A blast of Johnny Cash wasn’t enough to stop Raccoon from being sent home, as the latest mystery celeb was revealed on Fox’s The Masked Singer.

There was a lot of fun and action during Wednesday night’s third episode, as Russian Dolls (performing Shawn Mendes’ “Wonder”), Robopine (John Legend’s “All of Me”), Seashell (Demi Lovato’s “Confident”), and Raccoon (“Ring of Fire”) did their best.

Our furry friend didn’t make it as he was steamrolled by viewers.

The gravel voiced singer turned out to be none other than (*spoiler alert) Machete action star Danny Trejo.

Group B return next week for a wildcard round with Black Swan, Grandpa Monster, Chameleon and Piglet.

Watch the trash panda’s performance below.

Five-time Grammy winner B.J. Thomas, best known for singing “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.

Thomas, whose career has spanned a number of genres over half a century, is receiving treatment in Texas, according to his representative.

Thomas, 78, has logged 26 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1966 through 1983 and achieved No. 1 singles across the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary charts.

“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” was his first leader on any Billboard chart, spending four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and seven weeks at No. 1 on Adult Contemporary in 1969-70. The song, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, went on to win the Oscar for best original song.

“I just wanted to take this unique opportunity to share my gratitude to Gloria, my wonderful wife and my rock for over 53 years, my family, friends, and fans,” Thomas said in a statement about the diagnosis. “I’m so blessed to have had the opportunity to record and perform beautiful songs in pop, country, and gospel music, and to share those wonderful songs and memories around the world with millions of you. I ask all of you for your prayers during this time and that my music can live on with you.”

Among his other chart-toppers across the various charts were “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Rock and Roll Lullaby,” “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” “Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love” and “New Looks From an Old Lover.”

His most recent Billboard chart appearance came in 2013 with duets album The Living Room Sessions, which reached No. 39 on the Top Country Albums chart.

–Keith Caulfield assisted in preparing this story.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Michael Gudinski is gone, but the Australian music icon and his passion for breaking talent will always be warmly remembered. Labels body ARIA will make certain of that, by enshrining the late Mushroom Group chairman with an ARIA Award that carries his name.

Starting with the 2021 ceremony, the Best Breakthrough Artist trophy will be presented as the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist ARIA Award.

The renamed honor will recognize MG’s “immense and irreplaceable contribution to signing, developing and championing Australian artists and music both locally and internationally,” explains ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd.

The announcement was made early Wednesday, just hours before Australia’s music community was due to gather with Gudinski’s friends and family for a state memorial at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.

The late entrepreneur was a giant of Australia’s music industry who launched the Mushroom Records brand at the age of 20, and turned his Mushroom Group of Companies into a sprawling, independent empire with more than two-dozen businesses reaching into every conceivable area of music and beyond. He passed away unexpectedly on March 2, aged 68.

“In the past few weeks,” notes ARIA chairman Denis Handlin, “we have seen an outpouring of love, respect and admiration from so many around the world for the late Michael Gudinski who was a pioneer and true legend that changed the face of the Australian music industry. It is unequivocal that Michael’s passion was breaking Australian artists and putting them on a world stage and he had a proud history of success in doing so.”

After discussing the tribute with the Gudinski family, “this is the most appropriate honor for ARIA to bestow,” adds Handlin, “as it recognizes Michael’s profound impact on Australian artists, and the memories and legacy he created.”

First presented in 1987, the ARIA Award for breakthrough artist later split into two, being bestowed as breakthrough album and breakthrough single from 1989.

In 2010, the categories were reunited as best breakthrough artist award.

Over the years, a long line of artists from the Mushroom Group stable have snagged the award, including The Badloves, Frente, George, Deni Hines, Ian Moss and Youth Group. The 2020 ARIA breakthrough artist winner was Lime Cordiale.

Following his passing, scores of artists paid tribute to the energetic impresario, including Ed Sheeran, Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue and Bruce Springsteen, who dedicated a song to Gudinski.

Sheeran remembered Gudinski as a “champion of up-and-coming artists,” recounting how the Melburnian would “always play me his new signing, or even his new favorite unsigned act. He was as excited and proud about putting out a new release on Mushroom than he was about bringing legends of music like McCartney and Springsteen to tour his home country.”

Gudinski’s state memorial will live stream on YouTube from 4am ET. The video, however, will not be viewable once the event concludes.

See below for details.

Royal Blood, the U.K. rock duo, are set to perform as avatars at the eighth annual Bloxy Awards. The show, sponsored by games company Roblox, will be held on Saturday  at noon PT on the Roblox platform.

The band will play its new single “Limbo” and two other songs.  The band will also debut exclusive virtual merch in Roblox’s Avatar Shop.

“We are thrilled to perform virtually in front of the Roblox community,” Royal Blood said in a statement. “This promises to be a real cosmic experience. Strap yourselves in – we look forward to seeing you there.”

Roblox VP Jon Vlassopulos added: “We’re thrilled to host Royal Blood as we celebrate the talent of our creators with the greater Roblox community in this immersive, out-of-this-world Metaverse experience.”

Royal Blood’s third album, Typhoons, is due April 30 via Warner. Royal Blood’s first two albums, Royal Blood (2014) and How Did We Get So Dark (2017), both reached No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. Both also cracked the top 30 on the Billboard 200.

The duo consists of Mike Kerr, 30 (vocals, bass) and Ben Thatcher, 33 (drums). Their eponymous debut album was nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize. Royal Blood won as best British group at the 2015 Brit Awards, beating One Direction, Coldplay, alt-J and Clean Bandit. They were nominated again in that category in 2018 but lost to Gorillaz.

Here’s a list of nominees at this year’s Bloxy Awards. Key categories include:

Game of the Year:
Adopt Me!
Piggy
Royale High
World // Zero

Best Sleeper Hit:
MegaMech
Outlaster
Super Doomspire
The Wild West

Best Game Trailer:
Parenthood!
Tank Warfare
The Wild West
Tower Defense Simulator

Best New Game:
Brookhaven
Islands
Outlaster
Piggy

Roblox Video of the Year:
ElTrollino – Going from Noob Prison to Maximum Security Prison Pro
FGTeeV – Psycho Pig Music Video
LankyBox – Ultimate Roblox Piggy Song
LOGinHDi – “Dream” Roblox Music Video

Best Video Content Creator:
GamingWithKev
ItsFunneh
KreekCraft
Lyna

 

Selena Gomez makes a splashy entrance on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart as her Revelación EP debuts at No. 1 on the March 27-dated survey. Her first-ever Spanish-language effort arrives with 23,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending March 18, according to MRC Data — marking the biggest week for a Latin album by a woman since 2017.

“I never go into anything expecting a No. 1 so I do not take it for granted,” Gomez tells Billboard. “It’s always a bit nerve racking before releasing any music because as artists we put so much of ourselves out there. For this EP specifically, I was the most nervous I have been in a long time because my heritage means so much to me and I have been talking about doing this for over 10 years. I wanted it to be perfect. I am thrilled to see the response from my fans and also from people who might not have listened to my other music.”

The Top Latin Albums chart ranks the most popular Latin albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Biggest Week for a Latin Album by a Woman Since 2017: The seven-track Revelación was released March 12 via Interscope/IGA. Of its starting sum of 23,000 equivalent album units, album sales comprise 14,000 and the bulk of the remainder are SEA units (equaling 12.21 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs). Selena’s debut Latin project boasts the biggest week for a Latin album by a woman in nearly four years, since Shakira’s El Dorado started with 29,000 units in its first week (chart dated June 17, 2017).

“Without a doubt the most challenging aspect was having to do all of the sessions over Zoom,” Gomez adds. “We started recording the EP right before Covid shut everything down. In the beginning there were times I ended up canceling sessions because I found it so uninspiring not to be in the same room with everyone. I eventually was able to get past it and am extremely happy with how the music came together. [Producer] Tainy was very patient with me while I worked through my frustrations.”

First Album by a Woman at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums Since 2017: Revelación is the first album by a female act at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums since Shakira’s El Dorado spent its fifth and final nonconsecutive week atop the list dated Aug. 5, 2017.

Highest Debut by a Female Solo Act Since 2016: Gomez also notches the highest debut by a female solo act since Jenni Rivera’s Paloma Negra Desde Monterrey likewise debuted atop the list in November 2016. In between Rivera and Gomez, a collaborative set by two women launched at No. 1: Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzman’s Versus in July 2017.

First Female Act to Lead Top Latin Albums and Latin Airplay Simultaneously in Over a Decade: As Gomez’s “Baila Conmigo,” with Rauw Alejandro, concurrently takes over the new Latin Airplay chart, she becomes the first female act in over a decade to rule both charts simultaneously. The last woman to achieve the feat was Shakira when Sale el Sol and “Loca,” featuring El Cata, ruled both Top Latin Albums and Latin Airplay, respectively in November 2010.

Elsewhere, Gomez places a total of four tracks on Hot Latin Songs, all from Revelación — one of which debuts in the top 20: “Baila Conmigo” with Rauw Alejandro lifts 8-5, “Selfish Love,” with DJ Snake, is at No. 18, “Dámelo To’,” featuring Myke Towers, starts at No. 20, and “De Una Vez,” re-enters at No. 50.

“Releasing ‘De Una Vez’ as the first song was the perfect way to introduce the new music,” Gomez says. “It’s a song I really related to and I think it’s beautiful with a message of hope and healing. I think all of the collaborators bring different elements to the table. With Snake it was great because we have a history together so on a mere comfort level that was nice to have. On ‘Dámelo  Tó’ Myke brings this smooth rap and it makes you crave for it to be summer because it has the kind of vibe. When we were recording ‘Baila Conmigo’ I  knew we needed a male voice on it and Rauw has the ideal sexy, soulful voice that really complements the song perfectly.”

Revelación concurrently bows at No. 1 on Latin Pop Albums and at No. 22 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.