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Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley’s only Child Dead at 54

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11 months ago

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Lisa Marie Presley

Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley’s only child and a singer-songwriter dedicated to her father’s legacy, died Thursday after being admitted to the hospital for a medical emergency. She was 54 years old.

Her mother, Priscilla, confirmed her death in a Los Angeles hospital a few hours after her daughter was rushed there following a medical emergency at home.

“I must share the heartbreaking news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Priscilla Presley said in a statement. “She was the most passionate, powerful, and loving woman I’d ever met.”

Presley, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, inherited her father’s brooding charisma — the hooded eyes, the arrogant smile, the low, sultry voice — and professionally followed him, releasing her own rock albums in the 2000s and sharing the stage with Pat Benatar and Richard Hawley, among others.

She even formed direct musical ties with her father, lending her voice to Elvis recordings such as “In the Ghetto” and “Don’t Cry Daddy,” a mournful ballad that reminded him of his mother (and Lisa Marie’s grandmother), Gladys Presley’s early death.

“It’s been all my life,” she said of her father’s influence to The Associated Press in 2012. “I’m not listening to it anymore, and it’s different. I might pay more attention. I’ve always been an admirer, and I intend to remain so. He’s always had an impact on me.”

Lisa Marie Presley Attended Golden Globes

Her birth, nine months after her parents’ wedding, made international headlines, and her family history was never far from her mind. With the release of Baz Luhrmann’s major musical feature “Elvis” last year, Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley began attending red carpets and award shows alongside film stars.

She was in attendance at the Golden Globes on Tuesday to celebrate Austin Butler’s award for playing her father. On Jan. 8, she was in Memphis at Graceland — the mansion where Elvis lived and died — to celebrate her father’s birthday.

After her parents divorced in 1973, Presley moved to California to live with her mother, an actress known for “Dallas” and the “Naked Gun” films. During her visits to Graceland, she recalled riding golf carts through the neighborhood and seeing her father’s daily entrances down the stairs.

“He was always completely prepared. “You’d never see him coming down the stairs in his PJs,” she told The Associated Press in 2012. “You’d never see him dressed anything other than’ready to be seen.'”

Elvis Presley died in August 1977, when he was 42 years old and she was nine years old. Lisa Marie was staying at Graceland at the time, and she remembered him kissing her goodnight hours before he collapsed and died. The next time she saw him, he was lying face down in the bathroom.

“I just had a gut feeling,” she explained to Rolling Stone in 2003. “He wasn’t doing so hot. All I know is that I had it (the feeling), and it occurred. I was obsessed with death from a young age.”

She would later make her own headlines. Drug problems and some very public marriages. Among her four husbands were Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage.

Married Micheal Jackson

Jackson and Presley married in the Dominican Republic in 1994, but the marriage ended two years later due to a series of awkward public appearances, including an unexpected kiss from Jackson at the MTV Video Music Awards and a joint interview with Diane Sawyer in which she defended her husband against allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

Cage’s other celebrity marriage lasted only four months before she filed for divorce in 2002.

“I had to sort of run into a lot of walls and trees,” she told the Associated Press in 2012. “But now I can also look back at it and tell you all the stuff that was going on around me and all the different people around me and all the awww — and it was not a good situation anyway. That wasn’t helping matters. In any case, it was a learning experience. It was just done differently. It was always right in front of everyone. Because, of course, everything is documented.”

Lisa Marie became involved in a variety of humanitarian causes, ranging from anti-poverty programs run by the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation to relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina. For her efforts, she received formal citations from New Orleans and Memphis, Tennessee.

With her former husband Danny Keough, Presley had two children: actor Riley Keough, born in 1989, and Benjamin Keough, born in 1992. In 2008, she and ex-husband Michael Lockwood had twin daughters, Harper and Finley Lockwood.

Presley and Lockwood

Her marriage to Lockwood would end in a contentious and protracted divorce that began in 2016 and was still unresolved when she died, despite the fact that they were declared divorced in 2021. The girls, now 15, were placed in protective custody following the fight in 2017. Presley and Lockwood eventually shared custody, but they remained at odds over the issue, with Lockwood demanding more child support from Presley.

Benjamin Keough, 27, committed suicide in 2020. Presley was open about her grief, writing last August in an essay that she had “been living in the horrific reality of its unrelenting grips since my son’s death two years ago.”

“I’ve been dealing with death, grief, and loss since I was nine years old. “I’ve had more than anyone’s fair share of it in my lifetime, and I’ve made it this far,” she wrote in an essay published by People magazine.

“But this one, the death of my lovely, lovely son? The sweetest and most incredible being I’ve ever had the honor of knowing, who made me feel so honored to be his mother every single day? Who was so similar to his grandfather on so many levels that he scared me? Which made me worry about him even more than I would have otherwise,” the essay continued. “No. Just no… no, no, no…”

After her father died, Lisa Marie became the sole heir to the Elvis Presley Trust. The trust managed Graceland and other assets alongside Elvis Presley Enterprises until she sold her majority stake in 2005. She retained ownership of the Graceland Mansion, as well as the 13 acres surrounding it and the contents of the home. Her son, as well as her father and other Presley family members, are buried there.

Lisa Marie Presley is a former Scientologist — her son was born in 1992 under Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s guidelines, according to an AP story at the time — but she later left Scientology.

Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley would visit Graceland on numerous occasions, including the anniversaries of Elvis’ death and birthday. The Lisa Marie is the name of one of Graceland’s two planes.

Following the release of her first album, “To Whom It May Concern,” in 2003, some fans came out to see her perform simply out of curiosity, she told the Associated Press in 2005.

“First, I had to overcome a preconceived notion of myself,” she said of the obstacles to becoming a singer-songwriter.

“I had to sort of burst through that and introduce myself, and that was the first hurdle, and then now sing in front of everybody, and that was the second hurdle,” she continued. “However, the scales never tipped too far in the other direction.”

Source: The Associated Press

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Music

Spotify CFO Is One Of Thousands To Leave The Company — After He Moves To Sell $9 Million In Shares

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9 hours ago

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2023-12-08

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NEW YORK – According to Spotify, its chief financial officer will retire next year, just days after the music streaming giant announced its third round of layoffs for 2023.

CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement announcing CFO Paul Vogel’s departure that the two had “come to the conclusion that Spotify is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experiences.”

Spotify said this week that it would be laying off 17% of its global personnel to cut expenses and become profitable. A representative acknowledged that approximately 1,500 individuals will lose their employment.

Their stock increased by nearly 8% after the layoffs were revealed on Monday. According to securities records, Vogel sold more than $9.3 million in shares on Tuesday.

spotify

Spotify CFO Is One Of Thousands To Leave The Company — After He Moves To Sell $9 Million In Shares

According to The Guardian, two additional top executives received over $1.6 million in stock options.

Vogel is leaving Spotify on March 31st. According to a blog post, Ben Kung, presently vice president of finance planning and analysis, will “take on expanded responsibilities” in the interim while Spotify seeks a replacement externally.

Stockholm-based For the nine months ending September, The company reported a net loss of 462 million euros (about $500 million). The corporation declared in January that it was laying off 6% of its workforce. In June, it eliminated another 2% of its workforce, or around 200 people, primarily in its podcast section.

spotify

Spotify CFO Is One Of Thousands To Leave The Company — After He Moves To Sell $9 Million In Shares

The company is a popular music streaming service that offers a vast library of songs, podcasts, and playlists for users to access on-demand. With a user-friendly interface, Spotify allows subscribers to create personalized playlists, discover new music based on their listening habits, and explore a wide range of genres.

The platform is available on various devices and offers both free and premium subscription options, allowing users to enjoy ad-supported or ad-free listening experiences.

SOURCE – (AP)

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Celebrity

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Is The First Tour To Gross Over $1 Billion, Pollstar Says

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11 hours ago

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2023-12-08

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eras

(LOS ANGELES) – According to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is the first to hit the billion-dollar threshold.

Swift’s groundbreaking Eras Tour was not only the No. 1 tour worldwide and in North America, but she also took in a stunning $1.04 billion with 4.35 million tickets sold across 60 tour dates, according to the concert trade newspaper.

Pollstar data is derived from box office reports, venue capacity estimations, previous Pollstar venue ticket sales data, and unspecified research collected between November 17, 2022, and November 15, 2023.

Representatives for the publication waited to respond when asked if they modified historical tour numbers to account for 2023 inflation when proclaiming Swift the first to cross the billion-dollar mark.

eras

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Is The First Tour To Gross Over $1 Billion, Pollstar Says

Pollstar also discovered that Swift earned roughly $200 million in merchandise sales and that her blockbuster film adaptation of the tour, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” garnered approximately $250 million in sales, making it the highest-grossing concert film of all time.

Pollstar believes that Swift will have a strong year in 2024 as well. According to the magazine, the Eras Tour will again hit $1 billion within its eligibility window, implying Swift will earn more than $2 billion throughout the tour.

Swift’s tour was followed worldwide by Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Coldplay, Harry Styles, Morgan Wallen, Ed Sheeran, Pink, The Weeknd, and Drake.

Swift was ranked first in North America, followed by Beyoncé, Morgan Wallen, Drake, P! nk, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Ed Sheeran, George Strait, Karol G, and RBD.

eras

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Is The First Tour To Gross Over $1 Billion, Pollstar Says

Aside from Swift, 2023 was a watershed year for concert sales: internationally, the top 100 tours witnessed a 46% increase from the previous year, costing $9.17 billion compared to $6.28 billion in 2022.

That figure increased from $4.77 billion in North America to $6.63 billion last year.

Swift was voted Time Magazine’s Person of the Year earlier this week. Last month, Apple Music honored her as its Artist of the Year, while Spotify reported she was 2023’s most-streamed artist globally, with over 26.1 billion streams since January 1, breaking Bad Bunny’s three-year record.

eras

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Is The First Tour To Gross Over $1 Billion, Pollstar Says

Consider 2023 to be a year of unparalleled pop music dominance.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is a highly anticipated event that showcases the evolution of her music throughout the years. The tour features performances from each distinct era of her career, allowing fans to experience the unique sound and style that defined each period.

Attendees can expect an immersive and nostalgic journey through Taylor Swift’s musical transformation, making it a must-see for fans of her work.

SOURCE – AP

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Entertainment

Taylor Swift Named Time’s ‘Person Of The Year’ For 2023

Published

2 days ago

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2023-12-06

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swift

Taylor Swift is rounding up the year with yet another honor: she was voted Time magazine’s 2023 “Person of the Year,” beating out Barbie and King Charles III.

“While her popularity has grown across the decades, this is the year that Swift, 33, achieved a kind of nuclear fusion: shooting art and commerce together to release an energy of historic force,” according to the magazine.

Time chose Swift because she found a way to give people all over the world hope in the midst of some extremely trying circumstances.

“No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well,” according to Time’s profile. “Achieving this feat is something we often chalk up to the alignments of planets and fates, but giving too much credit to the stars ignores her skill and her power.”

swift

Taylor Swift Named Time’s ‘Person Of The Year’

The magazine also interviewed Swift: “This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been.”

And, yes, she spoke publicly for the first Time about her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce. The couple began hanging out after Kelce donned a friendship bracelet on his podcast, which Swift described as “metal as hell.”

“I’m just there to support Travis,” she said of her attendance at NFL games, which have helped some of them gain viewers. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”

Swift’s “Eras Tour,” which grossed over $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone, was a highlight of her incredible year, according to research firm QuestionPro. StubHub also issued its 2023 “Year in Live Experiences” report on Wednesday, stating that the “Eras Tour” was the website’s largest tour.

swift

Swift has not only crushed Super Bowl-sized arenas, but also neighborhood cinema theaters.

According to AMC, the pop singer’s “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film grossed roughly $96 million in its debut weekend in the United States and Canada, making it the highest-grossing concert film domestically for an opening weekend.

Among all of this, Swift broke her own Spotify record by being the most-streamed artist in the streamer’s history in a single day, while “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day this year.

Taylor Swift is a renowned singer-songwriter and actress known for her narrative songwriting and autobiographical lyrics.

swift

Taylor Swift Named Time’s ‘Person Of The Year’

She has achieved widespread commercial success and critical acclaim for her music, which spans various genres including pop, country, and rock.

Taylor has won numerous awards, including multiple Grammy Awards, and has established herself as one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

In addition to her music career, she has also appeared in films and television shows, further cementing her status as a multifaceted entertainer.

SOURCE – CNN

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