Prince hospitalized after mid-air health scare: reports

LOS ANGELES, United States - Pop icon Prince was treated in hospital on Friday after a bout of flu worsened in mid-air, prompting his private jet to make an unscheduled landing, reports said.

The 57-year-old, one of the most influential but elusive figures in music, had been fighting the flu and had cancelled two shows last week, entertainment news website TMZ and American weekly magazine People reported, both citing a representative.

He insisted on performing in Atlanta on Thursday despite being unwell, and began to deteriorate shortly after boarding a plane, forcing the aircraft to land in Moline, Illinois, in the early hours of the morning, TMZ said.

AFP contacted Prince's publicist, who declined to provide details of the incident.

A few hours after the scare, the artist's official Twitter account posted the enigmatic message "I am #transformed," before linking to favorable reviews of the Atlanta show and tweeting that he was listening to "Controversy," the title track to his 1981 album.

Fans flooded his Instagram page to wish him a speedy recovery.

"I don't know you personally... but I hope you're okay. I have lots of love for you, like if you were part of my family," one fan said.

Prince became an international sensation in the 1980s, when he popularized the Minneapolis sound of danceable funk. His 1984 album "Purple Rain" is often described as one of the greatest of all time.

The artist, who was born as Prince Nelson, continues to live in the outskirts of Minneapolis, where he throws parties and preserves master vaults at his Paisley Park studio.

Best known as a guitarist, singer and dancer, Prince has recently been on a tour in which he performs alone with a piano, after saying he wanted a new artistic challenge.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

David Bowie makeshift memorial spotted in NYC

SOHO, New York City - David Robert Jones, more popularly known as pop music icon David Bowie, lived the final years of his life at his penthouse home in Soho, New York.

In a fortuitous timing, Bowie released his latest album "Blackstar," including this ominous track "Lazarus," on his 69th birthday, just two days before he passed, Sunday. He was battling cancer for 18 months.

"David’s passing was a shock to us. We had the honor of meeting him once, 25 years ago, in 1991. He was a chameleon, as an actor, as a musician, he was so endlessly creative, even when he composed Blackstar, which was his last work, he contemplated his own death, unbeknownst to everyone else," said Bill Greenman of Bellmore, New York.

Outside his Soho home, tears flowed and his music is played on cellphones. Hundreds of flowers, photos and other memorabilia’s pile up a makeshift memorial--a fitting tribute to the pop icon.

New Yorkers believe Bowie’s legacy will live for decades to come.

"He was always a star. He was always at the top of his game. I also think that his legacy will live on for centuries. He’ll be looked upon in the distant future as one the great artist of any era," Greenman added.

Bowie’s legacy will be honored at the Carnegie Hall on March 13.

What was originally a tribute concert has become a memorial concert featuring Cyndi Lauper among many other artists who will commemorate the music icon.

Read more on Balitang America.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Madonna reveals rape at knifepoint when young

LOS ANGELES - US pop icon Madonna was raped at knifepoint when she was a young struggling artist in New York, she revealed in an article published Friday.

The 55-year-old also recalled being held up at gunpoint and having her seedy apartment burgled three times, saying she was "scared shitless" at times before she started making it as a singer and dancer.

In a piece for Harper's Bazaar, she also talked about her time living in Britain married to director Guy Ritchie, saying there is "nothing more beautiful than the English countryside," and revealed that she is now studying the Koran.

Describing her arrival in the Big Apple from the Midwest, where she grew up, she wrote: "New York wasn't everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms," and described "paying my rent by posing nude for art classes, staring at people staring at me naked."

"The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back, and had my apartment broken into three times. I don't know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time.

"The tall buildings and the massive scale of New York took my breath away. The sizzling-hot sidewalks and the noise of the traffic and the electricity of the people rushing by me on the streets was a shock to my neurotransmitters," she added.

She continued: "I felt like I had plugged into another universe. I felt like a warrior plunging my way through the crowds to survive. Blood pumping through my veins, I was poised for survival.

"I felt alive.

"But I was also scared shitless and freaked out by the smell of piss and vomit everywhere, especially in the entryway of my third-floor walk-up."

The "Material Girl" singer, whose career has ranged from "Like a Virgin" to movie roles, the 1992 coffee table book "Sex" and who last toured in 2012, wrote the cover story to accompany a fashion photoshoot of her in typically provocative gear, including a bondage-style mask and a sword.

Moving on a decade a time, she recalled being a pop star in her 20s, embracing Kabbalah in her 30s, before marrying Ritchie and moving to Britain by the age of 45.

"I consider moving to a foreign country to be a very daring act. It wasn't easy for me .. I didn't understand pub culture. I didn't understand that being openly ambitious was frowned upon. Once again I felt alone.

"But I stuck it out and I found my way, and I grew to love English wit, Georgian architecture, sticky toffee pudding, and the English countryside. There is nothing more beautiful than the English countryside."

Madonna and Ritchie were divorced in 2008, and a decade later she is back in New York.

"I have started making films, which is probably the most challenging and rewarding thing I have ever done. I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Koran. I think it is important to study all the holy books.

"As my friend Yaman always tells me, a good Muslim is a good Jew, and a good Jew is a good Christian, and so forth. I couldn't agree more."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Madonna's 'MDNA' receives lukewarm welcome from critics

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