Judds to perform at CMT awards
The Judds, one of the most successful duos in country music in the 1980s, are reuniting to perform on the CMT Music Awards, the members’ first major awards show performance together in more than two decades.
The mother-and-daughter duo of Naomi and Wynonna will perform their hit “Love Can Build a Bridge” on the April 11 awards show, airing on CBS and Paramount+, during an outdoor shoot in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
It’s a fitting backdrop for the five-time Grammy winners, who will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in May.
“It feels both surreal and what a thrill it is. What a thrill to finally get her back on the stage because she’s been waiting for 20-plus years,” Wynonna said of her mother, Naomi. “As a daughter and as an artist, it’s a win-win.”
The Judds won nine Country Music Association Awards and seven from the Academy of Country Music and had more than a dozen No. 1 hits, including “Mama,
He’s Crazy” and “Grandpa (Tell Me ’bout the Good Old Days).”
In 1990, Naomi Judd announced her retirement from performing due to chronic hepatitis. Wynonna has continued her solo career, and they have occasionally reunited for special performances.
Winfrey to receive literary honor:
For her championing of so many authors over the past quarter century, Oprah Winfrey is herself receiving a literary honor.
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is giving Winfrey its inaugural Literary Champion award, a lifetime achievement prize for contributions to literacy and for inspiring younger readers and writers. PEN/Faulkner is otherwise known for the annual fiction prize it has presented since 1981.
“Oprah Winfrey is a literary force field,” PEN/ Faulkner Board Vice President Mary Haft said in a recent statement. “She has been like a lighthouse, standing sentry and shining a beacon of light onto literature and into the lives of writers and readers.”
Winfrey, who has boosted the sales for dozens of authors through the book club she founded in 1996, will accept the award during a virtual ceremony set for May 2.
Perry to narrate Taylor podcast:
Katy Perry will narrate a podcast about another superstar, Elizabeth Taylor.
“Elizabeth The First,” produced by Perry, House of Taylor and Imperative, is a 10-episode series about Taylor as the original influencer. The podcast will discuss how Taylor created a fragrance empire when celebrity-endorsed productions were not common or popular, and used her celebrity to call attention to HIV/AIDS and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. It also will include rare stories from people who knew her best.
“Elizabeth The First” will debut later this spring. Taylor died in 2011.
Actor Craig T. Nelson is 78.
Actor Christine Lahti is 72. Writer David E. Kelley is
66. Actor Hugo Weaving is
62. Comedian David Cross is 58. Actor Robert Downey Jr. is 57. Actor Nancy McKeon is 56. Singer Jill Scott is 50. Magician David Blaine is 49. Actor Natasha Lyonne is 43. Actor Eric Andre is 39. Actor Jamie Lynn Spears is 31.
April 4 birthdays: