Music

Meat Loaf -- the singer with some monstrous hits -- has died at the age of 74.

The singer's manager, Michael Greene, confirmed Meat Loaf died Thursday night. Sources with knowledge tell TMZ ... he was supposed to attend a business dinner earlier this week for a show he's working on -- "I'd Do Anything for Love" -- but the dinner was canceled because he became seriously ill with COVID. Sources tell us that his condition quickly became critical.

Our sources say Meat Loaf has been outspoken about COVID, railing with folks in Australia recently about vaccine mandates. We do not know if he was vaccinated.

Greene added that Meat Loaf's wife and 2 daughters were by his side when he passed away.

Meat Loaf was one of the greatest rock singers of all time. His 1977 "Bat Out of Hell" album sold an astounding 65 million copies. That album produced several hits, including "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad," which charted at #11 on Billboard.

Meat Loaf followed up with a sequel years later -- "Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell" - which produced a number 1 hit, "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)." He won a Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance.

Meat Loaf also appeared in a ton of movies and TV shows, including "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Spice World: The Movie" and "Fight Club" He also performed in the musical "Hair," both on and off-Broadway.

His real name was Marvin Lee Aday. As for how he acquired the name of a delicious meal ... his football coach named him Meat Loaf because of his weight. His first band was called Meat Loaf Soul.

Now get this ... his first album was a duet with a singer named Stoney and it was released on Motown.

Meat Loaf appeared on "TMZ Live" back in 2014, promoting his new show in Vegas.

We last got Meat Loaf in NYC back in 2019, where he told us why his stage name should appeal to vegetarians and vegans alike.

Kanye West will give you a fist bump if you call him an "amazing father" ... as one fan found out while Yeezy was grabbing some ice cream.

The bizarre interaction went down Thursday in Calabasas, where Ye hit up an ice cream shop after a doctor's visit.

Kanye's licking his ice cream cone and answering a paparazzi's question about the death of fashion icon Andre Leon Talley ... when suddenly someone comes up and praises Kanye's father skills.

Ye perks up and gives the dude a fist bump, telling him he loves the praise and appreciates the recognition.

Kanye then gets behind the wheel of his whip ... which turns out to be a minivan!!!

Seems he's got plenty of room for North, Psalm, Saint and Chicago to ride in the back.

Adele says she's tried everything possible, but the show will NOT go on, as they say -- COVID has forced her to cancel her upcoming Vegas residency.

Adele apologized to fans Thursday for having to cancel at the last minute. She says she tried hard to make sure her show was ready in time, but she says it's been nearly impossible with delivery delays, and half of her team being down due to COVID-19.

Adele was set to have her opening show this weekend as a part of her “Weekends with Adele” residency. She planned to do 24 shows starting this month and running through April.

But, now fans who traveled to Sin City will have to find something else to do, because they won't be hearing from the Grammy-award winning singer ... not this weekend, anyway.

Adele obviously appeared very remorseful, and distraught about the decision -- she says she intends to reschedule, and she's "gonna get [the show] to where it's supposed to be."

No word yet on when those new dates will be, but ya gotta feel for Adele when you see how upset she is about the delay.

Bobby Shmurda will be stickin' to music because basketball ain't it ... the Brooklyn rapper botched an easy alley-oop dunk -- and it was hilarious!

The epic fail was caught on video ... the 27-year-old went to the famed CoolKicks store in Los Angeles for a sneaker shopping sesh on Wednesday.

There's a basketball hoop in the store ... so when Bobby arrived, store owner Adeel Shams -- aka Champagnepaki -- placed a $1,500 store credit wager on whether Shmurda could beat him one-on-one.

Bobby won that bet ... but Shams wasn't done with him. Next bet ... $1K to BS if he could throw down an alley-oop.

"If he do an alley-oop, I'll give another band on top and I know he not doing that," Shams said.

And, Bobby wasn't playing around. He tucked his chain and took off his hoodie ... for maximum jumping ability. But, midway through his jump, Bobby lost the ball, before crashing to the ground.

"What the f***?!" Shmurda laughed, "I'm going back to the studio! I'm going back to the studio!"

The Super Bowl is still a few weeks away, but you can start losing your minds for the halftime show now ... 'cause the official trailer for the big event just dropped -- and it's awesome!!

Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar are set to share the stage on February 13 ... which, understandably, has a ton of people hyped.

Pepsi just added to the anticipation by releasing a nearly 4-minute Hollywood film-style clip dubbed the "official trailer" ... featuring all the performers getting "the call" and preparing to hit up L.A. for the show.

The vid shows Em, Snoop, MJB, Kendrick and Dre all leaving their daily lives to join forces outside SoFi Stadium ... with Dre moving all the pieces in a big game of chess.

The visuals are nuts ... and if it's any indication as to how the real halftime show will go, we're in for a treat.

Cardi B's announcement she's covering funeral costs for all the victims of the historically deadly Bronx apartment fire has one man -- who lost 5 relatives -- calling Cardi an "angel."

Haji Dukuray's niece was killed in the blaze, along with her husband and 3 children ... and Cardi is making sure he doesn't have to worry about finding the money to bury 5 family members.

Haji, who used to drive 200 miles from his Delaware home to see his niece and her family in the Bronx, tells TMZ ... Cardi is an angel and his family can't thank her enough for what she's done.

He says it's a huge help to his family to not bear the financial burden ... and he's sending Cardi blessings for stepping up to help so many people she's never met.

As we reported, the inferno engulfed a 19-story apartment building in the Bronx earlier this month, killing 9 adults and 8 children -- the city's deadliest fire in more than 3 decades.

Cardi, a Bronx native, vowed to cover funeral expenses and worked with NYC Mayor Eric Adams' office to make it happen.

Haji says he got word of Cardi's gift from Mayor Adams' people -- and had no idea, initially, the rapper was their benefactor.

Remember, Fat Joe is helping rally celebs for relief efforts, and he told us most of the people living in the building were immigrants who lost everything in the blaze.

We got Jim Jones at Impact Zone Gym in New Jersey and asked him about Cardi's gesture ... and he praised her too, saying he would expect nothing less.

Chris Daughtry's daughter Hannah Price died from suicide by hanging, while under the influence of narcotics... this according to her family.

TMZ broke the story ... Hannah was found dead in her home back in November, although the cause of death was uncertain at the time. The Daughtry family now says Hannah took her own life.

Deanna and Chris said Hannah struggled with mental illness and later turned to drugs and found herself in abusive relationships, adding, "We did everything we could to support her and get her the help she needed to recover from these tragedies and get her life back on track."

Law enforcement told us Hannah's boyfriend Bobby was arrested the same day her body was found... at the time, police didn't reveal the reason behind his arrest.

Chris and Deanna now say the morning of her death, she contacted her parents in fear for her life... claiming her boyfriend had physically abused her. When officers arrived, they concluded she was fine. After her death, Bobby was arrested on an unrelated matter.

Chris Daughtry said he was absolutely devastated and heartbroken, in an emotional Instagram post... and canceled his concert tour.

Chris and his wife Deanna met back in 2000... Deanna had two children-- Hannah and her brother Griffin -- from a previous relationship. Chris and Deanna later had twins Adalynn Rose and Noah James.

Hannah was 25.

In the beginning, man learned not to trust serpents — but even in the 21st century, they’re still biting us in the ass ... or in Maeta’s case, the face.

The 21-year-old R&B singer -- who's signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation -- dished about what exactly led up to her viral snake bite — of which she shared in BTS footage last month, showing her get nipped on the chin — and apparently .... it wasn’t really her idea to begin with.

Check it out ... Maeta tells us the whole snake idea came courtesy of the directors who worked on the video to her single, “Habits,” which she says she just rolled with. And, as for the snippy snake itself, she actually says there’s no hard feelings!

Fortunately for her, the reptile wasn’t venomous ... nor were its fangs all that long. Still, Maeta says the little bastard’s bite did indeed draw blood — but she doesn’t hold anything against it. Sounds like it was just a freak thing from Mother Nature.

While she says it was scarier in the moment than after the fact — considering the sheer shock value of getting chomped on — Maeta does have this to say about the prospect of ever working with these slithering creatures in the future ... hell to the no.

She’s taking a page out of Adam and Eve’s playbook ... and ditching snake play for any other projects going forward.

Cardi B is stepping up to help those rocked by tragedy in her native New York City, paying for the funeral and burial costs of those killed in a building fire that killed 17.

Cardi tells us, "I cannot begin to imagine the pain and anguish that the families of the victims are experiencing, but I hope that not having to worry about the costs associated with burying their loved ones will help as they move forward and heal."

As we reported, the fire ripped through a 120-unit tower in The Bronx on January 9 -- taking the lives of 17 people -- and sending many more to the hospital. Victims ranged in age from just 2 years old to 50.

We're told Cardi will cover both funeral and burial expenses and has teamed up with The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City to make sure everyone is covered, and the wishes of their families are met.

Cardi says, "I send my prayers and condolences to everyone affected by this horrific tragedy."

Fire officials believe a broken space heater caused the blaze, but two interior doors that were left open allowed smoke to fill the building. Officials say those doors were supposed to have been closed, and are investigating why regulations weren't followed.

Britney Spears has already taken the gloves off when it comes to her dad, but she's now ready for war as Wednesday's hearing approaches because she's saying Jamie Spears lined his pockets with millions of dollars she earned and claims it was all blatant self-interest ... and that's just a small fraction of what Britney paid members of the conservatorship.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, has filed legal docs, claiming Jamie "engaged in self-dealing, financial and business mismanagement ... engaged in abusive and bullying conduct toward his daughter, deprived his daughter of fundamental civil liberties ..." and that's just for starters.

He claims Jamie got $6 million over the 13-plus years of the conservatorship.

And the legal docs go on to claim Jamie had engaged in "chronic alcohol abuse impairing his ability to serve faithfully."

And there's this ... Rosengart claims some of $6 million was used by Jamie to pitch a show called, "Cookin' Cruzin' & Chaos." The docs also claim to sell the show Jamie converted one of the tour busses into a food truck.

Rosengart says in addition to Jamie's $6 million, millions and millions more were spent on lawyers to keep the conservatorship going.

Rosengart says the legal fees amounted to more than $30 million. So with what Jamie made, that would bring the total to more than $36 million.

Jamie has said all of the money he made during the conservatorship was court-approved.

The hearing is a petition by Jamie for more attorney's fees. Rosengart's filing is in opposition to that.

Jamie Lynn Spears is disturbed by Britney's behavior on social media ... and she's taking it as a sign her older sister is spiraling out of control.

Sources close to Jamie Lynn tell TMZ ... Britney's Instagram post harkening back to a moment she wanted to slap her 12-year-old sister over a milkshake is "terrible" and not something Britney should be sharing on social media.

We're told Jamie Lynn is upset by the posts, and believes Britney has immense jealousy over JL's childhood.

Our sources say Jamie Lynn and her children get death and rape threats from Britney's followers whenever BS rips her sis on social, and Jamie Lynn's told Britney about this and asked her to stop ... but Britney's ignoring her pleas. Jamie Lynn says she and Britney have been texting.

We're told Britney explained to Jamie Lynn she's just having fun on social media, and didn't have any idea what her fan army was saying ... and even apologized.

But, as we reported ... a truce between the sisters went up in flames Tuesday ... and now we're told Jamie Lynn believes Britney is continuing to attack her on social media because, in JL's view, Britney finds delight in her sister and nieces being harassed.

Our sources say Jamie Lynn is saying she only wants to support her sister and hopes Britney can learn how to readjust after the conservatorship, which JL thinks went too far.

Jamie Lynn's new book, interviews and her own social media posts continue to garner angry reactions from Britney ... and we're told Jamie Lynn feels like she deserves to have a chance to tell her story, and doesn't get why Britney is criticizing her over her own experiences.

And just like that ... the truce between Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn Spears is over, 'cause Brit's now openly wishing she'd slapped some sense into her sister and their mom when she had the chance.

Jamie Lynn's new book, interviews and social media posts continue to trigger angry reactions from Britney -- and in the latest one she laments not being "strong enough to do what should have been done" to Jamie Lynn and Lynne.

In the post, speaking directly to her kid sis, Britney says she should've "slapped you and Mamma right across your f***ing faces!!!!!"

Britney's rant is basically about how, in her view, Jamie Lynn was a spoiled younger sibling riding Britney's coattails and living the good life at home while Britney worked her butt off to make tons of money for her family.

BS also accuses her mom of being high on pain meds after splitting from her dad, Jamie Spears, claiming Lynne "was more messed up than anything !!!!"

As you know ... Britney's been taking shots at Jamie Lynn over claims her little sister makes about life with Britney in the book, "Things I Should Have Said."

Travis Scott got a stinky surprise as he made a rare public appearance at the L.A. Rams' game ... all thanks to a sewage pipe that burst within smelling distance of the rapper.

We got photos of Travis Monday night at SoFi Stadium in one of his first outings since the Astroworld tragedy. Travis hung out in one of the field-level suites but kept a low profile, mostly standing near the back of the room with a few friends.

However, it was during the second half of the game when all hell broke loose -- a sewage pipe burst -- causing the suite next to Trav to evacuate, and sending a putrid smell throughout the lower boxes.

You can see a mix of cleaning staff and equipment do their best to clean up the mess as quickly as possible, but our sources say it was almost enough to get some people to leave.

Eventually, we're told Travis left with about 2 minutes left in the first-round playoff game, but he didn't miss much -- the Rams blew out the Cardinals 34-11 -- besides the stench.

As we said, Travis has rarely been seen in public since the Nov. 5 incident which killed 10 fans. He's been hit with billions in litigation, but has maintained he was unaware of the severity of what was happening in the crowd as he performed.

Jamie Lynn Spears says she was treated much like her older sister, Britney, was during her teenage pregnancy in the mid-2000s, and it got so bad ... she almost legally broke free.

The former Nickelodeon star dishes about attempts to seek emancipation from her parents in her memoir, "Things I Should Have Said," -- and she went into more detail about that dark period on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast.

According to JL, she actually hired lawyers and drafted up paperwork in her would-be bid for freedom at just 16 -- this after she claims her parents isolated her from the outside world, not to mention her then-BF Casey Aldridge ... upon learning she'd gotten pregnant.

Jamie describes her parents being super controlling amid her pregnancy, saying they completely cut her off from all outside communication ... fearing news of the pregnancy would leak. At the time, they were also dealing with Britney's very public breakdown.

Speaking of which, Jamie Lynn claims to have been mostly ignorant to what was going on with Brit ... acknowledging she was absorbed in her own drama and problems. When she finally had the kid -- against her parents' wishes, she alleges, and after the story had leaked -- Jamie says she continued being heavily monitored by her family, and realized she'd never be able to get out from under their collective thumbs ... unless she went to court.

Jamie Lynn says her mom, Lynne, was served emancipation papers, but in the end ... they struck a deal that allowed Jamie to buy her own home and be with her own new family unit.

There's more here about Britney's episodes too ... Jamie Lynn talks about how her mom would often fly out to go handle a Britney-related matter any time something came up, which she says became more and more frequent. Again, Jamie Lynn denies knowing details ... insisting her parents and the team at large kept everything on a need-to-know basis.

With that said, Jamie says she remembers exactly where she was when she learned Britney had shaved her head ... and it sounds like the whole saga hurt her little sis as well. She breaks down in tears recounting and processing everything ... and it obviously impacted her.

BTW, the recent back and forth bickering Jamie Lynn and Britney have been engaged in also gets addressed in this sit-down ... with JL providing what she claims is text message evidence to clear her name, something 'CHD' teased hard in their promo of the interview.

Kanye West did Eazy-E proud with his new diss song aimed at Pete Davidson -- so says the late MC's own flesh and blood, who hears the "gangsta" coming through on the record.

We got Eazy's daughter, Ebie, in L.A., who told us Ye and Game's new track, 'Eazy,' gets two big thumbs up from her ... and a cosign on behalf of the EE family at large, it seems. The reason ... she thinks her dad's street vibes and spirit are reflected in the song -- thus, living up to his legacy.

If you didn't know, 'Eazy' samples Eazy-E's famous single "Eazy-Duz-It," which isn't necessarily a song aimed at anyone in particular ... but definitely dabbles in G things.

With that in mind, Ebie says Kanye paid proper homage to her pops ... 'cause she thinks the single is pretty damn vicious -- which seems to be the overall consensus. Ebie has a lot of love for Ye here ... telling us he can't do any wrong in her eyes, and that her father would've absolutely loved contributing to this if he was still around.

As you've probably heard by now ... Ye announced, through the new track, he wants to beat Pete's ass, but the bigger takeaway seems to be what he said about Kim and their kids. If anything, it's more of a Kardashian diss than a PD diss -- 'cause KW got a lot off his chest about his estranged in-laws.

He claimed the Kardashians take too much credit in raising their respective broods, claiming the kids are mostly being brought up by cameras and nannies ... instead of "real family."

Kanye also took some shots at his kids ... who, he suggests, are spoiled and raised to get everything they want. Whereas the Kardashians prefer to pamper their little ones, Ye raps about preferring an old-school parenting approach (Top Ramen reference FTW) ... and Ebie digs it!

Snoop Dogg is a man of his word -- the rap legend just held up his birthday promise and delivered a "Death Row" chain to Eli Manning for his birthday ... and the QB is stoked!!

Remember, the hip-hop legend appeared on ESPN 2's "Manning Cast" with Peyton and Eli earlier this month ... and revealed the gift to the ex-Giants QB for his 41st birthday.

But, Snoop wasn't just blowing smoke -- the 2-time Super Bowl champ had it delivered to him on Monday ... and commemorated the gift with an unboxing of sorts on social media.

"Oh yeah! There she is!" Manning said picking up the gold and diamond chain, "This is what we're talking about!"

During the clip, Manning hilariously struggles to get it on over his head ... admitting he's "never had a chain like this before".

Once he was able to put it on, Eli thanked the rapper for the gesture.

"Snoop, thank you pal," he said. "Now I'll finally fit in with all my neighbors."

Eli says the b-day gift might also get some screen time on Monday night's "Manning Cast" ... saying, "I'm definitely gonna be wearing it in the playoff game on Monday Night Football. Thanks a lot!"

Maybe the hip-hop bling will give the Manning bros. the urge to spit a couple of bars again ... remember their "Football On Your Phone" ad??