Music

It's a long since cold case that's suddenly been solved -- human remains discovered back in the 80s in a garbage bag have finally been identified as Frank "Frankie" Little Jr. ... the guitarist and songwriter for the O'Jays.

In 1982, police found the bag behind a business in Twinsburg, Ohio. At the time, they could tell the person had been stabbed to death several years prior, but they were not able to figure out his identity.

It was only 2 months ago when a breakthrough came courtesy of DNA technology and a non-profit org. Police explained, "In October 2021, the DNA Doe Project provided the names of potential living relatives, who were able to provide Frank's name."

Police say, that a close relative [of Little's] provided a DNA sample, which was analyzed by a crime lab, and sure enough ... Frank's identity was confirmed.

Frank played with the O'Jays in the R&B group's early days ... writing several songs including "Pretty Words" and "Oh How You Hurt Me."

It wouldn't be until after his tenure that the group scored its biggest hits, including "Back Stabbers," "For the Love of Money" and "Love Train."

After his run with the O'Jays, he joined the U.S. Army, served 2 years in Vietnam and eventually went back to his hometown of Cleveland ... his last known residence.

Boosie Badazz's destructive brawl during a performance was a planned attack that ended up costing the promoters a crap ton of money -- at least according to the promoters who are now suing him over it.

MN2S Corp. and We Are Live Entertainment -- booker and promoter, respectively, for the "Legendz of the Streetz" tour -- just filed suit against the rapper, claiming he caused all the mayhem that unfolded in October at Atlanta's State Farm Arena.

You'll recall ... there was a massive brouhaha that went down in the middle of the show, which resulted in equipment getting damaged, and the entire production getting shut down early. Boosie, as seen in the video, was right in the middle of the fracas.

In their lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the companies say Boosie was initially booked for a total of $150k for five different appearances alongside guys like 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Jeezy and others. They even say they gave him a $50k deposit in good faith before night #1.

Welp, the companies claim before the show Boosie contacted We Are Live president, Leonard Rowe, demanding more dough than what was agreed upon. Rowe declined to pay more, and they allege Boosie threatening to torpedo the whole thing ... and then followed through.

They claim Boosie slipped past security and destroyed a bunch of pricey equipment before fighting with security. They say the show ended early as a result -- before Ross, the headliner, could even take the stage.

Flavor Flav is lucky to be alive, escaping death by only a few feet after a massive boulder struck his car.

A rep for Flav tells us he was on a road trip from Vegas to L.A. Tuesday when the rain caused a boulder to fall down a cliffside in La Tuna Canyon and smash the right side of his vehicle. We're told the collision caused Flav to briefly lose control of his vehicle, thankfully, he was able to safely get it to the side of the road.

As you can see from the photo, the impact did quite a bit of damage. We're told if Flav had just been a few feet in another direction, the boulder would've killed him.

Luckily, Flav is up and talking, following the accident ... he tells us "God is good" and that he "came very close to death but is super grateful to be alive."

We're told that Fav seems to be physically fine, though mentally he is shaken up... and he wasn't the only one. A driver who saw the whole thing happen began to freak out just before stopping to make sure the rapper was okay.

Tory Lanez shouted "Dance bitch, dance!" while firing gunshots at the ground near Megan Thee Stallion's feet, subsequently injuring her ... at least according to testimony from a detective on the case.

LAPD Det. Ryan Stogner took the stand in court Tuesday during a preliminary hearing in Tory's case. The detective says Megan told him Tory was intoxicated during the July 2020 incident.

Det. Stogner went on to say this happened in the Hollywood Hills around 4:30 AM after a party, and a dispute between the artists.

He went on to describe that Tory was standing on the step board of their SUV while Megan was outside of it -- and as soon as Tory fired the shots, she "immediately felt pain to her feet, observed blood, fell to the ground, and then crawled to an adjacent driveway of a residence."

He also said under oath that Megan told him Tory apologized and begged her not to tell, allegedly offering her money to keep her mouth shut because he was on probation. Det. Stogner said, Megan initially explained her injury by claiming she'd stepped on broken glass.

Megan allegedly later admitted she only said it was glass because of the political climate ... she was afraid cops might shoot Tory if she said there was a gun in the car.

What's more ... a recorded phone call was played that Tory made from jail to a woman who was also with Meg when the incident happened. Tory apologizes on the call for something he did because he was too drunk. Tory got pissed in the courtroom, yelling out, "How you gonna tell me what I apologized for?" before his attorney told him to calm down.

The judge heard enough during Tuesday's hearing to move forward with a trial, which is now set to begin on January 13. Tory's facing one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in a manner that caused great bodily injury, and one count of carrying a concealed, unregistered weapon.

The detective's testimony confirmed something Megan's already said publicly ... that in the wake of George Floyd, she feared cops would shoot Tory if she told them a Black man had a gun and had shot her.

Billie Eilish says she consumed so much porn as a kid, it gave her nightmares ... and the mental effects of the addiction have now hurt her in her adult love life.

The 19-year-old singer spilled the beans Monday on SiriusXM’s "The Howard Stern Show," sharing her experience with violent porn and its impact on her life, "I think it really destroyed my brain and I feel incredibly devastated that I was exposed to so much porn.”

Billie clearly hates it now, "I think porn is a disgrace. I used to watch a lot of porn, to be honest. I started watching porn when I was like 11.”

She says that watching the "abusive" porn not only caused her to have trouble in the bedroom once she began having sex ... but she also believes watching it caused her to have sleep paralysis and nightmares.

She now says she is angry that porn is loved and mad at herself for thinking it was okay ... "The first few times I, you know, had sex, I was not saying no to things that were not good. It was because I thought that’s what I was supposed to be attracted to.”

As far as her love life, she says it has been hard, being a celeb and finding love. Saying that people are either "terrified of you or think that you’re out of their league.”

While she admits to thinking last year she'd be single for the rest of her life, she says she got over that thought pretty fast.

Though the 19-year-old may have had trouble with her love life, her music career has had a pretty good year.

Jo Koy might have kicked off a new singing career, well kinda... during his comedy show, he surprised the audience with Boyz II Men's Wanya Morris and he even busted out his own vocals.

It happened Sunday night during Jo's sold-out comedy show at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA ... Jo brought out his longtime friend and the Boyz II Men singer and they both sang the 1994 hit song, "I'll Make Love To You."

Jo didn't bring out the other two B2M members Nathan Morris and Shawn Stockman, but he had no problem stepping up to the mic to sing in their place.

Folks who were there tell TMZ ... Jo cracked jokes, talking about which songs are panty-droppers ... and that's when he brought out Wanya. The night wasn't all jokey. Jo sang Nathan Morris' baritone part and impressed the audience with his vocals.

The song is a classic throwback jam. It spent 14 weeks topping Billboard Hot 100, making it the 3rd best performing song in the 1990s. It also ranked on Billboard's Greatest of All-Time chart.

Olivia Rodrigo is the rare breed who doesn't mind sticking around the Department of Motor Vehicles ... she hung out at the DMV after it closed to film her NPR "Tiny Desk Concert."

And, while Olivia's hit song "drivers license" promotes young drivers to get their card, that doesn't exactly mean she got free use of the DMV as her NPR concert backdrop.

Olivia's "Tiny Desk (Home) Concert" dropped last week, featuring a few songs from her debut album performed inside a California DMV ... we're told she made use of the office in Glendale.

Folks at the DMV tell TMZ ... the filming went down after normal business hours and the production company shelled out $2,383 to use the office, with some of that money covering overtime pay for a few DMV workers who had to stay late to make sure everything was kosher.

We're told the DMV opened its doors to Olivia because the department supports the state's all-important film and entertainment industry, as long as permits are for special projects that won't interfere with the DMV's day-to-day operation.

Kim Kardashian made it clear in new legal docs ... there's no way to fix her marriage to Kanye.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim filed docs last Friday to restore her marital status to single, leaving property settlement and custody issues for another day in the future.

We just got supporting docs Kim filed ... in her declaration, she says, "No counseling or reconciliation effort will be of any value at this time."

Kim also says, "Irreconcilable differences have existed and continue to exist between [Kanye] and me, which have caused our marriage to irretrievably break down."

Kim then goes on to say ... she's wanted to end the marriage for a while, but Kanye wasn't having it. She says, "I have been attempting to settle our dissolution with [Kanye] since I filed for divorce in February 2021." She adds, "I have requested several times that [Kanye] agree to bifurcate and terminate our marital status. [He] has not responded to my request."

And then she says this ... "[Kanye] and I both deserve the opportunity to build new lives. Therefore, I am asking that my request to bifurcate and terminate our marital status be granted."

This tracks with what we've been reporting ... Kanye has been making a full-court press to reconcile with Kim, even singing it to 70,000 fans at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum last week, and Kim was there with the kids. She's been super supportive of Kanye -- especially as the parent to their 4 children -- but she's clearly done with the marriage.

The two have really demonstrated they can co-parent without issue, coordinating the kids and their schedules to work together. Kanye's still got a Christmas stocking hanging at the house, too.

Vicente Fernández fans mourned together at a big soccer game in Mexico on Sunday ... with thousands of supporters singing and cheering throughout the venue.

The powerful moment went down at the Jalisco Stadium ... as Atlas and León players joined together at midfield to celebrate the life and legacy of Fernández.

Fans in attendance stood in solidarity with one another ... clapping for more than a minute straight as fireworks shot to the sky.

Music was played as a young boy dressed in all white walked onto the field to release a white balloon into the sky.

That wasn't all ... a message was projected on the screens at the stadium reading "Don Vicente Fernández 1940-2021."

Fernández's death has affected people not just in the music world, but the sports world as well ... and this tribute was clearly special to all in attendance.

He is survived by his wife, María del Refugio Abarca Villasenor, and their four kids -- Vicente Jr., Gerardo, Alejandro, and Alejandra.

Stevie J says the incident that ended with his son and him getting booted from a Delta flight is rooted in race -- and he believes a white traveler would've gotten a pass.

We got the music producer Monday outside 3SIXTY9 in Los Angeles and asked what went down last week during his trip from L.A. to Atlanta.

Stevie says the gate agents told him and his son, Stevie II, to toss their alcoholic beverages before boarding ... but there was no way they were going to waste their booze.

He says they threw back the drinks and scanned their boarding passes and were walking down the jet bridge when all of a sudden dozens of police swarmed and escorted them off for a chat.

Stevie says it's a case of power-hungry cops mixed with racism -- claiming police took things too far, and would never treat white passengers the same way.

As we first told you ... Stevie is threatening legal action, and now he says he doesn't want beef with Delta but hopes they come to the table to hash things out.

Stevie says he's a good guy who was making people laugh in line to board the plane, and he's surprised this happened on Delta -- he proudly told us about his elite status with the airline.

Danny Carey, the drummer for Tool, got busted for assault at the airport in Kansas City ... and cops say it all stems from a fight he got in with someone inside the terminal.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... airport police responded Sunday night to a report of a disturbance between 2 men and when they got to the scene they arrested DC and transported him to a nearby police station for booking.

We're told Danny was booked for misdemeanor assault ... and as you can see, he certainly didn't look happy in his mug shot. He's no longer in custody after being released on bond.

Cops tell us the police report is being forwarded to prosecutors for review, and potential charges will follow.

As for his weekend, Danny performed at the Kansas vs. Mizzou college basketball game with the band. He was clearly good luck, as Kansas won. Too bad things took a turn at the airport.

Danny hails from Kansas, and he's been playing drums for Tool ever since the rock band formed way back in the 1980s in Los Angeles ... with many considering him one of the greatest drummers of all time.

In addition to rocking with Tool, Danny also plays drums for smaller acts like Pigmy Love Circus, Zaum, Legend of the Seagullmen and Volto.

We reached out to Danny's reps ... but they had no comment on his arrest.

Justin Bieber was left exposed -- if only briefly -- after a fan jumped on stage with him during a performance ... something that got smothered quickly by the muscle on hand.

The pop star was in the middle of singing 'Intentions' Saturday across the pond at the O2 arena ... where he'd been booked for the Jingle Bell Ball as one of the marquee acts. All was going fine -- that is, until some dope decided to pull a stunt.

Check it out ... the guy hoists himself on the platform and appears to attempt a selfie from the back, but it doesn't look like he was successful. Within seconds, security was on his ass, sending him scrambling in the background.

You see Justin react to all the commotion, but it's unclear to what extent he realized something crazy was going down -- 'cause it all unfolded quickly. Still ... you gotta imagine he's grateful for the watchful guards doing their job, otherwise, it coulda been scary.

JB carried on with his set ... and seemed to have somewhat of a better reaction than Maroon 5's Adam Levine did a couple months ago, when he too was bum-rushed in a similar fashion.

Granted, that incident was a lot more up close and personal than this ended up being -- so who knows how Justin would've responded to actually being touched. A good rule of thumb for over-eager spectators ... stay down below and take it all in from a distance.

Kanye West is on a crowd-pleasing streak ... just a few days after wowing a sold-out L.A. Coliseum, he was a surprise performer at Rolling Loud California.

Ye popped on stage during Future's set at the festival, singing “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and as you can tell from the video ... the fans loved it. He performed a 5-song set that included DONDA‘s “Praise God,” and “Father Stretch My Hands".

But, that wasn't it from Ye... the rapper stayed on stage Sunday night through the rest of Future’s set and they both performed songs, with Kanye even freestyling a verse.

The duo had the San Bernardino, CA crowd super hyped, and they clearly wanted to keep it there... they kept going to DJ Esco between songs to decide what they’d do next.

Kanye's had an eventful week... the surprise performance with Future came 3 days after his beef-squashing concert with Drake Thursday night. The reunion with Drake was a benefit concert to free Larry Hoover, the cofounder of the Gangster Disciples, who is serving 6 life sentences in federal prison.

There's a social media push to get Kanye West to step in and fill the role of Louis Vuitton creative director after the death of Virgil Abloh ... and Dapper Dan believes Ye would be the perfect fit.

We got DD at LAX Friday who sang Ye's praises, calling him a genius and saying, "Louis, get Kanye!!!" Of course, Dapper Dan acknowledges Kanye would need to be game to take on the role, but sees it as a perfect fit.

As we reported, Virgil's sudden and surprising death after a battle with cancer drew an outpouring of support, and also raised eyebrows on who could be next to fill his position at LV ... with Kanye's name almost instantly coming to the forefront.

Kanye and Virgil had been friends for more than a decade at the time of his death, and Kanye showed up at memorial and funeral services in both Miami and Chicago to pay his respects and honor the fashion mogul.

Kanye has obviously made his mark in fashion over the years with his Yeezy brand -- a partnership with Adidas to make shoes -- and most recently a collab with GAP.

It was just this week when Kim Kardashian thanked Kanye for introducing her to the "world of fashion," when she accepted the Fashion Icon of the Year Award at the People's Choice Award.

LeBron James just gave a huge spotlight to somebody controversial in the rap world -- and that'd be one Tory Lanez ... who's embroiled in a legal fight with Megan Thee Stallion.

LBJ took to IG Saturday to do what he often does when he stumbles across some new tunes ... blasting it in the car and vibing out. In this case, he was playing TL's new album, 'Alone at the Prom,' and gave it a big endorsement ... showering Tory with compliments.

He captioned one of his Tory videos with, "MAN THIS BOY COLD AS HELL MAN!!! ALONE AT THE PROM IS 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥" Later in the clip, LeBron films himself, seemingly singing along to Tory's lyrics.

Normally, this would be NBD -- like we said, LeBron does this all the time. The difference here ... Tory is very polarizing right now, but that doesn't seem to bother the King.

It's interesting ... LeBron is outspoken over just about everything these days, but he's been mum on the drama between Tory and Meg -- and now, he appears to have shown he's cool with Tory (or at the very least, his music) despite the allegation against him ... namely, that he shot MTS in the foot.

The L.A. District Attorney has charged Tory with one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and one count of carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm ... also claiming he caused great bodily injury as it relates to Meg. He's pled not guilty and maintained his innocence.

Vicente Fernández, the wildly-popular Mexican entertainer known as "King of Rancheras" has died.

Noticias Telemundo broke the news ... "We regret to inform you of his death on Sunday, December 12 at 6:15 a.m."

Fernández was known internationally ... selling north of 65 million albums and starring in more than 35 movies. He was named Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy back in 2002. He snagged 3 Grammys and 8 Latin Grammys.

He made his way to the Hollywood Walk of Fame back in 1998.

Fernández battled numerous health issues over the last decade. In 2012, he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous growth on his liver. The following year he suffered from pulmonary thrombosis.

Earlier this year, Fernández was hospitalized after falling at his ranch.