McCann

In August, 2014, Diane Foley went to church in Rochester, New Hampshire. Her son, Jim, a photojournalist, had then been a hostage of Islamic State in Syria for almost two years. It was late at night, and she was exhausted and alone. The US government, insistent that it would not pay ransoms to terrorists, would do nothing for her family; it was hellish living in fear of the sound of the telephone; the waiting and the wondering could drive a person mad. And so, here she was, clicking her rosary beads, kneeling to repeat…

To westerners, the public beheading of the US journalist James Foley in Syria was grim confirmation of the brutality of Islamic State and, more specifically, of the cruelty of a trio of British militants nicknamed “the Beatles”. For Foley’s mother, Diane, who since his kidnapping two years earlier had been pressing Barack Obama’s government to rescue him or negotiate his release, his death was incomparably more painful. But that didn’t deter her from meeting Alexanda Kotey, the man found guilty of conspiracy to murder her…

Trigger warning: mentions of sexual abuse, explicit online harassment, childhood trauma, and kidnappingA woman faced intense online backlash after claiming on social media to be the long-lost Madeleine McCann, revealing her motive was rooted in a traumatic childhood.22-year-old Julia Wandelt posted on social media in early 2023 that she believed she was the missing little girl who gained international attention with an Instagram account she called “iammadeleinemccan,” which no longer exists.Julia, who lives in Poland,…

Les McCann, the iconic jazz pianist, who is renowned for the protest song `Compared to What`, passed away on Friday at a hospital in Los Angeles, according to his manager. He was 88 years old and had been hospitalized last week due to pneumonia, though no cause of death was given, as per Variety. McCann combined jazz and R&B in his work, laying the foundation for numerous early hip-hop hits, such as `10 Crack Commandments` by the Notorious B.I.G., `After Hours` by A Tribe Called Quest, `The Next Episode` by Snoop Dogg…

Jazz pianist and singer Les McCann, best known for his raucous live single “Compared to What” from the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival and later sampled heavily by hip-hop artists, died Friday at a Los Angeles-area hospital, according to his longtime manager and producer Alan Abrahams.McCann, 88, had been living in a Van Nuys nursing facility and was hospitalized with pneumonia, said Abrahams, who declined to identify the hospital. McCann had been a longtime Van Nuys resident, Abrahams said. “He was one of the most…

Les McCann, a trailblazing pianist and singer known for fusing strains of jazz, funk, and R&B and pioneering soul jazz, died on Friday at the age of 88. The cause of death has not been disclosed, but his manager Alan Abrahams told NBC News that the musician had died at a Los Angeles hospital after developing pneumonia a week ago. The singer had lived for the last four years at a skilled nursing facility in L.A, according to The New York Times. McCann, who is best remembered for his 1967 protest song…