{"id":94920,"date":"2026-03-29T23:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=94920"},"modified":"2026-03-29T23:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T06:56:15","slug":"singers-past-and-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/03\/29\/singers-past-and-present\/","title":{"rendered":"Singers Past and Present"},"content":{"rendered":"

We interrupt this column to bring you a message from a real diva: \u201cIt has been an honour to sing and entertain my fans for over 70 years…At this point of time, I\u2019m sorry to say, that due to up-and-coming hand surgery, I will no longer be able to reply to fan mail.  We kindly request for you to avoid sending vinyls, personal items and photographs, as we will be unable to post them back to you.  Your support has been incredible.  Every single letter I have received has been an honour.  All my love, Dame Shirley Bassey<\/strong>.\u201d  Such a cold finger!<\/p>\n

Another diva is poised to make a comeback.  Celine Dion <\/strong>is reportedly planning to return to the concert stage this fall.  Prior to the pandemic and her Stiff Person Syndrome <\/em>diagnosis, Celine was scheduled to do a series of concerts at the Paris La Defense Arena <\/em>as part of her Courage World Tour<\/em><\/strong>.  So it\u2019s fitting that she\u2019s planning on fulfilling those engagements as her return.  Last week, the City of <\/em>Lights<\/em> was canvassed with posters listing the titles of Dion\u2019s songs.  We expect an announcement for the September and October concerts any time now.<\/p>\n

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Someone else is leaving the spotlight.  Dionne Warwick <\/strong>claims that her latest release will be her last.  DWuets<\/em><\/strong> is made up entirely of Diane Warren <\/strong>songs (Diane and Dionne both share the \u201cDW\u201d initials) and is produced by Warwick\u2019s son, Damon Elliott<\/strong>.  But fear not, Warwick says while she\u2019s bowing out of more recordings, she plans to continue to do intimate live dates.<\/p>\n

By the by, Dionne told our pal Sherri Shepherd<\/strong> that Teyana Taylor <\/strong>has been signed to a biopic about the singer\u2019s life.  Warwick said, \u201cAfter meeting her, I said, \u2018Oh, my, that\u2019s my alter ego.\u2019\u201d  She also praised Taylor for speaking her mind and having no filter. <\/p>\n

People have been asking me if Sherri Shepherd has any plans once her talk show wraps.  She\u2019s in the midst of her nationwide comedy tour (the full schedule can be found on SherriShepherd.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>).  She\u2019ll also join forces with Robin Roberts<\/strong>\u2019 production company on a Lifetime <\/em>film called Angel in the Rubble<\/em><\/strong>, which is based on Genelle Guzman<\/strong>, who was the last survivor pulled from the 9\/11 rubble.  Sherri will not only be an executive producer on the film, she\u2019ll also star as Genelle.  It will air in September to commemorate the 25th<\/sup> anniversary of the attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We interrupt this column to bring you a message from a real diva: \u201cIt has been an honour to sing and entertain my fans for over 70 years…At this point of time, I\u2019m sorry to say, that due to up-and-coming hand surgery, I will no longer be able to reply to fan mail.  We kindly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94921,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94920\/revisions\/94921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}