A Grammy-winning Brazilian musician who worked with the Black Eyed Peas, Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake has died after months of battling long COVID.
Sergio Mendes, who introduced international audiences to Brazilian music genre bossa nova, died at the age of 83 in Los Angeles.
“His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his loving children,” his family said in a statement.
“Mendes last performed in November 2023 to sold out and wildly enthusiastic houses in Paris, London and Barcelona.”
The pianist, songwriter and arranger’s version of Mas Que Nada was one of the songs that helped popularise bossa nova worldwide in the 1960s.
A version he recorded with the Black Eyed Peas topped US charts in 2006.
The track was included on his album Timeless, which was produced by will.i.am and featured Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, John Legend and the Black Eyed Peas, among others.
“Sergio Mendes was my brother from another country,” trumpet player Herb Alpert wrote on Facebook, alongside a photo of him sitting next to Mendes at the piano.
“He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance.”
Kylie Minogue has announced her biggest tour in more than a decade – as well as a new album.
The pop star’s Tension tour will open in her home country, Australia, before heading to Asia and reaching the UK in May 2025. More countries and dates in Europe and North and South America are set to be announced over the coming weeks.
“I am beyond excited to announce the Tension tour 2025,” Minogue said in a statement sent to Sky News. “I can’t wait to share beautiful and wild moments with fans all over the world, celebrating the Tension era and more!
“It’s been an exhilarating ride so far and now, get ready for your close up because I will be calling Lights, Camera, Action… and there will be a whole lot of Padaming!”
The UK dates include shows in Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham and Birmingham, and two at London’s O2 Arena.
Minogue first teased the news as she announced her new album, Tension II, earlier today – revealing the sequel will be released in October, with the lead single, Lights Camera Action coming on 27 September.
“But wait! There’s more…” she added.
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The tour announcement followed this afternoon. It will be Minogue’s first since her Golden shows in 2018 and 2019 and her biggest since the Aphrodite: Les Folies tour in 2011, which followed the Aphrodite album and hits including All The Lovers and Get Outta My Way.
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Kylie speaks to Sky News on the Brits red carpet
The new album includes the dance hit Edge of Saturday Night with The Blessed Madonna, as well as collaborations with Orville Peck, Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo, and Sia.
“The Tension era has been so special to me,” the star said. “I can’t possibly let it be over just yet!”
Minogue, who rose to fame on Australian soap Neighbours in the 1980s before becoming a pop mega star, has had hits throughout the decades ever since – from I Should Be So Lucky, Hand On Your Heart and Better The Devil You Know, to Confide In Me, Spinning Around and Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.
Padam Padam, released in 2023, marked another reinvention with a move into electronic dance, and became a viral hit.
Earlier this year, she was named a global icon at the Brit Awards, and won the Grammy for best pop dance recording for the single.
Coronation Street star Geoff Hinsliff has died aged 87, ITV has said.
The actor was best known for playing Don Brennan on the soap from 1987 to 1997. He died last weekend.
Helen Worth, who plays Gail Platt in the show, paid tribute to Hinsliff on behalf of Coronation Street and ITV, saying: “Geoff was a lovely, quiet man who will be sadly missed by us all.
“His partnership with Lynne Perrie was something rather special and they gave the viewers huge pleasure for many years.”
Born in Leeds, Hinsliff studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and initially appeared on Coronation Street in 1963 and 1977 as different characters.
He joined the cast as taxi driver Don in 1987.
His 10-year stint on the cobbles saw him commit kidnap and attempted murder after several business deals went wrong before his character died when he crashed his car into a viaduct.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been refused bail a second time as he faces several charges including sex trafficking, drug possession and firearms offences.
US district judge Andrew L Carter said the government had proved “by clear and convincing evidence that there is no condition or set of conditions” that will ensure the safety of the community and that the rapper and music mogul will not tamper with witnesses.
The 54-year-old pleaded not guilty after he was first arrested by officers at the Park Hyatt hotel in Manhattan, New York, on Monday.
He was originally denied bail and told he would be detained after pleading not guilty to three felony counts during an initial court appearance on Tuesday.
Lawyers representing Combs asked a judge on Wednesday to let him await his trial at his luxury home on an island near Miami Beach, as opposed to in jail in Brooklyn.
But prosecutors argued against the proposal, saying there was too great a risk that Combs could threaten or harm witnesses.
Combs’s lawyers offered a $50m (£37.8m) bail package in exchange for his release to home detention with GPS monitoring and strict limitations on who could visit him.
Arguing to keep him behind bars, prosecutor Emily Johnson told the judge that Combs had a long history of intimidating both accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse.
Ms Johnson cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them into “Freak Offs” and then threatened to leak explicit videos of them engaging in sexual acts.
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She also said that Combs’s own defence team was “minimising and horrifically understating” his propensity for violence.
The defence and prosecution were wrangling over the request before the judge passed his ruling.
“I am feeling confident. We’re going to go get Mr Combs out of jail,” Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo said on his way into court on Wednesday, before the judge decided Combs would spend his time before the trial at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
A legal indictment released after Combs’s arrest detailed allegations dating to 2008, accusing him of abusing, threatening, and coercing women for years “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.
He allegedly induced female victims and male sex workers into drug-fuelled sexual performances, dubbed “Freak Offs”, according to the report.
Combs, formerly known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, was once one of the most influential figures in hip-hop – famous as a producer and manager of the late Notorious BIG, as well as a rapper in his own right for hits including I’ll Be Missing You, Come With Me, and Bad Boy For Life.
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However, in November, his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, filed a lawsuit accusing him of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fuelled settings.
The suit was settled in one day, but months later CNN aired hotel security footageshowing Combs punching and kicking Cassie and throwing her to the floor.
He apologised after the video aired, saying: “I was disgusted when I did it.”