Sir Rod Stewart hires £20 tribute act 'Rud Stewart' to sing for son's birthday in hilarious gag

Leonard Cohen is the latest artist whose song rights have been bought, after his estate reached a deal with the Hipgnosis Songs Fund for an undisclosed sum.According to Rolling Stone, the deal includes all 278 songs that Cohen wrote, including his most popular songs ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Suzanne’, ‘So Long, Marianne’, ‘First We Take Manhattan’ and more.The investment company obtained the “songwriter’s share” of 127 songs from Cohen’s Stranger Music catalogue, which covers the period of the inception of late musician’s career through to the year 2000; derivative works pushes the total to 211 songs.Hipgnosis also acquired the ownership of 100 per cent of the copyrights, “publisher’s share” and “songwriter’s share” of royalties of the latter part of his catalogue, spanning from 2001 to his death in 2016.“To now be the custodians and managers of Leonard Cohen’s incomparable songs is a wonderful yet very serious responsibility that we approach with excitement and fully understand the importance of,” Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis said in a statement.“Leonard wrote words and songs that have changed our lives, none more so obvious than ‘Hallelujah’ but there are so many more that we look forward to reminding the world of on a daily basis.

The Power Of The Dog, calling it “very odd”.Cumberbatch was referencing criticism of the film from Sam Elliott, who recently referred to the film as a “piece of shit”.Speaking as part of BAFTA’s Film Sessions on Friday (March 4), Cumberbatch discussed why it’s necessary to portray characters like Phil Burbank, who he plays in the movie, in order to “look under the hood” of these type of characters and “see what their struggle is and why that’s there in the first place”.Going on to reference Elliott’s criticism directly, he added (via Digital Spy): “I’m trying very hard not to say anything about a very odd reaction that happened the other day on a radio podcast over here.He added that he didn’t want to “stir over the ashes” of the comment, as “I haven’t heard it so it’s unfair for me to comment in detail on it,” but that “someone really took offence to the West being portrayed in this way.”Cumberbatch then went back to his character in the film: “These people still exist in our world. Whether it’s on our doorstep or whether it’s down the road or whether it’s someone we meet in a bar or pub or on the sports field, there is aggression and anger and frustration and an inability to control or know who you are in that moment that causes damage to that person and, as we know, damage to those around them.“There’s no harm in looking at a character to get to the root causes of that.

Charli XCX finally made her Saturday Night Live debut last night (March 5) – watch her performances of ‘Beg For You‘ and ‘Baby‘ below.The singer was originally set to appear with Caroline Polachek and Christine And The Queens on the long-running show last December, but her appearance was cancelled at the last minute due to COVID restrictions leading to “limited crew,” leaving her “devastated and heartbroken”.On last night’s episode, hosted by Oscar Isaac, Charli performed versions of two songs from her forthcoming album ‘Crash’, which is set to come out later this month (March 18).Watch the pair of performances below:After the recent release of ‘Baby’, Charli responded to critics of her new single, saying in a series of tweets that she’s unaffected by negative comments and is “living my best life”.One fan called her “mother”, to which she said: “If u wanna throw around midlife crisis fucking throw it at me. I’m getting older, I’m getting hotter, my tits are stunning, I’m in great shape, I’m dancing, I’m progressing and I’m living my best life – and that the tea.”The fan in question had written: “These charli singles so far….

Sting has shared a powerful performance of his 1985 track ‘Russians’ in support of the Ukraine – you can watch it below.Originally released during the Cold War period, the song expressed a hope that both the US and Soviet Union would find some kind of common humanity before destroying the world through nuclear warfare.Now, with the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the song has once again, sadly, found relevance, and Sting has posted a video of himself performing it in aid of Help Ukraine, an initiative that sends medicine and humanitarian aid to a warehouse on the Ukrainian border in Poland.“I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again,” he says at the beginning of the performance. “But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbour, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity.“For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment – We, all of us, love our children.

Harry Potter star, who played Lavender Brown, is pregnant with her fourth child, and has become increasingly unwell after testing positive for Covid a couple of weeks ago.The actress took to Instagram to share a picture of her legs from a hospital bed.She penned in view of her 209,000 followers: "Triage, once again……"Anyone else had covid in the 3rd trimester & had it hit them like a tonne of bricks for weeks?"She added: "Also - has anyone taken the anti-nausea drug and it made them feel worse?"A post shared by JeSsIe CaVE (@jessiecave)Many social media users took to the comments to wish the actress a speedy recovery and share their concern.Devonmurrayofficial said: "Jessie, I’m so sorry you’re going through this now.

EastEnders favourites have often changed their appearance after leaving the soap and moving on to other avenues in their careers, but some notable stars have had complete transformations. From the abusive Trevor Morgan, played by Alex Ferns, to Danny Dyer's evil Aunt Babe, played by Annette Badland some actors are unrecognisable from their days working on Albert Square. Fans will also remember Bradley Branning actor Charlie Clements became a fan-favourite on the BBC soap, but soon after his character's dramatic death the star opted to leave fame behind altogether.

Saturday Night Takeaway fans were left baffled on Saturday night as Ant and Dec apologised to viewers for “rude words” on their hit ITV show. The popular hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, both 46, apologised to the viewers of their family show for naughty language used.

"And then it's work and that's kind of the pecking order."And then it's fun," she added.Chemmy knows more than anyone the importance of prioritising health as she suffered horrific injuries following a skiing crash which saw her break her right leg in two places in 2010.As a result of that and other skiing accidents, the mother-of-two has been vocal about the pain she has faced throughout her life.However, while filming Ski Sunday last year, Chemmy started taking Dragonfly CBD, which she credits with helping her to get a better night's sleep and managing her pain.She said: "I couldn't believe the difference it made. I felt more flexible, had no pain, and my quality of sleep was so much better.

She went on to praise her home country and all it has done for refugees and immigrants from war-torn countries. “Very kindly and very humanely, Sweden has done the right thing by allowing in immigrants and refugees from poor and war-torn countries,” Ulrika wrote. But she added that they are sadly beginning to “buckle”. The presenter explained that she will never relent, despite being made to feel that she has to “earn” her passport. “So, I now have to effectively earn my Swedish passport by stating every time I’ve visited my home country.“But no matter how hard they try to make me give it up, I will never relent. I was born Swedish and wish to die Swedish.“So, over my dead body, Sweden.

Laura Hamilton, 39, has suffered fresh heartache after having to move house yet again yesterday following her split from her estranged husband Alex Goward. The star took to Instagram this morning to reveal her filming plans in Spain for A Place In The Sun had also been derailed due to an unfortunate health issue.The property expert shared a photo of herself holding a lateral flow test up to the camera, showing she had tested positive for Covid.Laura wrote alongside it in view of her 153,000 followers: “Was supposed to fly to Spain today to film!”The mum-of-two then issued an apology to her team from the Channel 4 show.She added: “Sorry to let my team down @aplaceinthesunofficial.”It comes after Laura detailed the hectic time she has been having, needing to move again as her house is about to become "uninhabitable".She penned on her Instagram Stories yesterday afternoon: "On the move again!"Next week my house will inhabitable so today is...

Shane Warne died at the age of 52 after a suspected heart attack while in Thailand.The sports star's long-time manager James Erskine has now provided a heartbreaking update on how his family are doing after such a devastating loss.Shane was married to Simone Callahan from 1995 to 2005, with the couple having three children together.They welcomed Jackson, 23, Brooke, 24, and Summer, 20, before their split.James told the Nine Network's Today morning show in Australia: "The three children are in complete shock."I spoke to them yesterday and... Jackson just said, 'We expect him to walk in the door.This is like a bad dream'."He continued: "Keith, Shane's father, is a pretty strong individual, but like everybody, he's just shattered, they can't believe what's happened."Shane's son Jackson recently spoke to Men's Health about the strong relationship he shared with his father.He said: "I can always remember just smiling."So, I think he did a great job.

Susanna Reid, 51, has been on Good Morning Britain since 2014, after she left BBC Breakfast, with Piers Morgan, 56, joining her in 2015.The presenter has spoken in a new interview about her time working with Piers and the "difficult" times they had on the show.Piers quit Good Morning Britain a year ago today after his argument with weatherman Alex Beresford about Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview.Reflecting on her time with Piers on the show, Susanna admitted it was "really difficult" at times, due to the stories they had to cover.Speaking to The Sun's Fabulous Magazine, she said: "I remember early on, the rows about the role of women and feminism, and those arguments felt like the big issue at the time, and then, of course, we moved on to Brexit and Trump."We went through some really difficult times together as a team and those were very powerful moments."And when it came to the lockdown, the pandemic and holding the government to account, he was just unrivalled at holding their feet to the fire, but then it ended."Susanna then spoke about how their relationship is going now following Piers' explosive GMB exit.She continued: "We stay in touch and he’s a really important person in my life."We had such an amazing time and that was an incredible dynamic."He really put his imprint on the programme and it was very powerful."All presenting gigs come to an end at some point, don’t they? As they will for all of us."He’s a friend of mine and that won’t change."Piers' work relationship with ITV ended shortly after the presenter stormed off set after his argument with Alex, where he insisted he did not believe anything the Duchess of Sussex had said in her Oprah interview.During the touching interview, Meghan admitted

Kaley Cuoco is the latest star supporting Pete Davidson after Kanye West appeared to bury him alive in the music video for his new song, Eazy.The Praise God rapper, 44, sparked intense backlash for the clip, released earlier this week, with fans branding it ‘disgusting’.The Saturday Night Live star – who is currently dating Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian – has yet to address the video publicly, but a string of famous faces have lined up to defend him on social media, including pal James Gunn.Taking to Twitter, the Suicide Squad director penned: ‘For the record, Pete Davidson is one of the nicest, sweetest guys I know. ‘A truly generous, tender & funny spirit, he treats everyone around him with respect.’The CommentsByCelebs Instagram account highlighted that Kim had ‘liked’ his post, sharing a screenshot on their official page – where Kaley also slipped in to add her name to his supporters.Sliding into the comments below, the Big Bang Theory actress simply wrote: ‘Fact ❤️.’The pair have grown close since working on the upcoming comedy, Meet Cute, which wrapped last year.Pete has been embroiled in drama with Kanye over the last few months, following his budding relationship with Kim.Things have escalated in recent weeks, with the dad-of-four taking aim at the comedian in now-deleted Instagram posts, branding him a d**khead and begging for his ex-wife back.The Grammy-winner was met with fury this week when he released the music video for Eazy, and could be seen burying the actor in animated scenes.‘God saved me from the crash, just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass,’ he rapped as the accompanying video showed his animated character dragging what appeared to be a restrained Pete with a bag over his head.After removing the bag

Josh Hartnett and Tamsin Egerton have reportedly ‘tied the knot’ in a secret ceremony after being together for 10 years.The actor, 43, whose film credits include Pearl Harbour, Black Hawk Down and The Black Daliah, has been in a relationship with Tamsin, 33, since 2012. The pair are parents to three children, age six, four and two, and can now finally call themselves husband and wife.

Taron Egerton left fans concerned after he fainted on stage during the opening night of his new West End play, Cock.The 32-year-old was performing in a new production of Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre, in London on Saturday, when he passed out.According to reports, one of his co-stars stopped the performance and the safety curtain came down while he was treated.A doctor in the audience rushed backstage to help, with director Marianne Elliott appearing on stage with an update after a 40-minute break.She took the moment to quell everyone’s fears, explaining that Taron was ‘absolutely fine’ after the incident.Understudy Joel Harper-Jackson stepped in to his role when the play eventually continued.A statement from the play’s production read: ‘During this evening’s first preview of Mike Bartlett’s play Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre, Taron Egerton fainted towards the end of the performance.‘A doctor who was in the audience attended to Taron immediately after the incident, and whilst he felt fine, it was decided that Taron’s understudy, Joel Harper-Jackson would continue in the role to complete the performance.’Taron has yet to speak out publicly over his health scare.Cock will return to the stage for the next scheduled performance on March 7, and will run until June 4.Damian Hurley pays tribute to 'father figure' Shane Warne following his death aged 52Charli XCX gets real about perils of social media expectations: 'People see me as tough''Gutted' Ed Sheeran spoke to Shane Warne on phone days before 'amazing' friend's deathThe production, a rendition of Mike Bartlett’s 2009 play, also stars Jonathan Bailey, Jade Anouka and Phil Daniels.The synopsis reads: ‘John (Jonathan Bailey) is happy in himself, and with his boyfriend

UFC 272 on Saturday.Covington secured victory via unanimous decision after outmanoeuvring his opponent at a sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but the feud between the fighters looks anything but over."He’s a b***h. The b***h can wrestle, though," Masvidal said in his post-fight press conference."To lose to a b***h like that, obviously no one wants to lose to a coward like that.

workout.The 53-year-old made headlines last month as she said she's often hit on by men half her age thanks to her hot body.And she showed exactly why that is in her latest Instagram post.Fitness coach Andrea was seen showing off her muscles as she wore a teeny outfit at the gym.This included a black sports bra, which displayed her cleavage as well as some tiny patterned shorts.Andrea was also rocking a white baseball cap and hand guards and accessorised her outfit with a silver heart-shaped necklace.The gran appeared to be makeup-free as she worked up a sweat, however kept it glam with bright red nails.Andrea also displayed her washboard abs in other snaps as she got to work on the machines.Captioning the post, Andrea, who is soon set to celebrate her 54th birthday, wrote: "Tic tac, tic tac, soon a new cycle starts in my life."Every new life cycle brings a lot of reflection at least for me."Life is wonderful and very exciting if you are believer."I am a believer, I am a prayer, I am connected with high sources of energy and exercising a lot the positive mindset and unconditional love. I am not better, not either worst, I am just my self, and as much I care for peoples life’s, I expect the same back…"Who says you get old with years are completely wrong.

Rud Stewart, said: “Happy Birthday Liam, you’re in my heart.“Remember, no matter how old you feel, you’ll never be as old, p****d up or washed up as me, Rod.“This is for you, from Rod and Penny.”He went on to song Rod’s hits including Have I told You Lately That I Love You and Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?The impersonator took to Instagram today to thank the singer and Penny for “cheering me up in theses difficult times”.Louise Redknapp ‘considered stepping in front of bus' amid Jamie splitHe then took to his Story to tell fans he had received a comment from a troll after his singing gained press attention.“Obviously people don’t like it when somebody gets a break,” he told his 13,000 followers.“But thank you Penny Lancaster and Rod for requesting

SIR Rod Stewart paid £25 for a birthday surprise for his 26-year-old son Liam — a Rod Stewart tribute act. The £170million rocker and wife Penny Lancaster, 49, asked “Rud Stewart” to record a jokey message featuring nods to the star’s hits.  In the video, Rud — real name Michael Dean — said: “Happy Birthday Liam, you’re in my heart.  “Remember, no matter how old you feel, you’ll never be as old, p****d up or washed up as me, Rod.  “This is for you, from Rod and Penny.”  He then sings Have I told You Lately That I Love You, and Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? dressed in one of the rocker’s classic leopard-print shirts.  Liam, 76-year-old Rod’s son from his marriage to Rachel Hunter, plays ice hockey for Milton Keynes Lightning.

Multimillionaire Sir Rod Stewart paid £20 for a hilarious gift for his son Liam's 26th birthday.

Penny Lancaster and Sir Rod Stewart's household on 16 February.The couple's youngest son, Aiden, marked his 10th birthday, and Loose Women star Penny treated her Instagram followers to a peek inside the family's celebrations.MORE: Loose Women stars' best wedding photos revealed: See their stunning dresses WATCH: Penny Lancaster's son Aiden shows off his favourite Christmas presentJust like his dad, Aiden is a passionate supporter of Celtic FC, and Penny decided to bake a cake in honour of the Scottish football club for the birthday boy to enjoy.MORE: Penny Lancaster reveals weight loss secret as she shares new photoShe shared a photo of her incredible creation, which was covered with turquoise and green icing and featured a Celtic-themed