Jennifer Hudson hasn’t released an album in a decade, but she never stops singing.

“Everyone is like, ‘Oh it’s been 10 years since you’ve had an album’ and I’m like, I don’t feel that way because I sing in everything that I do,” Hudson told CNN at the time. “You know, whether it’s a soundtrack, whether it’s the happy place thing, it doesn’t even matter what it is, I’m singing.”

Hudson’s fans will be pleased to hear that she will be releasing a Christmas album shortly, something she has always desired to accomplish.

Jennifer Hudson Is Ready For The Holidays And The New Season Of Her Talk Show

“I feel like throughout my career, I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me to do and now it’s my turn to do what I want do,” Hudson told the crowd. “That was one of the key things I wanted to accomplish. I’m a holiday fanatic. I enjoy the holidays and simply want to share, which is why it’s called ‘The Gift of Love.'”

The EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award) winner is also embarking on the third season of her self-titled daytime talk program.

Every day, Hudson attempts to offer joy to her audience as well as herself.

“What does that look like for me?” You know, when I wake up in the morning, what will make me grin for the day? What can I do to make myself happy? What can I do to have fun? “What can I do for myself?” she enquired. “Accentuating the positive and not necessarily that things have to be negative to choose joy but making a point to find your joy your way.”

She accomplished precisely that in July, in a viral video of Hudson singing “Hallelujah” in the Chateau de Versailles.

Hudson stated that given how she felt in her spirit at the time, as well as the “amazing” acoustics of the venue, she couldn’t resist the temptation to sing.

“I never would’ve guessed the impact that it would have because after that I’m walking around Paris and everybody was like ‘Oh my God, when you sang ‘Hallelujah,’ your performance’ and I was like ‘What performance?,'” she recalled.” “I was simply reacting to whatever was on my mind at the time. “I really was.”

Jennifer Hudson Is Ready For The Holidays And The New Season Of Her Talk Show

Hudson has trusted her spirit since she began her career as an “American Idol” contestant 20 years ago. She believes it is fate that she is now interviewing stars on her syndicated show, even though she was previously interviewed.

“Everything in my life comes full circle. “Think about it,” Hudson suggested. “I was a contestant on ‘American Idol’. The next thing you know, I’m on ‘The Voice’ as a coach. I was a celebrity during the interview, and now I’m a host interviewing celebrities. So it takes a minute to transition to it.”

Season 3 of “The Jennifer Hudson Show” premieres Monday.

SOURCE | CNN

Sean “Diddy” Combs, the notorious hip-hop entrepreneur, faces federal sex trafficking and racketeering allegations in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday. He was arrested on Monday in New York after being indicted by a federal grand jury. The arrest and indictment after a months-long sex trafficking investigation and 10 months after a slew of women came forward with sexual and other mistreatment claims.

Prior to the unsealing of the indictment, Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, stated that they knew what the allegations would be and that Combs was “innocent of these charges.”

What To Know About Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Indictment

Here are the essential details from the three-count indictment.

Alleged assaults stretch back to 2008.
The indictment includes extensive details about Combs’ alleged assaults on several women since 2008. He is accused of “verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual” abuse, as well as having “hit, kicked, threw objects at, and dragged victims, at times, by their hair” in assaults that took “days or weeks to heal.”

According to the indictment, Combs orchestrated sexual encounters between his victims and male sex workers he referred to as “Freak Offs” — “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”

According to prosecutors, these encounters may last for days and frequently included many commercial sex workers, with Combs drugging the participants to “keep the victims obedient and compliant.” The raids on Combs’ houses in Los Angeles and Miami resulted in the seizure of supplies for the “Freak Offs,” including pills and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to prosecutors.

Combs is accused of leading a criminal business.
The indictment claims that Combs and others he knew were members of a criminal organization that engaged in a variety of illegal activities, including sex trafficking, forced labor, prostitution-related transportation and coercion, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice. Combs is accused of leading the illicit operations, and the indictment alleges that individuals who worked for him, such as security personnel, domestic staff, personal assistants, and “high-ranking supervisors,” were all involved in the criminal activity, either consciously or unknowingly.

According to prosecutors, Combs’ supporters used violence to maintain and safeguard his control, including the use of weapons, threats of violence, coercion, and verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual assault.

“Combs did not do this all on his own,” stated Damian Williams, the United States Attorney in Manhattan, at a press conference on Tuesday morning. “He used his business and employees of that business and other close associates to get his way.”

Williams also said that Combs workers were involved in organizing and coordinating the “Freak Offs,” including supplying items, cleaning hotel rooms after the encounters, and assisting in the cover-up of the assaults.

The racketeering conspiracy allegation has been widely utilized to bring down the Mafia and drug cartels.

Prosecutors allege that Combs used firearms to intimidate and threaten victims and witnesses of his crimes, leading them to remain silent. Law enforcement officials said they discovered guns and ammo, including three AR-15s with “defaced” serial numbers, during raids on his houses in Los Angeles and Miami.

The indictment also accuses Combs of exploiting his victims’ desire to advance their careers in the music industry by utilizing his money and influence. Officials also claimed that Combs exploited recordings of the “Freak Offs” to prevent the victims from coming forward. According to authorities, Combs controlled his victims’ housing, tracked their location, dictated their looks, monitored their medical records, and supplied them with narcotics.

Another court filing outlines Combs and his colleagues’ other acts of violence and intimidation, such as kidnapping one individual at gunpoint and ripping open a car’s convertible top to drop a Molotov cocktail inside, causing the car to explode. According to the lawsuit, these events can be corroborated by police reports, fire department records, and witnesses.

What To Know About Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Indictment

The investigation is ongoing, and further arrests are possible.
Prosecutors say they’ve interviewed over 50 victims and witnesses to Combs’ abuse, but they expect more to come forward with their stories.

Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, prosecutors have stated that they are unable to divulge certain specifics, such as information regarding the witnesses who have submitted or will provide testimony.

Williams said Tuesday that he wants Combs imprisoned while he awaits trial. When asked if Combs’ acquaintances or employees will face charges, Williams said he “can’t take anything off the table.”

“Our investigation is very active and ongoing,” she said.

SOURCE | AP

Los Angeles — John David “JD” Souther, a prolific songwriter and performer who helped establish the country-rock style that emerged in Southern California in the 1970s through collaborations with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, died at the age of 78.

Souther, who co-wrote some of the Eagles’ most famous songs, including “Best of My Love,” “James Dean,” “New Kid in Town,” and “Heartache Tonight,” died on Tuesday at his home in New Mexico, according to a post on his website.

He has also collaborated with James Taylor, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt, and many others, and has achieved success as a solo artist. He was scheduled to begin a tour with Karla Bonoff on September 24 in Phoenix, which has now been canceled.

JD Souther, Who Penned ‘Heartache Tonight’ And Other Eagles Hits, Dies At 78

When Souther was elected into the Composers Hall of Fame in 2013, he was dubbed “a principal architect of the Southern California sound and a major influence on a generation of songwriters.” He was also at the center of the social scene, with girlfriends including Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Nicks, who described him in a 1982 interview with High Times magazine as “very, very, very male chauvinistic and very sweet, cute, wonderful but very Texas.”

Souther was born in Detroit and raised in Amarillo, Texas. He traveled to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, where he met fellow Michigan native Glenn Frey, the Eagles’ founding member and guitarist. The two formed a long-term partnership, beginning with a band named Longbranch Pennywhistle. Frey credited Souther with introducing him to country music.

“Our first year together will always seem like yesterday to me,” Souther said in a statement following Frey’s death in 2016. “His remarkable ability to tell a great joke and that brilliant groove that lived inside him are with me even now, amid this loss and pain. “The music and love are indestructible.”

Souther was so close to the Eagles that he appeared on the back cover of their 1973 album “Desperado,” which depicted Souther and others reenacting the capture of the famed Dalton Gang. He recalled his first encounter with Frey at The Troubadour, a prominent West Hollywood music club, as “the best study in songwriting I can imagine.”

“So many great songwriters came through — Laura Nyro, Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman, Elton John, James Taylor, Tim Hardin, Carole King, Rick Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, Tim Buckley, Gordon Lightfoot, Taj Mahal and more,” according to a statement posted on his website. “It seems impossible to conceive that much music in just a year and a half, but that was my life, and the Troubadour was our university.

“It’s also where I met Linda Ronstadt and where Don Henley and Glenn Frey met to form this little country rock band called Eagles that would go on to make musical history,” Souther later recalled.

Souther made his solo debut in 1972, before establishing The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band with former Byrds member Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay. In 1976, he released Black Rose, his second solo album, which featured a duet with Ronstadt, his one-time girlfriend, called “If You Have Crying Eyes.” Other duets he’d recorded with her included “Prisoner in Disguise,” “Sometimes You Can’t Win,” and “Hearts Against the Wind,” the latter of which appeared in the 1980 film “Urban Cowboy.”

JD Souther, Who Penned ‘Heartache Tonight’ And Other Eagles Hits, Dies At 78

His biggest solo hit was “You’re Only Lonely,” which appeared on the same-titled 1979 album.

He also composed the songs “Run Like a Thief” for Bonnie Raitt, as well as “Faithless Love” and “White Rhythm and Blues” for Ronstadt. He collaborated and sung with James Taylor on the song “Her Town Too.”

Other singers with whom he collaborated were Don Henley, Christopher Cross, Dan Fogelberg, and Roy Orbison.a

He has acted in television shows such as “thirtysomething,” “Nashville,” and “Purgatory,” as well as films including “Postcards from the Edge,” “My Girl 2,” and “Deadline.”

SOURCE | AP