Shonka Dukureh: Last News

Shonka Dukureh, who most recently played the role of Big Mama Thornton in the movie Elvis, has died at the age of 44.

 actress and blues singer Shonka Dukureh was found dead in her Nashville apartment Thursday, ET can confirm. She was 44.According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Dukureh, who played Big Mama Thornton in the Baz Luhrmann production, was found dead Thursday morning, in the bedroom of her apartment that she shared with her two young children.

Ellise Shafer Shonka Dukureh, the singer and actor who portrayed Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” was found dead in her Nashville, Tenn. apartment on Thursday, police confirmed. She was 44.According to a tweet from the Metro Nashville Police Department, no foul play is evident in Dukureh’s death.

Rolling Stone, songwriter Jerry Leiber said, “I had to write a song for her that basically said “Go f— yourself,” but how do you do it without actually saying it?”“Her” is Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton and the song Leiber was referring to was her biggest hit, 1952’s “Hound Dog.” On the classic song, she calls out a no-good cheater who just won’t carry his weight. Thornton sings with the spirit of the blues, the power of gospel and serious gusto.The most well-known remake was done by Elvis Presley, who’s 1956 version hit #1 on Billboard’s “Best Selling Popular Records” list. Elvis’ life is the subject of a new, eponymous movie directed by Baz Luhrmann and yes, Big Mama is featured.

Doja Cat has shared the video for her May single “Vegas,” the lead offering from the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, ELVIS, coming to theaters June 24. The soundtrack will arrive the same day via Iona/RCA Records.

Doja Cat has shared the video for her new track ‘Vegas’, which she recorded for the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s new Elvis Presley biopic.The footage, which you can see below, features a cameo by Shonka Dukureh, the singer and actress who plays early rock n roll pioneer Big Mama Thornton in Luhrmann’s Elvis. Thornton’s original version of ‘Hound Dog’ is incorporated into Doja Cat’s new track, and was famously re-recorded by Presley to huge success.Eminem, Tame Impala, Stevie Nicks and Jack White are among the others who will feature on the soundtrack.It will also include “original songs and recordings” by Presley himself along with the film’s star, Austin Butler.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticKacey Musgraves has recorded a version of the 1961 Elvis Presley classic “Can’t Help Falling in Love” for the upcoming soundtrack to director Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” biopic, the singer has revealed.The country-pop star noted that she had covered the song Monday while walking the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala. Musgraves was there with Luhrmann, Priscilla Presley and members of the film’s cast.Details on the soundtrack have been hard to come by before now, with little publicly revealed beyond the fact that the first single from the album, Doja Cat’s “Vegas,” which includes an interpolation of the Presley hit “Hound Dog.” will be out this Friday.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticDoja Cat’s single from Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” soundtrack, “Vegas,” has been given a release date — May 6 — after the singer-rapper debuted a live version of the tune at the Coachella festival over the last two weekends.The single precedes a full film companion album that has loosely been scheduled for summer by RCA, it was also announced Monday. That label news is not exactly unexpected, since RCA has been Elvis Presley’s label home since the late 1950s.Although “Vegas” is an original song, live snippets reveal the Doja Cat track does incorporate a Presley classic, “Hound Dog.” (Fans may have to wait till May 6 to find out whether “Viva Las Vegas” also appears in the final studio version, as might be expected from the title.) Luhrmann was out at Coachella for its second weekend, supporting three artists associated with “Elvis” as a film or soundtrack — including Yola, who plays Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the movie, and Shonka Dukureh, who portrays Big Mama Thornton, as well as Doja Cat.