The Voice winner goes to Broadway’s Pippin
NEW YORK (AP) — The next guy to play Pippin on Broadway has already proved he has stage magic. He won the latest edition of The Voice.
Josh Kaufman said yesterday he’ll be taking a turn as the lead in the Tony Award-winning revival Pippin. The fedora-wearing singer said he never saw himself leading a Broadway show until the offer came.
“It’s something I’m really excited about,” he said. “I tend to be the kind of person who doesn’t want to do just one thing. I get bored. So I’m really excited about having a new challenge and having something different to do.”
Kaufman, who belted out George Michael’s One More Try during his The Voice audition, earned cheers for his rendition of Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours and plays with the band The New Etiquette, will join “Pippin” from November 4-January 4 at the Music Box Theatre.
The 38-year-old Indianapolis resident, a former SAT prep tutor and father of three, was coached by Usher to be the sixth champion of The Voice this summer. He’ll rejoin the final few cast mates for the new season starting later this month and hopes to have his own yet-to-be recorded single released early next year.
Dwyane Wade says Stern helped with fashion sense
NEW YORK (AP) — David Stern might be responsible for the fashionable basketball players in the NBA — well, at least for Dwyane Wade.
The Miami Heat star says while he always was a fan of fine dressing, it wasn’t until the former commissioner of the league instituted a dress code that he started taking more interest in what he would wear off the court.
“It was like, ‘OK, now we got to really dress up and we can’t just throw on a sweat suit,'” he said. “Then it became a competition amongst guys and now you really got into it more and you started to really understand the clothes you put on your body, the materials you’re starting to wear, so then you become even more of a fan of it.”
Now Wade is considered among the more fashion-forward stars in a league where players dress to impress. Wade admits there’s some competition among the league – and sometimes they take it over the top in what they wear in a postgame press conference.
“Obviously sometimes we push the envelope, and I think it’s because we’re athletes,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “We’re not looked at as guys who should wear certain things. Being flamboyant is being OK.”
Wade unveiled his latest over-the-top fashion statement this week – his new branded watch from Hublot. The Classic Fusion Dwyane Wade is black polished ceramic with 18-karat gold screws on the bezel and sapphires in the dial; it retails for $18,400.
It’s the second watch Wade has created with Hublot since becoming a brand ambassador for the Swiss watchmaker in 2011: “I always admired what I thought it stood for, the elegance of it.”
Wade turned to the word elegance again when asked about the fashion sense of his new bride, actress Gabrielle Union.
“My lady has her style and I love her elegance that she brings to it,” he said. “And I think I bring a little spice to it. Maybe that’s one of the perks of dating someone nine years younger, bring a little hipster to it!”
Wade, 32, and the 41-year-old Being Mary Jane star just returned from their two-week honeymoon in the Maldives, Tanzania and the Seychelles.
Wig designer’s suit against Nicki Minaj dismissed
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Atlanta has tossed out a lawsuit filed against rapper Nicki Minaj by her former wig designer.
In a lawsuit in February, Terrence Davidson accused Onika Maraj, who uses the stage name Nicki Minaj, and Pink Personality LLC of breaking implied contracts, reneging on discussions to launch a reality TV show and a wig line, and misappropriating his designs.
Lawyers for Minaj filed a motion in May to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Davidson failed to state a valid claim.
US District Judge Harold Murphy on Tuesday did just that. He agreed that Davidson did not state viable claims against Minaj and Pink Personality.
A lawyer for Davidson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.
Davidson, who lives in Georgia, said in the lawsuit that he began working as Minaj’s hair stylist in early 2010. He created multiple wigs for the rapper, known for her flamboyant hairpieces, that she wore to a preshow for MTV’s Video Music Awards, during media appearances in London and for the music video SuperBass.
Davidson said he turned down a contract for a reality TV show at the urging of a Minaj representative. At the time, Davidson said he was discussing doing a joint reality show with Minaj and launching a line of wigs with the music star. But months passed, and Davidson said Minaj and her team shut him out. He stopped working as her stylist in early 2013.
He said Minaj took his designs without his consent and used them to start her own wig line.
Minaj’s lawyers countered that Davidson “is upset because he lost his most famous client” and was seeking to force himself into a business relationship that Minaj and Pink Personality developed without him to get money from them that he didn’t earn.
The judge wrote in his order that the verbal promises of future business Davidson said he got from Minaj and her team were too vague and that it was unreasonable for Davidson to rely on them as a done deal.
The judge also wrote that Davidson claims his wigs are distinctive because of their design and color and that there’s no evidence that he made any attempt to connect them to himself in the public mind or that anyone was confusing the wigs sold by him with wigs sold by Minaj.