Chris Cornell’s Family Settles Malpractice Lawsuit With Beverly Hills Doctor

The family of Chris Cornell has settled a malpractice lawsuit with the doctor they allege overprescribed medication to the late Soundgarden frontman prior to his suicide in May 2017, according to court documents obtained by Billboard.

Filed on April 2, 2021, in Los Angeles Superior Court, the motion reveals that the plaintiffs — Cornell’s widow Vicky Cornell and their two children, Toni and Christopher — reached a confidential settlement agreement with defendants Robert Koblin, M.D. and his Beverly Hills practice, Robertson Cardiovascular Center.

Filed by the Cornells’ lawyer, Melissa Lerner, the motion requested that all documents pertaining to the settlement remain sealed or redacted, citing privacy concerns. Lerner writes that “troubled individuals” have “harassed” the Cornell family in the wake of Chris Cornell’s death, including by threatening the lives of Toni and Christopher.

A lawyer for the Cornells tells Billboard the settlement agreement is still subject to court approval. An attorney for Koblin did not immediately return a request for comment.

Filed in Nov. 2018, the Cornells’ lawsuit claimed that Koblin and his Beverly Hills practice “negligently and repeatedly” prescribed medication to Cornell that clouded his judgment and cognition, leading him to engage in reckless behaviors that ultimately resulted in his suicide by hanging. The suit particularly focused on allegedly excessive amounts of the anti-anxiety medication lorazepam (sold under the brand name Ativan) prescribed to Cornell by Dr. Koblin’s office beginning in Sept. 2015, 20 months prior to his death. It also claimed that Koblin had prescribed the painkiller Oxycodone to the singer.

Key to the Cornells’ lawsuit was their claim that Koblin failed to adequately warn Cornell, who had a history of substance misuse, of the potential risks and side effects of taking the prescribed medications. Vicky Cornell has long upheld that the drugs prescribed by Koblin were the overriding factor in Cornell’s suicide.

Post-mortem toxicology results showed the presence of lorazepam, barbiturates, the sedative butalbital, caffeine and  decongestants in Cornell’s system, along with the anti-opioid medication naloxone, which was reportedly administered by medics upon arrival at the Detroit hotel room where his body was found. A corresponding autopsy report determined that drugs were not a cause of death, however.

The Cornell family’s suit against Koblin isn’t the only one stemming from the singer’s untimely death. Vicky Cornell has been locked in a pitched legal battle with the surviving members of Soundgarden over control of Chris Cornell’s recordings, royalties and more after suing the band in Dec. 2019.

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Aaron Neville Announces He’s Retiring From Touring

Fans of the sweet, melodic sounds of New Orleans’ legendary vocalist Aaron Neville won’t have many opportunities to hear him live from now on.

In posts Thursday (May 6) on his official website and via social media, Neville announced his official retirement from touring.

Now 80, Neville said embarking on multi-date tours is no longer appealing.

“The time has come for me to stop ripping and running on the road,” Neville wrote. “I waited for someone to invent a way to beam me from show to show but no such luck. … Unfortunately, the grueling nature of travel and the schedule needed to make a tour work has become less than desirable. The current climate of our world brought me many realizations. Life is short and I’d like to spend my remaining time on this earth being less hurried.”

Still, Neville said his love for singing has not waned.

“It provides so much joy for me, at least as much as for those listening, if not more,” he said.

“Don’t see this as a permanent goodbye, by the grace of God, I will keep making more music and may show up at a special event or concert down the road,” he promises.

Neville hasn’t performed live since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic caused concerts to come to an abrupt halt in the U.S. Instead, he has livestreamed solo performances from Freville Farm, the 12-acre home in upstate New York where he and his wife, photographer Sarah A. Friedman, have lived since 2013.

The virus is of great concern to Neville, whose old age and asthma makes him especially at risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19.

“I don’t want to get sick,” Neville said in an article last year written for AARP. “So, I canceled my tour dates and we’ve been home and isolated on our farm in New York.”

Neville’s solo career flourished after the 1966 release of “Tell It Like It Is,” followed by collaborations with Linda Ronstadt on “Don’t Know Much,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989, and “All My Life” (No. 11 in 1990).

He garnered much of his fame from his work with the Neville Brothers, an R&B, funk and soul group that was based in his hometown of New Orleans and also consisted of his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril.

The group, which formally disbanded in 2012, was known for closing out the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s two-weekend run each spring.

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Ciara Celebrates Mother’s Day by Revisiting ‘I Got You,’ Featuring Baby Future

Ahead of Mother’s Day on Sunday, Ciara plays one of her own songs dedicated to all the moms and reflects on all the “sentimental” and generational feelings surrounding it.

She dedicated her #BehindTheJam segment on Thursday’s (May 6) episode of her Level Up Radio show on Apple Music Hits to her 2015 maternal anthem “I Got You,” remembering her special helpers on the song: songwriter Diane Warren, producer Harmony Samuels and featured artist Future Zahir Wilburn, Ciara’s first-born son. He was only 1 at the time his Grammy-winning mother recorded the song, but his precious laugh and adorable coos made it in the introduction shortly following Ciara’s lullaby.

“I remember recording this song. I used to carry Future with me everywhere I went in the studio. He was right on my hip, and I just remember wanting to sing a song like this and make a song like this,” she said. “And it’s a beautiful song that all my kids love me singing to them. Sienna will ask me to sing it over and over and over. And it’s so cute because you hear Future at the top of the song, his little coos.”

“I Got You” comes from Ciara’s sixth studio album Jackie, which is named after her mother Jackie Harris. The singer honored her mother on her birthday Wednesday with pictures of the two over the years. “HBD Mamma! I love you,” she wrote on her Instagram Story, adding on the next slide, “Grateful for you.” As much as the album is a tribute to her own mother, the 35-year-old singer knows firsthand what it’s like to feel “a mother’s love” for her own children.

“[It’s] just a really special song to me, and a timeless song for me, will forever have great meaning for me, because again, it’s the feeling that I think we have as a mother’s love. The mother’s love is real and there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for your little ones. There’s no place you wouldn’t go for them. I’d lay it all on the line for my babies, she continued. “And so in this song, I expressed that. And I thought it was only right that we make this song the BTJ of the day. And it’s also from my album that I titled Jackie after my mother. So it’s really sentimental for so many reasons.”

Much like baby Future’s cameo in “I Got You,” her now-6-year-old son and Russell Wilson’s 4-year-old daughter Sienna Princess Wilson wished Ciara a happy Mother’s Day at the end of the segment. “Happy Mother’s Day Mommy! I love you to the moon and back,” the two shouted.

Listen to Ciara’s special #BTJ session from Apple Music Hits’ Level Up Radio below.

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The Players Behind Doja Cat’s ‘Kiss Me More’ Feat. SZA: See the Full Credits

The Weekend’s “Save Your Tears” remix with Ariana Grande may have captured the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, but another high-profile collaboration — Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA — reached its own milestone on the chart by ranking at No. 6, its highest position on the tally yet.

The track — the first song to be released off Doja Cat’s forthcoming studio album Planet Her — debuted at No. 7 on the Hot 100 two weeks ago. It’s the second top 10 song for Doja Cat on the chart after “Say So” feat. Nicki Minaj, which peaked at No. 1 in May 2020, and the fourth for SZA.

Explore the team of musicians, producers and more behind the track with recording credits provided by Jaxsta below.

Artists:
Main Artist – Doja Cat
Featured Artist – SZA

Songwriters:
Composer Lyricist – Amala Zandile Dlamini
Composer Lyricist – Carter Lang
Composer Lyricist – David Sprecher
Composer Lyricist – Gerard A. Powell II
Composer Lyricist – Lukasz Gottwald
Composer Lyricist – Rogét Chahayed
Composer Lyricist – Solána Rowe
Composer Lyricist – Stephen Kipner
Composer Lyricist – Terry Shaddick

Producers:
Co-Producer – Carter Lang
Co-Producer – tizhimself
Producer – Rogét Chahayed
Producer – Yeti Beats

Engineers:
Engineer – Joe Visciano
Engineer – John Hanes
Mastering Engineer – Mike Bozzi
Mixing Engineer – Serban Ghenea

Labels:
Distributor – Sony Music Entertainment
Label – Kemosabe Records/RCA Records

Explore the full “Kiss Me More” credits on Jaxsta here.

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PAHO: Haiti still not ready to receive COVID-19 vaccines as delays drag on

While most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have begun administering COVID-19 vaccines, Haiti still has not completed the necessary steps to receive a single shot, the Pan American … Click to Continue »
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Kendall woman attacked in broad daylight, cops say. Suspect is on the loose.

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CDC issues instructions for test cruises with volunteer passengers, and the real thing

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued instructions to cruise companies Wednesday for conducting test cruises — a key precursor to restarting revenue cruises from the U.S. If … Click to Continue »
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Willow Smith Reunites Mom Jada’s Old Metal Band for Sick Mother’s Day Surprise

Willow Smith pulled off a top-secret Mother’s Day surprise for Jada Pinkett Smith by getting her mom’s metal band back together to perform on the latest Red Table Talk episode.

On Wednesday’s (May 5) episode, which arrived around the third anniversary of the Facebook Watch series. Willow recalled accompanying her mother on tour with her metal band Wicked Wisdom with old home videos, including one where she and her brother Jaden Smith cleaned the outside of the tour bus.

“This is the music that I grew up around. My mother was Superwoman, she was a rock star, she was a warrior and a nurturer, all in one. So unapologetically badass. … I was my mom’s biggest fan,” said Willow, who recently took a pop-punk turn on her new single “Transparent Soul,” featuring Travis Barker.

To pay homage to the woman who showed her “what womaning up really is about,” the 20-year-old star followed in her mother’s legendary footsteps and performed one of her favorite Wicked Wisdom songs, “Bleed All Over Me,” with Jada’s original bandmates, including guitarist Pocket Honore and keyboardist Taylor Graves.

Willow brought Jada out from the living room, where the notorious Red Table resides, and escorted her to the driveway where the performance was held. The Girls Trip actress shed a few tears before lip-syncing to her own lyrics being sung by her daughter and rocking out alongside her mom and fellow RTT co-host Adrienne Banfield-Norris. Willow and Jada shared a tearful embrace for the touching closer.

Watch Red Table Talk’s Mother’s Day special, including Willow’s surprise Wicked Wisdom reunion performance starting at around the 33-minute marker, here.

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Zach Williams Adds Fourth Christian Airplay Chart No. 1 With ‘Less Like Me’

Zach Williams earns his fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart (dated May 8) as “Less Like Me” rises from No. 3 to the top spot. In the tracking week ending May 2, the single increased by 11% to 9.7 million audience impressions, according to MRC Data.

Williams wrote the song with Hank Bentley and Mia Fieldes.

“This song was written to remind me of how imperfect we are as humans, and how all of our victories need to be pointed back to Him,” Williams tells Billboard. “So, with this No. 1, I will embrace the imperfection and point this win right back to God.”

As “Less Like Me” hits No. 1 in its 17th frame, it wraps Williams’ fastest trip to the Christian Airplay penthouse. “There Was Jesus,” with Dolly Parton, led for five weeks following its coronation in its 19th frame, on the chart dated Sept. 12, 2020; “Old Church Choir” reigned for 20 weeks after reaching the apex in its 18th week in August 2017; and his debut entry, “Chain Breaker,” led for 15 weeks after reaching the pinnacle in its 22nd week in November 2016.

Williams has banked his four Christian Airplay No. 1s among eight top 10s. His first top 10 this year, his version of the Yuletide standard “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” climbed to No. 3 in January.

As “Less Like Me” hits No. 1 in its 17th frame, it wraps Williams’ fastest trip to the Christian Airplay penthouse. “There Was Jesus,” with Dolly Parton, led for five weeks following its coronation in its 19th frame, on the chart dated Sept. 12, 2020; “Old Church Choir” reigned for 20 weeks after reaching the apex in its 18th week in August 2017; and his debut entry, “Chain Breaker,” led for 15 weeks after reaching the pinnacle in its 22nd week in November 2016.

Williams has banked his four Christian Airplay No. 1s among eight top 10s. His first top 10 this year, his version of the Yuletide standard “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” climbed to No. 3 in January.

Speaking of the holidays, Williams is working on a seasonal set due later this year. Before that, a deluxe version of Rescue Story, his second full-length, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 on Top Christian Albums in October 2019, is due, with six new songs, July 9.

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10 Times Selena Gomez Has Stressed Mental Health Awareness

Selena Gomez has never shied away from the opportunity to tap the mic and speak up about mental health.

The 28-year-old award-winning singer and outspoken mental health advocate has spoken with distinguished individuals, such as current Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama’s surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy, about the topic and how it’s affecting young and old people alike. Gomez’s latest campaign with her beauty brand Rare Beauty, Mental Health 101, states “7 out of 10 Gen Zers were most likely to report experiencing common symptoms of depression — with pre-teens and teens having the the highest rate of suicide ideations as compared to other age groups.” Additionally, one in five adults experience some kind of mental illness each year, a number which could very well increase once the COVID-19 pandemic  is over.

From magazine covers to multiple groundbreaking initiatives, the “Vulnerable” singer uses every stage she can to bring awareness to mental health issues and allocate appropriate resources for different communities while opening up about the personal battles she’s faced with anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.

Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Billboard has compiled 10 pivotal moments when Gomez stressed the importance of mental health awareness.

April 2021: Launch of “Mental Health 101″ with Rare Beauty 

Timed with 2021 Mental Health Awareness Month, Gomez launched a new Mental Health 101 educational campaign with her mission-driven makeup brand Rare Beauty. The initiative is “dedicated to supporting mental health education and encouraging financial support for more mental health services in educational services,” according to her Instagram. One post contained a set of slides that began by listing mental health as its own school subject next to math, science, history and P.E. and contained shocking statistics about mental health, a petition calling on the philanthropy community to support mental health services in schools, and a fundraiser for the Rare Impact Fund that she launched on her 28th birthday last summer (more on that later).

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December 2020: Keynote Speech at 2020 Teen Vogue Summit About Vulnerability 

Serving as the 2020 Teen Vogue Summit keynote speaker, Gomez spoke about the theme of her Billboard 200 No. 1 album Rare, and how it echoes throughout her beliefs in normalizing open conversations about mental health. “The whole theme of my last album was a lot of self-discovery, a lot of being OK, being alone and being vulnerable, being OK with not looking like everything else, not looking like everyone else,” Gomez told then-Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner, who serves on the Rare Beauty Mental Health Council. “My journey personally has been all about my timing; when I felt like it was working, and that’s when I suddenly became so obsessed with making sure that everybody I knew understood that sharing your emotions were great. How I’m a huge advocate for therapy. How I feel like there are support groups for everybody, and it’s OK… there’s no way that people aren’t feeling a certain way, whether they’re figuring that out on their own or not, we all need each other.”

October 2020: Instagram Live Chat with Vice President Kamala Harris About Mental Health Nationwide

The singer-actress hopped on a video call with none other than VP Kamala Harris, who was the Democratic candidate at the time, to discuss several issues plaguing the United States, including mental health. “I just read too much about how deep this country is being affected mentally. I’ve had so many dreams about creating places that people could go to. I think there’s a part of me that wishes we had some sort of place that felt like, OK, maybe you just need to get help,” Gomez explained.

October 2020: IG Live Chat With Dr. Vivek Murthy About Depression 

Gomez spoke with Dr. Vivek Murthy in an Instagram Live discussion hosted by Rare Beauty’s account about how she struggled with depression at the beginning of the pandemic. “In the beginning, I couldn’t deal with it that well. I kind of went into a bit of a depression,” she told Dr. Murthy, who served as the surgeon general under former President Obama. “My job is a lot of travel, connecting with people, making people happy, and that makes me happy, so it has been a struggle.”

The Rare Beauty founder found excitement in the Rare Impact Fund and in being able to go to the studio again, which helped ground her. “I would say right now, I’m fully coming out again and I just think I had to handle it the way I needed to handle it, and got through it with the right people and doing the right things and doing the right steps to not make me go crazy.”

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July 2020: Announcement of Rare Beauty’s $100 Million Rare Impact Fund for Mental Health Services 

On her 28th birthday, the makeup mogul’s Rare Beauty launched the Rare Impact Fund in hopes of raising $100 million over the next 10 years to provide mental health services to underserved communities. With 1% of annual sales on Rare Beauty products in addition to money raised by partners benefiting the fund, the Rare Impact Fund will become one of the largest known funds supporting mental health from a corporate entity once it reaches its goal. Gomez founded Rare Beauty in February 2020 with the self-affirming mission that “being rare is about being comfortable with yourself.” Rare Beauty also created the Rare Beauty Mental Health Council, which brings mental health experts from universities, organizations and companies together to guide the company’s strategy.

April 2020: IG Live Chat With Miley Cyrus About Bipolar Diagnosis

Gomez discussed her bipolar diagnosis for the first time with fellow Disney Channel child star Miley Cyrus on the latter’s Bright Minded Instagram Live series. During their candid conversation about mental health, Gomez recalled her trip to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital outside of Boston. “I discussed that after years of going through a lot of different things, I realized that I was bipolar,” she told Cyrus. “And so when I got to know more information, it actually helps me. It doesn’t scare me once I know it…. I just feel like when I finally said what I was going to say, I wanted to know everything about it. And it took the fear away.” Watch Miley and Selena’s chat starting at the 32:20 mark below.

September 2019: McLean Award for Mental Health Advocacy Acceptance Speech 

The “Kill Em With Kindness” artist accepted the 2019 McLean Award for Mental Health Advocacy at the McLean Hospital. Upon accepting the award, she delivered a powerful speech about how her personal struggles with depression and anxiety only makes her human. “For me, it feels right to share that I have personally felt the effects of both depression and anxiety — but it isn’t easy,” Gomez said. “I have feared being misunderstood and judged. I know that I have been given experiences and people and opportunities that have made my life exceptionally beautiful and sweet, and yet I struggle with my own thoughts and feelings at times. But this doesn’t make me faulty. This does not make me weak. This does not make me less than. This makes me human. We need help, and we need each other.”

July 2019: Deletion of Instagram App From Her Phone

Gomez, who was at one point the most-followed person on Instagram with more than 150 million followers, told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on their show that she had deleted the app from her phone because of the way it affected her mind and body. “I think it’s just become really unhealthy for young people, including myself, to spend all of their time fixating on all of these comments and it was affecting me,” Gomez said during the interview. “It would make me depressed, it would make me feel not good about myself and look at my body differently.”

August 2017: InStyle Cover About Treatment Experience

For her InStyle cover, the singer discussed entering into a 90-day treatment center for depression and anxiety in Tennessee (more on that later) and how going away for that period of time “was the best thing that I ever could’ve done.” “Everything I cared about, I stopped caring about. I came out, and it felt like, ‘OK, I can only go forward,’” she recalled while mentioning the best parts about stepping away from the spotlight. “I was in the countryside and never did my hair; I took part in equine therapy, which is so beautiful. And it was hard, obviously. But I knew what my heart was saying, and I thought, ‘OK, I think this has helped me become stronger for other people.’”

March 2017: Vogue Cover About Feeling Lonely While Touring

For her first American Vogue cover, Gomez opened up about how touring was a mentally draining practice for her as a musician, after she abruptly entered the 90-day treatment center and canceled the rest of her 2016 Revival Tour. She revealed she had been diagnosed with lupus and undergone chemotherapy during her 2015 Billboard cover story, which led her to receive treatment from at an outpatient facility that cut her 2014 Stars Dance Tour short.

“I’ve cried onstage more times than I can count, and I’m not a cute crier,” she told Vogue. “Tours are a really lonely place for me. My self-esteem was shot. I was depressed, anxious. I started to have panic attacks right before getting onstage, or right after leaving the stage. Basically I felt I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t capable. I felt I wasn’t giving my fans anything, and they could see it — which, I think, was a complete distortion. I was so used to performing for kids. At concerts I used to make the entire crowd raise up their pinkies and make a pinky promise never to allow anybody to make them feel that they weren’t good enough. Suddenly I have kids smoking and drinking at my shows, people in their 20s, 30s, and I’m looking into their eyes, and I don’t know what to say. I couldn’t say, ‘Everybody, let’s pinky-promise that you’re beautiful!’ It doesn’t work that way, and I know it because I’m dealing with the same sh– they’re dealing with.”

While detailing the 90-day program, which included individual therapy, group therapy and equine therapy, Gomez also touched on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), an evidence-based treatment developed to treat borderline personality disorder. “DBT has completely changed my life,” she says. “I wish more people would talk about therapy. We girls, we’re taught to be almost too resilient, to be strong and sexy and cool and laid-back, the girl who’s down. We also need to feel allowed to fall apart.”

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