Jaye P. Morgan, one of the top female recording artists of the 1950s with seven top 40 pop hits in 1954-55 alone, including “That’s All I Want From You,” and who later became a frequent talk show guest and game show panelist, infamously taking off her shirt on The Gong Show, has died. She was 94.

Morgan died Monday of natural causes in Longview, Washington, said Mark Sendroff, longtime attorney and friend. She had been living with her nephew and niece, Duke Morgan Spencer and Peggy Sue Spencer.

Morgan’s biggest hit was 1954’s “That’s All I Want From You,” which reached No. 3 on the Most Played by Jockeys chart and No. 5 on the Best Sellers in Stores list. In the Billboard Hot 100 era, she scored three hits: “Are You Lonesome Tonight” (No. 65 in 1959); “Miss You” (No. 78, 1959); and “I Walk the Line” (No. 66, 1960).

Later, she would become a regular guest on The Tonight Show and make appearances with Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas as well as spots on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. But it was her years hamming it up as a celebrity judge — along with Jamie Farr and Rip Taylor — on the chaotic The Gong Show starting in 1976 that cemented her fame.

On the show, amateur performers tried out their acts, and when one of the judges couldn’t stand it anymore, they smashed a gong, ending the proceedings. Whichever performer won the day’s show received a check for the random amount of $516.32.

On one episode, Eugene Patton — the dancing stagehand performing as Gene Gene the Dancing Machine — started his thing when Morgan opened her shirt to expose her breasts, helping bring an end to the show’s run on NBC in 1978.

“It paid good money, and it was great exposure. I really enjoyed it,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1992.

“Jaye P. Morgan’s devil-may-care ad libs on television game shows have probably made her more famous as a personality than as a singer,” The New York Times wrote in 1984. “But the same kooky recklessness that inspires Miss Morgan’s remarks is also a part of her musical sensibility.”

Her film credits include The All-American Boy with Jon Voight, Loose Shoes, The Gong Show Movie, Night Patrol and the 2002 Miramax release Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by George Clooney.

Jaye P. Morgan’s early life

Morgan was born Mary Margaret Morgan in a log cabin in Mancos, Colorado, and her show business career started early. At the age of 3, she was part of the Morgan Family, a traveling vaudeville act that included her mother, her father, her sister and five brothers. The group disbanded after their father’s death in 1945.

Morgan was class treasurer of her California high school and her peers nicknamed her J.P. after the 19th century financier J.P. Morgan. She later feminized it by changing the initial J to Jaye.

But by the time she was 17, she was singing professionally again, and in 1950 she joined Frank De Vol’s orchestra, singing with it for three years.

Her recording career got underway via “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” and “Just a Gigolo” with De Vol on a small label, Derby Records, that reached No. 26 on the Billboard chart. That led RCA Records to come calling with a recording contract.

She was a regular on the Robert Q. Lewis national daytime variety TV show and the nighttime game show “Stop the Music” hosted by Bert Parks. In 1954, DownBeat magazine’s annual DJ poll crowned her best new female singer of the year. She took her nightclub act on the road and made her Las Vegas debut at the New Frontier Hotel & Casino.

Morgan’s onscreen career

Morgan even got her own TV show in 1956 — The Jaye P. Morgan Show, which featured four of her brothers. Her solo albums include Jaye P. Morgan and a joint album with Kaye Ballard called Long Time Friends. She scored two hits on Billboard‘s Adult Contemporary (which started in 1961): “Love of a Gentle Man” reached No. 37 and “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life” reached No. 40, both in 1970.

An appearance on The Tonight Show opened up a career for her on television talk shows and she kept returning to Johnny Carson for five years. “I take my body everyplace I go,” she joked to the host in a 1972 episode. She also was a guest on The Odd Couple playing herself and singing their goofy song “Happy, Peppy and Bursting with Love.”

During one memorable episode of The Muppet Show, Morgan appeared in a bird costume and seemed unhappy she was there at all. When Kermit tells her it’s a thrill to have her on, she replies: “I’m really indifferent about being here.” Kermit is aghast, calling the opening number cute. “I hate cute,” replies Morgan.

Other Morgan credits include a role in Home Alone 2, with Macaulay Culkin, appearances on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, and co-starring with Eddie Bracken in the national tour of Sugar Babies.

Married and divorced three times, Morgan is survived by a son, Paul Kane.

Hit-Boy revealed that he and Nas have had a falling-out, despite the critically acclaimed work they’ve done together over the past several years.

The West Coast beatmaker sat down with DJ Vlad and Elliott Wilson recently and mentioned that he and the Queens legend aren’t on speaking terms anymore and he doesn’t see them ever collaborating again. “I ain’t spoke to Nas in three years,” Hit-Boy admitted. “We did six albums, 80 songs in three years. I produced almost every single song on his album that won a Grammy, King’s Disease.”

He added: “We did a lot of great work, but I don’t see us working again.” 

He was then asked by Wilson if there was any specific reason as to why they fell out, but Hit didn’t really want to get into specifics. “It’s a lot of reasons, you know what I mean?” he said. “But it’s something I don’t really wanna dig too deep in ’cause the sh– is pretty deep. Respect to what we did get accomplished in three years.”

From 2020 to 2023, Nas and Hit-Boy made King’s Disease, King’s Disease II, Magic, King’s Disease III, Magic 2 and Magic 3, with their King’s Disease series earning them three Grammy nominations, including a win for best rap album in 2021.

Billboard has reached out to Nas’ team for comment.

You can check out the clip below. (You’ll have to subscribe to DJ Vlad’s YouTube channel in order to watch the full conversation.)

Sister duo Aly & AJ have unexpectedly canceled their November and December tour dates after Aly Michalka landed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: her Broadway debut.

In a statement shared Wednesday (Aug. 26) on Instagram, Aly announced that they will no longer be able to play their scheduled dates beginning Nov. 28 in Cincinnati through Dec. 19 in Anaheim. She explained that she had been given the opportunity to make her Broadway debut this fall as William Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway in & Juliet, a chance she said she “couldn’t pass up.”

“Unfortunately, that means we won’t be able to play our November + December tour dates as planned,” the caption reads. “We’re so sorry to everyone who was looking forward to these shows. We were too, and we don’t take for granted the time, travel, and planning that goes into coming to see us.”

The affected dates include stops in Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Madison, Des Plaines, West Des Moines, Columbia, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Albuquerque, Tucson and Anaheim.

In the comments, fans congratulated Aly on her Broadway debut while others shared their disappointment over not being able to see the duo live. As a consolation for fans who had planned to attend, Aly & AJ shared an unreleased live album, which they are making available to download or stream for free. “Since we can’t spend those nights together, we wanted to give you a little something from the road,” Aly wrote.

“We love you and can’t wait to see you again soon,” she added.

See the full Instagram post below.

Kehlani is pressing pause on her world tour and will focus on getting her health back to where it needs to be. The Grammy-winning singer announced Wednesday (Aug. 26) on social media that she’s canceling her next two shows in New Jersey and Maryland on the Kehlani World Tour after being hospitalized for a painful illness that made her unable to swallow.

“After two off days feeling completely normal.. ive been up all night unable to swallow & in so much pain,” she wrote. “I just left the hospital & am not cleared to sing for the next two shows. i’m so sorry Camden & DC. my team is working on a solution.”

Kehlani revealed that the trek will restart on Aug. 29 at the Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront in Richmond, Virginia.

She continued: “Breaks my heart to have to ever do this. i do everything i’m supposed to to ensure my health stays up to par & it still isn’t guaranteed. we will pick back up in Virginia.”

Kehlani had been prioritizing her health and mental well-being while on the road, as she’s been making stops at bathhouses, yoga studios and wellness centers across North America. The tour still has plenty of runway left and will be running through September and wrapping up in early October with a show in San Francisco.

The “Folded” singer is the cover star of Billboard‘s 2026 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players issue, which features Kehlani speaking with her friend and collaborator Leon Thomas. During the conversation, Kehlani dispelled the narrative that R&B is dying.

“I hate the idea that R&B is dead,” she said. “It’s never gone anywhere. People are just a little lazy in looking up new artists to dive into. There’s plenty everywhere you look. I’m finding someone I like every day.”

The 31-year-old released her self-titled album in April, which reached No. 1 on the Top R&B Albums chart and earned a top five debut on the Billboard 200. 

Billboard has reached out to Kehlani’s reps for further comment.

Troye Sivan isn’t losing a wink of sleep over the concept of first-week sales. For his upcoming fourth studio album, She’s the Best, the Australian pop star has something bigger in mind: making something people remember.

“I honest to God could not tell you what my first-week sales [are],” Sivan said during an appearance on Las Culturistas With Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. “I’ve just never really been numbers-minded when it comes to music stuff.”

Instead, Sivan said the metric that matters most to him is whether the album leaves a mark on pop culture.

“The heartbreaking thing, like rather than it only [selling] however many thousand or whatever, would be if it went by without any sort of cultural impact,” he said. “I would be devastated.”

That mind-set does make sense for the singer, given the fact that his previous era became one of the most visible queer-pop moments of the past few years. Sivan’s 2023 album Something to Give Each Other debuted at No. 20 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Dance/Electronic Albums chart, while its singles “Rush” and “One of Your Girls” helped earn him spots on the Billboard Hot 100.

The era eventually expanded beyond the album itself, culminating in Sivan and Charli xcx‘s 2024 SWEAT Tour — the kind of pop-cultural moment Sivan says he hopes he can create again.

“I think back to those moments of like the first time I watched Moulin Rouge! or the first time I saw the ‘Dirrty’ video from Christina Aguilera,” he explained. “Those things, those sort of moments, I’m obsessed with the idea of being able to try and give that to people.”

If Something to Give Each Other was Sivan’s exercise in “perfect pop,” his new album is cooking up to be something a little messier — and, in his words, more expressive.

“I do feel like this album … is the most potent distillation of the references, musical references, that have made me the person that I am,” he said.

Those references run the gamut. Sivan pointed to Janet Jackson’s “Together Again” as one musical touchstone, while describing the album as influenced by late-’90s grunge-pop á la Marcy Playground, with even some Fatboy Slim energy thrown into the mix. The result, he said, is intentionally “chaotic” and layered.

That was a deliberate departure from his old approach.

“My last album, my goal was like perfect pop,” Sivan said, describing himself as a “student of the school of Max Martin and Swedish people.” But after spending years obsessing over the mechanics of a pristine pop song, he felt a natural “pendulum swing” toward something more expressive.

“I made a lot of the album with my little brother,” he said. “I made a lot of the album at home.”

And he isn’t interested in over-explaining the new era before listeners get to experience it. Sivan said the rollout for She’s the Best will be “very quick,” partly because he wants fans to hear the project in full rather than spend months dissecting individual pieces.

“I think the album is best experienced when listened top to bottom,” he said. “It’s like a journey.”

That journey officially began Aug. 14 with the release of “She’s the Best,” the title track and lead single from the album, which arrives Oct. 9. The record is his first full-length project since Something to Give Each Other and his first new music since signing with Interscope Records.

The title track’s accompanying video, directed by Gordon von Steiner and co-starring Nicole Kidman, also gives a glimpse at the scale of Sivan’s latest visual world. The video follows previous collaborations between Sivan and von Steiner, including “Rush” and “One of Your Girls,” while bringing Kidman — Sivan’s fellow Australian and Boy Erased co-star — into this new album’s realm.

And when Sivan played an unreleased song and its video for the Las Culturistas hosts during the interview, their reaction suggested he may already be onto the kind of cultural moment he says he wants. “That’s gonna be a huge f—ing moment,” host Matt Rogers declared.

For Sivan, though, the goal isn’t simply to make a bigger pop moment than the last one. It’s to make something that lasts.

“I think to me personally this one is going to age well,” he said. “I think I’m gonna look back on it in like 50 years and be able to play a couple of the songs or all of the songs and be like, wow, I’m really proud of 31-year-old Troye for doing that.”

Watch the full interview below.

A Jay-Z 30 pop-up experience is set to land at London’s UMusic Shop Camden this week, giving fans a chance to celebrate the rapper’s upcoming shows at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium .

Located at The Stables Market, the pop-up will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. between Aug. 27 and Sept. 2, ahead of Jay-Z’s only U.K. performances of the year on Sept. 4 and 5. The Brooklyn-born rapper last toured the U.K. in 2018 as part of his On The Run II trek with Beyoncé, visiting stadiums in Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow and London.

Fans can shop a curated selection of limited edition merchandise created exclusively for the London concerts. The experience will also feature a series of DJ sets, with the likes of DJ Target, DJ Manny Norté, DJ Semtex and DJ Esi taking over the decks from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. each day.

The London double-header follows Jay-Z’s three-night run at Yankee Stadium in New York City, which took place in July. Across the shows, the rapper was joined by a star-studded line-up of guests that included Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Usher, Eminem, Nas, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Slick Rick and more. The shows are billed as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of debut LP Reasonable Doubt, which kicked off the 56-year-old’s illustrious career in 1996.

Reporting from night two of the Yankee Stadium residency, Billboard’s Angel Diaz described the show as “a masterclass show.” She continued: “Jay went through each song at what felt like a feverish pace, giving fans little time to rest. And they didn’t mind – they just kept getting louder. It was impressive to see in person, especially when the surprise guests hit the stage.”

Beyond London, Jay-Z is scheduled to bring the 30th-anniversary celebration to Paris’ Stade de France on Sept. 10, followed by two Los Angeles shows at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 23 and 24. He kicked off his run of comeback live shows by headlining Philadelphia’s Roots Picnic in March, which marked his first solo show in over six years. The performance spawned the “Roots Picnic Freestyle,” which, in June, Billboard crowned the best rap song of 2026 so far.

Jay-Z has reigned as one of the biggest names in hip-hop for the past 30 years, and counting. Reasonable Doubt peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 upon release in 1996. Jay-Z’s breakthrough LP The Blueprint was released five years later in 2001, debuting at No. 1 on the all-genres albums chart. Over time, Jay-Z has amassed 14 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, holding the all-time record among solo male artists. He has also scored four No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hours after news of Dolly Parton‘s death broke on Tuesday (Aug. 25), Jack White paid live tribute to the late country icon by covering her song “Jolene” at London’s Eventim Apollo.

The rock singer posted a snippet of the performance on his Instagram account after the show, beginning with the fitting lyric: “Your beauty is beyond compare.” White also shared a tribute to Parton earlier Tuesday, posting a 1965 photo of the legend with her classic beehive hairstyle with the two-word caption: “Instant Sainthood.”

This is hardly the first time White has covered Parton’s legendary 1973 song begging another woman not to steal her man. The White Stripes — White’s rock duo with drummer Meg White — released a studio version of the song as a B-side to “Hello Operator” in 2000 and also dropped a live single in 2004. Their cover never charted in the U.S., but it did top the UK Indie chart and peaked at No. 16 on the UK Singles chart in 2004.

Parton’s original version peaked at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot Country Songs chart in 1974. It also spawned many covers beyond The White Stripes’ as well, including Beyoncé‘s interpolation from her country album Cowboy Carter, which featured some new lyrics and peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100 in 2024. Parton herself was also featured on a Pentatonix cover, which reached No. 18 on Hot Country Songs in 2016.

Following “a brief battle with cancer,” according to her team, Parton died Tuesday at age 80 in Nashville. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, shared the news through a video message on Parton’s socials.

See White’s tribute to Parton below:

Eminem and Dolly Parton never met, but they shared a mutual admiration for each other’s craft. Following Parton’s death on Tuesday (Aug. 25), Slim Shady shared a heartfelt note that the country icon sent him after he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

“I’m sorry we never got a chance to meet, but getting this note from Dolly really had a an impact on me,” Em captioned the post on social media. “She definitely didn’t have to take the time to do it. Even for a kid who mostly listened to rap music, she was an icon. A superstar in every sense. Rest easy Dolly. And thank you for the kind words.”

In her letter, Parton revealed how, while she wasn’t very knowledgeable when it comes to hip-hop, she’s long felt an “unexplained connection” to Eminem.

“Congratulations on your induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” she wrote. “Your performance was amazing and everybody said so. Even though I don’t know a lot about rap music, I’ve come to know that you are the very best at it. Aside from that I hope what I have to say will not seem weird or strange to you but I have always felt some unexplained connection to you like I know you somehow.”

The versatile singer/songwriter continued: “I had hoped to meet you at the show but you know how nuts those things are, personally I hate ’em and I missed my chance but maybe someday we’ll meet. In the meantime, keep doing what you’re doing because you do it so well and no matter how complex your world may be just know you are very special and touch people in ways you don’t even know.”

Parton left an indelible mark on country and pop music with a career that spanned more than half a century. Parton died Tuesday in Nashville at 80 years old.

She spent the last year dealing with unspecified health issues, which led to her canceling numerous public appearances, including her 2025 Las Vegas residency. On Tuesday, her reps revealed that Parton died “after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer.”

Paul McCartney, Billy Ray Cyrus, George Strait and Elton John were among the outpouring of moving tributes to the “9 to 5” singer spanning music and all facets of entertainment since Parton’s death became public knowledge.

Find Parton’s letter to Eminem below.