Entertainment
Luke Combs Was Once Forced to Choose Between Music & A College Frat: ‘I Made the Right Choice’
With his stadium-packing shows and massive hits including “Beautiful Crazy,” “When It Rains It Pours” and his rendition of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” it may seem obvious that music has been Luke Combs‘ passion his whole life.
But even as a sophomore at Appalachian University in Boone, North Carolina, Combs was already having to make tough choices when it came to following that passion.
During a recent episode of The Dog Walk With Eddie, Combs recalled that he had rushed at Kappa Alpha Order, but was quickly forced to make a decision between the fraternity and music, due to a scheduling conflict in which the frat’s “Big Brother” reveal was the same night as his a cappella group’s concert.
“On Big Brother reveal night we had a concert for the a cappella group, the same night that was gonna be at the same time,” he said, adding that he was “already kind of over” the process of pledging for a fraternity.
“Why does anyone really join a fraternity? To go to parties and meet chicks is kind of the deal, right?” Combs said. “So I tell the guys, ‘Hey, I really gotta do this concert tonight.’ Because there’s only like 12 people in the group; it’s not like there’s a thousand guys in the a cappella group. I’m like, ‘Your boy’s got solos. I can’t just not go,’ [but] they were like, ‘You’re either doing this or that.'”
When he was forced by his potential fraternity brothers to choose, it seems his decision was quickly made.
“I was like, ‘Well, I’m doing that, dude. I’m out,’” Combs said. Reflecting on it, he said, “It was tough, but I made the right choice. … I ended up here … but I would have loved to do both. … There was no wiggle room.”
Though he added in the interview that he held “no hard feelings” after having made the decision, he noted, “I was just like, ‘I kind of already sing and I’m already kinda good at that. All I’m doing with you guys is paying to be your friend, which I already have a lot of friends anyways.’ It just didn’t line up.”
Of course, pursuing music has paid off for Combs. He just released his new song “Back in the Saddle,” and has had three top 10 hits on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 (so far). Four of his albums have reached the pinnacle of the Top Country Albums chart, while he’s garnered 18 No. 1 Country Airplay hits. After spearheading his Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old Tour, Combs is playing shows in 2025 including Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, and his own Bootleggers Bonfire event, slated for October.
Entertainment
Teyana Taylor to Undergo Vocal Cord Surgery After Noncancerous Growth Discovered: ‘This Moment Hurts’
Teyana Taylor revealed on Wednesday (Aug. 6) that she’ll be undergoing emergency surgery after a noncancerous growth was discovered on her vocal cords.
The rapper-actress shared the health update to her Instagram Story, but promised that while she’ll need to cancel some upcoming appearances, like an upcoming podcast with Michelle Obama, her Escape Room album rollout is going to continue with the project scheduled to arrive on Aug. 22.
Teyana Taylor Transforms Into a Sexy Robot for ‘Long Time’ Debut Performance With Taraji P. Henson at 2025 BET Awards
“I’ve been quietly dealing with some vocal challenges for a while now. And after a lot of back and forth with my doctors, I’ve been told I need vocal surgery immediately,” she wrote. “They found a noncancerous growth on one of my cords that’s been messing with my voice and causing real discomfort. Thankfully, we caught it & it’s treatable—but it does mean I need to pause and give myself time to fully heal.”
The 34-year-old continued: “That honestly breaks my heart. I don’t take lightly what it means to show up for y’all. I’ve poured so much of myself into this next chapter—especially the Escape Room, which is still dropping August 22! So no worries there. It’s the most personal body of work I’ve ever created. and the timing… it’s not lost on me. Just as I was getting ready to finally share this with you, life handed me my own unexpected ‘escape room’—one I didn’t ask for, but one I now have to find my way out of with patience, rest, and faith.”
Even amid the health battle, Taylor says she put her “whole heart into this music, this film, this rollout. And when I return, it’ll be with even more fire, more purpose, and the best version of me. Thank you for rocking with me through it all.”
Escape Room is set to boast 22 tracks, including her previously released “Bed of Roses” and “Long Time” singles and skits from Issa Rae and Lala Anthony.
The project serves as Spike Tee’s first LP since 2020’s The Album, which reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and No. 6 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
2025 is shaping up to be another busy campaign for the Harlem native, who is starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another film alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn, due out later this year.
Entertainment
An Oral History of Pink Slip’s ‘Freakier Friday’ Reunion: Where Are Lindsay Lohan & The Rest of the ‘Girls in the Garage’ Now?
One of the most beloved bands of the early 2000s wasn’t even a real band.
When the Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis-starring Freaky Friday remake premiered in 2003, moviegoers were introduced to the teen garage band Pink Slip, led by Lohan’s Anna and her two besties Maddie (Christina Vidal) and Peg (Haley Hudson). Their song “Take Me Away” — originally released by Australian alt-punk band Lash in 2001 — was introduced in the film during a garage rehearsal, before Pink Slip takes the House of Blues stage for their big Wango Tango audition and Lohan and Curtis’ body-swap switch-back.
Now, Pink Slip and “Take Me Away” are back in Freakier Friday, Disney’s 23-years-in-the-making sequel that hits theaters on Friday. This time around, Lohan’s Anna is still pals with Maddie and Peg, but she’s left Pink Slip behind to focus on her life as a mom to Harper (Julia Butters) and music manager to gen Z pop superstar Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). But the band finds its way back together in the film, starting with Anna’s karaoke-fueled bachelorette party and concluding, once again, on a big Los Angeles stage, this time upgrading to The Wiltern for the musical grande finale.
Ahead of the sequel’s release, Billboard caught up with the three women behind Pink Slip — Lohan, Vidal and Hudson — as well as film producer Kristin Burr (credited with reuniting all five of the original Pink Slip bandmates for Freakier Friday) and music producer Suzy Shinn (who channeled her previous work with pop/rock heavyweights like Weezer, Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy and Katy Perry into a revamped recording of “Take Me Away” and three different versions of brand-new song “Baby,” a centerpiece of the movie’s new mother-daughter storyline between Lohan and Butters).
Below, find Billboard‘s oral history of the epic Pink Slip reunion for Freakier Friday.
–Additional reporting by Lyndsey Havens
Entertainment
Managers Who Guided KISS, Alabama & Tom Waits Among 2025 Inductees Into Personal Managers Hall of Fame: Full List
Several music managers are among the National Conference of Personal Managers’ Class of 2025 inductees into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame. The class will be honored at a red-carpet reception and gala induction ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Here’s a complete list of this year’s inductees, with music managers listed first:
Bill Aucoin (posthumous): A pioneering rock manager best known for launching KISS and guiding the career of Billy Idol. Aucoin died in 2010 at age 66.
Tony Conway: The CEO of Nashville’s Conway Entertainment Group manages top country artists Alabama, Lorrie Morgan, Randy Travis and Exile.
Stuart Ross: The Los Angeles-based music manager and festival producer has managed such artists as Tom Waits and Puddles Pity Party and is the past producer of Coachella, Lollapalooza and Stagecoach.
Burt Stein: A partner at Gold Mountain Entertainment in Nashville, he represents Ronnie Milsap, The Band of Heathens and other top country and Americana acts.
Howard Klein, Michael Rotenberg, and Erwin Stoff: The three are co-founders of 3 Arts Entertainment, a Beverly Hills–based talent management and production powerhouse. Over nearly 35 years, they have guided the careers of such stars as Jessica Alba, James Downey, Francis Lawrence, Matt LeBlanc, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Green, Mindy Kaling and Matt Reeves. The trio also produced acclaimed projects such as The Office, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, King of the Hill, 13 Hours, The Matrix and Late Night.
Joe Stabile: The longtime personal manager of the late comedian and humanitarian Jerry Lewis died in 2004.
“The 2025 inductees reflect the extraordinary influence, ethics, and legacy of personal management that the Hall of Fame exists to honor,” Clinton Ford Billups Jr., national president of the National Conference of Personal Managers (NCOPM), said in a statement.
Established in 2015, the Personal Managers Hall of Fame has inducted more than 50 industry legends, including Sid Bernstein, Bernie Brillstein, Brian Epstein, Danny Goldberg, Ken Kragen, Doc McGhee, Patricia McQueeney, Dolores Robinson, Jack Rollins and David Spero.
Inductees are selected by the national board of officers of NCOPM, the nation’s oldest trade association dedicated to advancing the profession of personal management. Nominations are accepted annually from professionals across the personal management industry.
Reserved tickets for the Oct. 22 event are available online at the Personal Managers Hall of Fame’s official website. Tickets are $175, which includes both the reception (6 p.m. -7 p.m.) and the ceremony (7 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.)
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Luke Combs Was Once Forced to Choose Between Music & A College Frat: ‘I Made the Right Choice’
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