Louis Armstrong Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

If they’re good, music documentaries can serve as a time machine — an immersive experience that transports the viewer back to the magic of another era, where the soundtrack envelops you, and an artist who has left this mortal coil returns for 90 minutes or so to validate their superstar status — a mic drop straight from the heavens. If the films are very good, they leave even hardcore fans learning a thing or two about their beloved icons. And if the films are very, very good, they completely upend public perception and, by extension, rewrite an artist’s legacy in a meaningful way.

EXCLUSIVE: Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is partnering, through his Seth MacFarlane Foundation, with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation to fund the first-ever, curated restoration of historically significant animated shorts from the 1920s to 1940s.

Murtada Elfadl Juxtaposing the story of the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba with a musical tour of jazzman Louis Armstrong and with the expansion of the United Nations after the independence of many African countries in the 1960s might be tall order. Trickier still would be telling this complex story, full of many characters and plot swerves, in a nonlinear manner while filling the screen with written clues providing context like a bibliography of an academic thesis.

Following well-received runs in New Orleans and Chicago, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical starring Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart (Disney’s Aladdin) as the jazz icon will debut on Broadway in fall 2024.

Coronation Street star Sean Wilson chose a very different career path after turning his back on acting and exiting the ITV soap in 2005. Sean, 58, played Martin Platt in the soap from 1985 until 2005, and was involved in some big storylines including his marriage to Gail Platt (Helen Worth) and becoming dad to David Platt (Jack P. Shepherd).

Ben Croll Premiering out of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Competition, the impressionistic essay film “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” refracts the plot against Patrice Lumumba through a kaleidoscopic lens. Cutting between historical footage of the UN General Assembly and home movies shot in liberation-era Congo, weaving in a diverse set of perspectives, and setting the pace to a non-stop rhythm of bebop, rumba and classic jazz, director Johan Grimonprez evokes the euphoria of post-colonial possibility and the heartbreak of the dashed hopes and violent reprisals that would ensue.

Former Love Island star Rachel Finni, who appeared on the show in 2021, took to Instagram to share the exciting news that she is expecting her first baby in a sweet video. Rachel became famous on Love Island as the third bombshell, where she had to choose between Brad McClelland or Oliver 'Chuggs' Wallis. After choosing Brad, their romance didn't take off and she ended up going on a date with Teddy Soares.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Maurice Hines, an actor, dancer and choreographer who starred with his brother Gregory Hines in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club,” died Friday. He was 80.

Can there be any lingering doubt about who truly holds the Queen of Christmas crown? Brenda Lee has returned to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” 65 years after the song’s 1958 recording.

Brenda Lee is making history!

Nick Cave has paid tribute to his close friend and “the greatest songwriter of his generation”, Shane MacGowan of The Pogues.Upon the news of MacGowan’s passing on November 30 at the age of 65, Cave paid tribute to his friend by sharing that the singer was “A true friend and the greatest songwriter of his generation. A very sad day.”Cave and MacGowan had been friends for a long time. Back in 1992, the two shared a cover version together of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ and have gone on to perform together as well.In an interview with The Irish Times in celebration of MacGowan’s 60th birthday, Cave spoke about meeting The Pogues frontman.

Yellowjackets star Samantha Hanratty said “I do” to husband Christian DeAnda over the weekend!

Dwayne Johnson has requested changes to his waxwork at a museum in Paris after it was widely mocked online.The actor’s waxwork was unveiled at the Grévin Museum in Paris, France last week (October 16), and soon faced criticism over its quality.In an Instagram post on Sunday (October 22), Johnson shared a clip of comedian James Andre Jefferson Jr. roasting the statue, with the caption: “I knew my boy @jamesjeffersonj had this Rock wax statue in his roasting crosshairs.”“For the record, I’m going to have my team reach out to our friends at Grevin Museum, in Paris France so we can work at ‘updating’ my wax figure here with some important details and improvements – starting with my skin colour,” he added, with a laughing emoji.“And next time I’m in Paris, I’ll stop in and have a drink with myself.”A post shared by Dwayne Johnson (@therock)In the video roasting the waxwork, Jefferson Jr.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Looking for a satisfying movie viewing project that takes you through the past 60 years of cinema history with a huge helping of action, intrigue and attractive faces? Why not try watching all the James Bond 007 movies in order, from its very beginning with “Dr. No” to Roger Moore’s first 007 movie “Live and Let Die” to Daniel Craig’s final outing as the superspy in 2021’s “No Time to Die.” Those who haven’t seen some of the earlier Bond films are in for a musical treat, with title songs from the likes of Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Louis Armstrong, Sheena Easton, Duran Duran and of course, Paul McCartney & Wings’ iconic “Live and Let Die.” The 007 films are also a prime place for spotting some of the best supporting actors, from villains like Javier Bardem and Rami Malek to romantic interests — and occasionally villains as well — like Halle Berry, Sophie Marceau and Michelle Yeoh.

Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Internet Archive describes it as a hub for “the preservation, research and discovery of 78rpm records”.In the lawsuit filed on August 11, the labels claim that the project violates copyright laws by stating “transferring copies of those files to members of the public, Internet Archive has reproduced and distributed without authorization Plaintiffs’ protected sound recordings”.The plaintiffs, who also include Arista Music, Concord Bicycle Assets and CMGI Recorded Music Assets, are seeking damages of up to $150,000 per infringed track.

Clarence Avant, known within the music industry as "The Black Godfather," has died.The famed music executive "passed away gently" on Aug. 13, his family shared in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. He was 92.

The Bee Gees, The Go-Go’s, David Bowie, the Grateful Dead, Louis Armstrong, the Velvet Underground, and Tina Turner have something more in common than just musical greatness. They’ll all been the subject of recent documentaries, part of an explosion in popularity of the nonfiction genre.

Tony Bennett died on Friday, July 21. He was 96 years old.

Biz Markie was a hip-hop legend. There are just no two ways around it.

Rod Stewart has taken to social media to share a snap from his family holiday Marbella, including his model wife Penny Lancaster and their two sons Alastair and Aiden.

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Award nominee Vanessa Williams has joined the lead producing team for the Broadway-aimed A Wonderful World, a bio-musical about jazz icon Louis Armstrong starring James Monroe Iglehart.

BTS singer V has released a cover of Bing Crosby’s ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’ and Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Cheek To Cheek’.On June 16, the BTS singer released a clip titled ‘Le Jazz de V’ on YouTube in celebration of the boyband’s 10th anniversary. In the new video, V first performs a jazzy cover of Crosby’s 1951 song ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’.“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas / Everywhere you go / Take a look at the five and ten, it’s glistening once again / With candy canes and silver lanes that glow,” V sings.Later, he is joined by Korean singer-songwriter Minna Seo for a performance of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s 1956 duet ‘Cheek To Cheek’.The new clip is one of several special releases by the members BTS in recent weeks, as part of their 2023 BTS Festa celebrations for their tenth anniversary as a group.These include the new single ‘Take Two’ which they released earlier this month, the rock version of rapper J-hope’s solo single ‘Arson’ and a special episode of Suga’s talk show Suchwita, among others.BTS are also set to release their first book, Beyond The Story: 10-Year Record of BTS next month, which the members co-wrote with journalist Myeongseok Kang.

A consortium of music publishers on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Twitter, claiming the social media platform has repeatedly violated copyright law by hosting music without permission and failing to police infringers.

Jessie J has too much love to keep secrets.

took to Twitter to imagine a moment from the show where the host asked a contestant about a random piece of trivia and the player’s response. “Jeopardy be like: Host: The 2nd Earl of Winchester wrote this 1887 symphony about the tributary to the 42nd-largest river in Obscuristan,” tweeted the historian. “Contestant: What is ‘Aksjducpïsudintal in A Minor?’ I’ll take History for $100.”“Host: Name a Black person who did anything,” continued the tweet “Contestant: [silence]” Since being posted, the now-viral tweet has been viewed nearly 958,000 times.

Kamala Harris showed off her new vinyl records earlier this week and shared some of her favourite artists.The politician had been shopping in Home Rule Records in Washington, D.C.

Thania Garcia UMe, the catalog division of Universal Music Group, has promoted Tim Plumley to vice president of media and artist relations. He is based in the company’s Santa Monica headquarters and reports to the executive VP of media and artist relations, Sujata Murthy. “Tim is a key member of my communications team, where he continues to develop innovative new ways to promote our artists and their projects across a wide range of media outlets,” Murthy said. “Tim not only has the trust and respect of our executives and members of the press, but crucially he is viewed as a true partner by our artists and their management teams.” His roster at Ume includes the Band/Robbie Robertson, the Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Zappa, George Harrison, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, John Coltrane, John Lennon, Louis Armstrong, Tom Petty, the Rolling Stones and others.

Roy Trakin “What the Hell Happened to Blood Sweat & Tears?” is the question filmmaker John Scheinfeld (“Chasing ‘Trane,” “The U.S. vs. John Lennon”) asked the band’s co-founder and industry acolyte Bobby Colomby over lunch just two months before COVID. The story Colomby told him that day turned into a compelling documentary that serves as the perfect glimpse into the roots of today’s cancel culture in an incident that took place 53 years ago. It was a reasonable query about a band that, as the summer of 1970 approached, was the hottest entity in rock ‘n’ roll, with a self-titled sophomore album for Columbia Records that topped the chart for seven weeks, spawned three massive Top 5 hit singles (covers of Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” and Brenda Holloway’s “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” and the novelty-like “Spinning Wheel,” penned by the band’s newly minted vocalist David Clayton-Thomas), while taking home an album of the year Grammy over “Abbey Road,” “Crosby, Stills & Nash” and “Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin.”

Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus‘ 2017 collaboration “Rainbowland” is apparently too controversial for some people.

Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus‘ 2017 collaboration “Rainbowland” got 86’d from a first-grade spring concert setlist after school district officials in Wisconsin deemed the track controversial.

Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus' 2017 collaboration «Rainbowland» got 86'd from a first-grade spring concert setlist after school district officials in Wisconsin deemed the track controversial.According to the, the parent of a first grader in Waukesha, Wisconsin, was excited about the Parton-Cyrus collab, along with some of the other songs slated to be part of the spring concert, which included Louis Armstrong's «What a Wonderful World and Kermit the Frog's „Rainbow Connection“ from .As for why the track that celebrates acceptance was banned from the spring concert, one parent told  that „the school district of Waukesha has really cracked down on anything LGBTQ“ and that „this song being an 'issue' has not in any way come as a surprise.“The parent continued, „All that Miley and Dolly are saying is that they want to live in a world that is accepting, with no judgment and where people can be who they want to be.“The teacher whose class is performing the spring concert took to Twitter and sounded off on the ban.My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration. When will it end? @waukeshaschools@DollyParton@MileyCyrus@mileyworld@gsafewi@CivilRights#publicschoolspic.twitter.com/8Na0nETmDwParton and Cyrus have been huge proponents of the LGBTQ+ community.

Widely-adored TV star and mother-of-five Stacey Solomon has shared a sentimental video in celebration of her eldest son Zachary's 15th birthday. Posting a series of sweet messages on Instagram, the 33-year-old Loose Women favourite uploaded a story of her Pickle Cottage kitchen with a '15' balloon and the caption: "Today is Zachary's day. "If you need me I'll be crying looking through home videos of my baby who's now taller than me and growing a beard." The BBC Sort Your Life out star, who is married to Joe Swash, later posted a photo which documented her mission to find her eldest son a bottle of Prime energy drink.

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Wilkes, Chief Strategy Officer of Imagine Entertainment and President of Imagine Documentaries and Brands, has been promoted to President of the company, headed by Executive Chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.

U2 have announced that they are releasing a new album. News that will either fill you with joy or a sense of dread. Ditto the fact that it will have a tracklist of 40 songs.

Hear that? It’s the Cinema Audio Society’s nominations for its 2023 CAS Awards, which celebrate excellence in sound mixing for film and TV. See the list below.

Ricky Strauss starts Tuesday as Head of Apple TV+ Marketing. A 30-year veteran, Strauss spent more than nine years at Disney, most recently as president of content and marketing for Disney+, where he spearheaded the launch of that service and was president of programming for Hulu and Disney+.

“All That Breathes,” “Descendant,” “Fire of Love,” “Navalny,” “Nothing Compares,” “Retrograde” and “The Territory” have been nominated by the Producers Guild of America in the Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures category, the PGA announced on Monday.  The winner will be announced at the 34th annual Producers Guild of America Awards ceremony on Saturday, Feb.