Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Lionel Richie soared. Pat Benatar roared. Duran Duran stumbled but stayed sophisticated. Eminem was Eminem.
The four acts found very different ways to celebrate on Saturday night, but all can now forever say they're Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. So are Carly Simon, Eurythmics, Harry Belafonte, Judas Priest and Dolly Parton, who gave the honor an enthusiastic embrace after temporarily turning it down.
The first act inducted at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles after a memorable speech from a shaven-headed Robert Downey Jr., Duran Duran took the stage and launched into their 1981 breakthrough hit "Girls on Film."
The shrieking crowd was there for it, but the music wasn't. The band was all but inaudible other than singer Simon Le Bon, whose vocals were essentially acapella.
It was a fun if inauspicious beginning to a mostly slick and often triumphant show.
"The wonderful spontaneous world of rock `n' roll!" the 64-year-old Le Bon shouted as the band stopped for a do-over.
They kicked back in at full volume, playing a set that included "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Ordinary World," quickly snapping back into what Downey called their essential quality: "CSF -- cool, sophisticated fun."
Lionel Richie brought both chill and warmth to the room hours later, opening his set with a spare rendition of his ballad "Hello" that seemed to make him nearly break down from the weight of the moment.
"His songs are the soundtrack of my life, your life, everyone's life," Lenny Kravitz said in inducting Richie.
After "Hello," Richie breezed into his 1977 hit with the Commodores, "Easy." The vibe went from smooth to triumphant when Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl made a surprise appearance to play a guitar solo and swap vocals with Richie. That led into a singalong, celebratory rendition of 1983's "All Night Long" that brought the night's biggest reaction.
In his acceptance speech, Richie lashed out at those during his career who accused him of straying too far from his Black roots.
"Rock & Roll is not a color," he said. "It is a feeling. It is a vibe. And if we let that vibe come through, this room will grow and grow and grow."
Eurythmics took the stage next with a soulful, danceable rendition of 1986's "Missionary Man."
"Well I was born an original sinner, I was born from original sin," singer Annie Lennox belted, bringing the audience clapping and to its feet four hours into the show. It was followed by a rousing rendition of their best-known hit, "Sweet Dreams."
Moments later her musical partner, Dave Stewart, called Lennox "one of the greatest performers, singers and songwriters of all time."
"Thank you, Dave, for this great adventure," a tearful Lennox said.
As he has been throughout his career, Eminem was the outlier. He was the only hip-hop artist among the inductees, the only one whose heyday came after the 1980s, and he brought an edge to the evening that was otherwise missing outside of the heavy metal stylings of Judas Priest.
He also took the guest star game to another level. After opening briefly with 1999's "My Name Is," he brought on Aerosmith's Steven Tyler to sing the chorus of "Dream On" for 2003's "Sing for the Moment," which samples the Aerosmith classic. Then he brought on Ed Sheeran to sing his part on the 2017 Eminem jam "River" as rain fell on the stage.
"I'm probably not supposed to actually be here tonight for a couple of reasons," Eminem, wearing a black hoodie, said as he accepted the honor. "One, I know, is that I'm a rapper and this is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame."
He's only the 10th hip-hop artist among well over 300 members of the Hall of Fame.
He was inducted by his producer and mentor Dr. Dre, whom he credited with saving his life.
But hitmakers of the 1980s defined the night.
"Pat always reached into the deepest part of herself and came roaring out of the speakers," Sheryl Crowe said in her speech inducting Benatar.
Benatar, inducted along with her longtime musical partner and husband Neil Giraldo, took the stage with him and displayed that power moments later.
"We are young!" the 69-year-old sang, her long, gray hair flowing as she soared through a version of 1983's "Love is a Battlefield."
Inductees absent from the ceremony included Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor, who is four years into a fight with advanced prostate cancer, the 95-year-old Belafonte and Simon, who lost sisters Joanna Simon and Lucy Simon, both also singers, to cancer on back-to-back days.
Carly Simon was a first-time nominee this year more than 25 years after becoming eligible. Olivia Rodrigo, 60 years Simon's junior and by far the youngest performer of the night, then took the stage to sing Simon's signature song, "You're So Vain."
Janet Jackson appeared in a black suit with a massive pile of hair atop her head, remaking the cover of her breakthrough album "Control," as she inducted the two men who made that and many other records with her, writer-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
When the nominees were announced in May, Parton "respectfully" declined, saying it didn't seem suitable for her to take a spot as a country-to-the-core artist. She was convinced otherwise, and ended up the headliner Saturday night.
"I'm a rock star now!" she shouted as she accepted the honor. "This is a very, very, very special night."
Parton said she would have to retroactively earn her spot.
She disappeared and emerged moments later decked out in black leather with an electric guitar and broke into a song she wrote just for the occasion.
"I`ve been rockin' rockin' rockin' rockin' since the day I was born," she sang, "and I'll be rockin' to the day I'm gone."
She closed the night leading an all-star jam of her fellow inductees on her country classic "Jolene." Le Bon, Benatar and even Judas Priest singer Rob Halford took a verse.
"We got a star-studded stage up here," Parton said. "I feel like a hillbilly in the city."
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.