and Farina, but also salsa traditionalists such as Marvin Santiago and La India. 

Four-time winner of Premio Lo Nuestro awards, this year the celebrated musician is nominated in three tropical music categories: artist of the year, album of the year (Lado A Lado B) and collaboration of the year for “Vamo’ A Ver Si El Gas Pela,” featuring Miky Woodz and Marvin Santiago. 

Manuelle began to make music in the mid ‘80s, but it wasn’t until the turn of the decade when his star rose to global prominence. In the ’90s, he helped usher in the salsa romántica boom — which first exploded in New York City — along with his genre peers Marc Anthony and La India. During this era, the Puerto Rican singer released timeless hits such as “Inconfundible,” “Pero Dile,” and “Que Habría Sido De Mi.” These and dozens more that followed solidified the salsa star as a Billboard chart-topping mainstay, to date.  

From the 19 albums he has released so far, the salsa hitmaker managed to top the Tropical Albums chart 12 times — his seminal album Travesía (2004) cozied up in the top slot for nine consecutive weeks, and Decición Unámine (2006) remained there for seven. He also peaked the Tropical Airplay chart 29 times at No. 1. 

Aside from tropical music-charting success, he entered the all-genre Billboard 200 10 times, and landed at the top of Latin Airplay three times, and twice in Hot Latin Songs for “Tengo Ganas” and “Si Tú Me Besas.” His 2022 release also appeared in both Tropical Albums and Tropical Airplay. 

“Without a doubt, the greatest lessons this profession has taught me is that perseverance, effort and discipline always work,” he says of the secret to his lasting star power. “That combined with each individual’s talent makes way for success to come sooner or later. Anyone can apply this to his or her life, not just people from the industry.”

As per tradition for the Lifetime Achievement honorees, fans can anticipate seeing some of today’s biggest stars serenade Manuelle with his own hits at Premio Lo Nuestro. “The fact that artists from other genres and generations want to form part of [my] musical career is one of the greatest blessings that this profession can offer me,” he says. 

The complete list of Premio Lo Nuestro nominations was announced Monday (Jan. 23), consisting of 192 artist nominees of diverse musical backgrounds across 39 categories. The ceremony will air live on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. ET via Univision; it will simulcast on Galavisión in the U.S. and Canal 5 in Mexico. 

For 35 years, Premio Lo Nuestro has highlighted some of the best in Latin music. Previous Lifetime Achievement honorees include Gloria Trevi, Daddy Yankee, Intocable, Ricky Martin and Maná. The first prize was bestowed to Celia Cruz in 1990. 

Víctor Manuelle plans to continue spreading the salsa gospel, and is plotting to tour the U.S. and Latin America this year. 

25 Jan 2023

Paris Hilton Welcomes Her First Baby With Husband Carter Reum

A new heir to Hilton Hotel fortune and reality TV stardom has been born. On Tuesday (Jan. 24), Paris Hilton announced that she and husband Carter Reum are now parents, having welcomed a baby boy together via surrogate.

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The 41-year-old “Stars Are Blind” singer broke the news to her millions of followers by posting a photo to Instagram, a close-up of her son’s tiny hand holding on to her thumb. “You are already loved beyond words,” she captioned the post.

Hilton confirmed to People that her baby boy had arrived via surrogate, less than two months after she revealed to the same publication that she and Reum had started IVF treatment toward the beginning of the pandemic. The couple got married in November 2021.

“It’s always been my dream to be a mother and I’m so happy that Carter and I found each other,” Hilton told People. “We are so excited to start our family together and our hearts are exploding with love for our baby boy.”

The part-time DJ’s parenthood news comes a month after she took cues from Taylor Swift and dropped a re-recorded version of her 2006 hit single “Stars Are Blind,” which she dubbed “Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version).” “This song has always meant so much to me, it felt right to close out 2022 with a refreshed version,” she wrote about the song on Instagram.

“Thank you to everyone who has always supported my music career,” she continued. “I literally have the best fans on the planet and have loved seeing all of your posts about the new song. P.S. More new music to come in the new year.”

See Paris Hilton’s baby announcement below:

25 Jan 2023

Kansas City Prosecutor Drops Assault Charges Against Tool Drummer Danny Carey

Prosecutors in Kansas City, Missouri dismissed misdemeanor assault charges against Tool drummer Danny Carey on Monday (Jan. 23) in an incident that took place at the city’s airport in Dec. 2021. According to Fox 4, a spokesperson for the court did not give a reason for the dismissal of the charges, telling the outlet that the case was a “closed confidential matter” as of this week.

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Carey was arrested for misdemeanor assault at the Kansas City International Airport on Dec. 12, 2021 after allegedly getting into an altercation. Airport law enforcement received notice that evening of a “disturbance between two males at an airport terminal,” which resulted in Carey being arrested for misdemeanor assault and transported to a nearby Kansas City Police Dept. station.

The other man, whose name was not released at the time, was not taken into custody. Fox 4 reported that according to a ticket issued by officers, Carey intentionally inflicted injury when he allegedly yelled a homophobic slur at the unnamed victim while jabbing him in the chest with two fingers. TMZ video from the evening showed Carey being handcuffed at the airport and talking to officers outside the terminal, where he could be heard asking, “Who did I assault?”

At press time a spokesperson for Tool had not returned a request for comment from Billboard on the dismissal of the charges; a spokesperson for the Kansas City Prosecutor’s office had also not returned a request for comment at press time.

According to reports at the time, the Kansas-bred drummer performed in the stands with the school band during the University of Kansas’ basketball game against the University of Missouri the day before his arrest.

25 Jan 2023

Sam Smith & Kim Petras, Bad Bunny, Lizzo & More Set to Perform at 2023 Grammy Awards

On Sunday, Feb. 5, six days before they are set to perform at the Brit Awards, Kim Petras and Sam Smith, as well as Lizzo will perform at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Other Grammy performers announced on Wednesday (Jan. 25) are Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs and Steve Lacy. Additional performers will be announced in the coming days.

All of these are artists are nominated in Big Four categories at the Grammys except for Combs, and Smith and Petras. “Unholy” by Smith and Petras would almost certainly have been nominated for record and song of the year, but it was released just eight days before eligibility closed on Sept. 30, 2022 – a bit too late to fully register with Grammy voters. As it is, it is nominated for best pop duo/group performance.

Combs received three nominations: best country duo/group performance (“Outrunnin’ Your Memory”), best country song (“Doin’ This”) and best country album (Growin’ Up).

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards will air live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and will be hosted for the third year in a row by Emmy-winning comedian Trevor Noah. The show will broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS, and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Raj Kapoor serves as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins as executive producers. Phil Heyes joins for the first time as director, Eric Cook as co-executive producer with Tabitha Dumo, Tiana Gandelman, Patrick Menton, and David Wild as producers.

Prior to the telecast, the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony will be broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater at 12:30 p.m. PT and will be streamed live on live.Grammy.com.

25 Jan 2023

A Complete Guide to Every Super Bowl 2023 Party & Event

Super Bowl LVII is taking over Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 12, 2023, and as usual for the iconic football event, the happenings leading up to the big game are just as fun as the match itself.

Super Bowl 2023 will be held at the State Farm Stadium with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Rihanna is lined up to perform at the halftime show.

Leading up to the game, countless music stars will be attending and performing at incredible events and parties, many of which are open to the public or have tickets available.

See below for every Super Bowl party and event this year.

25 Jan 2023

Reservoir Signs Publishing Deal With Indian Rappers and Producer on DIVINE’s Gully Gang

Reservoir Media said on Thursday it signed publishing deals for the catalogs and future works of Indian rappers MC Altaf and D’Evil and the producer Stunnah Beatz.

The deals are the result of a 2020 joint venture launched by Reservoir and Gully Gang, the label and entertainment group founded by Indian hip-hop star DIVINE. Established to sign and develop talented new songwriters in India, Altaf, D’Evil and Stunnah Beatz’s songs have racked up more than half a billion streams, including on collaborations with DIVINE like “Mirchi” and “Disco Rap” and Gunehgar, an album released late last year.

Investments by music companies based in the United States in artists, publishers and distributors based in Asia and other emerging markets has been growing at a rapid clip in recent years, with the trend expected to grow in 2023 particularly in the area of catalog investment. Luminate cited the opportunities in emerging markets, driven by the continued growth of streaming subscriptions there, as one of the main reasons investor appetite for song catalogs is growing.

India is the 17th-ranked music market globally, and it generated revenues of $219 million in 2021, up 20% from 2020, with streaming revenue jumping 87%, according to IFPI’s Global Music Report.

Founded in 2007, Reservoir has made investing in emerging markets a key prong of its diversification strategy. With its partner PopArabia, an independent music company headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, Reservoir acquired stakes in the Egyptian label 100COPIES, the Lebanese label and music publisher Voice of Beirut and signed publishing deals with Egypt’s Mohamed Ramadan, Lebanon’s Zeid Hamdan and Moroccan hip-hop star 7liwa.

Reservoir Founder and Chief Executive Officer Golnar Khosrowshahi said in a statement, “We’re proud to be ushering in these deals, which demonstrate Reservoir’s steadfast commitment to our ongoing emerging markets strategy. As we invest in these local acts and share them with global audiences, we are well-positioned to not only tap into their potential growth, but also help facilitate the flow of culture from East to West.”

Spek, Reservoir’s executive vice president of international and emerging markets and founder of PopArabia, described MC Altaf, D’Evil, and Stunnah Beatz as three artists “at the heart of some of India’s biggest rap music today.”

Chaitanya Kataria, Gully Gang chief executive officer, said he was “excited that (MC Altaf, D’Evil and Stunnah Beatz) will gain access to new global opportunities with support from Spek and Reservoir.”

25 Jan 2023

No Biggie, Pharrell Just Hanging Out at Elysee Palace with French President Emmanuel Macron

Pharrell Williams has collaborated with some of the most iconic artists of our time. But on Tuesday (Jan. 24) Skateboard P kicked it up a notch when he visited Élysée Palace for a hang with French President Emmanuel Macron for a discussion about internet safety and human rights.

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“A safe place for all, secure and open, peaceful and democratic, which respects human rights,” Macron tweeted along with a picture of the two men posing in black suits in a gilded palace room with the reflection of a giant chandelier in the window behind them. “That’s what the Internet must be and remain, especially for our children. It’s one of our battles. Artists, join us, and speak out! Thank you @Pharrell for your commitment.”

Pharrell retweeted the image and added a prayer hands emoji in comments. RTL reported that a spokesperson for Macron said [in comments translated from French] that the pair discussed “the digital world,” adding that they “got on really well. Pharrell Williams is very involved in the issues of the harmful effects of the internet and [smart] telephones on young people… It’s good because he [Pharrell] really reaches a big audience and he is very fine in his analysis.” Combating school and online bullying is a cause championed by Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron.

Pharrell is slated to appear at Wednesday night’s (Jan. 24) Yellow Pieces gala, a musical charity event that raises funds for the Hospital Foundation, a charity chaired by the country’s First Lady; Blackpink and French artists Vianni, Angel, Mika and Pascal Obispo are also slated to perform at the show at the Zenith Paris.

Check out the snap of Macron and Pharrell below.

25 Jan 2023

Marilyn Manson & Esme Bianco Reach Settlement to End Her Sexual Assault Lawsuit

Actress Esme Bianco and Marilyn Manson have reached a settlement to end her sexual assault lawsuit against the rocker, one of several such cases accusing Manson of abuse.

In a filing made Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court, attorneys for both sides alerted the judge that they had “reached an agreement in principle” to “resolve” the case. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Jay D. Ellwanger, lawyer for Bianco, confirmed to Billboard that the actress had “agreed to resolve her claims against Brian Warner and Marilyn Manson Records, Inc. in order to move on with her life and career.” An attorney for Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bianco was one of several women to accuse Manson of sexual abuse or other wrongdoing over the past two years.

Evan Rachel Wood, who began publicly dating Manson in 2007 when she was 19 and he was 39, accused him in a February 2021 Instagram post of “grooming me when I was a teenager” before he “horrifically abused me for years.” Those allegations were followed by separate lawsuits from model Ashley Morgan Smithline, former assistant Ashley Walters, and an unnamed Jane Doe accuser.

Bianco added her own lawsuit in April 2021, claiming Warner had, among other shocking allegations, “used drugs, force and threats of force to coerce sexual acts” and had “locked Ms. Bianco in the bedroom, tied her to a prayer kneeler and beat her with a whip that Mr. Warner said was utilized by the Nazis.”

Manson strongly denied the allegations, filing a motion to dismiss the case in which he accused Bianco of “cynically and dishonestly seeking to monetize and exploit the #MeToo movement.” He’s gone so far as to file a defamation lawsuit against Wood, claiming she had “secretly recruited, coordinated, and pressured prospective accusers to emerge simultaneously” with false allegations against the rocker. Wood denies the allegations and the case is pending.

Bianco’s lawsuit is the second against Manson to end in recent weeks. On Jan. 3, a federal judge dismissed Smithline’s case, citing the fact that she failed to retain a new lawyer after splitting with her old legal team last fall.

25 Jan 2023

Chrissy Teigen Shares Sweet Close-Up of Newborn Esti’s Face: ‘Out Here Lookin’ Like a Baby’

Chrissy Teigen posted the first close-up look at her and John Legend‘s newborn daughter, Esti, on Tuesday (Jan. 24), and, as you might expect, it was freakin’ adorable. In the snap, baby Esti Maxine Stephens is sleeping with her eyes shut tight, with her right hand folded under her chin and left hand resting against the side of her head.

“Look at u out here lookin’ like a baby,” Teigen captioned the snap in which Esti lays in her arms, while husband Legend added, “My little Esti.” The couple recently welcomed Esti to their brood, joining daughter Luna Simone, 6 and son Miles Theodore, 4; in an earlier snap, the two older siblings took their turn holding the baby and staring at her face with sweet smiles.

Legend and Teigen’s famous friends couldn’t resist weighing in on the Insta-perfect moment, with Kaley Cuoco commenting, “Oh em gee what a beaut!!!!!,” Olivia Munn writing, “Welcome earthside little one” and Kris Jenner adding, “Soooo beautiful just like her mama.” They also got hearts, blessings and love from Jesse Tyler, Mandy Moore, Camila McConaughey, Gabrielle Union-Wade, Andy Cohen, Garcelle Beauvais and Jenna Dewan, among others.

Earlier this month, the couple shared the news of the baby’s birth, with Teigen announcing in an Instagram post, “The house is bustling and our family could not be happier ?. Daddy sheds nightly tears of joy seeing Luna and Miles so full of love, and I am learning you still need diapers with a c section!? We are in bliss. Thank you for all the love and well wishes – we feel it all! X”

Check out the picture below.

25 Jan 2023

London Gallery to Show Unseen Paul McCartney Photos From Peak Beatles Era

A trove of previously unseen photos taken by Paul McCartney as The Beatles shot to global stardom will go on display in London this year.

The National Portrait Gallery announced Wednesday (Jan. 25) that the exhibition, titled “Eyes of the Storm,” will help mark the gallery’s reopening in June after a three-year refurbishment. Gallery director Nicholas Cullinan said McCartney, approached the gallery in 2020 saying he had rediscovered a batch of photos from late 1963 and early 1964 that he had thought were lost.

Cullinan said they were an “extraordinary” set of images of “such a famous and important cultural moment … taken by someone who was really, as the exhibition title alludes, in the eye of the storm.”

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“Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of The Storm” opens June 28 and runs to Oct. 1. The gallery is due to reopen June 22. Other exhibitions slated for this year include a retrospective of the 20th-century English photographer Yevonde, a show of drawings by David Hockney and an exhibition of portraits by Black artists from the U.S. and Britain.

In December, McCartney released a sprawling box set, The 7″ Singles Box, which collected more than 50 years of singles in a wood crate that tells the story of his post-Beatles career from 1970 to 2021. The 3,000 copy limited-edition set ropes in some of his biggest solo and Wings singles, including “Band on the Run” and “Maybe I’m Amazed,” as well as goofy ephemera like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae,” for a total of 65 re-creations of previous 7-inch releases and 15 new ones.