Simply the best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83

LOS ANGELES — Rock legend Tina Turner, the growling songstress who electrified audiences for decades, died Wednesday at the age of 83 after a long illness.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner," read a statement on the official Instagram page of the eight-time Grammy winner.

"With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow.

"Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family.

"Tina, we will miss you dearly."

Publicist Bernard Doherty confirmed the news, which he said had robbed the world of "a music legend and a role model."

Doherty said Turner died after a long illness at her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland.

He gave no details of the illness.

Turner first encountered fame more than six decades ago with husband Ike Turner.

The pair recorded a number of hits together throughout the 1960s and 1970s, in a musical partnership in which she was clearly the more talented.

After their troubled and violent marriage collapsed -- she fled in 1976 mid-tour -- Tina Turner forged a wildly successful solo career.

The following decades gifted the world instantly recognizable hits like "What's Love Got to Do With It?", "Private Dancer" and the anthemic "The Best".

Her "We Don't Need Another Hero" featured on the soundtrack to "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," the 1985 post-apocalyptic thriller starring Mel Gibson.

A decade later she oozed her way through "Goldeneye," joining the select ranks of artists who have sung on the James Bond franchise.

Reaction to her death was swift and came from across the spectrum.

'QUEEN OF ROCK AND SOUL'

Fellow singer Gloria Gaynor took to Instagram to hail Turner's mold-breaking career.

"I am so, so very sad to hear of the passing of Tina Turner, the iconic, legend who paved the way for so many women in rock music, black and white," she wrote.

"She did with great dignity and success what very few would even have dared to do in her time and in that genre of music.

"She will be sorely missed."

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger lamented the loss of "an enormously talented performer and singer.

"She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her."

Bandmate Ronnie Wood called her "the Queen Of Rock And Soul and a dear friend."

Basketball legend Magic Johnson posted a picture with the songstress, whom he said was "one of my favorite artists of all time".

"I've seen her many many times and hands down, she gave one of the best live shows I've ever seen. She always gave you your moneys worth," he tweeted.

Singer Ciara tweeted: "Heaven has gained an angel. Rest in paradise Tina Turner. Thank you for the inspiration you gave us all."

Actor Forest Whitaker praise Turner's "voice, her dancing, and her spirit."

But he also hailed her ability to bounce back, in a nod to the difficulty of escaping her troubled marriage to Ike.

"As we honor her, let's also reflect on her resilience, and think about all the greatness that can follow our darkest days. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us, Tina."

English crooner Rick Astley tweeted "What a woman, what a life, what a voice! One of the GREATS!" while NASA declared that Turner's "legacy will forever live among the stars."

Agence France-Presse

NFL: Legendary Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown dies at 87

LOS ANGELES -- Jim Brown, the legendary Cleveland Browns running back who was one of the NFL's most prolific players and a civil rights icon has died at the age of 87, his family and the team confirmed on Friday.

Brown's wife, Monique, had announced on Instagram that Brown "passed peacefully" on Thursday night at their home in Los Angeles.

"To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star," said the post, which did not disclose a precise cause of death. "To our family he was a loving and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken..."

Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslem issued a statement calling Brown "a true icon of not just the Cleveland Browns but the entire NFL.

"He was certainly the greatest to ever put on a Browns uniform and arguably one of the greatest players in NFL history," the Haslems said.

Brown, who was named the greatest football player ever by the Sporting News in 2002, was taken in the first round of the 1957 draft and played for the Browns from 1957-65.

He led the NFL in rushing eight of those seasons and finished his career with 12,312 rushing yards and 5.2 carries per game.

He was named to the Pro Bowl every season he played and led Cleveland to the NFL championship game three times, winning the title in 1964.

The three-time Most Valuable Player ran for at least 100 yards in 58 of his 118 regular-season games, and never missed a game.

He rushed for more than 1,000 yards in seven seasons. That included 1,527 yards in one 12-game season and 1,863 in a 14-game season.

James Nathaniel Brown was born in St. Simons Island, Georgia, in 1936 and was a high school star in football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse and athletics.

He continued to excel as a multi-sport athlete at Syracuse University, his football career gaining steam when he totaled 986 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in his senior year.

The Browns selected Brown with the sixth overall pick in the 1957 draft and he made an immediate impact in coach Paul Brown's offense.

He led the league his rookie season with 942 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, including a 237-yard performance in his ninth game that stood as the most in a single game in league history for 14 years.

He was named MVP that season and remains the only rookie to capture the award.

"(Coach Paul Brown) liked me," Brown said in the NFL Network's "A Football Life." "He said to me, 'You are my running back. You are my running back.' It was the sweetest words I've ever heard as a professional football player."

Brown was still at his peak when he retired at the age of 30, shocking the sports world.

He had led the league in rushing and touchdowns in his final season, but announced his retirement while on the set filming "The Dirty Dozen" in London.

- A hand in the struggle -

A day after retiring, Brown told Sports Illustrated pro football writer Tex Maule: "I could have played longer. I wanted to play this year, but it was impossible.

"We're running behind schedule shooting here, for one thing. I want more mental stimulation than I would have playing football. I want to have a hand in the struggle that is taking place in our country, and I have the opportunity to do that now. I might not a year from now."

A year later, Brown founded the Negro Industrial and Economic Union, an organization that would later be known as the Black Economic Union.

The goal of the organization was to guide black entrepreneurs, and the organization became the nucleus of Brown's efforts to make the country a more equal place for African Americans.

On June 4, 1967, Brown participated in the Cleveland Summit, joining with other prominent Black athletes at the Black Economic Union's offices in Cleveland to interview boxer Muhammad Ali and decide whether to support his stand against being inducted into the US armed forces during the Vietnam War.

The group decided to back Ali, the decision becoming a potent symbol of Black unity during the Civil Rights movement in America.

"During his nine-year NFL career, which coincided with the civil rights movement here at home, he became a forerunner and role model for athletes being involved in social initiatives outside their sport. He inspired fellow athletes to make a difference, especially in the communities in which they lived," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

But Brown's life was not without controversy. He had multiple run-ins with the law, starting with an assault charge in 1968 that was dismissed when the alleged victim declined to cooperate with prosecutors.

Brown was charged but acquitted in a road-rage case in 1970 and was convicted of misdemeanor battery in 1975 for assaulting a golf partner. In 1985 he faced a rape charge that was later dropped.

In 1999, Brown was arrested for allegedly threatening his wife and vandalizing her car with a shovel. He served three months in jail after he was convicted of vandalism after declining to complete a domestic violence counseling program, pay a fine and donate to a battered women’s shelter.

Agence France-Presse

Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, dead at 84

Canadian singer and performer Gordon Lightfoot, who rose to international fame as a folk music star in the 1960s and '70s, died on Monday. He was 84.

"Gordon Lightfoot passed away this evening in a Toronto hospital at 7:30 pm (2330 GMT)," a post on his official Facebook page read, as obituaries started pouring in from the Canadian press.

The immediate cause of death was not made public. "More info to come," read the post.

Lightfoot, born in Ontario, made his performing debut in 1943, at the age of five, singing "I'm A Little Teapot" at a local church Sunday school, according to his website.

He later found himself immersed in the Canadian and American folk scene, amid contemporaries like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.

While he is known as a folk and folk-pop star of the late 20th century, Lightfoot's popularity -- and continued songwriting -- meant he was touring internationally until just last month.

In April, the singer canceled his 2023 tour dates, citing unspecified health issues.

Lightfoot's songs -- dealing with everything from a failed marriage to the beauty of the Canadian countryside -- were covered by artists including Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead.

The singer, known for hits such as "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," "Early Morning Rain," and "If You Could Read My Mind," was often hailed as a modern-day poet in his native Canada.

Dylan once called Lightfoot one of his favorite artists, saying "I can't think of any (songs) I don't like."

Lightfoot, on the other hand, was more reserved about his talents, once telling Canadian paper The Globe and Mail: "Sometimes I wonder why I'm being called an icon, because I really don't think of myself that way."

But his modesty was to no avail.

"He is our poet laureate. He is our iconic singer-songwriter," Geddy Lee, the lead singer of Rock band Rush, told a 2019 documentary about Lightfoot.

Lightfoot "was hailed as Canada's folk troubadour for his soulful music and stirring lyrics," broadcaster CBC wrote in its obituary.

Lightfoot is survived by his third wife, Kim Hasse, according to music publication Billboard.

Agence France-Presse

Angelo Badalamenti, composer of 'Twin Peaks' theme, dead at 85: US media

WASHINGTON, United States - Angelo Badalamenti, the Grammy-winning composer who wrote the haunting theme music for David Lynch's TV series "Twin Peaks," has died aged 85, US media reported.

Badalamenti died at his family home in New Jersey, according to the New York Times, which cited his niece. 

The Hollywood Reporter also carried the news, saying his niece had told the publication he died of natural causes. 

Born on March 22, 1937 in New York City, Badalamenti grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from the Manhattan School of Music, according to movie database IMDB. 

The classically trained musician first worked with Lynch on the 1986 mystery-noir "Blue Velvet," starting a partnership that would see them collaborate on "Wild at Heart," "Lost Highway" and "The Straight Story."

Badalamenti also made forays in front of the camera, including playing an espresso-obsessed gangster in Lynch's "Mulholland Drive."

But he was perhaps best known for writing the theme to Lynch's mesmerising, groundbreaking TV series "Twin Peaks."

Badalamenti later won a Grammy for his score. 

He also found fame as a songwriter, working with Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, David Bowie and Paul McCartney.

He described how he and Lynch came up with the opening music to "Twin Peaks" in an interview with Spirit and Flesh magazine.

"The notes just came out," he said.

"David was stunned, as was I. The hair on his arms was up and he had tears in his eyes: 'I see Twin Peaks. I got it.' I said, 'I'll go home and work on it.' 'Work on it?! Don’t change a note.' And of course I never did."

Agence France Presse

'Bat Out of Hell' singer Meat Loaf dies aged 74

LONDON -- Meat Loaf, the U.S. rock star who rose to global fame with his debut "Bat Out of Hell" album, has died at the age of 74.

The singer and actor, otherwise known as Michael Lee Aday, had a career spanning six decades, and sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

His hits included the near 10-minute long title track from "Bat of Hell," "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" from the same album, and "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" from 1993 album "Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell."

Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1947, Meat Loaf found early success on the stage in the 1970s, performing in the Broadway musicals "Hair" and "The Rocky Horror Show."

He switched focus to rock music around 1972 and started collaborating with Jim Steinman on a debut album which showcased his powerful voice and established his leather-clad, motorcycle-riding rock persona.

"Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes; When the night is over, like a bat out of hell, I'll be gone, gone, gone," Meat Loaf sang in "Bat of Hell."

Later on he appeared in films including "Rocky Horror Show," "Wayne's World" and "Fight Club".

A statement posted on his own Facebook page said: "From his heart to your souls ... don't ever stop rocking!"

"Our hearts are broken to announce that the incomparable Meat Loaf passed away tonight with his wife Deborah by his side."

-reuters

Beatles photographer Astrid Kirchherr dies aged 81

BERLIN — German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, whose striking images of The Beatles in the early 1960s helped turn them into cultural icons, has died aged 81, German media reported Saturday.

Kirchherr passed away in Hamburg following a serious illness, those close to her told several media outlets, including the weekly Die Zeit and NDR public television.


She met and befriended The Beatles in 1960 during a tour in Hamburg before they achieved worldwide fame.

At the time, the group was made up of five members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, as well as bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best, who was later replaced by Ringo Starr.

Sutcliffe fell in love with Kirchherr and stayed on in Hamburg but died from a brain hemorrhage in 1962.

Kirchherr took numerous photos of the group, showing them both as rebels and romantics. She later lived mainly off the reproduction rights of the pictures, NDR said.


She was also behind the group’s so-called mop-top hairstyles of the early 1960s.

The photographer later kept in touch with The Beatles, Harrison in particular.

Agence France-Presse

BREAKING: Eddie Garcia passes away

MANILA, Philippines — Veteran actor Eddie Garcia passed away Thursday afternoon at the Makati Medical Center. He was 90 years old.

A radio report, citing a medical bulletin issued by the doctors at the Makati Medical Center, said Garcia, Eduardo Garcia in real life, died at 4:55 p.m.

“We join the entire Filipino community in praying for the soul of Mr. Garcia and his dearly beloved family and friends. We extend our deepest condolences to the Garcia family,” the medical bulletin read.

On June 8, Garcia was hospitalized after he suffered neck fracture while filming for an upcoming teleserye.

The family first issued a statement saying that the actor had a heart attack on set.

The actor’s family has agreed to a “do not resuscitate” (DNR) instruction in case Garcia stops breathing.

Garcia, a screen legend, was among the pillars of the Philippine showbiz industry.

Recently, the actor was awarded Best Actor at the 42nd Gawad Urian Awards for his role in the Cinemalaya film “ML.”

He was survived by his longtime partner, Lilibeth Romero. He also has a daughter, Lisa Ortega. who lives in San Diego, California. (Editor: Jonathan P. Vicente)

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Presidents, lawmakers honor McCain’s life of service

WASHINGTON — Presidents and lawmakers from both parties honored Sen. John McCain’s decades of service to his country in the hours after his death Saturday. President Donald Trump, who once criticized McCain for being taken prisoner during the Vietnam War, said his “deepest sympathies and respect” went out to McCain’s family.

McCain, 81, died at his ranch in Arizona after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. On Saturday night, a black hearse accompanied by a police motorcade could be seen driving away from the ranch near Sedona where the Republican senator spent his final weeks.


Trump’s brief Twitter statement said “hearts and prayers” are with the McCain family. First lady Melania Trump thanked McCain for his service to the nation, which included more than five years as a prisoner of war and six terms in the Senate.

Trump and McCain were at odds until the end. The president, who mocked McCain’s capture in Vietnam during the 2016 campaign, jabbed at the senator even after his illness for voting against Republican efforts to roll back President Barack Obama’s health care law. Earlier this summer, McCain issued a blistering statement criticizing Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Former presidents, including those who blocked McCain’s own White House ambitions, offered emotional tributes.

Obama, who triumphed over McCain in the 2008 election, said that despite their differences, McCain and he shared a “fidelity to something higher – the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed.”

Obama said the two political opponents “saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world.”

Former President George W. Bush, who defeated McCain for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, called his one-time political rival “man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order” and a “friend whom I’ll deeply miss.”

Bush was among those expected to speak at McCain’s funeral.

McCain was the son and grandson of admirals and followed them to the U.S. Naval Academy. A pilot, he was shot down over Vietnam and held as a prisoner of war for more than five years. He went on to win a seat in the House and in 1986, the Senate, where he served for the rest of his life.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called McCain a “fascinating personality.”

“He would occasionally be in a bad place with various members, including myself, and when this would blow over it was like nothing ever happened,” McConnell said Saturday after a GOP state dinner in Lexington, Kentucky. “He also had a wicked sense of humor and it made every tense moment come out better.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who developed a friendship with McCain while they served together in the Senate, said the Arizona lawmaker will “cast a long shadow.”

“The spirit that drove him was never extinguished: we are here to commit ourselves to something bigger than ourselves,” Biden said.


McCain is expected to be remembered in Arizona and Washington before being buried, likely this week, at the Naval Academy Cemetery on a peninsula overlooking the Severn River.

Other plans were taking shape, too. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that he wants to name the Senate building that housed McCain’s suite of offices after the Arizona senator, who served as chairman of the Commerce Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“As you go through life, you meet few truly great people. John McCain was one of them,” Schumer said. “Maybe most of all, he was a truth teller – never afraid to speak truth to power in an era where that has become all too rare.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Tom Petty, heartland rocker with dark streak, dead at 66

NEW YORK—Tom Petty, the heartland rocker whose classic melodies but dark storytelling created a string of hits over four decades, died Monday of cardiac arrest, his family said. He was 66.

His family confirmed that Petty passed away Monday evening surrounded by loved ones after a confusing day in which several media outlets reported and then retracted premature news of his death.

“On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty,” a family statement said.

Petty early Monday suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, just a week after he closed his career in a triumphant fashion.

The rocker had played three sold-out shows at the iconic Hollywood Bowl to wrap up a tour celebrating 40 years of his band the Heartbreakers.

He closed the encore with one of his earliest and best-known songs — “American Girl,” which tells of an ambitious girl “raised on promises” now contemplating suicide, set to guitar harmonies from the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll.

The song was one of many by Petty about struggling to overcome long odds. “I Won’t Back Down,” perhaps his best-known song, took on a second life as a US patriotic anthem after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The singer and guitarist — recognizable for his shoulder-length blonde hair — delivered his vocals in short punches that let on an underlying anger, such as on “You Don’t Know How It Feels.”

The rocker’s characters — small-town Americans full of aspirations but running into a wall of setbacks — reflected the hardscrabble early life of Petty.

His grandfather was a logger from Georgia rumored to have fled south to Florida after axing a man to death in an argument. Petty was born in Gainesville, the university town in northern Florida, to a belligerently drunk father who sold wholesale tobacco and candy.

Petty once recalled that his father, intoxicated and unimpressed by his son’s passion for music, once smashed up the boy’s record collection.

The future rocker said he told him, “Dad, if you’ll just leave me alone, I’ll be a millionaire by the time I’m 35.” It was a prediction that proved prophetic.

Rock as early escape

Petty, speaking in 2015 to Men’s Journal, credited his mother Kitty with saving him by making sure “to show us there was more to life than rednecks.”

“She read to me a lot. And she liked music: She had a record player and would play Nat King Cole and the ‘West Side Story’ soundtrack. I think of her every time I hear those songs,” he said.

But he remained consumed by inner rage.

“Any authority I didn’t agree with could just make me go crazy,” he said of his early life haunted by his father.

He struggled with depression most of his life and formed an addiction to heroin, although later in his life his only vice was marijuana and he instead embraced transcendental meditation to calm himself.

Petty embraced the country influences of the South, especially when he crafted the 1985 concept album “Southern Accents.”

Touring the United States, he flew a Confederate flag on stage — a decision he later regretted, telling Rolling Stone that “people just need to think about how it looks to a black person” as he likened the
controversial symbol to a Nazi swastika.

In a speech in February as he was presented a lifetime award at the Grammys, Petty said he owed a debt to African Americans such as Chuck Berry whom he credited as the creators of rock ‘n’ roll.

But like so many music fans of his generation, he discovered rock ‘n’ roll via Britain when he saw The Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964.

“I had my eyes opened like so many others and I joined the conspiracy to put black music on the popular white radio,” Petty said.

Campaigner for artists

Petty in the late 1980s joined one of The Beatles, George Harrison, in a supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys, that also featured Bob Dylan. The project was short-lived after the death of another member, Roy Orbison.

Fresh from the glory of the Wilburys, Petty — long backed by the Heartbreakers — in 1989 released his first solo album, “Full Moon Fever,” which featured the wistful “Free Fallin'” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream” as well as “I Won’t Back Down.”

Other major hits by Petty included “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” written with David A. Stewart of New Wave duo The Eurythmics. The track’s playful video, themed around “Alice in Wonderland,” cemented Petty’s reputation as a favorite among stoners.

The three-time Grammy winner was steadfast on artistic control and had a reputation for battling with the music industry — most memorably with the 1981 album “Hard Promises” after he was angered by his label’s plan to put the store price higher than usual.

More recently, English singer Sam Smith agreed to credit Petty as a songwriter on his worldwide hit ballad “Stay With Me” due to the similarities — coincidental, by all accounts — in the chorus to worldwide hit “I Won’t Back Down.”

Agence France-Presse

Rocker Chris Cornell dead at 52—representative

Rocker Chris Cornell, who gained fame as the lead singer of the bands Soundgarden and later Audioslave, has died at age 52, according to his representative.

Cornell, who had been on tour, died Wednesday night in Detroit, Brian Bumbery said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Bumbery called the death “sudden and unexpected” and said his wife and family were shocked by it. The statement said the family would be working closely with the medical examiner to determine the cause and asked for privacy.




As the lead singer for Seattle-based Soundgarden, Cornell helped architect the 90’s grunge rock movement. He was also a Grammy award-winning, Golden Globe nominated singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer and lyricist.

In addition, Cornell became involved in philanthropy and started the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation to support children facing challenges, including homelessness, poverty, abuse and neglect.

Associated Press

Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker dead at 65

LOS ANGELES—American artist Gilbert Baker, who created the rainbow flag recognized around the world as a symbol of gay pride, has died, close friend and rights activist Cleve Jones announced Friday.

Baker, who was 65, came up with the iconic eight-colored banner for San Francisco’s 1978 gay freedom day, a precursor to the modern pride festival, having taught himself to sew in his 20s.

The former soldier was heavily involved within the San Francisco LGBT rights movement and was a close friend of murdered activist and politician Harvey Milk.

“I am heartbroken. My dearest friend in the world is gone. Gilbert gave the world the Rainbow Flag; he gave me 40 years of love and friendship,” Jones posted on Facebook.

“I can’t stop crying. I love you forever Gilbert Baker.”

He didn’t reveal the cause, but the San Francisco Chronicle said the artist had died in his sleep at his home in New York late Thursday.

Jones urged San Francisco friends to gather for an evening vigil under a rainbow flag in the city’s Castro district.

The news prompted an outpouring of tributes and expressions of grief on social media.

“Rainbows weep. Our world is far less colorful without you, my love,” tweeted filmmaker Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for the screenplay to the 2008 biopic “Milk,” starring Sean Penn as the gay politician.

Baker, born in Kansas in 1951, served for two years in the army, according to his website, and was stationed him in San Francisco just as the gay liberation movement was gathering momentum.

“I just talked to Gilbert last month. He gave us his best and the rainbow flag will be an even more treasured keepsake of our history,” posted Robert York, a senior director at healthcare lobby group the National Quality Forum.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net