logo
Billy Joel says he feels ‘good' after being diagnosed with brain condition

Billy Joel says he feels ‘good' after being diagnosed with brain condition

It comes after the 76-year-old singer cancelled all his scheduled concerts, including a show in Edinburgh and Liverpool, after announcing that he was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH).
The statement shared on Joel's Instagram account in May also revealed that the condition appeared to have been exacerbated by recent performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision and balance.
Speaking to Bill Maher on his Club Random Podcast, the Piano Man singer shared an update on his health, saying that he was feeling 'good'.
He said: 'It's not fixed, it's still being worked on.
'I feel fine, my balance sucks. It's like being on a boat.'
According to the NHS website, NPH is an uncommon and poorly understood condition that often affects people over the age of 60 and can be difficult to diagnose as its symptoms include mobility problems and dementia, which are associated with more common conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
He told Maher that he does not know what caused the condition and that, despite not drinking anymore, he thought it might have been caused by that.
'They keep referring to what I have as a brain disorder, so it sounds a lot worse than what I am feeling,' he added.
The New York-born singer is best known for songs including Uptown Girl, Tell Her About It and An Innocent Man and has achieved five UK top 10 singles and eight UK top 10 albums.
Since beginning his career in the mid-1960s, Joel has won five Grammy Awards and been nominated for 23, and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame by one of his heroes, Ray Charles, in 1999.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘It's queer, Black joy': the TikTok creator quizzing pop stars and politicians on LGBTQ+ culture
‘It's queer, Black joy': the TikTok creator quizzing pop stars and politicians on LGBTQ+ culture

The Guardian

time44 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

‘It's queer, Black joy': the TikTok creator quizzing pop stars and politicians on LGBTQ+ culture

Anania Williams is genreless. Some may know them from their comedic TikTok videos, which regularly amass hundreds of thousands of views. Others may recognize them as host of Gaydar, a viral entertainment-education show about queer culture, history and current events; an interview Williams did with the New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani did go viral, after all. There's also Williams's drag performances, including those where they opened for icons such as Chappell Roan and Bob the Drag Queen. Or their bevy of musical theater roles – Lola in Kinky Boots, Dominique in Lucky Stiffs, to name a few. For years, Williams has been launching their own creative universe. As a 25-year-old genderqueer, Black artist, Williams, who uses they/she pronouns, has used their ever-growing social media presence (more than 2.8 million followers across their social media platforms) to fashion the career of their dreams outside anyone's binaries. For their next project, Williams is set to perform in Saturday Church, a new musical at New York Theatre Workshop which opens 27 August. The play dives into the world of a sanctuary for LGBTQ+ youth. 'It's a feelgood musical,' said Williams of the production. 'It's just queer, Black joy, and there's a beautiful message about it.' Williams will play a trans woman, another bonus in their ever-growing theatrical career. 'The further I get in my transition, it's been nice to feel affirmed,' they said. 'It's just been awesome to be in those spaces and to make a way for myself.' With talent and charisma, Williams's rise is practically ordained; as they look forward to balancing their various projects, now comes the task of navigating their expansive future and chronic frustrations of being online. For Williams, growing up in Davenport, Iowa – an industrial, midwestern town of about 100,000 people, was an exercise in strength. At school, Williams was bullied for 'having a girl name', they said. Their home life was equally tumultuous, Williams recalled, rife with abuse and neglect. But life in the midwest sowed the seeds for their future artistic passions. As a child, they sang in the church choir, later joining show choir, following in the footsteps of an older sister. For college, Williams attended Emerson College's in the musical theatre program in Boston. University was one of the first times that Williams got to reflect on who they were, what they wanted. But musical theater came with its own binaries and limitations, especially as Williams is both genderqueer, meaning outside the typical binaries of gender, and Black. 'It felt like: 'Lord forbid you be somewhere else on the gender binary,' and then, 'Lord forbid you're also Black at the same time',' Williams said. Even when Williams attempted to create their own lane, they said they faced resistance from their professors. 'There was a teacher that was like: 'You keep bringing in girl songs. Why is that?' And I tried to explain it to them, and it didn't go well,' Williams said. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Williams returned to their home town to wait out the return to normalcy like most people. The isolation allowed for reflection and served as a moment that allowed them to fully realize their gender identity. 'I had to admit a couple things to myself, like, 'Yeah, I'm queer. Yeah, I'm probably genderqueer.' And from there, it kind of spiraled,' they said of that time period, jokingly adding: 'I call it the pronoun pipeline.' Around the same time, Williams started to create content on TikTok, quickly becoming known for short, comedic rants captured during their late-night walks. Most of their content was spur-of-the-moment musings on anything from Christianity and relationships to a new iPhone. In 2022, they started to speak more openly about being genderqueer, posting videos of their drag and makeup routine. Reflecting back on that time period brings a mix of feelings, Williams said. On one hand, it has been extremely gratifying to grow alongside longtime viewers. 'The audience that's been with me the longest has signed on to watch me evolve,' they said. '[They] watched me do makeup for the first time or try to glue down a wig. Those people are why I feel like I can keep going.' On the other hand, Williams sometimes wishes 'the first version people knew me of was who I am today'. The nature of their content has continued to grow. In 2024, Williams became the host of Gaydar, created by Amelia Montooth at the company Mutuals Media. The show quizzes an array of guests on queer culture in an attempt to find out if they are 'straight, gay or homophobic'. Questions include anything from what a 'lipstick lesbian' is to assessing a guest's knowledge of a gay icon. Willliams herself is also learning alongside contestants, often in real time. 'I didn't know who Sue Bird was and the lesbians whacked me up and down the streets, oh my God,' they quipped. The show's a comedic premise with the goal of inviting viewers to become educated, said Williams. 'We are inundating queer history and queer culture into digestible questions and clips that lets people relax into the learning,' said Williams of the show. 'They can take something in a funny way that's more engaging than saying: 'Here are the facts. Here's a screenshot of this article I read, and you should care about it.' Early versions of the show featured mostly strangers Williams found on the street. The segment has since hosted a number of celebrities and public figures: singers Lucy Dacus, Reneé Rapp and Vivian Jenna Wilson, the daughter of billionaire Elon Musk. The New York City mayoral candidate Mamdani, an avid progressive, attracted social media buzz as one of the first politicians to grace the show. Mamdani shocked Williams when he was successfully able to name a lesbian bar in the city: the Manhattan-staple Cubbyhole. 'He was just such a team player about it,' said Williams of the interview experience. 'We let our audience, which is younger, know who he is and he got to speak for himself.' Williams added: 'It's cool to be a professional zeitgeist in that way, to know that throughout it all, we're making a difference.' Williams's ascent hasn't come without difficulties. They have faced cruel harassment as they have been more public about their transition. 'What they really like to do, especially with dolls, is pick apart fashion and makeup and hair,' said Williams, referring to online trolls. Williams added: 'I want to believe that people are becoming more comfortable with transness, but I think they're coming around to a very specific, stereotypical, western, white, skinny type of trans person. When someone doesn't fit that standard, they get berated.' But Williams has found ways to consistently ground in the real world, alongside the growing pains. There's their found family, a best friend from sixth grade. High school friends and their boyfriend as well as online friends they met through TikTok. And, of course, baking and video games are hobbies, living outside the pressure to monetize or make content of their life. A cake for a friend's birthday was already in the works for later that evening. 'It's either red velvet or strawberry,' Williams said, with a large laugh. 'I remember the color, not the flavor.'

Lady Victoria Starmer looks effortlessly chic in bright orange sundress as she heads to Ascot without the prime minister
Lady Victoria Starmer looks effortlessly chic in bright orange sundress as she heads to Ascot without the prime minister

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Lady Victoria Starmer looks effortlessly chic in bright orange sundress as she heads to Ascot without the prime minister

Lady Victoria Starmer embraced the warm weather in a bright orange sundress as she arrived at Ascot Racecourse today - without the prime minister. Sir Keir Starmer, 62, will likely be preparing for his talks with US President Donald Trump, who he is expected to meet the prime minister on Monday after a trip to Scotland. This left Lady Victoria, 52, free to attend the The King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, in Berkshire, on Saturday afternoon. The rarely seen wife of Sir Keir was dressed for the warmer weather in a bright orange shirt dress, which buttoned through the middle. She was photographed gleefully cheering on competitors at the racecourse, as the annual King George Racing Weekend got under way. The mother kept her brunette hair neat for the occasion, tucked simply behind her ears. She completed her look with very simple make up and wore a charm bracelet on her right wrist. Lady Victoria has been dubbed a 'reluctant political spouse' in the past - but she always seems to support her husband Sir Keir when it comes to the big occasions. The glamorous mother-of-two and NHS occupational health worker was snapped in an all-white ensemble as she joined her husband at Trooping the Colour last month. She wore a midi length frock with a v-neck, short sleeves, and small buttons down the front. Lady Victoria paired her dress with a large fascinator, also in white, and coordinating heeled pumps. Her chestnut locks were worn loose, and she opted for a chic make-up look, with a fresh base, pink blush, and natural lip. She was photographed sitting next to her husband as they enjoyed the parade. And they were not the only attendees representing politics at the event: such is the importance of the parade that senior representatives from allied nations also attend. The PM posted today on X: 'Sending my best wishes to His Majesty The King today at Trooping the Colour. God Save The King.' Trooping the Colour is a centuries-old tradition that marks the Sovereign's official birthday. Victoria and Sir Keir married in 2007 - 13 years before Sir Keir became Labour leader. They met sometime in the early 2000s, when both were working as lawyers. Victoria drafted documents for a case her future husband was working on during his time as a barrister at Doughty Street chambers, according to the Evening Standard. Their first date was at a Camden pub, where they enjoyed inexpensive pizzas - but they now live in a £1.75 million Camden townhouse in Sir Keir's Holborn and St Pancras constituency. Speaking on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in 2020, Sir Keir revealed how he met Victoria, explaining: 'I was doing a case in court and it all depended on whether the documents were accurate. 'I [asked the team] who actually drew up these documents, they said a woman called Victoria, so I said let's get her on the line.' When he spoke to Lady Victoria, who was then working as a ward sister in the NHS, he grilled her on the documents. Shortly before hanging up, he said he heard just one comment from her. He explained: 'She said, "Who the bleep does he think he is?", then put the phone down on me. And quite right too.' Lady Victoria grew up in Gospel Oak, north London, where her mother was a doctor, before forging out a career as a solicitor. She served as a governor at her children's school and now works in occupational health for the NHS.

Kesha review – a triumphant and electric return for pop's comeback kid
Kesha review – a triumphant and electric return for pop's comeback kid

The Guardian

time3 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Kesha review – a triumphant and electric return for pop's comeback kid

'What does freedom feel like?' the singer Kesha asks in voiceover early in her sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. The 38-year-old pop star has just opened her 'Tits Out' show with TiK ToK, the sleazy, insouciant, inescapable party anthem that rocketed her to fame in 2009, cradling a model of her own head from that time – blond, dead-eyed, distinguishable as the artist formerly known as Ke$ha by one single glitter tear. She paraded the head while gamely barreling through that first indelible, now altered, lyric – 'wake up in the morning like FUCK P Diddy' – and the IDGAF brag of brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack (Daniels). Then she places it on an altar of empty glasses and candles and bows to a prayer of 'freedom from my past', how the 'truth will set you free'. If this all seems like a lot, somehow both cartoonishly blunt and muddled, hedonism strangely crossed with sanctity – well, that's Kesha, a millennial-beloved artist always on the messy bleeding edge of culture, for better and for worse. Once the 22-year-old from Nashville who rolled in on her gold Trans-Am and glittered-bombed the early 2010s with a ridiculous string of feral, slangy hits, then a cautionary tale stalled by a nearly decade-long legal dispute with her former producer, the artist born Kesha Rose Sebert has finally stepped into her role as a generational symbol on her own terms, much to the delight of a loyal crowd at the Garden, who hollered at every mention of the word freedom – and there were many – like it was a revelation. And it was – for years, Kesha represented not only the bombast, disillusionment and debauchery of youth fucked over by the 2008 financial crash, with attitude so fierce and undeniable it could make diabolical lyrics such as 'don't be a little bitch with your chit chat / just show me where your dick's at' winsome, but also the dark side of the predacious music industry. In 2014, she sued to be released from her contract with producer Łukasz 'Dr Luke' Gottwald, who convinced her to move to Los Angeles at 17, for alleged drugging, sexual assault and emotional manipulation; a protracted legal battle forced her to continue working for him, her music still released under his imprint if not with his input, until last year. . (pronounced Period), her album released this month, is her first output truly independent of Dr Luke. So you can't begrudge Kesha some pointed and grandiose words on liberation, nor for remixing the production of some of her most recognizable hits – Blow, Die Young, Timber – into something a little smoother, more mature, more her. 'I've had these songs taken from me and I want you to help me take them back tonight,' she proclaims during Act I of four murkily defined sections, before she laps the floor to a medley of tracks from Animal and Warrior in a shocking reminder of just how deep her cuts go. The choreography may be pop standard (sharp and suggestive but cold-blooded), the backing track sustaining the more vigorous dance numbers, the more conceptual moments (a straitjacket, dancers in kitty-cat mascot suits) a little too belabored, but it doesn't matter. As a statement of legacy – her Auto-tuned recklessness a clear antecedent of today's Brat-green pop landscape – and as an act of reclamation, the Tits Out tour is a triumph. It's also extremely fun, Kesha's grip on the pulse of a hot banger as tight as her stage banter is loose and breezy. As with her recession pop peer Lady Gaga's Mayhem Ball, the new dance tracks flow seamlessly with the old. Red Flag, a punchy ode to being magnetized for all the wrong reasons, bends smoothly into the cheerleader taunt of Dinosaur. ('D-I-N-O-S-A, U-R a dinosaur!' remains one of Kesha's most deranged and stupidly catchy lyrics). Period's Delusional morphs so easily into the girl-on-girl punches of Backstabber that I thought it was one song. New track Attention! finds Kesha in the pocket of the mode she pioneered – taunting, headstrong, teetering on obnoxious – straight into a sick repetition of 'I'm a bitch!' with a 2010s bass so sticky it basically spells out LMFAO. No one could be still. Except, briefly, Kesha herself, when she paused on multiple occasions to celebrate her freedom with kiss-offs ('hey, look how much money you made off of me!') that would feel overdone if they weren't so hard-earned. At one point, when she mentioned being in 'year eight of litigation' ahead of the self-love track The One., I gasped – her onstage persona is so buoyant, it's easy to forget just how long she endured. She drove the point into the stratosphere with a victorious encore; a note-perfect performance of Praying, her typically on-the-nose #MeToo ballad fantasizing a perpetrator's recognition, her voice honeyed and soaring, led to a five-plus-minute standing ovation. She let her tears flow; I shed a tear too, for a moment more raw than anything I've seen at a pop show in recent memory. 'This love is not only for me, it's for anyone who survived something they never should've had to survive,' she said. And then it's back to business, with early tracks Your Love Is My Drug and We R Who We R, and one final, perfect, very Kesha farewell: 'Have a good night!' she said with that cheeky giggle. 'And I hope … you all … get laid.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store