Music

Diana Ross to celebrate 75th birthday with Grammy performance. Diana Ross will celebrate her 75th birthday with a special performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. The show will air live February 10th at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. In a statement, the Grammys said the performance would "honor the icon and celebrate the rich history of her greatest musical accomplishments." While Ross has been nominated for 12 Grammys over the course of her career, she has never won an award. In 2012, however, she received the Grammys' Lifetime Achievement Award. Ross will take the Grammy's stage just days after kicking off her new Las Vegas residency, "Diamond Diana," at the Encore Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas. The show is set to run February 6th through the 23rd. Along with Ross, the 2019 Grammy Awards will feature performances from an array of artists including Album of the Year nominees H.E.R., Brandi Carlile, Kacey Musgrave, Janelle Mone and Cardi B. Other performers include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Miley Cyrus, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes and Dan and Shay. Alicia Keys, meanwhile, is set to host the show. (PageSix)

Christina Aguilera Gives Customers the Ultimate Surprise With Epic Donut Shop Prank. Good one, Christina Aguilera. The five-time Grammy winner helped Jimmy Kimmel pull off a hilarious prank on Wednesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The late-night host's team set up hidden cameras inside of Randy's Donuts in Los Angeles and hid Aguilera in the back of the donut shop with an earpiece. The singer then watched customers enter the establishment and sang about everything from their attire to their orders. Using her chart-topping hits as inspiration, Aguilera changed the words of her songs to match her observations. For instance, instead of singing the lyrics to "Genie in a Bottle," she belted out, "There's a guy in a Dodgers hat. He is here with a baby. He just wants to eat some donuts and give some to the baby, too." However, this wasn't the only song she switched up. She also altered the words to "Lady Marmalade" and "What a Girl Wants" to match the scene. "What a guy wants! What a guy needs! He's looking cute in his 'Gone Fishin' tee. I wonder what kind of donut he'll get," she crooned. The best part was when Aguilera actually served the customers their orders -- giving them the ultimate surprise. The prank came just a few days after Aguilera announced the launch of her Las Vegas residency: Christina Aguilera: The Xperience. If she sounds this good over a store speaker, we can't wait to hear her perform in Sin City. (Eonline)

Ronnie Wood's Horse Has Shot at British Grand National Run. Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones photographed on Nov. 14, 2016 in New York City. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood might have a shot at winning the world's most grueling steeplechase for the first time with a not so wild horse. British Grand National organizers say Wood's horse, Sandymount Duke, is among 112 entries that will be whittled down to 40 runners for the race on April 6. Sandymount Duke has won 10 of 30 races and runs in the 71-year-old Wood's red and white silks. Wood bred the 10-year-old gelding, which is trained by Jessica Harrington in Ireland. Race organizers hope Wood can attend the 41/2-mile (6,400-meter) race near Liverpool in northwest England because the Rolling Stones don't begin their tour of the United States until April 20. The Grand National winner earns 500,000 $655,000). (Billboard)

Jake Owen to Perform Before Daytona 500. Jake Owen performs onstage during 2018 Stagecoach California's Country Music Festival at the Empire Polo Field on April 27, 2018 in Indio, Calif. Country music singer Jake Owen will perform a pre-race concert at the Daytona 500. Owen will take the stage ahead of the 61st running of the "Great American Race" at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 17. A native Floridian, Owen featured Daytona Beach in his 2013 hit "Beachin.'" Owen follows a long list of famed singers to perform before NASCAR's season opener and most prestigious race. The pre-race concert began with Mariah Carey in 2003 and has since featured Brian Wilson, Bon Jovi, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Lenny Kravitz, Luke Bryan and Kid Rock. Rascal Flatts performed last year. Daytona already announced retired NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the honorary pace truck driver for the 500. Earnhardt will drive a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado, marking the first time a truck has paced the field. Other pre-race celebrities yet to be announced include the national anthem singer, the grand marshal and the honorary starter. (Billboard)

DMX wishes today's rap didn't promote drugs. Fresh off his release from prison, DMX made clear he doesn't like what he's hearing from today's rappers. In a preview of an upcoming interview with Los Angeles radio show "Big Boy's Neighborhood," the 48-year-old decried the state of rap today, saying it misrepresents the hip-hop lifestyle, particularly in its glamorization of drugs. "They're all promoting drug use," he told Big Boy. "If that's what you wanna do, that's your business, but you ain't gotta promote it like it's cool and make it cool, know what I'm saying? Kids walk around like, 'I'm popping molly, I'm popping Percs.'" While that might seem like an unexpected stance for someone who broke through spinning vivid tales about a life of crime and violence on 1998's "It's Dark and Hell is Hot" and "Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood," it may be because DMX knows how hard it is to overcome addiction. The rapper revealed that he no longer does anything aside from having a drink "here and there," because drugs, especially cocaine, became a major problem for him. Just last year, he got locked up for failing a drug test while waiting for his tax evasion sentence to be handed down. "Of course, it was a problem," he said. "You get in trouble, all that st. It's not worth it. It's just not worth." DMX has been busy since his release from Gilmer Federal Correctional Institution in West Virginia, where he served time for tax evasion, last Friday. He took the stage at Mr. Ciao nightclub in Staten Island over the weekend, and good friend and longtime collaborator Swizz Beatz said the rapper is ready to get back in the studio. (PageSix)

Andrea Di Giovanni Talks LGBTQ History, Chechnyan Purges & New Single 'Forbidden Love'. Andrea Di Giovanni Italian pop singer Andrea Di Giovanni is not one to take stories of persecution lightly. Identifying as genderqueer himself, the star has made a music career around singing about tackling issues that are important to him, be it through his lyrics or his aesthetics. But one recent event shook the singer to his core -- the anti-gay purges taking place in Chechnya. Initial reports in 2017 said that over 100 gay men had been detained and at least three killed by government officials attempting to rid the region of any homosexual presence. This month, activists reported that another purge was taking place throughout the region. "I was in such a shock when I saw the first reports of people being jailed, getting beaten up and being killed based just on their sexuality," Giovanni tells Billboard. "I truly could not believe that something so brutal was happening to people within my community." Giovanni channelled that anger and sadness he felt into his brand-new song "Forbidden Love." The song follows two queer lovers in Russia, forced into hiding their love for one another by an oppressive government, while asking the world at large why we allow this kind of persecution to occur. The singer says that the song is not only meant as a message to the cisgender straight community, but one for the LGBTQ community as well. "The second inspiration for this song is the total lack of support by our LGBTQ+ community towards trans/non-binary/gender non-conforming people," he said. "I want to show everyone, regardless of their sexuality, what it feels to be hiding who you truly are." Giovanni makes his message crystal clear toward the end of the song, when he includes a clip from transgender activist Sylvia Rivera's famous "Y'all Better Quiet Down" speech. Recorded at the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally, the clip documents Rivera shaming the LGBTQ community for refusing to acknowledge the suffering of others. "I've been trying to get up here all day for your gay brothers and your gay sisters in jail that write me every motherfucking week and ask for your help and you all don't do a goddamn thing for them," Rivera screams. "Have you ever been beaten up and raped?" The line was deliberately included, Giovanni says, to place the LGBTQ community at large face-to-face with a still-present reality for trans and non-binary people. "I needed a powerful, raw statement and wanted to honor Sylvia's incredible work in good hope that it will shake some souls out there," he says. "I want to remind everyone that we are one incredibly diverse group of people and we have to fight for each other." But Giovanni also included the clip to remind his audience of the long history of LGBTQ activism. The singer says that remembering and learning from those who came before is what prevents events like those in Chechnya from happening. "We take for granted the rights we have today and think that it's something that's given; normal," he says. "Marsha and Sylvia, amongst the others, did it for us, they fought for the rights we have today. Now, it's time to give back, express our gratitude towards them and fully support them." (Billboard)

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