MUSIC NEWS: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
AMA PERFORMERS
Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Maren Morris and Keith Urban, as well as hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, will perform at the 50th annual Country Music Association Awards show. The show is set for November 2nd in Nashville _ and will air on A-B-C. As far as nominations go, Church and Morris have five nominations apiece, and both are vying for single and song of the year.
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GERI HALLIWELL - EXPECTING
Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell has announced she is expecting her second child. The woman who used to perform as Ginger Spice announced the pending arrival the way most celebrities do things these days _ in an online post. She went on Instagram to announce the news _ and it was later confirmed by her publicist.
Halliwell is 44 _ and already has a 10-year-old daughter.
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DRAKE CANCELING SUMMER TOUR DUE TO INJURY
Drake is cancelling the rest of his summer tour because of an ongoing ankle injury. A rep for Drake says his doctors are advising him to scrap the final three dates of his Summer Sixteen Tour. The rep says the time off will ``allow him time to recuperate his ankle injury.'' The cancellations affect this past weekend's date in Toronto, as well as one on Thursday in Philadelphia and this weekend in Newark, New Jersey. Drake missed three other shows during the tour because of the ankle injury.
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AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS NOMINATIONS OUT
Not even Drake will go around saying he's the new Michael Jackson. But he has busted a record that Michael Jackson has held for more than 20 years. Jackson had long held the record for the most American Music Awards nominations in a year _ with 11.
Drake has broken the mark by picking up at total of 13 this year.
What made Jackson's mark so unique is that he earned the nods on the strength of his ``Thriller'' album, arguably one of the best that was ever made. Other multiple nominees include Rihanna with seven nominations, Adele and Justin Bieber tied with five each _ and Beyonce and The Chainsmokers with four nominations each. Winners will be announced Nov. 20 at a live show from Los Angeles.
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ROGER WATERS - DONALD TRUMP
Roger Waters left little doubt how he feels about Donald Trump. The singer and songwriter put an image of Trump's face up on a video board during his set at the Desert Trip music festival Sunday night _ with the word ``Charade'' written across it. It also showed Trump sporting a Ku Klux Klan hood. As if that wasn't clear enough, there were large balloons shaped like a pig floating above the audience _ the pigs had Trump's face painted on the side with the words ``Ignorant, lying, racist, sexist pig.''
Waters also spoke out in favour of the Black Lives Matter movement _ even as he performed before an overwhelmingly white audience. One sign said ``White silence is violence.''
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(The Associated Press)
