LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and John Legend will be among a host of singers to perform at a tribute concert for the late Aretha Franklin in January, the Recording Academy and other groups announced on Thursday.
Alicia Keys, Yolanda Adams, Patti Labelle and Janelle Monae will also do songs from the repertoire of the Queen of Soul at the concert, to be hosted by filmmaker Tyler Perry on Jan. 13 in Los Angeles.
Franklin, an 18-time Grammy winner and considered by many the greatest U.S. gospel and soul singer, died in August of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. Her six-hour long funeral in her Detroit hometown, featuring tributes by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and dozens of singers, was broadcast live on U.S. television.
The tribute concert in Los Angeles is a joint venture of the Recording Academy, which selects Grammy winners, Franklin’s long-time record producer Clive Davis, concert promoter AEG, and CBS television. The concert will be shown on CBS television at a later date still be announced.
“Aretha was more than the Queen of Soul; she was a national treasure. This unique concert, featuring many of today’s greatest artists, will celebrate Aretha in a spectacular manner befitting her once-in-a-lifetime talent,” Davis said in a statement.
Tickets for the concert go on sale on Dec 31.
Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Steve Orlofsky
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Pop superstar Taylor Swift will take to the silver screen alongside Jennifer Hudson in a film adaptation of the popular hit musical "Cats," reports said Friday.
The movie is the latest project for British filmmaker Tom Hooper, who brought novel-turned-musical "Les Miserables" to the big screen and won an Oscar for directing "The King's Speech."
"Cats," composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and featuring the classic musical ballad "Memory," opened in London in 1981 and originally was staged on Broadway from 1982 to 2000, the fourth-longest run in history.
Based on poems by T.S. Eliot, "Cats" tells of a feline tribe -- in human form on stage -- called the Jellicles who decide who among them will make a fateful ascent into a new life.
Cinema industry news site Variety said that Hudson, who won an Oscar for the 2006 film musical "Dreamgirls," would play Grizabella, a formerly glamorous cat who longs for acceptance.
Variety and several other film sites said that "Cats" would also star, in roles to be determined, Swift, actor turned late-night comedian James Corden and veteran British actor Ian McKellen.
Film studio Universal did not respond to a request for comment. No release date has been announced for the film.
The 28-year-old Swift, who is touring through the end of November, is one of her generation's highest-grossing singers, but she has also branched out into supporting roles on film.
She played a chaste girlfriend in the 2010 romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" and, in a darker turn, appeared in the 2014 science-fiction film "The Giver."
Swift is also known for her love of real-life cats. She frequently posts pictures on social media of her cats, Olivia and Meredith, who recently made a Hollywood debut in a scene in superhero film "Deadpool 2."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
