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Neil Young

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood is turning 50 this fall, and to mark the occasion owner Lou Adler has announced that Neil Young will return to the stage for an intimate anniversary concert on Sept. 20, 50 years to the day that he headlined the opening night at the iconic concert venue in 1973.

The concert will benefit The Painted Turtle and Bridge School. Additional performers slated to mark the 50th anniversary will be announced in the coming weeks. Fans can sign up for information on ticket sales and other updates at theroxyturns50.com .

Acts like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, The Ramones, Chuck Berry, Frank Zappa, Richard Pryor, Guns ‘N Roses and many, many more played the venue in the early stages of their careers. It’s also the spot where Adler launched “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in the U.S. and where comedy duo Cheech & Chong got their start.

A slew of other special events are scheduled to take place, too, including a partnership with the Grammy Museum and the West Hollywood Library. The Grammy Museum Roxy50 exhibit will open on Sept. 15 with a special film screening and a Q&A session with Adler and his sons, Nic and Cisco. The exhibit will feature Roxy memorabilia, including the original piano from On The Rox, which has been played by Elton John, John Lennon and others. There will also be behind-the-scenes photos of the performers and special guests and items from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which made its U.S. debut at The Roxy with Jack Nicholson, Cher and Mick Jagger in the crowd in 1974.

Inside the West Hollywood Library, an exhibit will open on Sept. 12 with a reception and conversation with Lou and Nic Adler and feature photographs from the venue curated by Jasen Emmons with written anecdotes from the key players involved. The exhibition will run through May 2024 and is free to the public with advance online RSVP.

FILE - Britney Spears appears at the 29th annual GLAAD Media Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on April 12, 2018. San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama said Thursday, July 6, 2023, that he believes Spears grabbed him from behind as he was walking into a restaurant at a Las Vegas casino, and that the security detail he was with pushed the pop star away. Associated Press

Britney Spears to release new song ‘Mind Your Business’ with will.i.am on Friday

Britney Spears is getting back to work — this time with former Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am.

The Grammy Award-winning songstress has teamed up the hip-hop hit-maker for a new song titled “Mind Your Business.”

Will.i.am teased the new release on his social media accounts Monday night.

“Uh oh!!! This summer is about to be hot!!!” he wrote in the caption of his post, along with a snippet of the song.

“You are now rocking with will.i.am,” he starts off the brief clip. Spears then finishes the line with her popular catchphrase “Britney b—,” off the 2007 track “Gimme More.”

“Mind your business, b—,” she adds at the end.

According to the original post, the song was set to drop July 18. But will.i.am took to Twitter Tuesday afternoon to correct the date to July 21. Most new music is released on Friday.

Will.i.am and the 41-year-old former teen idol previously teamed up on 2013′s “Scream & Shout,” which was featured on the former’s solo opus, “willpower.” Their other collaborations include “Big Fat Base,” from Spears’ 2011 “Femme Fatale” album, and the lead track “Work B—,” from her 2013 “Britney Jean” set.

Spears hasn’t released original solo music since her 2016 album, “Glory.”

Last year, not long after her 13-year conservatorship came to an end , the “Toxic” singer’s collaboration with Elton John was officially released. “Hold Me Closer,” a dance remix of John’s 1971 classic “Tiny Dancer,” won a 2023 Electronic Music Award.

Also recently announced was Spears’ hotly anticipated memoir, “The Woman in Me,” due for an October release.

Rita Ora poses for a portrait to promote her new album "You & I" on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at The Bowery Hotel in New York. Associated Press

Rita Ora bets on herself with 'You & I,' her 'personal letter' to fans

NEW YORK — It's hard to imagine a paparazzi-followed, international pop star losing confidence, but that was Rita Ora.

“I think, as humans, we always tend to doubt ourselves. And so, I think over the course of my last album… a lot happened,” said the 32-year-old singer, who recently married, changed record labels and became busier with more TV gigs. “I lost a bit of confidence.”

Now, the multi-hyphenated entertainer is betting on herself with her new album, “You & I ,” out now, which she says is a “personal letter” to her fans. She partly credits her newlywed husband, filmmaker Taika Waititi, with regaining her musical mojo.

“The whole album is not just about him,” she said. “But it definitely has a lot to do with my connections with my family and my friends… and everything that inspires me.”

“You & I” marks Ora’s third studio release following 2018’s “Phoenix.” The 12-track project boasts credits from executive producer Oak Felder (Alicia Keys, Usher, Ariana Grande), along with Rollo (David Guetta, BTS) and Keith Sorrells (John Legend, Demi Lovato).

It also signifies a personal milestone for Ora; she owns this album's master recordings — advice she says she received from icon Prince — and co-wrote every song, something she’d never done, by converting diary entries into songs.

“There are the artists who sort of take the reins of their creativity to kind of help tell their story a little bit better, and Rita definitely is one of those,” said Felder. “Rita’s life is a (expletive) movie… so emotionally dramatic and so emotionally entertaining and such a fulfilling thing that she has been able to live, and so I think that’s why it’s really easy for her to get to the studio to push the process and be like, ‘I’m going to write about this.’”

The deeply personal album has only one collaboration, Fatboy Slim, on “Praising You” which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s dance/mix show airplay chart — a rework of his 1998 hit, “Praise You.”

The “Anywhere” artist released two other singles: “You Only Love Me” and her current single, “Don’t Think Twice.” Her “Thor: Love and Thunder” husband deployed his directorial skills for the latter's music video. Joining that trio of singles are the radio-friendly tune the infectious, four-on-the-floor “Unfeel It” as well as her ballad title track.

“’You & I’ is actually the song I wrote the day after I got married. And it was crazy because I was so hung over… my brain was like mush,” recalled Ora, who has appeared in nearly a dozen feature films. “I basically wanted to write the ultimate love song… there’s a lot of references of classic love songs.”

There are also introspective records layered beneath the drums and synths. She dedicates “Shape of Me” to her mother, a breast cancer survivor, and reveals pursing therapy in the bouncy, self-reflective “Girl in the Mirror.”

“Your voice — like your soul, like your spirit — experiences things and it changes it… When I hear Rita sing, I can hear those experiences,” said the Grammy-nominated producer Felder. “I think the pressure of having gone through everything that she’s gone through, the fact that this project was so important to her and so important to her career really, really, really informed how complex and how deep her vocals felt on the record. There is a rare sampling of artists that I have worked with where that is the case.”

Creating pop smashes like “Let You Love Me,” "Poison" and “Body on Me,” Ora was born in Kosovo (formerly Yugoslavia) before her family fled to London due to the persecution of Albanians as the war-torn region fell. Growing up in Notting Hill, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School and later signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. Her 2012 “Ora” album launched a successful debut career with hits like “R.I.P.,” “How We Do (Party),” and “Hot Right Now.” She would later sue the company, believing she wasn’t a priority.

Currently, Ora is prepping a deluxe version of “You & I” loaded with star-studded features (which she’s keeping under wraps), and will continue judging duties on “The Voice: Australia.” She also appears in “Wonderwell,” the final film by Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, released last month.

But at this moment, she’s focused on her first creative love, hoping it’s a reflection of her endurance, during what she defines as her latest “era," a perspective weaved into her self-empowering, “Look at Me Now.”

“When you get home and it’s quiet and you’re lying down in bed like everyone else, you ask yourself all these questions and self-doubts,” reflected Ora. “I wanted people to listen to that and think there is a light on the other side, if you just really kind of keep at it and not give up.”

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