7 reasons why Leeds has to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest

Jonathan Cohen The red-hot music rights space has a major new entrant in Litmus Music, which is being launched by veteran music executives Hank Forsyth (pictured at left) and Dan McCarroll (right) with $500 million of funding in partnership with Carlyle Global Credit, Variety can reveal. Litmus will acquire and manage music rights in both recorded music and publishing, with an eye on diverse genres and vintages.

Britney Spears has slammed a Catholic church for refusing to host her wedding. The ‘Toxic’ singer, 40, said her nuptials with Sam Asghari couldn’t be held at St Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California, as she wasn’t a practicing member – but claimed she was stopped from attending due to Covid restrictions. She shared a photo on her Instagram of the venue, saying: “I wanted to get married there.

Paris Hilton has reacted to recent collaboration rumors between Britney Spears and Sir Elton John.The socialite, 41, spoke with Paul Barewijk during his show, Paul Voor Je Neus, and said of the collaboration: 'It's going to be iconic. I just heard it a couple of days ago in Ibiza, and it's...

Paris Hilton is spilling the tea!

Paris Hilton has given two thumbs up to Britney Spears and Elton John’s reported “Tiny Dancer” duet.

ABBA’s Benny Anderson and Elton John have worked together on a new song mash-up for TikTok.The pair remotely performed a live rendition of each of their songs before they were blended in the TikTok audio app.Anderson played ABBA’s 1979 hit ‘Chiquitita’ while John played his 1973 smash, ‘Bennie And The Jets’.Anderson can be seen sat at his piano playing the opening bars to ‘Chiquitita’ before it later pans to John who is sat at his piano playing ‘Benny And The Jets’.“Heard that ‘Chiquitita’ was trending again… with Elton John!” the caption on the official ABBA TikTok account reads.The TikTok user captioned the source video: “For all your gorgeous summer transitions.” The audio has since been used in over 54,000 videos on the app.Check the video out here:Heard that ’Chiquitita’ was trending again…with @Elton John! #ABBA #pop #piano ♬ Benny and Chiquitita – reymifasol  John recently began the UK leg of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in Norwich on June 15. Having first announced the first UK dates for his final ever run of shows in 2018, he had been set to play a run of rescheduled UK headline dates between October and December 2021.

Hilary Duff’s husband Matthew Koma called out Candace Cameron Bure Friday for her use of the Bruce Springsteen classic Born in the U.S.A. in a TikTok clip this past July 4.In a TikTok clip, Koma, 35, was in side-by-side frames with Cameron Bure, 46, when he spoke about the meaning of the 1984 song from Springsteen.'Yeah that, the song you’re playing? Yeah, it’s about veterans coming home from Vietnam and being treated like s***,' Koma said.

Matthew Koma is offering Candace Cameron Bure a slight correction.

JoJo Siwa isn’t the only star calling out Candace Cameron Bure.

AJ Odudu has thrown her hat in the ring as a possible presenter for Eurovision 2023, which is set to be hosted in the UK on behalf of Ukraine. Earlier this week, the BBC confirmed it would be taking charge of next year’s contest after it was announced winners Ukraine had been ruled out amid the ongoing Russian invasion.

Eurovision 2023 will be hosted in the UK - and we want to know where you think it should be staged.

Craig Hill reckons the Eurovision Song Contest WILL be held in Glasgow and has put himself forward to host it.

ITV star Lorraine Kelly has replied to fans’ pleas for her to host Eurovision 2023.The calls for Lorraine to present the song contest come after it was announced that Ukraine had agreed to transfer its hosting duties to the UK for next year.Lorraine, 62, responded to excited fans on Twitter who were keen to see the Scottish broadcaster be part of the huge-scale event.Chloe tweeted: “@reallorraine @grahnort & @ShadyLawrence as hosts if it’s Glasgow!!!”“We are poised like coiled springs,” Lorraine replied enthusiastically in view of her 709,300 followers.Another user, KSCuddd, asked: “@reallorraine @AlisonHammond @fredsirieix1 please could you present next year’s #Eurovision2023?”“Yes,” Lorraine replied, confirming once again that she would be keen for the gig.The UK is set to host the Eurovision Song Contest next year after organisers decided it could not be held in winning country Ukraine due to the ongoing war.It was chosen after the UK’s SPACEMAN singer Sam Ryder came second in this year's contest.Lead singer of 2022 winners Kalush Orchestra, Oleh Psiuk, has expressed Ukraine’s gratitude to the UK for hosting the event “in support of our country”. The winning country usually staged the following year’s competition, but the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) decided to go in a different direction after Russia's terrible invasion of Ukraine.Oleh added that he was "very sad" that Ukraine could not host the contest but he hoped it would "celebrate our beautiful, unique culture"."We, in turn, will make all efforts to help Ukraine win next year as well, so that Eurovision 2024 can take place in a peaceful country", he said.One of the hottest topics of discussion is over which UK city will be picked to host the event. Several

Britney Spears is ready to reintroduce herself to the music world. Fresh off a wedding and free from her conservatorship, Spears has recorded a remix version of Elton John’s "Tiny Dancer," according to a new report.  Per Page Six, John and Spears met in a Beverly Hills studio to record last week. Universal Music will release the track next month.  Spears had taken a hiatus from her music, with the most recent release being back in 2016 with her album, "Glory." Britney Spears is teaming up with Elton John for "Tiny Dancer." (Getty Images) She has hinted at recording new music via social media in the past, but nothing has come to fruition.  "Tiny Dancer" was originally released in 1971.

Sam Ryder said on an Instagram video addressing fans in Ukraine, "It’s Ukraine’s party, we’re just inviting them to throw it at our house. " Twitter users have started to speculate and put forward which UK presenters they hope will host the much-anticipated song contest alongside some Ukrainian presenters. Some familiar names are cropping up a lot on social media, such as This Morning's cheery host Alison Hammond, or the hilarious Graham Norton, who has been doing the UK commentary for over a decade.

Eurovision Song Contest.

nominated for the Mercury Prize and now they’ve discovered Barack Obama has been rocking out to their tunes. Y’know, just a casual week. The former president has a tradition of revealing what songs have been the soundtrack to his summer and this year, he featured stars like Beyonce (Break My Soul), Harry Styles (Music For A Sushi Restaurant), Nina Simone (Do I Move You?), and Bruce Springsteen (Dancing in the Dark).

Another summer, another playlist.

Barack Obama has diverse taste in music.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticBruce Springsteen fans have been asking to hear from the artist or his camp directly in the wake of a firestorm over extremely variable ticket costs for a 2023 U.S. tour that has gone on sale last week and this week.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFormer President Barack Obama has unveiled another of his summer playlists, and as in the past, it’s a combination of the expected — NPR-level but edgy rap and R&B, some old soul chestnuts, a smattering of alt-rock and country, a nod to his podcast-mate Bruce Springsteen, and some international gems — along with a couple of “woah!” surprises, particularly British upstarts Wet Leg. (We could give more examples, but just look below.)Like his past lists and his annual summer reading lists, it’s a combination of age-appropriate, adventurous (but not too adventurous) and family-friendly music that uniformly has a positive or socially relevant message — just like the man and the policies of his presidency, which feels so long ago.