Rita Ora celebrates her 'sexuality' in new single Heat , Entertainment News
The British pop star has just dropped her sizzling summer single Heat - the music video for which goes live at 5pm BST Friday (June 6) - and has explained that she wanted to embrace her womanhood and be "carefree and fun" after getting deep about married life to filmmaker spouse Taika Waititi on last album, You and I.
Rita, 34, told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "I wanted to really celebrate my sexuality and the way I am as a woman.
"My last album was so different, it was about my love life and getting married.
"But with this next lot of music I wanted it to be so carefree and back to how I was coming up in the industry.
"I wanted to celebrate everything I have become.
"It's not super deep, just fun."
The Hot Right Now hitmaker has been living in married bliss with Taika, 49, for three years now, and she insists she has never had a "type" and encourages her single pals to be open to everyone.
She gushed: "I feel in a really great happy place right now."
Rita added: "I have never really had a type, I have never really thought of it like that.
"It's always been about the person.
"I've never cancelled anyone out as they don't fit my perfect list of what I think's perfect.
"You don't really know until you meet someone who takes you by surprise. Being open may surprise you.
"That would be my advice.
"It's helped a lot of my friends and now I see them and they are really happy, but admit they'd have never gone for that person."
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Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
S'pore bands mark milestones with gigs: Silver Strings at 60, Mel & Joe at 55 and Lovehunters at 40
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox (Clockwise from left) Brothers Mel and Joe, members of Silver Strings and members of Lovehunters. SINGAPORE – For Singapore music acts Silver Strings, Mel & Joe and Lovehunters, age is nothing but a number. Veterans and trailblazers in the home-grown music scene, all three are staging concerts to mark milestones in their music careers. Silver Strings will stage a 60th anniversary concert – likely to be their last gig – Mel & Joe will celebrate their 55th year with a show, while Lovehunters' upcoming concert marks their 40th year anniversary. The Straits Times catches up with the three local music stalwarts to find out more about their plans for their landmark shows. Silver Strings at 60: Saying goodbye with one last show Silver Strings played their first public show opening for British icons The Rolling Stones in 1965. PHOTO: SUPREME MUSICAL CONNECTION Six decades after they made their debut, Singapore band Silver Strings are calling it a day. The rock band , which played their first public performance in 1965 – the same year Singapore gained independence – will stage their final concert at RELC Hotel International on Sept 6. Band leader and bassist Audie Ng, the only member from the group's founding line-up who is still performing, tells the Straits Times: 'I'm already 83 years old and I don't foresee being able to perform another five years from now. Silver Strings typically do concerts every five years, so at my age, I feel this will likely be my last major performance with the band.' Besides Ng, the current line-up of Silver Strings comprises singer Percival De Silva, 80; lead guitarist Johnny Yeow, 76; keyboardist and vocalist Nicholas Stravens, 70; drummer Michael Cheng, 68; and rhythm guitarist and vocalist Andrew Fleury, 62. The multi-act concert, featuring opening sets by fellow seasoned acts such as Jerry Fernandez and Neu Faces, will last 3½ hours. The Silver Strings' headline set will be two hours long and will feature covers of pop and rock hits from the 1970s to the 1980s, including evergreen songs by acts such as British bands Queen and The Kinks. They will also perform two originals released in the 1960s – You're The Boy (1965) and I'll Remember Today (1967). Both were sang by their former lead singer Shirley Nair, who moved to the United States and died in the 1980s. The four original band members – Ng, lead guitarist David Chan, rhythm guitarist Merlin Lim and drummer Danny Boy – had the same music teacher, the late Harry Martinez, and first played music together in 1963 as teenagers. They made their debut public performance at a major show – an opening set for English rock icons The Rolling Stones at the Singapore Badminton Hall in 1965. In the same year, they also performed in front of their largest audience – 20,000 people at the 1965 Miss Universe Malaysia pageant. They would go on to secure regular gigs at local venues such as the now-defunct National Theatre as well as in Hong Kong and Malaysia. 'I remember we were treated like superstars by the local audiences wherever we played,' Ng says. Silver Strings also wrote the theme song for 1964 Malay comedy Mat Tiga Suku, produced by film company Cathay-Keris Studio and starring veteran comedian Mat Sentol. The band members had cameos in the film. The band's fluid line-up through the years included many singers, including entertainment icon Anita Sarawak, who first sang with the group when she was 16. Ng says one thing that made Silver Strings stand out from their peers is their versatility. 'We were not the No. 1 band, but we can play all kinds of music. We can play songs by The Shadows, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks.' The band split up in 1971 after Ng decided to focus on the business side of music, such as organising shows, managing bands and running an instrument rental company. Over the years, Silver Strings have reunited several times for standalone shows, including gigs, also at RELC International Hotel, in 2014 and 2019. Ng takes pride in maintaining connections with the band's fans throughout the years. For example, instead of using a ticketing agency, those who want to buy tickets to their upcoming show have to message him on his personal number and meet him to collect their tickets. He says: 'We've become friends. Even those from 50 years ago, I'm still in touch with them.' Book it/Silver Strings 60th Anniversary Final Concert Where: Auditorium, RELC Hotel International, 30 Orange Grove Road When: Sept 6, 7pm Admission: $60. To buy tickets, send a WhatsApp message to Audie Ng on 9818-4198 Mel & Joe at 55: Nostalgic trip to decades past The Ferdinands brothers Joe (left) and Mel published a self-penned coffee-table book about their life in music, I Play & Sing, in 2011. The photo was taken the same year. ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN When Mel & Joe first made their public debut on television in the 1971 Talentime singing competition, older sibling Mel Ferdinands was 12 while younger brother Joe was only nine. More than half a century later, their musical bond is stronger than ever, the duo known for English cover versions tell ST in a Zoom interview. Mel, 66, says: 'What makes it interesting about Mel & Joe is this understanding we have when we're on stage. W e don't even have to say anything . I give Joe one look and he knows what we're doing for the next line or who's doing the harmony, stuff like that.' On Aug 23, the brothers will celebrate Mel & Joe's 55th anniversary with a show at the Esplanade Concert Hall. It will be a nostalgic trip for their audience, with covers of popular hits from past decades, from country and Western tunes to songs by classic pop and rock acts such as Bee Gees, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Chicago. 'The idea is for the people who lived through that era with us to rewind those years. And for the younger audience, it's also an introduction to some of the great stuff we used to have,' says Mel. Even though they are cover songs, the duo will put their own distinctive spin to their versions. Joe, 63, says: 'You do a little bit of different things here and there, you don't lose sight of who you are. That's the most important thing.' The 90-minute show will focus on different periods in their career, including the 1980s and 1990s when they were part of popular rock/pop/country band Gypsy, whose line-up included older brothers Dixie and Don. The gig will be a family affair. Don, who now lives in Perth, Australia, will fly in for a tribute performance for their brother Dennis, who died of cancer at the age of 69 in 2024. Mel's daughter Gabby, who is in her mid-30s, will sing at the show. Mel, who teaches guitar, keyboards and other instruments at a local music school, is grateful to have spent much of his life making music and entertaining audiences all over Singapore. 'We've performed to crowds of up to 50,000 at the Padang and the old Police Academy. We had our own television specials. It's been a great 55 years and I'm looking forward to another 55,' says Mel. One thing that has not changed in the last five decades, Joe adds, is their dedication to their stage craft. 'I think Mel would agree with me on this, that when we perform, even if it's just to one person in the audience or a 50,000 crowd, everyone matters. They all deserve to be entertained and that's what we've always believed in.' Their concert is part of A Date With Friends 2025, an annual series by the Esplanade that highlights artistes and music from the past. It includes performances by Rock Rosettes at Esplanade Annexe Studio on Aug 22, Hanafie Warren at Esplanade Recital Studio on Aug 24 and a tribute concert to Hong Kong music and film icons Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui at Esplanade Concert Hall on Aug 24. Book it/Mel & Joe Ferdinands' 55th Anniversary Party Where: Esplanade Concert Hall, 1 Esplanade Drive When: Aug 23, 7.30pm Admission: From $28 via Sistic (go to or call 6348-5555) Lovehunters at 40: Back with a bigger sound Singaporean band Lovehunters' (from left) Yazid Abu Bakar, Salahuddin Mohamad and Saharudin Jalil will perform with an extended line-up that includes classical and traditional musicians. ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI To mark their 40th anniversary, Singaporean rock stalwarts Lovehunters are attempting something they have never done in a live show before. Their concert at The Theatre at Mediacorp on Sept 13 will see the band – best known for their Malay songs – boost their usual three-piece line-up with classical and traditional musicians. These include gamelan players from arts group Telung Turonggo, an eight-piece string section and a percussion ensemble led by percussionist and National Arts Council's Young Artist Award recipient Riduan Zalani. Lovehunters might have made their name through their hard-hitting live repertoire, as well as rock ballads that have become Malay radio staples, but the band have always had a bigger musical vision, they tell ST in a sit-down interview. Says singer and bassist Yazid Abu Bakar, 62: 'Lovehunters aren't just a rock or metal band. We've always considered ourselves in the 'world music' category because we play a lot of different kinds of music – we have funk, a bit of jazz and reggae. There's rap too.' Adds drummer Saharudin Jalil, 62: 'We've added elements like orchestral music in our recorded songs, but we've never had the chance to replicate them live. The fans will finally get to hear the songs the way we recorded them in the studio.' Set to run for more than two hours, the set list will comprise at least 20 songs. The concert shares the same name as their 2005 album, Renaissance: 1987 Till …, which mostly comprises re-recorded versions of their hit songs. Some arrangements in the show differ significantly from the original studio versions that fans are familiar with. For example, Demam (Fever), a reggae song from 1993 album Terima Kasih (Terima Kasih), will be fused with gamelan music, just like it was in the re-recorded version found in Renaissance. The concert will also feature the return of Salahuddin Mohamad, 51, in place of founding guitarist and long-time member Moliano Rasmadi, who will not be playing at the concert due to personal commitments. Salahuddin played guitar on the Renaissance album. And while the members have been gigging individually, the upcoming concert will be the first full concert by Lovehunters since 2011, when they played a sold-out show at the Esplanade Concert Hall. The band also performed at The Ground Theatre @ *Scape in 2014, but that show mostly comprised covers of classic rock songs. Lovehunters first came into prominence in the mainstream Malay music scene here and in Malaysia with the release of their 1987 debut album, Sehari Dalam Hidup (A Day In The Life), which included radio hit Ku Ukir Nama Mu (I Carve Your Name). Prior to releasing the album, the band were active in the local club scene. While all three members have been playing in different rock, blues and funk outfits in the nightclub scene since the 1970s, they started playing together with two others as a quintet, which went by various names such as Jukebox and Mirror Mirror, only in the early 1980s. In 1985, two of their members left and they carried on as a trio under the name Lovehunters, inspired by a 1979 album and song by English rock band Whitesnake. Over the years, they racked up more hits such as Berpindah Minda (Moving Minds) from 1991 album Blues Untuk Rakyat (Blues For The People) and Sambutlah Kasihku (Receive My Love) from their 1999 album Kembali (Return). They released one English album in 1995, which produced Angel In The Night. The song won the Favourite Local Song award on Mediacorp radio station Perfect 10, now known as 987FM. Saharudin recalls that in their early days, rock music was often portrayed in a bad light and associated with vice activities such as drug abuse. But the members of Lovehunters have always avoided perpetuating typical rock stereotypes, and include socially conscious and anti-drug abuse messages in their songs. He says: 'In all our albums, there isn't a single song that glorifies negative values. With every lyric that we write, we try to promote a positive message.' The band are eager to reconnect with their fan base. Yazid says: 'It won't be just our fans from Singapore at the show. Our fans from Malaysia and Brunei have also told us that they will be there for the concert as they have not seen us perform live in a long time.' And while he acknowledges the band's longevity and ability to outlast their peers from the 1980s, the frontman is not comfortable when he hears fans describe them as icons or legends in the local rock scene. 'For me, music is about expression and honesty, not titles.' Book It/Concert Lovehunters Renaissance
International Business Times
17 hours ago
- International Business Times
"Ketamine Queen", Jasveen Sangha, to Plead Guilty in Matthew Perry Overdose Case
The "Ketamine Queen," 42-year-old Jasveen Sangha, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges related to the overdose death of Friends star Matthew Perry. She is the last of five defendants charged in the case, and she has agreed to a plea with prosecutors rather than going to trial, whose date had been set in September. Jasveen Sangha X In her signed plea agreement, Sangha also confessed to five charges, distributing the ketamines directly blamed for Perry's October 2023 death. She is owning her conduct, aggressively answering those questions," said her lawyer, Mark Geragos. Perry, who found international fame playing Chandler Bing in the hit US sitcom Friends, was discovered unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home. An autopsy confirmed that the immediate effects of ketamine were the cause of death. According to prosecutors, Sangha was at the helm of a North Hollywood "stash house," in which she stored and distributed drugs, including ketamine, methamphetamine, and other substances. She provided 51 vials of ketamine to an intermediary, Erik Fleming, 55, according to officials. Fleming ultimately handed the vials to Perry's assistant, 60-year-old Kenneth Iwamasa, who then injected the actor several times, records show. Detectives said it was the doses from Iwamasa that killed Perry, who was found dead in the jacuzzi by Iwamasa. Sangha pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premise, three counts of unlawful distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution resulting in death or serious bodily injury. She also admitted she sold ketamine to someone else in August 2019, who died of an overdose just hours later. While she had originally been facing nine criminal charges, prosecutors had, as part of the plea deal, agreed to reduce that number to five. If found guilty, she could be sentenced to as much as 65 years in prison. She is expected to plead formally in the coming weeks. Four other defendants in the case have reached plea agreements. They consist of two doctors who sold ketamine—Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez; Erik Fleming, a man who received drugs from Sangha; and Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry's assistant, who not only bought the substance but also injected the actor with it. All five defendants knowingly provided Perry with ketamine, using his addiction to turn a profit, federal officials said. The dual U.S.-British citizen was a familiar Hollywood name. Friends and acquaintances said she partied with celebrities and attended events, including the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Her social media accounts depicted a life of glamour, featuring pictures from luxury parties and trips to places including Mexico and Japan. Her public persona versus her charges has made for a striking juxtaposition that has caught the attention of many. In March 2024, authorities raided her home and found over 80 vials of ketamine, in addition to significant amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, and Xanax. Federal authorities have said Perry's death has brought attention to the escalating misuse of ketamine in Hollywood. Although the drug does have legitimate medical applications, as an anesthetic or to treat depression, experts warn that using the drug as a party drug rather than under a doctor's care can be dangerous and that it can kill.
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Straits Times
Terence Stamp, actor who played Superman villain Zod, dies at 87
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Terence Henry Stamp was born in London's East End on July 22, 1938, the son of a tugboat coal stoker and a mother who Stamp said gave him his zest for life. LONDON - English actor Terence Stamp liked to recall how he was on the verge of becoming a tantric sex teacher at an ashram in India when, in 1977, he received a telegram from his London agent with news that he was being considered for the Superman film. 'I was on the night flight the next day,' Stamp said in an interview with his publisher Watkins Books in 2015. After eight years largely out of work, getting the role of the arch-villain General Zod in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) turned the full glare of Hollywood's limelight on the Londoner. Buoyed by his new role, Stamp said he would respond to curious looks from passers-by with a command of: 'Kneel before Zod, you bastards', which usually went down a storm. He died on Aug 17, aged 87, his family said in a statement. The cause was not immediately known. 'He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come,' the family statement said. 'I would have been laughed at' Terence Henry Stamp was born in London's East End on July 22, 1938, the son of a tugboat coal stoker and a mother who Stamp said gave him his zest for life. As a child, he endured the bombing of the city during World War II and the deprivations that followed. 'The great blessing of my life is that I had the really hard bit at the beginning because we were really poor,' he said. Stamp left school to work initially as a messenger boy for an advertising firm and quickly moved up the ranks before he won a scholarship to go to drama school. Until then, he had kept his acting ambitions secret from his family for fear of disapproval. 'I couldn't tell anyone I wanted to be an actor because it was out of the question. I would have been laughed at,' he said. Stamp shared a flat with another young London actor, Michael Caine, and landed the lead role in late British director Peter Ustinov's 1962 adaptation of Billy Budd, a story of brutality in the British navy in the 18th century. That role earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and filled him with pride. 'To be cast by somebody like Ustinov was something that gave me a great deal of self-confidence in my film career,' Stamp told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2019. 'During the shooting, I just thought, 'Wow! This is it'.' Famous for his good looks and impeccable dress sense, he formed one of Britain's most glamorous couples with actress Julie Christie, with whom he starred in Far From The Madding Crowd in 1967. But he said the love of his life was English model Jean Shrimpton. 'When I lost her, then that also coincided with my career taking a dip,' he said. After failing to land the role of James Bond to succeed late Scottish actor Sean Connery, Stamp sought a change of scene. He appeared in Italian films and worked with late director Federico Fellini in the late 1960s. 'I view my life really as before and after Fellini,' he said. 'Being cast by him was the greatest compliment an actor like myself could get.' 'A lot of action going on' It was while working in Rome – where he appeared in late director Pier Paolo Pasolini's Theorem in 1968 and A Season In Hell in 1971 - that Stamp met Indian spiritual speaker and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1968. Krishnamurti taught the Englishman how to pause his thoughts and meditate, prompting Stamp to study yoga in India. Mumbai was his base but he spent long periods at the ashram in Pune, dressed in orange robes and growing his hair long, while learning the teachings of his yogi, including tantric sex. 'There was a rumour around the ashram that he was preparing me to teach the tantric group,' Stamp said in the 2015 interview with Watkins Books. 'There was a lot of action going on.' After landing the role of General Zod, the megalomaniacal leader of the Kryptonians, in Superman in 1978 and its sequel in 1980, both times opposite late American actor Christopher Reeves, he went on to appear in a string of other films, including as a transgender woman in The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert in 1994. Other films included Valkyrie with Hollywood star Tom Cruise in 2008, The Adjustment Bureau with American actor Matt Damon in 2011 and movies directed by American filmmaker Tim Burton. Stamp counted Britain's Princess Diana among his friends. 'It wasn't a formal thing, we'd just meet up for a cup of tea, or sometimes we'd have a long chat for an hour. Sometimes it would be very quick,' he told the Daily Express newspaper in 2017. 'The time I spent with her was a good time.' In 2002, Stamp married for the first time at the age of 64 – to pharmacist Elizabeth O'Rourke, who was 35 years his junior. They divorced in 2008. Asked by the Stage 32 website how he got film directors to believe in his talent, Stamp said: 'I believed in myself. 'Originally, when I didn't get cast I told myself there was a lack of discernment in them. This could be considered conceit. I look at it differently. Cherishing that divine spark in myself.' REUTERS
