Latest news with #AndraDay
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Andra Day Honors Roberta Flack With Beautiful Rendition of ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song' at 2025 BET Awards
Andra Day honored Roberta Flack with a beautiful tribute performance of 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' at the 2025 BET Awards on Monday night (June 9). Accompanied by a small string section and a few backup singers, Day's lilting vocals echoed throughout the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live for her affecting cover. 'Andra Day singing a Roberta Flack tribute? Ohhhh BET played NO games this year,' one person wrote on X, while someone else insisted to 'put it in my veins!!!!' More from Billboard Here Are the 2025 BET Awards Winners (Updating Live) Quincy Jones Remembered by Lucky Daye, Luke James & Miles Caton With Smooth 2025 BET Awards Tribute Jamie Foxx Honored by Stevie Wonder & Reflects on Health Scare at BET Awards: 'You Can't Go Through Something Like That & Not Testify' 'Killing Me Softly With His Song' became Flack's second No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973 and won record of the year and best pop vocal performance, female at the 1974 Grammy Awards. The Fugees included their own rendition of 'Killing Me Softly' on their 1996 album The Score, and the hit single won a Grammy in 1997 for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal while the parent album won the award for best rap album. The legendary singer and pianist died in February, and according to a statement from her spokesperson, she 'died peacefully surrounded by her family.' The 'in memoriam' tribute also featured former Isley Brothers member Chris Jasper, The Notorious B.I.G.'s mother Voletta Wallace, hip-hop journalist and filmmaker Sacha Jenkins, Kool & the Gang hype man Michael Sumler, Tony! Toni! Toné! founding member D'Wayne Wiggins, The Spinners lead singer John Edwards and more. Earlier in the evening, Lucky Daye, Luke James and Miles Caton from Sinners performed 'The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)' during the Quincy Jones tribute. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Street performer marks COVID-19 pandemic's 5-year anniversary by singing ‘Rise Up' to Chicago
CHICAGO — On March 25, 2020 – at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic – Andrew David, a Chicago street performer, captivated the city by singing the Leonard Cohen song, 'Hallelujah' on the empty streets. Five years later, he has once again emerged as a symbol of Chicago's strength, singing 'Rise Up,' the Andra Day anthem of resilience. Previous Coverage: Singer fills Chicago's empty streets with hopeful sounds of 'Hallelujah' David's voice echoed from the intersection of North Orleans Street and West Wacker Drive, just like it had five years earlier, when it touched everyone from a health care workers to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who mentioned David in his 2022 election night address. 'Street performer Andrew David serenading Chicago with the song 'Hallelujah' during the early days of the pandemic,' showed the best of Illinois, Pritzker said. 'The reaction to 'Hallelujah' during the pandemic was overwhelming,' David said. 'It's a song that's bigger than me. Bigger than street performing, but so purposeful for such a time as we were in.' More from Mike Lowe: Legally blind photographer determined to share his vision of Chicago More than 1 million Americans died during the pandemic. It re-shaped society – from the workplace to the classroom. But five years later, crowds have returned to the corner, and traffic is busy once again on Wacker drive. 'It definitely is a testament to the City of Chicago just bouncing back year-by-year,' David said. 'Day-by-day from the pandemic.' Savannah Love walked by as David was singing 'Rise Up.' She took special meaning from the son's title. 'You just got to rise up from everything that you're dealing with,' she said. 'It's an anthem of overcoming adversity, hard times personal struggles, so it kind of fits somewhere in everyone's life,' David said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Conservatives Are Threatening To Boycott Super Bowl Over This Black Source of Pride?
Conservative NFL fans are demanding a Super Bowl boycott after they discovered that the 'Black National Anthem' will be performed on Sunday in New Orleans. Over the years, 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' has been sung during the NFL pregame events—and has always sparked some type of controversy. The league has announced that Root 100 performer Ledisi will perform the song—in front of Donald Trump—before Jon Batiste does the national anthem. On Tuesday (Feb. 4), Trump shared that he will be at the big game which makes him the first sitting President to ever attend the Super Bowl. 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' debuted at the pregame show in 2021 with Alicia Keys' prerecorded performance. Gospel group Mary Mary sang it in 2022 and in 2023, Andra Day performed her version of the song at the Las Vegas extravaganza. Last year, Sheryl Lee Ralph did a stirring rendition of the classic song. Still, conservative fans believe it has no place at the annual event. 'The Star Spangled Banner is an Anthem for all Americans and discriminates against no race Having a black supremacist 'national anthem' at the Super Bowl is an affront to the great melting pot of America and is racist,' one user on X claimed. Another wrote: 'America has one national Black one is meant to divide our nation...I will not be watching or purchasing any products that supports this.' Andra Day received similar backlash from Republicans and MAGA fanatics three years ago. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said he and his wife were opting out of watching the Super Bowl because they believed the 'Black National Anthem' was 'desecrating America's National Anthem.' During Super Bowl LVII in 2023, Trump loyalist and politician Kari Lake went viral for refusing to stand for 'Lift Every Voice and Sing.' After the game, she took to social media and said 'I'm just here for THE National Anthem.' The song was originally written as a poem in 1899 by James Weldon Johnson. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
