Posts Tagged ‘Usher’

Oprah Winfrey wiped away tears as celebrity after celebrity surprised her during a farewell double-episode taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that will precede her finale.
“Thank you is not enough, but thank you,” Winfrey told the crowd of 13,000 gathered at Chicago’s United Center on Tuesday night for “Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular.” “For your love and your support, thank you.”

The crowd gave Winfrey a standing ovation when she first walked on the stage. Then the stars came out, with Winfrey’s producers making good on their promise of the biggest celebrities of movies, music and television.
Aretha Franklin sang “Amazing Grace.” Tom Hanks acted as host for the evening. Michael Jordan, who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships during the 1990s, told Winfrey she inspires him. Tom Cruise, famous for his couch jumping on Winfrey’s show, was there. Jerry Seinfeld wore a tuxedo to give a comedy routine. And Madonna said she is among the millions of people who are inspired by Winfrey.

“She fights for things she believes in, even if it makes her unpopular,” Madonna said.

Winfrey announced in November 2009 that she would end her popular talk show after 25 years. Tuesday’s taping will air May 23 and 24, before Winfrey’s final show on May 25.

“You always had the power, and that is the message you brought into our lives,” Cruise told Winfrey.
Josh Groban and Patti LaBelle sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as Winfrey sat in a white chair onstage. Jamie Foxx and Stevie Wonder sang “Isn’t She Lovely” to Winfrey. Wonder followed with his own song, singing to her, “Oprah thank you for using your gifts to uplift so many hearts.” Simon Cowell made an appearance; Rosie O’Donnell sang a Broadway-style song.

Winfrey’s longtime partner, Stedman Graham, introduced Franklin after telling Winfrey he loved her and was proud of her.

“It really does amaze me that I get to be around a woman who changes people’s lives every day and who also takes her own lunch to work,” Graham told the crowd. “You know what really is amazing? You have done this, sweetheart, through all of the sacrifices you’ve made, humility
That’s when Franklin took the stage in a one-shouldered white gown to sing “Amazing Grace.” She later joined Usher for the show’s finale song, “Oh Happy Day,” as sparkly confetti filled the arena.

Maria Shriver, the TV journalist and Kennedy heiress, appeared on the same day it was revealed her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, fathered a child with a woman on his household staff more than a decade ago. Shriver did not mention her husband during the taping.

“You have given me love, support, wisdom and most of all the truth,” Shriver told Winfrey. “And I know I’m not alone in receiving those gifts from you.”
The taping of the second show began with Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who thanked Winfrey and told her she mothered millions and “that puts you in the status of a goddess.”

Actresses Halle Berry, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes and Dakota Fanning all appeared, along with newswoman Diane Sawyer.

Beyonce sang her song “Run the World (Girls)” backed by dozens of dancers. Rascal Flatts performed too.
“Oprah Winfrey, because of you women everywhere have graduated to a new level of understanding of who we are, of what we are and most of all who we can be,” Beyonce said.

The stadium was decorated with pictures of Winfrey at seminal moments over the course of her talk show. Boxes of tissues were on scattered seats throughout the audience.

Usher Raymond is the latest celebrity to have a very personal home video leaked to the press.

A sex tape featuring the R&B singer and his now ex-wife Tameka Foster is currently being sold to media outlets.

The OMG singer, 32, believes that the tape could be one of the items that was stolen from his car during a robbery in 2009, according to TMZ.
In December 2009 Usher reported $1 million worth of belongings were stolen from his car, including two laptop computers and jewellery.

Sources close to the singer told TMZ they believe the X-rated tape may have been among the stolen items.

The celebrity website was sent a clip of the alleged tape and confirm that it is indeed Usher and Miss Foster, 40.

It is not clear when the tape was recorded during their three-year relationship.

he couple married in August 2007 after Usher became romantically involved with Tameka, then his stylist, in 2006.

They have two children together, Usher Raymond V, three, and Naviyd Eli Raymond, two.

He filed for divorce in June 2009, citing irreconcilable differences, claiming they had lived apart for over a year.

The couple’s divorce was finalised in November 2009.

When will celebs learn that recording their private bedroom activities always end up in the media???
We can’t wait to see it!!!

First Nelly Furtado, then Beyoncé, followed by Mariah Carey and now Usher. Since the outbreak of violence against protesters in Libya last month, stars who performed for the country’s dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, and his family have donated their fees to charity in an effort to distance themselves from the controversy.

Through his rep, Usher says he “will be donating all of my personal proceeds from that event to various human rights organizations.”

Carey says she’s embarrassed to have ever been a part of a celebration for the Gadhafis and Beyoncé says she had already donated her payment to Haitian earthquake relief last year.

Canadian singer Furtado was the catalyst for the donations after tweeting her plan to donate the $1 million she received from the Gadhafi family. “In 2007, I received 1million$ from the Qaddafi clan to perform a 45 min. Show for guests at a hotel in Italy. I am going to donate the $,” she wrote on Feb. 28.

Usher has revealed he lost his virginity when he was 13 but didn’t know what he was doing between the sheets until he matured.
The R‘n’B singer shot to fame when he was a teenager after being signed by LaFace Records following an appearance on talent contest Star Search.

Usher admits achieving stardom so early in his adolescence led to him being very popular with girls but although he was having sex he had no idea what he was doing.

He told Vibe magazine: “I started having sex at 13. I didn’t understand why I was having sex until I was about 17 or 18.

“Let’s just say this – I didn’t realise that you start to finish. Up until that point, I had never finished. I just always had sex. I understood that I gotta make sure I please this woman, and I hope that her making those noises aren’t pain!”

It seems Usher’s appetite for women hasn’t diminished as he has gotten older.

The 32-year-old singer recently revealed he wants a “harem of women” like Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.

The ‘Pop Ya Collar’ hitmaker admitted his pending divorce from Tameka Foster – who he has two children with – has put him off getting married again, but he is tempted to find a group of women to have fun with like the live-in lovers Hugh has at the Playboy Mansion.

Usher said: “Seeing how marriage didn’t work out for me the first time, I’m in no rush to do it again. Maybe I can find a couple of women who are open-minded. Look at how Hugh Hefner does it, with a harem of women.”

He’s never been one to disappoint, and Usher gave his fans a dose of dance-infused flavor at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards last night (September 12).

The “U Remind Me” singer opened his performance with “DJ Got Us Fallin in Love” and followed it with “OMG.”

But the singing almost took a backseat to Usher’s unparalleled dance moves, beginning with his multi-tiered set and ending on the massive circular-lit Nokia Theatre stage.