In a statement posted on Twitter, the pop star apologised to fans and said she was “devastated”, but needed to put “myself and my well-being” first.

The Grammy award-winning singer has fibromyalgia, a long-term condition which can cause pain all over the body.

Shows in London and Manchester are among those affected.

In the statement, it said the “tough decision” had been made on Friday night with “strong support from her medical team”.

Ticket holders can apply for a refund from 6 February, the statement added.
“I’m so devastated I don’t know how to describe it,” Lady Gaga, 31, wrote. “All I know is that if I don’t do this, I am not standing by the words or meaning of my music.”

The announcement comes after she started the UK leg of her tour at Birmingham Arena.

Watching one of those performances, BBC arts editor Will Gompertz noted “the physicality of her performance compromised her singing at times”.
The European leg of her Joanne World Tour had already been rescheduled due to her condition and followed a decision to pull out of a performance at Rock In Rio in Brazil in September, after she was hospitalised with “severe physical pain.”

The Born This Way singer was due to perform in Zurich, Cologne, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Paris and Berlin in the coming weeks.

At the end of last year, the star announced a two-year residency in Las Vegas, starting late in 2018.

Her fans – who call themselves monsters – have been sending her messages of support on social media.

But many are disappointed.

Alice Outten had bought tickets for a London show as a birthday treat.

“I have train tickets and hotels booked in London,” the 23-year-old from Llandudno said.

“I love Lady Gaga – she has been my idol for over 10 years, but this is just such a disappointment when I’ve been saving and saving to afford this trip and I was so excited.”

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Source: BBC

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The prince, fifth in line to the throne, will marry Ms Markle next spring and will live at Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London.

The couple, who have been dating since 2016, got engaged earlier this month.

In a statement, Prince Harry said he was “delighted to announce” the engagement and had received the blessing of Ms Markle’s parents.

Only the Queen and “other close members of his family” initially knew of the engagement, which took place in London.

The announcement, issued by Clarence House, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s official residence, said details about the wedding day would be “announced in due course”.

The prince and Ms Markle made their first public appearance as a couple this September.

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Source: BBC

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Darkwah Kyei Darkwah recently wrote an article titled ‘To be Young, Gifted, Black and Queer’ on intomore.com, saying he is gay but has had a difficult time coming out about his sexuality.

He said in the past he was quiet, obedient and often stayed in his room to prevent being noticed. But he is mature now and can no longer run away from who he is.

Read KKD’s post below:

KKD writes: “a beautiful Friday to you, family, friends, followers, frenemies and foes.

I have been notified of the eagerly re-published article on my dearly beloved son Darkwah Kyei-Darkwah’s speaking up on his acceptance of his sexuality.

His words were candid and courageous.

“The first step to being happy is to be honest and embrace who you are in its totality.” -Anon.

His statement of his conviction and comfort with himself as a young man is a matter of an individual’s sexuality.

Come joy or pain, sunshine or rain, success or failure, I will always love my son Darkwah Kyei-Darkwah and my daughter Ohemaa Asokwa Kyei-Darkwah.

My love, care and devotion to my children are non-negotiable.

There are ex-wives and ex-husbands but there are no ex-children nor ex-parents.

No truth nor lies, no malicious gossip nor ill-willed broadcast can ever change my love and devotion for my children no matter who they think they are.

Through divorce and a year after, I stayed strong through the storm as a single father to raise my son and daughter aged 7+ and 5+, working, teaching, cooking, cleaning, ironing, reading, driving, playing, flying, juggling, mentoring, role-playing and praying, all to keep their welfare paramount.

I have never ever shunned them as some strange and hateful persons would have the feeble-minded and gullible believe.

The uncouth, green-eyed monsters and miserable plebeians’ obsession with the lives of those they secretly admire or hate can lead to some rather curious acts of malice.

I have plenty praise for all the Earth Angels; family, lovers and loyal friends who helped me through my work and studies to care for our kind, courteous and gifted children.

Like all youngsters, they too have their highs and lows but they have been the joy of my life for years and still are.

Whilst the culture in which I was raised influenced me to lean towards raising my children as Asante, Christian, well-mannered, audacious, industrious, cosmopolitan and heterosexual, I do not consider it my place to pontificate, praise or condemn the sexuality any adult identifies with.

Each of us is a sum of many parts and sexual orientation is only one.

I bow with respect to the culture of my people and habitat but I also respect the culture and choices of others in theirs.

I am an open-hearted, open-minded tourist in God’s vast lands, who embraces all colour, race and creed:

Religion; Atheist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Pagan or other,

Gender Identity; Male Female Queer or other

Sexual orientation; Heterosexual, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite or other, and

Skin tone; black, brown, yellow, pink, white, pale or other

I have seen, encountered and worked in offices and at corporate functions, exhibitions and stately banquets with them all.

What I have learnt through travel and open mind is that they have more similarities than differences with you and I.

We all have a shared humanity even though we walk and talk differently, dress and stress differently, win and sin differently.

My admiration and respect for the talents of Oscar Wilde the thinker, writer and aesthete, Tom Ford the designer and film maker, Tim Cook the CEO of Apple, David Geffen, co-founder of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and investor in Apple, Peter Mandelson the producer turned politician, Queen Latifah, rap artiste and actress, Ellen DeGeneres, Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon the broadcasters, Ryan Murphy the writer, director and producer of Glee, Edward Enninful, first black editor of style Bible Vogue and Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE (born 25 May 1939) the English actor, recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BIF Award, two Saturn Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, two Critics’ Choice Awards, two Oscar nominations, four BAFTA nominations and five Emmy Award nominations are not diminished by their sexual identity nor orientation.

My son Darkwah is a gentle, creative, confident, erudite and hard-working 23 year-old who has studied Fashion Design and worked as Sales Executive for Harrods and Givenchy, Sales Executive then Stylist – Luxury Accessories for Tom Ford, Account Executive for Haddon PR and is now Fashion Editor for the Gay Times, arguably the world’s biggest magazine in its genre. And yes I love him, I admonish him, I scold him and I celebrate him as a loving father.

Whats your difference? Whats your talent? What’s your sin?

As you ponder whether to accept and share yours in spirit and truth with the world, take a moment to ask yourself if those people and things you aim your wrath and persecution at are the cause of the state you are in.

Also ask your parents, and your children, if they would treat you the way you treat others in the event that your sexuality were any different.

It warms my heart to see that my dearly beloved son has the courage and clarity of mind to speak up for himself, as everyone should to enable all live without narrow-mindedness, prejudice, fear and hate.

If each one would spend time doing something that brings them closer to realizing their goals, purpose and happiness whilst respecting the existence of others and safeguarding the environment and public purse, we would all be better for it.

All of us cannot be simultaneously happy with the way everyone finds their peace and happiness but we can agree to let what we see wrong in others never overshadow what is wrong with ourselves.

Whether my son says he is straight or gay, he will forever remain my dearly beloved son. Dig that.

Namaste

#son #family #love #father #forever”

By: KKD

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This comes on the heels of a recent birthday wish the President sent to the dance hall artiste via twitter.

In the tweet, the President asked Shatta Wale to pay him a visit at the Flagstaff House.

This relationship between the president and the talented artiste has engendered a lot of conversations in both social and traditional media,

Shatta Wale has done a song titled ‘Nana Be Shatta’ in keeping with this development.

At his meeting with the President, Shatta Wale showed him an international award he won and also asked the President to fulfil all the promise he made to creative artistes during the 2016 elections.

Akufo Addo assured him that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture was working hard at rolling out some policies that will benefit musicians and creative artistes for that matter.

Also present at the meeting was Bola Ray who recently presented a G-Wagon to Shatta Wale on his birthday.

Shatta Wale has a number of hit songs such as ‘Dancehall King,’ ‘Kakai,’ ‘Taking Over’, among others.

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Jim Iyke said he took his late Mum to the Synagogue Church for deliverance after someone advised him to do so.

According to the actor, he was ready to go to hell in search of cure for his mother at that point.

He spoke on Channels TV, “At that point even I’m told there’ll be a cure in hell I’ll go. You are talking about your mother. So we went.”

“I can remember I went there with my security man, my sister and PA. And when we got there, I was upstairs but there was constant insistence that I come to church. And I said, ‘but that wasn’t the arrangement because I kept my mum in the hospital and was expecting that you’ll lay your hand on her and she’ll get better’, but they said ‘no you must come to church,” he added.

“Then my sister forced me and we went to church downstairs. I was there when the whole stuff of touching people started, I found it a little laughable seriously because this is a national TV and people watch from all corners. I can remember my sister pinched me and said, ‘you’ve got to stop.’

“And I said common men, this is childish, this is not what we came here for. Let’s move mom out of here and keep looking for medical help. Then we were about going to South Africa, there was this young man that was recommended to us, a specialist as well.

“Then the gentleman in question looked at me and saw the amusement on my face and touched me. Now I can’t explain what happened within that space of time. Within that five minutes, whatever happened happened. I’m not here to start proffering explanations to spiritual things that are way beyond me. I’m a man that understand how things work. That I cannot explain and nobody can suggest anything otherwise because personally I know what happened to me.

“Within that time lacks explanations, they said I said stuffs, did stuffs I found out its extremely embarrassing.”

Watch the video which was posted by Pulse Nigeria:

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Source: dailypost.ng

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She passed away at the Effiduase Government Hospital in the Ashanti Region on Thursday, 26^thOctober, 2017 around 9pm.

The cause of her death is not yet known but sources say the singer had been ill for some time.

The President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) Bice Osei Kuffuor, has on behalf of the union confirmed the death of the legendary highlife musician through this statement:

“The Musicians Union of Ghana announces with heavy heart the demise of ace highlife musician Awurama Badu.

The musician who had been sick for a while passed at the Effiduase Govt Hospital in the late hours of yesterday.

Awurama Badu sang hit songs such as ‘Komkom’, Medofo adaada me,’ ‘Obaatan Refre Ne Mma etc.

She died at the age of 72. MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE.”

Awurama Badu was featured on the 2013 Music of Ghanaian Origin (MOGO) Concert organised by Citi 97.3 FM.

In 2016 she was honoured together with female legends like Asabea Kropa, Grace Omaboe, Grace Nortey, Efua Dorkeno, Naa Adjaley, Wilhelmina Mensah, Naa Amanua of Wulomei by Value for Life, a non-governmental organisation founded by the then Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts at a programme, Dzifa Ablah Gomashie.

Watch Awurama Badu’s performance at the 2013 MOGO below:

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Veteran musician Awurama Badu passes on appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The National Party used a track with a similar melody and rhythm to Eminem’s Lose Yourself in an election advert.
The song, entitled Eminem-esque, bore only minimal differences to the original, according to a court ruling.

The case, which began in May, is the latest to test the legality of so-called sound-alike music.

Eminem’s music publisher, Eight Mile Style, filed proceedings after the National Party used an unlicensed version of the Oscar-winning song in a 2014 campaign advert.

The party’s lawyers had argued that the track used was not actually Lose Yourself, but a song called Eminem-esque, which they bought from a stock music library.

However the court ruled on Wednesday that the track was “sufficiently similar” to Eminem’s “highly original work”, adding that it did indeed infringe copyright laws.

The judgment considered the drum patterns, background chords and violin tones of each version, all of which it said bore “close similarities”.

“The nature of the use is not what Eminem or Eight Mile Style would endorse,” the judgment added.

Eminem’s Lose Yourself, which appeared in the rapper’s 2002 film 8 Mile, is one of his biggest hits.

The backing track used in the National Party’s advert, which appeared more than 100 times on TV during the 2014 campaign, had been taken from a library made by production music company Beatbox.

Songs which sound similar to famous tracks – but different enough to avoid breaching copyright – routinely feature in free-to-use commercial music libraries.

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Source: BBC

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[contextly_sidebar id=”tYkYeN3MS0wqTruD3EownSoHpG8oyqYW”]According to him, the reach of his post prove how smartphones are promoting communication in recent times.

“I’m amazed that the smartphone that you and I have in our hands today, is far powerful than the computers that landed man on the moon. I am no less intrigued that I have over 400,000 friends and followers, and a recent tweet wishing Shatta Wale a happy birthday in pidgin will go viral,” president Akufo-Addo said while emphasizing the role of modern technology in today’s world.

He made the comment at the opening of the National Cyber-Security Week, and the inauguration of the National Cyber-Security Inter-Ministerial Advisory Council, at the Accra International Conference Centre, in Accra.

Social media in Ghana went agog after President Akufo-Addo, for the first time, tweeted in pidgin to wish famed dance-hall sensation, Shatta Wale a happy birthday, and invite him to the Flagstaff House.

The post, which went viral, saw some criticize the presidency for the tweet, which they considered “unpresidential” while many others lauded the presidency for breaking its overly formal outlook.

See the tweets below:

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Sarkodie on Sunday morning described how saddened he was by the defeat of his favourite Ghanaian boxer Bukom Banku.

According to him, he believed that Banku wasn’t fit for the bout.

The former WBO Africa Cruiserweight champion, Brimah Kamoko, popularly known as Bukom Banku was defeated by former Ghana Amateur boxing team captain, Bastie Samir at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra on Saturday night.

Prior to the bout, Bukom Banku had promised to knock out the Bastie in the 6th Round but ironically he started losing it in 3rd Round after receiving hard punches from Bastie. He was defeated in the 7th round.

Sarkodie whose ‘Highest’ album was recently released has been nominated in the African Act category of the 2017 Music of Black Origin (MOGO).

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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With Reverend Mary Ghansah on the acoustic guitar and Daughters of Glorious Jesus’ Edna on ‘dondo,’ the group comprising Pat Thomas, Abena Ruthy and others sang popular gospel song ‘It Is Well’ and another song by Paapa Yankson.

Some musicians present at the funeral were President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) Bice Osei-Kuffuor, Nana Ampadu, Abirekyieba Kofi Sammy, A.B. Crentsil, Gyedu-Blay Ambuley, Nana Tuffuor, Rex Omar, Kwasi Ernest, Pat Thomas and Abena Ruthy.

Others were Daddy Bosco, Nana Fynn, Daughters of Glorious Jesus, Tagoe Sister, Mary Ghansah, Rev. Yawson, Bessa Simons, among others.

With more than 15 albums to his credit, he entertained and serenaded music fans with great compositions. He did great songs like ‘Tena Menkyen,’ ‘Mensu,’ ‘Abam Kofi,’ among others.

Paapa’s last major performance was at the Music of Ghanaian Origin Concert organized by Citi FM in March 2017, where he performed in a wheel chair.

Paapa Yankson died on 21^st July, 2017 after a protracted illness. He was 73.

Watch the video below:

 

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Musicians sing for Paapa Yankson at funeral [video] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.