Paul Mario Day, the English vocalist best known for his role as the original singer of metal icons Iron Maiden, has passed away at the age of 69.
Day’s tenure with the early Iron Maiden lineup was short-lived, having been recruited by bassist Steve Harris to join the band in late 1975. The band’s initial lineup lasted only for ten months, with Day exiting the group following claims he lacked both energy and charisma.
“When I sang in Iron Maiden, it was a new pub band and nobody wanted to see or hear them,” Day later recalled of his time in the group. “We were all nobodys all trying to make the best music we could and fighting for an audience.”
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Though a live member with no recorded output to his name, Day was replaced by Dennis Wilcock who himself a short-lived member of the group, lasting only until 1978 without appearing on any recorded material. Wilcock was later replaced by Paul Di’Anno, who performed on the band’s first two albums before being succeeded by longtime vocalist Bruce Dicksinson.
Iron Maiden’s self-titled 1980 debut album also contained the track “Strange World,” which Day later claimed he had co-written without being properly credited. “Back then we were all pulling for the same side and it still hurts to think the first-ever song I ever composed was on a big-selling album and nobody knows it was me,” he said.
In 2019, however, Day asserted the issue of co-authorship was “finished with,” adding that “everything’s fine as far as that’s concerned.”
Following his brief stint with Iron Maiden, Day also fronted the groups More and Wildfire, before joining a reformed version of English glam rockers Sweet as their lead vocalist alongside guitarist Andy Scott and drummer Mick Tucker.
“In 1985 Mick Tucker and myself put together the first new line-up of Sweet after the hiatus of the original band,” Scott wrote in a tribute post shared to Facebook. “We needed a singer and when Paul arrived for the audition we looked no further.
“Our first dates were in Australia, total sell-outs which boded well for the future. Europe followed suit and 3 sold out nights at the Marquee in London produced a live album, video and DVD. Live at the Marquee did well in various charts around the world and Paul’s vocal performance has stood the test of time.”
“Paul was a huge part of the NWOBHM [New Wave of British Heavy Metal] from his time in an early version of Iron Maiden and of course his fantastic performance on the Warhead album,” a social media statement from More said of Day’s legacy.
“He was a well loved figure in British rock music and played many memorable shows not least the legendary 1981 Monsters of Rock show at Castle Donington with AC/DC, Whitesnake/David Coverdale as well as tours with Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and many other legendary artists.”
Day relocated to Australia in the ’80s, where he continued to operate as an active musician until his passing.
“My deepest condolences to his wife Cecily and family and friends,” Scott added in his post. “A sad day for all Sweet fans.”
The late DJ Mehdi had a talent for bridging divides. At the height of the musician’s fame, Mehdi’s cousin Myriam Essadi recalls in a new documentary, he had to jet straight from a nightclub in Ibiza to his grandfather’s funeral in Tunisia. “He was wearing red glasses, white jeans and a jacket with a cross. In Tunisia! For our grandfather’s funeral!” Essadi laughs. “We didn’t get it. And in Tunisia you don’t mess with religion.”
DJ Mehdi: Made in France, a six-part documentary now available with English subtitles on Franco-German broadcaster Arte, revisits the life and tragic death of one of the most fascinating, influential and misunderstood French musicians of his generation.
Artwork for DJ Mehdi: Made in France Illustration: Arte TV
International audiences largely know Mehdi, who died in 2011 at the age of 34, for his work with Parisian label Ed Banger in the 2000s, spearheading a new wave of French dance music alongside artists such as Justice – they of the cross logo on Mehdi’s jacket – and SebastiAn. In France, however, his legacy is more complicated, opening up questions about the rift between hip-hop and dance music, as well as underlying divisions in French society.
Born to a French-Tunisian family in the north-west suburbs of Paris in 1977, Mehdi Favéris-Essadi rose to prominence for his production work with rap group Ideal J and hip-hop collective Mafia K-1 Fry. His first big hits came with 113, a rap trio whose 1999 album Les Princes de la Ville is considered one of the most important albums of the decade in France.
When Les Princes was released, dance music had already entered Mehdi’s life via Cassius duo Philippe Zdar and Boombass, whom he worked with on MC Solaar’s 1997 album Paradisiaque. Several of the leading producers of French house music had roots in hip-hop, including Pépé Bradock and Cassius themselves. But none were as well known within the rap world as Mehdi, and his pivot was not always warmly received. “You couldn’t switch from rap to electro or vice versa. In the other world, you weren’t legitimate,” Essadi explains in the documentary.
DJ Mehdi, at The Zoo Club, Manchester, September, 2007. Photograph: PYMCA/Avalon/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
In the US, hip-hop and dance music were initially closely linked, sharing roots in soul and funk music as well as production methods, a connection Mehdi appreciated when he heard Daft Punk’s 1997 album Homework. “I thought: ‘That’s funny, we use the same machines, the same samplers, they live just around the corner, they’re about my age, that could have been me,’” Mehdi says in an archival clip.
By the late 90s hip-hop had risen to such prominence in the US that its leading artists tended to view dance music as a forgotten fad, if they thought about it at all. In the UK the opposite was true, with strength of British dance music eclipsing domestic hip-hop.
In France, homegrown rap was extremely strong in the late 1990s. In the media, however, it was often vilified, while dance music was viewed as the next big thing, thanks to the rise of acts like Daft Punk, Étienne de Crécy and Cassius. The tension between two types of music and their various associations – Parisian elite v working class, city v suburbs – was palpable.
“In 1997, if 47 guys and girls from [Paris suburb] Bobigny wanted to get into the Queen club [a Paris club known for house music] they couldn’t,” Boombass says in the documentary.
“To them we were just guys who smoked weed, only good for a bank robbery or to deal drugs to them,” Essadi adds. “‘You’re from the suburbs.’ That meant many different things to people from central Paris who went to the Palace club or to Bains Douche to listen to dance music.”
DJ Mehdi performs Electric Zoo festival on Randall’s Island, New York, September, 2010. Photograph: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
When Mehdi tried to bridge this gap – for example, with the Kraftwerk-sampling beat for 113’s Ouais Gros – the response was often negative. “When people heard it they thought: ‘Who are these guys hardcore rapping to music like this? I don’t get it,’” 113’s AP says in the documentary.
“I remember people stopping me in the streets, people from the rap world saying: ‘What’s Mehdi doing? Talk to him! What’s this new music, this crazy music,’” Essadi recounts.
Mehdi would go on to have huge success in electronic music off the back of the release of Signatune in 2007. “Signatune was soon being played by the most well-known DJs all across the globe and promoters all wanted to book DJ Mehdi for their events,” former Daft Punk manager Pedro Winter explains in Made in France.
The final part of the documentary shows footage of Mehdi’s international success, DJing at huge clubs and festivals alongside the Ed Banger crew to adoring, hedonistic crowds. It comes in sharp contrast to scenes of poverty and crime, burnt cars and drab suburban tower blocks, that mark the documentary’s first two episodes, examining Mehdi’s roots in hip-hop and the unfashionable outskirts of Paris.
Mehdi died on 13 September 2011 at the height of his international fame, when the skylight on the roof of his Paris home collapsed as he was celebrating the birthday of British producer Riton. “Four of them were sat on this … glass, sort of, roof,” Riton says in the documentary. “They just got to stand up, that’s when it like … made the roof collapse through. Then the next thing, we were just looking through this hole at this horrific scene.”
Tributes to Mehdi came in from the elite of the global dance music world, including US dubstep artist Skrillex and Ed Simons from the Chemical Brothers. And yet, for people in France in particular, this was only half the story.
“Internationally [Mehdi’s] probably best known as one of the frontrunners of the Ed Banger crew that defined an entire era,” Canadian DJ A-trak says at the end of the documentary. “But, of course, he has a huge legacy as the king of French hip-hop production and even just someone who brought together these unlikely pairings of scenes.”
“He helped us evolve our music over time,” 113’s Mokobé adds. “It’s thanks to him that there are no limits, no bars, no borders for us … This is what his music was all about; no bars, no barriers, no border.”
Pete Davidson recently opened up about how his first major sketch on Saturday Night Live, which aired during the 40th season back in 2014, completely fell flat, despite being alongside one of his biggest comedy idols, Jim Carrey.
Speaking during the July 28 episode of Hot Ones, Davidson shared that he had high hopes for the sketch, which was called Zombie Apocalypse High School.
The concept featured him as the zombie son of Carrey’s character, a non-zombie trying to survive the apocalypse.
But the sketch didn’t go as planned. “The sketch bombed to high heavens. And it’s a long one, like it’s six minutes,” Davidson recalled. “I’m eating d—.”
The only moment that got a reaction from the live audience, he explained, came when Carrey hit him with a bat during a scene where the zombie son lunged at him.
“That got a pop,” Davidson said. Knowing how to work a crowd, Carrey decided to lean into the physical humour and kept hitting Davidson with the bat, a foam prop, for the rest of the sketch.
“Jim is a comic so he knows if that works… so the rest of the sketch he just keeps wailing on me with this NERF bat, and then it started to hurt.”
Davidson admitted that he finally broke character, just a little, while still pretending to be a zombie.
“At one point, as a zombie, I went ‘Argh, no more.’” Despite the laughter that eventually came from the slapstick move, Davidson still doesn’t look back on the moment fondly.
“It’s online if you want to watch a 20-year-old crumble with his idol,” he said.
The sketch aired during an episode hosted by Carrey, with Iggy Azalea as the musical guest.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is seeking release from federal custody ahead of his sentencing set for October 3, 2025.
The music mogul’s legal team filed a motion on July 29 requesting release on a $50 million bond, arguing that Combs poses no threat to the public and is not a flight risk.
The filing outlines conditions for Diddy’s release, including travel restrictions and home confinement at his Miami residence. His attorneys also offered additional safeguards like house arrest, substance abuse treatment, and mental health counseling.
Diddy has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest in September 2024. Earlier this month, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges but found guilty on two counts related to prostitution under the Mann Act. The conviction stemmed from transporting male sex workers across state lines.
The motion seeks to reframe Combs’ controversial lifestyle, including his past relationships and “freak-offs,” as consensual swinger behavior. His lawyers argue that he shouldn’t be jailed for consensual acts among adults and note he’s been facing threats of violence in prison.
While Combs has faced serious allegations from ex-partners, including Cassie Ventura and another woman referred to as “Jane,” the defense states that past violence was provoked and that Combs voluntarily entered a domestic violence program before his arrest.
The proposed bond would be secured by Combs’ Miami property, and his travel would be limited to parts of Florida and New York for legal proceedings. The court has yet to rule on the motion.
Sydney Sweeney arrives for the 2025 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025, in New York (ANGELA WEISS)
An advertising campaign starring Sydney Sweeney for the clothing brand American Eagle has triggered the latest online firestorm causing an internet meltdown.
Some social media users are outraged, saying the wordplay of the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans,” coupled with the actor’s blue eyes and blonde hair, has racial undertones. Others are praising the campaign as lacking “woke” politics.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My genes are blue,” Sweeney, wearing denim on denim, says in one video.
People across social media have leveled criticism spanning the gamut, with some saying the campaign promotes “white supremacy” and “eugenics” while others have called it “sterile,” a sign of “regression” or simply “rage bait.”
But many others have applauded the campaign, posting comments like “woke is broke!” and “culture shift!”
Conservative Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas posted a photo of Sweeney on X and wrote, “Wow. Now the crazy Left has come out against beautiful women. I’m sure that will poll well.”
Neither American Eagle nor the Emmy-nominated Sweeney, the 27-year-old actor best known for roles in the series “The White Lotus” and “Euphoria,” have publicly responded to the backlash.
“Sweeney’s girl next door charm and main character energy — paired with her ability to not take herself too seriously — is the hallmark of this bold, playful campaign,” AE said in a statement last week when the advertisements launched.
– ‘Values of another time’ –
The company said its collaboration with Sweeney was meant to “further elevate its position as the #1 jeans brand for Gen Z.”
As part of the campaign, AE had also said it was launching a limited-run “Sydney Jean” that retails for $79.95 and features a butterfly motif on the back pocket, which the brand said is meant to represent domestic violence awareness.
Proceeds from the jeans will go to Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit offering mental health support, AE, a company started in 1977, said.
In the wake of the chatter triggered by the campaign, Washington Post fashion critic Rachel Tashjian wrote that whether or not the ad had racial undertones or anything intentional to say beyond selling jeans, it “is part of a wave of imagery of influencers, pop stars and musicians that feels tethered to the values of another time.”
Hannah Montana fans are about to have the best of both worlds as Miley Cyrus teases something “really special” for the show’s 20th anniversary next year.
During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio, the Grammy-winning singer looked back on the show that launched her career nearly two decades ago. Hannah Montana premiered on Disney Channel on March 24, 2006.
“I want to design something really, really special for it because it really was the beginning of all of this that now sits here today,” Cyrus told host Chris Olsen of the show’s upcoming anniversary. “Without Hannah, there really wouldn’t be this kind of… this me. It’s so crazy to think, too, that I started as a character that I thought was going to be impossible to shed. And now that’s something that when I walk into a space, it’s looked at as this sense of nostalgia or something that you have from your childhood, but I’ve now been kind of integrated into everyone’s life as the character itself. So that’s exciting to get to celebrate that.”
Cyrus played the iconic character for four seasons, from 2006 to 2011, as well as in 2009’s Hannah Montana: The Movie. The show followed a teenage pop star who tried to keep her identity secret from even her closest friends by using a disguise on stage. The cast also featured her real-life dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, as well as Emily Osment, Mitchel Musso and Jason Earles.
In addition to the TV show, Hannah Montana also spawned multiple albums and hit songs, including “He Could Be The One,” “Life’s What You Make It,” “Nobody’s Perfect” and “Let’s Get Crazy,” among others. In 2007, Cyrus also went on her first headlining tour, the Best of Both Worlds Tour, in support of her album Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus.
Once the Disney Channel show wrapped and Cyrus moved past her Hannah Montana alter ego, the singer-actress’ career skyrocketed. She went on to lead multiple movies, such as LOL, So Undercover and The Last Song.
Cyrus has also dropped several hit albums over the years, including 2013’s Bangerz, 2019’s SHE IS COMING, 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation and her most recent, 2025’s Something Beautiful. Her song “Flowers” also scored the singer her first Grammy Awards last year for record of the year and best pop solo performance.
Ozzy Osbourne’s funeral cortege will make its way through his home city of Birmingham
Eight days after his death, Ozzy Osbourne will make his final journey through his home city of Birmingham as fans, friends and family say goodbye.
The Black Sabbath singer’s body will be taken in a hearse through the city on Wednesday, on the way to his private funeral.
Funded by the family of the heavy metal pioneer, who grew up in Aston, the event is a chance for the city to pay its last respects to one of its “greatest legends”, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Zafar Iqbal, said.
The event will also allow those among the cortege to see the many floral tributes and messages left by his legions of fans on Black Sabbath Bridge.
Many travelled to the city from all over the world – including Mexico and the USA – in the days since his death was announced on 22 July, almost three weeks after he performed at Black Sabbath’s farewell gig, Back to the Beginning.
What to expect during the procession
Ross Halfin
Ozzy Osbourne died almost three weeks after his last live performance
A hearse and accompanying vehicles will slowly make their way down Broad Street from about 13:00 (12:00 GMT).
The procession will travel to the Black Sabbath Bridge and bench, where thousands of fans have left heartfelt messages and floral tributes.
The cortege will be accompanied by a live performance from Birmingham-based Bostin’ Brass Band and other local musicians.
A tram, named after Osbourne, unveiled in 2016, will also be parked nearby outside Birmingham Library while the cortege moves through the city.
The city council said the event was expected to draw large crowds of fans gathering to say goodbye to the man who “helped shape the global heavy metal genre” and “proudly carried the spirit of Birmingham”.
PA Media
Thousands of fans have travelled to the Black Sabbath Bridge to pay their respects
Broad Street will be closed to through traffic from about 07:00, with buses and trams diverted during the event and stewards will be on hand to help visitors.
Access for locals will be managed where possible but cannot be guaranteed, the council said, and Broad Street will reopen as soon as possible after the event.
Those planning to come along have been urged to arrive early, use public transport and follow safety guidance.
For those unable to attend, the live stream of the Black Sabbath bench will continue to operate online.
Bostin’ Brass Band member Aaron Diaz promised a “fitting tribute” to Osbourne
Bostin’ Brass Band will be playing music as the cortege makes its way along Broad Street.
The group, who started off as a marching band in Digbeth, described themselves on their website as “Birmingham’s very own second-line, jazz, funk and ska soul stew”.
Speaking to BBC Midlands Today, band member Aaron Diaz said he was both nervous and honoured to be taking part.
“It’s certainly high pressure,” he said. “You do feel a weight of responsibility.
“We’re really going to enjoy paying a fitting tribute to him and being part of the crowd of thousands that’s going to turn out on the day.”
What does the event mean to Birmingham?
Luisa Huggins said Birmingham was proud Osbourne was one of their own
Many if not all fans, both local and from outside the city, agree that Birmingham is the appropriate location for the procession to take place.
Rachel Tomlinson, from Birmingham, said having the procession in Osbourne’s home city was “amazing” because it was “where he should rightly be”.
“He was always proud to be a Brummie,” she added. “He makes me proud to be a Brummie. It will be good to have him back one last time.”
Getty Images
Thousands are expected to come to say a final farewell to the Black Sabbath frontman
Luisa Huggins, of Westside Business Improvement District, which owns the Black Sabbath bench on Broad Street, said it had become a focal point in the last few days.
“It’s just been a really positive thing to see people coming to Birmingham to take part in paying homage and honouring the legend who Ozzy Osbourne was,” she said.
“He was so proud to be from Birmingham and I think as fellow Brummies we were really proud to have him as one of our own as well.”
Prince Harry ‘doesn’t like being controlled’ amid peace talks
Prince Harry will not change his views on work despite extending an olive branch towards King Charles.
The Duke of Sussex, who recently held talks with King Charles’ reps, “doesn’t like being controlled”.
The insider told Mail on Sunday that Harry would not be fully open to working with the Buckingham Palace.
“Harry still doesn’t like being controlled by the Royal machinery, and that won’t change,” they said.
“However, if the Royal Family have full sight of his movements they can at least plan accordingly. It’s a significant gesture.”
Prince Harry left the Royal Family back in 2020 alongside wife Meghan Markle and son, Prince Archie. The couple later accused the Royal Family of showcasing racism towards their son and publicly shared their grievances on television. Harry and Meghan now live in California, where they also welcomed their daughter, Princess Lilibet.
The huge public reaction to a kisscam moment at a Coldplay concert that went viral reveals deeper insights about how we relate to strangers online and the real-world consequences that can follow, according to University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Professor Jingyi Gu.
The moment, captured during the band’s performance and later shared widely on social media, shows a man and woman caught on the jumbotron in what appears to be a romantic interaction. As soon as they noticed they were on screen, they immediately pulled away from each other prompting Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin to say, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
As users speculated about their relationship, identities and intentions, the clip took on a life of its own, leading to both individuals being publicly identified and ultimately losing their jobs.
Getting parasocial on social media
Gu from the School of Communication and Information in UH Mānoa’s College of Social Sciences said that people who saw the video on social media experienced a parasocial relationship with those two people whose personal lives were captured. A parasocial relationship is a one-sided connection in which someone feels a sense of familiarity or emotional attachment to a media figure or stranger, often formed through glimpses into their personal lives shared via media or social platforms.
“Most social media spectators and users don’t know these two people in real life,” Gu said. “Yet, they become personally invested in what they watched and felt ‘familiar’ with those two in the videos because the media feeds them with a glimpse of the very intimate and personal moment of the couple who were captured by the kisscam.”
Gu noted that viral moments like this often trigger viewers to invent backstories. “We create stories or personas around people we don’t know in order to make sense of the world around us, understand others and ourselves, and express our cultural, moral and social values.”
The incident also transformed on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram into a trend, or popular, recurring actions and videos that gain significant attention and influence user activity. Due to the nature of trends, many social media users—including sports teams who would recreate the moment in a comedic fashion on their jumbotrons or kisscams—would create their own version of the incident. In turn, this encouraged other users to do their own takes on the trend, causing the concert moment to go even more viral.
Gu emphasized how social media intensifies these tendencies, saying, “Social media platforms also amplify this type of story- and persona-making by rewarding emotional engagement and attention-grabbing narratives.”
Viral moment can plague those captured
What was once a private exchange became a public spectacle, and, as this case showed, can become destructive for the lives of those involved. “Social media collapses traditional boundaries—what was captured on the Coldplay kisscam was originally a fleeting, personal moment in an anonymous crowd, but can now be recorded, circulated and discussed by many people online.”
“[Viral moments] can be monetized, but can also be destructive—especially when internet narratives assigned to individuals don’t reflect their full reality,” Gu said. “People might face unwanted attention, misidentification, doxxing and even harassment.”
She added, “Some of these narratives also resemble acts of ‘internet vigilantism’—people participate not only in sharing what they consider to be evidence of morally questionable acts (in this case, having an affair), but also in public shaming these targeted individuals.”
While viral clips may be short-lived, the effects are not. “Virality is largely unpredictable and often short-lived. However, this incident shows how an ‘emotional hook’ is critical to something going viral. In this case, feelings of embarrassment, awkwardness and curiosity all drove engagement and contributed to the clip’s spread on social media. But as we consume these viral moments, we also need to remember that the people involved are real individuals (not fictional characters)—and maybe even consider how we might feel if we were in their place.”
A week after the show’s controversial season 27 premiere, South Park is taking the week off, according to a video posted Tuesday on South Park Studios’ YouTube page announcing that the second season 27 episode will air on Aug. 6.
While the skipped week comes just after a tumultuous contract negotiation that ended with the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, inking a $1.5 billion licensing deal and a premiere episode that heavily mocked President Donald Trump, the week off likely has nothing to do with either event. South Park has been known to skip weeks as a new season rolls out week over week.
On Wednesday night, an encore presentation of the season 27 premiere will air on Comedy Central.
In the preview for the new episode, the plotline introduced in the season premiere appears to continue, with Trump continuing his relationship with Satan, including some under-the-table groping at a black tie event and, of course, Eric Cartman lambasting everyone around him.
“You can just shut up, Bebe, because you have America and you love abortion,” Cartman yells at his classmate at what appears to be a public forum.
The premiere episode ended with the town of South Park agreeing to pay millions to Trump in a settlement and produce 50 pro-Trump public service announcements. The first one aired following the episode and featured a naked Trump wandering in the desert, hallucinating that his penis is speaking to him.
White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers reacted to the episode on Thursday, suggesting it represents the hypocrisy of the political left, lobbing insults at the show while touting Trump’s delivery on his 2024 campaign promises.
The second episode of South Park season 27 airs on Comedy Central on Aug. 6.
