Shonka Dukureh, who played Big Mama Thornton in ‘Elvis’, dead at 44

Tough love! Elvis star Austin Butler opened up about the methods director Baz Luhrmann used to get him into character — some ending up too intense for the actor to handle.

Austin Butler practiced some method acting for his role as Elvis.

Paul Sorvino, 'Goodfellas' Star, Dead at 83 David Warner, 'Titanic' and 'Omen' Actor, Dead at 80 Bob Rafelson, 'Five Easy Pieces' Director, Dead at 89 Shonka Dukureh, Big Mama Thornton in 'Elvis,' Dead at 44 Mickey Rooney Jr., Original Mouseketeer & Musician, Dead at 77 Jak Knight, Comedian and Voice in 'Big Mouth,' Dead at 28  

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKobalt, one of the world’s largest music publishers, has removed its entire 700,000-song catalog from Facebook and Instagram in the United States, a rep for the company confirms to Variety.The company’s U.S. licensing contract with Meta, parent of the two social-media giants, has expired and the two parties have failed to reach a new deal.

Elvis Presley separated from his wife Priscilla, The King began dating Miss Tennessee model Linda Thompson. From 1972-6, she lived with the star at Graceland and the couple shared his bedroom upstairs in the mansion. To this day, the music icon's private space isn't open to the public, but now his old flame has shared a rare photo from up there.

Celebrities are expressing their heartbreak over the sudden death of Shonka Dukureh.

Less than one month after the release of the 2022 Elvis biopic, Shonka Dukureh, who played Big Mama Thornton in the film, was found dead in her Nashville home. She was 44.

Doja Cat and Baz Luhrmann have paid tribute to Elvis actress Shonka Dukureh following her death. Dukureh, who made her movie debut as blues singer Big Mama Thornton in Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic, was found dead at her home in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday at the age of 44. The actress made a notable appearance in the film singing Thornton's biggest hit Hound Dog - which Presley later recorded - and her rendition of the song was sampled on Doja's single Vegas, taken from the Elvis soundtrack.

Director Baz Luhrmann said he felt “truly blessed” to have had time with Shonka Dukureh, who starred in his Elvis biopic, before her sudden death at age 44.

Baz Luhrmann says he and the cast of 'Elvis' are devastated by the sudden death of cast member Shonka Dukureh. The recently acclaimed actress, who had just drawn plaudits for her role as blues singer Big Mama Thornton in the Elvis Presley biopic, was tragically found dead in her apartment by one of her young children on Thursday (21. 07.

Baz Luhrmann has said he felt “truly blessed” to have had time with Shonka Dukureh, who starred in his Elvis biopic, before her death aged 44. The actress, who played Big Mama Thornton in the film about superstar Elvis Presley, was found dead in a bedroom at her home in Nashville. It was one of her children who found her unresponsive and went to the apartment of a neighbour, who called emergency services.

Actress and singer Shonka Dukureh, who starred in the biopic Elvis, has died at the age of 44. She played Big Mama Thornton in the film about superstar Elvis Presley and was found dead in a bedroom at her home in Nashville.

Actress Shonka Dukereh, who stars in the new Elvis Presley film, has died aged 44.TMZ reported that she was first discovered by one of her young children in her Nashville apartment on Thursday morning (22 July). In her latest project Shonka played blues singer Big Mama Thornton in the new Elvis biopic. On discovering her body her child is said to have alerted a neighbour who then called 911 for help.

Priscilla Presley is setting the record straight when it comes to late husband Elvis Presley‘s relationship with the Black community.

Shonka Dukureh, one of the stars of the new Elvis film, has died aged 44. The recently acclaimed actress was found dead in her apartment by one of her young children, just after recently drawing plaudits for her role as blues singer Big Mama Thornton in the Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic. TMZ reported she was found dead in the bedroom of her apartment in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday.

“Elvis” actress and blues singer Shonka Dukureh was found dead in her Nashville apartment Thursday, ET can confirm. She was 44.

From the thrill of a lifetime to its untimely end, all in less than six months…

A shocking loss. Elvis star Shonka Dukureh was found dead in her Nashville, Tennesse, home on Thursday, July 21. She was 44.

Shonka Dukureh, who just made her film debut in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, was found dead in her Nashville, Tenn. apartment on Thursday, police said. She was 44 and was found in her bedroom.

"Elvis" actress Shonka Dukureh, who played Big Mama Thorton, was found dead Thursday in a bedroom at her apartment in Nashville, police confirmed. She was 44.  The Metro Nashville Police Department said there were no signs of foul play.

Shonka Dukureh, who most recently played the role of Big Mama Thornton in the movie Elvis, has died at the age of 44.

 actress and blues singer Shonka Dukureh was found dead in her Nashville apartment Thursday, ET can confirm. She was 44.According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Dukureh, who played Big Mama Thornton in the Baz Luhrmann production, was found dead Thursday morning, in the bedroom of her apartment that she shared with her two young children.

Ellise Shafer Shonka Dukureh, the singer and actor who portrayed Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” was found dead in her Nashville, Tenn. apartment on Thursday, police confirmed. She was 44.According to a tweet from the Metro Nashville Police Department, no foul play is evident in Dukureh’s death.

cemented in the biopic “Elvis” — directed by Baz Luhrmann with Austin Butler in the title role — and depicted Elvis being very affected by the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr.’s passing, as well as his relationship with B.B. King.However, Priscilla, 77, is knocking down longstanding assumptions that her former husband had issues with people of color.“Per the movie, [for] a long time it was stated that Elvis was a racist,” the “Naked Gun” actress said on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” earlier this week. “He was not a racist.

Elvis Presley’s relationship with Black musicians has always been complicated, but his ex-wife insists that racism wasn’t

Elvis Presley‘s ex-wife Priscilla Presley has claimed that the late musician was “not racist in any way” while speaking about ‘cancel culture’.During a recent interview on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored, Priscilla spoke about Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic Elvis, which sees Austin Butler portray the titular King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.Later, host Piers Morgan asked her whether she believed there would be “a campaign to try and cancel [Elvis] for inappropriate statements, inappropriate behaviour [or] inappropriate lyrics”.Elvis has been criticised by a number of Black artists in the past. Last year, Quincy Jones said that he wouldn’t have worked with the star, claiming he “was a racist”.“He was not a racist – he’s never been a racist,” Priscilla told Morgan. “Elvis had friends, Black friends, friends from all over.

Elvis Presley was indisputably the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but there’s no denying his bold sense of style goes down in history, too.

The sun is shining right now on what's proving to the hottest summer in the UK's history books, so we at Official Charts thought it was time to take things back to a slightly cooler time, and revisit the biggest songs in the UK over the summer of 2002.

The sun is shining right now on what's proving to the hottest summer in the history books, so we at Official Charts thought it was time to take things back to a...slightly cooler time, and revisit the biggest songs of the summer of 2002. 

Don McLean is opening up about the meaning behind the lyrics to the iconic anthem he wrote at 24 in 1971 that has more than endured, it's transcended generations.Ahead of the release of the new Paramount+ documentary, McLean sat down with ET's Matt Cohen and offered insight into the legendary singer's thinking when he penned, widely considered a masterpiece for aptly defining an era brimming with tragedy, from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., to the Vietnam War.In fact, the track is so iconic, it came in at No.

Elvis Presley's first major girlfriend after his marriage to Priscilla fell apart was Linda Thompson, who The King dated from 1972-76. The Miss Tennessee model moved into Graceland and during this period saw every single one of his Las Vegas residency shows. At Christmas time 1976, less than a year before Elvis' untimely death at just 42, Linda amicably broke up with The King saying she wanted a more normal life out of the celebrity spotlight.

Countdown to Yuri’s Night, the wild “holiday for space” they would launch into orbit every April until retiring the concept in 2015.Specifically, organizers were asked to throw a new party on January 8 — just an off-beat, one-time-only kind of shindig.Once they learned the date just so happened to be Elvis Presley’s birthday, they ran away with the idea until they got “all shook up” over an event that all but demanded to be revived year after year on account of its uproarious name alone — styled as a misheard play-on-words regarding the King of Pop’s dying wish, while seated on his toilet, “Commodious,” no less.Instead of his wish for a commemorative nightclub, Presley’s legacy lives on here as an underground “fight club,” billed as an “action-packed, punch-drunk, below-the-belt, hilarious night of lowbrow theater.”That might all be truer than ever with the bizarre event’s 11th incarnation, pushed back a year and a half by the pandemic to become more of a half-year birthday bash, with performers full of pent-up parody and needing to let off excessively silly steam.“This one goes to 11,” crow the evening’s organizers. As ever, the show full of antics is hosted by a Presley impersonator and his sardonic sidekick and femcee Kitty Glitter, providing “a little more conversation” in the form of color commentary throughout.Attendees can expect, to quote the official description, “seven rounds of flimflam fisticuffs [as] the centerpiece of the action, and in between, bouts of burlesque performances [offering] a sexy reprieve from the cartoon-esque violence.”Also, there will be puppets.

Elvis Presley is being remembered following the release of "Elvis" - a new biopic from Baz Luhrmann which tells the story of the King's life. His ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, has often spoken about her relationship with the King over the years, and once confessed that she didn't feel as if she truly had "teenage years" due to the couple getting together so early.