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Country Music Legend, Kenny Rogers Dies at 81

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Kenny Rogers, the country musician behind such hits as “The Gambler” and “Lady” over a six-decade career, has died at the age of 81, his family announced early Saturday.

“Rogers passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family,” according to a statement from his management firm, SKH Music.

His family plans a small private service due to the coronavirus outbreak, the statement said.

Rogers is well-known for hits like “The Gambler,” “Lady,” “Islands in the Stream,” “Lucille,” “She Believes In Me” and “Through the Years.”

The three-time Grammy winner and county music icon Dolly Parton were frequent collaborators and paired to make some of country music’s most enduring duets, including “Islands in the Stream,” “Love is Strange,” “Real Love,” and “You Can’t Make Old Friends.”

Image: DOLLY PARTON duets with Kenny Rogers in July 1989
Dolly Parton duets with Kenny Rogers in July 1989.Alamy Stock Photo

Rogers announced in 2015 that after spending more than 50 years in the business, he planned to retire and told NBC’s “Today” then that he was saying goodbye.

“I’ve done this long enough,” the Texas native said, adding that he wanted to spend more time with his children.

Rogers had 24 number-one hits over his career and is a six-time County Music Association winner. He had Grammy awards and was nominated 19 times.

The entertainer was inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013, the same year he was awarded the County Music Association’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.

After the group broke up, Rogers started his solo career and found a big hit with the sad country ballad “Lucille,” in 1977.
He found more success with “Love Or Something Like It,” “Sweet Music Man,” “The Gambler” and “Every Time Two Fools Collide,” as well as hits including “We’ve Got Tonight.” He recorded “Lady,” which was written by Lionel Richie, which saw success across different genres.
He moved beyond music to become the star of TV movies based on “The Gambler” and other songs, making him a superstar in the ’70s and ’80s. Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as a country singer, The Associated Press reported.
Courtesy: NBC News
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Entertainment

Glo Foundation Celebrates Female Students with Walk, Movie Date on Girl-Child Day

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Globacom, through its social investment vehicle, Glo Foundation, on Friday hosted hundreds of girls from various secondary schools across the country to a symbolic walk and movie outing as part of activities mapped out to celebrate this year’s International Day of the Girl Child.

One hundred girls selected from five secondary schools across Lagos were received at the corporate head office of Globacom, Mike Adenuga Towers, Victoria Island, where they received encouraging words from senior female executives of Globacom.

The girls were drawn from Queens College, Sabo Yaba; Vivian Fowler Memorial College, Oregun, Ikeja; Herbert Macaulay Girls Senior High School, Yaba; Kuramo Senior College, Victoria Island; and Victoria Island Secondary School.

The session was held to encourage the girls to aim for the top in whatever field of endeavour that they opt for academically and to strive for excellence and success in any sphere of work or business within their environment.

The students were received by Globacom’s Director, Strategy and Board Affairs, Mrs Mojisola Ashieru Sweet, who admonished the girls to be proud of who they are and be confident that success will come when they strive for it.

Globacom’s Head of Human Resources, Mrs Jumoke Aduwo, equally echoed this further by advising the girls to focus on developing a strong character.

The girls later took a symbolic walk from the head office to Globacom’s Customer Care and Information Systems departments, where they were imparted with knowledge on how some of the telecommunications operations work.

Afterwards, they all moved over to Silverbird Cinema, where they watched a Nollywood movie, “The Serpent’s Gift”, which features Linda Ejiofor and radio presenter and actor, Chico Aligwejwe.

In Abuja, girls from Al-Noor Academy, Wuse, and Redeemers Private School were hosted at the Glo office and at Silverbird Cinema, Jabi Lake Mall.

In Kaduna, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Benin City, the story was similar as girls from selected schools were received in Glo offices and later taken to the movies where they all watched the movie, “The Serpent’s Gift”.

After the movie sessions, the girls were made to discuss the lessons learnt from the movie they watched. This was to help them develop public speaking skills and build confidence in themselves.

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Imisi Wins Big Brother Naija 10/10 Season

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Imisi, one of the 29 housemates that signed up for this season’s Big Brother Naija show titled Season 10: 10/10, has been announced the winner.

The housemate triumphed over eight other finalists to claim the first position, winning N150 million worth of prizes.

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Court Slams 50-month Jail Term on Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs for Over Prostitution-Related Offence

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Music icon, Sean “Diddy” Combs, was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday for his conviction on prostitution-related charges.

Prosecutors had sought 11 years behind bars for Combs but Judge Arun Subramanian handed down a 50-month sentence after an emotional daylong court hearing.

Combs’s lawyers had urged the judge to sentence the 55-year-old hip-hop star to 14 months, which would effectively have been time served since he has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.

Addressing the court before the judge handed down the sentence, Combs said he was “truly sorry” for his actions and asked the judge for “another chance.”

“I ask your honor for mercy,” he said. “I beg your honor for mercy.”

Diddy Combs was acquitted by a jury in July of the most serious charges against him — sex trafficking and racketeering — but convicted of two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution.

Combs’s former girlfriend Casandra Ventura submitted a letter to the judge asking him to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”

Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, described in wrenching detail the physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.

Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.

“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.

She said she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”

Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.

Speaking before the sentencing, prosecutor Christy Slavik said Combs has not accepted responsibility for his actions.

“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said.

Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”

Arguing for a lesser sentence, Nicole Westmoreland, one of Combs’s lawyers, called him an “inspiration” to the Black community and a social justice crusader.

“No, Combs is not larger than life,” she said. “He’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes.”

But he is remorseful and “it’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison.”

Combs’s six adult children each delivered an emotional plea on their father’s behalf, with the eldest Quincy Brown calling him “a changed man.”

“Please, please give our family the chance to heal together,” said one of his daughters, D’Lila Combs. “Not as headlines but as human beings.”

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