- Title: Showbiz in 2024: Music stars Miley Cyrus, Raye enjoy awards triumphs
- Date: 4th December 2024
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - MAY 26, 2022) (REUTERS) ABBA BAND MEMBERS, AGNETHA FALTSKOG AND ANNI-FRID LYNGSTAD ARRIVING FOR PREMIERE OF VIRTUAL CONCERT SERIES "ABBA VOYAGE", JOINED BY ULVAEUS AND BENNY ANDERSSON (SCREEN LEFT TO RIGHT) ABBA MEMBERS ULVAEUS, FALTSKOG, LYNGSTAD AND ANDERSSON POSING FOR PHOTOS - Eurovision Song Contest thrust into the political spotlight over Israel entry MALMO, SWEDEN (FILE - MAY 11, 2024) (REUTERS) CROWD, PERSON HOLDING LARGE PALESTINIAN FLAG GIANT PALESTINIAN FLAG, CROWD CHANTING MALMO, SWEDEN (FILE - MAY 9, 2024) (REUTERS) VIEW OF SQUARE AS PROTESTERS GATHER MORE PROTESTERS ARRIVING AT SQUARE PROTESTERS GATHERED ON SQUARE, CHANTING (English): “Free free free Palestine” MALMO, SWEDEN (FILE - MAY 9, 2024) (REUTERS) ISRAELI FLAGS DEMONSTRATORS APPLAUDING / MAN HOLDING SIGN READING "SHALOM, WE WISH THE BEST OF LUCK TO EDEN GOLAN" (IN ENGLISH SPEECH) DEMONSTRATORS WITH ISRAELI AND SWEDISH FLAGS MALMO, SWEDEN (FILE - MAY 6, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELI CONTESTANT, EDEN GOLAN, BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI CONTESTANT, EDEN GOLAN, SAYING: “I'm super excited. I can't believe it’s (competition) around the corner, and I can't believe we've finally arrived at this so exciting moment and I'm happy to be here.” MALMO, SWEDEN (FILE - MAY 5, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NETHERLANDS CONTESTANT, JOOST KLEIN BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) NETHERLAND’S CONTESTANT MUSICIAN AND RAPPER, JOOST KLEIN, SAYING: “I'm here to tell a story. I'm here to show the world that it's okay to feel emotions, to deal with loss, to find yourself.''
- Embargoed: 18th December 2024 03:37
- Keywords: ABBA Adele Beach Boys Eurovision Song Contest Halsey Ja Rule Kurt Cobain Miley Cyrus Paul McCartney Spice Girls
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA00N086719112024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT IS PART OF A SERIES OF SHOWBIZ YEARENDERS
Miley Cyrus and Tyla triumphed at the Grammy Awards, Raye made history at the BRITs and the Spice Girls celebrated 30 years - here are some of the music stories from 2024.
U.S. singer Miley Cyrus, won her first two Grammys in February, landing the record of the year honour for her empowerment anthem "Flowers".
The chart-topping song was named the world's best-selling single in 2023 by the body IFPI, which represents the recorded music industry.
However, a copyright filed in a California federal court in September claims Cyrus copied fellow megastar Bruno Mars' hit "When I Was Your Man" in "Flowers".
The complaint, filed by music-rights owner Tempo Music Investments, said that "Flowers" duplicates "numerous melodic, harmonic and lyrical elements" of Mars' song, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013.
Mars is not a party in the lawsuit. Tempo said in the complaint that it bought its share of "When I Was Your Man" from the song's co-writer Philip Lawrence in 2020.
In November, Cyrus' lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying "the songwriter defendants categorically deny copying, and the allegedly copied elements are random, scattered, unprotected ideas and musical building blocks", adding the suit only represents one of the song’s four writers and not Mars himself. according to various media reports.
South African singer Tyla won the inaugural best African music performance award at the Grammys.
The prize reflects the growing popularity of Afrobeats, and other music from the continent, which is gaining a global audience with help from social media platforms such as TikTok.
The 22-year-old found success last year, reaching the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard's Hot 100 chart and top 5 in Britain with amapiano hit "Water", a genre fusing house, jazz and log drums that emerged in South Africa.
Singer-songwriter Raye was the big winner at the BRIT Awards, the biggest night in British music, in March, setting a new record for the most prizes in one night at the annual ceremony.
Raye won six awards, including for artist of the year, album of the year for "My 21st Century Blues" and song of the year for "Escapism".
The 26-year-old also triumphed in the genre category for R&B act and was named best new artist. Her tally of seven nods had broken the record for the most nominations by a single artist in any one year, according to the annual ceremony's organisers, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Two longtime associates of Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson petitioned a court, at his family's behest, to place him under a conservatorship, asserting the musician was unable to care for himself following his wife's death in January.
The petition, filed in February and approved by a judge in May, asked that Wilson's publicist-manager, Jean Sievers, and his business manager, LeeAnn Hard, be appointed "co-conservators of his person."
An accompanying declaration filed by a physician, Dr. Stephen Marmer, stated that Wilson, now 82, suffers from a "major neurocognitive disorder" and is taking a medication for treatment of dementia. The doctor said Wilson lacks the capacity to give informed consent to any form of medical treatment.
The musician's wife, Melinda Ledbetter Wilson, who died in January at age 77, had been her husband's daily caregiver.
Wilson created some of rock's most enduring songs, including "Good Vibrations," "Good Only Knows," "California Girls" and "Surfin' U.S.A.," in a career dogged by decades-long bouts with substance abuse and mental disorders.
Wilson attended the May premiere of the "The Beach Boys" documentary.
U.S. singer Halsey revealed in June she had been battling an illness and was “lucky to be alive”.
In an Instagram post that shared photos and videos of herself in hospital receiving medical treatment, the "Without Me" singer refrained from explicitly identifying a diagnosis but tagged accounts for the Lupus Research Alliance and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in the caption.
Tennessee's attorney general asked the federal government in June to take over an investigation into an attempt to auction off Elvis Presley's Graceland estate.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced in May his office was investigating whether any fraud had been carried out.
Graceland, where Elvis Presley is buried, is a popular tourist attraction, drawing more than 600,000 visitors a year.
According to a public notice of an intended sale, Naussany Investments said that Presley's late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, had used Graceland as collateral when borrowing $3.8 million that was never repaid. She died last year at age 54.
Lisa Marie's daughter, Riley Keough, who inherited the estate after her mother's death, sued Naussany, saying her mother had never taken out the loan and that Naussany was engaged in fraud.
A day before the auction was due to take place on May 23, Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins issued an injunction, halting the sale.
A Naussany representative told Reuters just after the judge blocked the sale that it would withdraw all of its claims over Graceland.
American rapper Ja Rule said he was "devastated" that he had been denied entry to Britain in February, days before he was due to begin the opening leg of his international tour, due to his criminal record.
"I’m so devastated, I can’t believe the UK won’t let me in. I've spent a half million dollars in production of my own money to put this tour together only to be denied entry days before my shows," Ja Rule said on social media site X.
"The UK is one of the few European countries that restricts entry to people with criminal records."
The Grammy-nominated rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, served about two years in prison on gun and tax evasion charges.
He pleaded guilty in 2011 to failing to file tax returns over a five year period and pleaded guilty to a weapons possession charge in 2010.
In a follow up post, Ja Rule said the promoter had assured his team that the criminal record would not be an issue.
Musical "Mamma Mia!", based on songs by Swedish supergroup ABBA, celebrated 25 years in London's West End.
The drama of a mother and daughter with three possible dads has been seen in over 450 cities around the world, and led to two hit movies.
ABBA also marked 50 years since winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with song "Waterloo", which brought them to global attention.
This year's Eurovision Song Contest was thrust into the political spotlight with calls for Israel to be excluded over its military campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' deadly attack on October 7, 2023 in Israel.
Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in host city Malmo in the run-up to the final, pointing to double standards as the European Broadcasting Union banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 because of its invasion of Ukraine.
A smaller group of pro-Israeli supporters also gathered for a peaceful demonstration
Israel's contender Eden Golan came fifth in the contest, while Swiss rapper and singer Nemo, 24, won with "The Code", a drum-and-bass, opera, rap and rock song, about the singer's journey of self-discovery as a non-binary person.
Separately, Dutch artist Joost Klein was expelled from the contest following a complaint made by a female member of the production crew.
The Spice Girls this year celebrated 30 years since their formation.
Britain's Royal Mail in January unveiled a commemorative stamp collection featuring photos of the '90s girl band members and their performances, marking a historic first-ever-issue of stamps for a female pop group.
Originally made up of Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown, Victoria Beckham, Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton, the group scored nine British No.1 singles during their six years together.
They began going their separate ways in 1998 - first with Halliwell's departure followed by Beckham, before the group disbanded completely in 2000.
The Spice Girls returned for a special performance at the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony, and reunited as a foursome for a 2019 reunion tour, without Beckham, now a fashion designer.
British singer Adele in February postponed 10 of her Las Vegas shows, citing her ill health and lack of full recovery from a previous sickness.
The "Hello" and "Someone Like You" singer ended her residency at Caesar's Palace this year and launched a new series of concerts in the southern German city of Munich in August.
Former Beatle Paul McCartney became the first British musician to "achieve billionaire status", according to a rich list released in May.
According to the annual Sunday Times Rich List - which features wealthy people from a range of backgrounds, a "boost from Beyoncé and consistent tours" helped the 82-year-old McCartney to reach billionaire status.
"Sir Paul McCartney has reached a milestone as the first UK musician to achieve billionaire status, boosting his wealth by 50 million pounds," the Sunday Times Rich List said.
Earlier this year, music star Beyonce released a version of The Beatles song "Blackbird", which features on her latest album "Cowboy Carter".
McCartney has also been on the road with his Got Back tour.
April 5 marked the 30th anniversary of the death of "Nirvana" frontman Kurt Cobain, the troubled singer-songwriter who took his own life in 1994.
The grunge rock artist died in Seattle at the age 27 of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Fans honoured the singer on the anniversary.
Cobain rose to fame as the lead singer and songwriter of Nirvana, the band of the grunge era that dominated rock music and popular culture for several years in the 1990s and known for songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come as You Are".
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