Superstar DJ Tiësto Says he Has to Pull Out of Super Bowl Show

08 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher speaks on stage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show Press Conference held at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Pa Wire/PA Wire/dpa
08 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher speaks on stage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show Press Conference held at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Pa Wire/PA Wire/dpa
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Superstar DJ Tiësto Says he Has to Pull Out of Super Bowl Show

08 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher speaks on stage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show Press Conference held at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Pa Wire/PA Wire/dpa
08 February 2024, US, Las Vegas: American singer Usher speaks on stage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show Press Conference held at The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Pa Wire/PA Wire/dpa

Dutch music producer DJ Tiësto has withdrawn from performing at Sunday's Super Bowl due to an undisclosed family matter.
Tiësto, whose real name is Tijs Verwest, wrote on social media on Thursday he would miss the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs in Las Vegas as he needed to return home.
“It was a tough decision to miss the game, but family always comes first,” the 55-year-old wrote on X.
The Grammy-winning musician was selected as the first ever in-game DJ, slotted to warm up the crowd before kickoff and throughout the game. Singer Usher will headline the halftime show while Reba McEntire will sing the national anthem.
Tiësto did not provide details about the emergency. He married model Annika Backes in 2019 and the couple have two children.
His performances scheduled for Friday evening in New York and Saturday evening in Las Vegas — where the Super Bowl is being held — have not been canceled, according to his website. Tiësto said in his message he will need to return home “on Sunday.”
The Dutchman has been repeatedly named as the world’s best DJ during his 40-year career. He previously performed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
American DJ Ryan Raddon, better known as Kaskade, will replace Tiësto during Sunday’s game. The Chicago native wrote on social media he was “beyond excited” for the opportunity.



UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
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UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)

John Mayall, the British blues pioneer whose 1960s music collective the Bluesbreakers helped usher in a fertile period of rock and brought guitarists like Eric Clapton to prominence, has died at 90, his family said Tuesday.

Mayall, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who was dubbed "the godfather of British blues," and whose open-door arrangement saw some of the greats in the genre hone their craft with him and his band, "passed away peacefully in his California home" on Monday, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.

It did not state a cause of death.

"Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world's greatest road warriors," it said. "John Mayall gave us 90 years of tireless efforts to educate, inspire and entertain."

Mayall's influence on 1960s rock and beyond is enormous. Members of the Bluesbreakers eventually went on to join or form groups including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and many more.

At age 30, Mayall moved to London from northern England in 1963. Sensing revolution in the air, he gave up his profession as a graphic designer to embrace a career in blues, the musical style born in Black America.

He teamed up with a series of young guitarists including Clapton, Peter Green, later of Fleetwood Mac, and Mick Taylor who helped form the Rolling Stones.

In the Bluesbreakers' debut album in 1966, "Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton," John Mayall enthralled music aficionados with a melding of soulful rock and gutsy, guitar-driven American blues featuring covers of tunes by Robert Johnson, Otis Rush and Ray Charles.

The blues music he was playing in British venues was "a novelty for white England," he told AFP in 1997.

That album was a hit, catapulting Clapton to stardom and bringing a wave of popularity to a more raw and personal blues music.

Mayall moved to California in 1968 and toured America extensively in 1972.

He recorded a number of landmark albums in the 1960s including "Crusade," "A Hard Road," and "Blues From Laurel Canyon." Dozens more followed in the 1970s and up to his latest, "The Sun Is Shining Down," in 2022.

Mayall was awarded an OBE, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, in 2005.