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Blake Shelton’s first impression of Gwen Stefani? She was the rock star who drove a “black minivan”

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David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty ImagesBlake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s love story dates back to their time together as coaches on NBC’s The Voice. The happy couple were in a relationship for five years before Blake finally popped the question in 2020, and they officially became engaged.

But long before they fell in love, Blake remembers that Gwen was simply the new coach on the set of The Voice in 2014.

“She surprised everybody with a performance of ‘Hollaback Girl,’ and then they announced that she was going to be a coach,” the country star recalls to People. “…After the show, we all took a group picture. It was very much an industry-type meeting, and I told people, ‘I met Gwen Stefani. That’s crazy.’”

At the time, Blake was still married to Miranda Lambert. Gwen was also still married to Gavin Rossdale, and she’d recently given birth to their son, Apollo.

“So there wasn’t even that much of a friendship that first season,” Blake goes on to say, pointing out that Gwen was extra busy with life as a mom to a young baby.

“The thing I remember saying about her when people would ask was, ‘Oh my God, that girl is unbelievable. She drives a minivan to work!’ I thought rock stars drove Rolls-Royces, and Gwen was driving a black minivan.”

These days, the couple are happily planning their wedding, and pop star Miley Cyrus has even volunteered her services as a wedding singer. Blake appreciates that gesture, although he jokingly adds that he might already have another act lined up.

“I still say Adam [Levine] owes me a full-band performance with Maroon 5, mostly because I want it to cost him,” the singer jokes.

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

“Never Break Heart”: Ahead of his album’s April release, Eric Church shares another 'Heart & Soul' track

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ABCEric Church is sharing another glimpse into Heart & Soul’s track list, and as usual, his Church Choir fans are getting first dibs on the new music.

Newly out this Thursday is “Never Break Heart,” the sixth track on Heart, which is the first of a three-volume album. Eric’s forthcoming project is a triple album broken up into three separate collections, Heart, & and Soul, which he’s rolling out over a three-week period in April.

Members of the Church Choir fan club can listen to the new song right now, and they’ve also got access to the song’s lyric video. “Never Break Heart” will be available exclusively to fan club members for the next 24 hours, at which point it will become available to the general public.

Eric has already shared several tracks off his next collection, and most of them have been made available to the Church Choir first. Off the Heart album alone, fans have already heard the collection-opening “Heart on Fire,” as well as “Crazyland” and the album’s lead single, “Stick That in Your Country Song.”

Heart is set for release on April 16, and Soul will come out the next week, on April 23. Meanwhile, & will arrive on April 20 as a vinyl record available exclusively to Church Choir members.


By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Teyonah Parris says becoming Marvel's Monica Rambeau has been her "most physical role to date"

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Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Fans recently got their first glimpse of a superpowered Teyonah Parris in the latest episode of WandaVision, where her character Monica Rambeau showed her “Photon” potential when she returns to Westview.

Parris tells ABC Audio that becoming the butt-kicking S.W.O.R.D. captain has actually been her “most physical role to date.”

“I’ve had roles that were physical, but in a very different way. Not like action physical, just stamina, physical,” she explains.

Parris admits that she didn’t appropriately train for her role of Monica because “no one told [her] it was going to be physical.”

“I did not prepare,” she reveals. “[But,] since I’ve gotten the role, I just try to work out, run, jog, just to have that sort of stamina.”

Now, with Parris’ character possibly going toe-to-toe with not only Wanda, but Westview’s real villain Agatha Harkness — and others in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — the actress says she’s going to have to step up her workout game.

“I didn’t do any combat training or anything like that,” Parris says. “But I will be moving forward because it’s very important. It’s a whole other skill set and I’m a work on that.”

New episodes of WandaVision launch Fridays on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC Audio.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Walton Goggins on playing against type as a grieving dad, in CBS' hit 'The Unicorn'

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Sonja Flemming/CBS В©2020 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.(NEW YORK) — Actor and Oscar winner Walton Goggins has appeared in dozens and dozens of films and TV shows over his lengthy career, and in many, he plays the heavy. 

He’s been seen as a corrupt cop in The Shield, the villain in Tomb Raider, and an arms dealer in Ant-Man and The Wasp, among other memorable roles.

However, all that changed when he was cast against type as a grieving dad in CBS’ hit series The Unicorn.

Created by Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, and produced by Goggins’ pal and Ant-Man director Peyton Reed, Goggins says the show’s pitch struck a chord with him: “The story is based on one of their best friends who lost his wife to cancer and is raising two daughters…and I thought, ‘I can tell this story and we could tell this story in a way, if you let me do my thing.’ You know, I’m only going to do it one way: where we can make people laugh for sure. But but we can also touch their touch, their heart — and not gratuitously, but because. Because the story’s about life. 

He adds, “Here we are two years into it…and people appreciate the laughter and people…can relate to the small victories and the small setbacks…And I think that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Goggins, however, explained while laughing heartily, that there was an adjustment period. “There’s this whole scene in the pilot where I have to get this food out of the freezer and I’m using an ice pick. And then the director says, ‘OK, cut, cut. Walt, do you think you could do that in a way that it doesn’t look like you’re the one who killed your wife?'”

Walton laughs, “Oh, my God, really? My resting face looks like I’m killing people?!”

Two seasons in, he’s proven he can play the nice guy. 

Goggins adds of the show, “I just love it. I really do.” 

The Unicorn airs tonight at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

 

Lanco’s “Near Mrs.” video celebrates their personal stories with real-life family video footage

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Courtesy of The GreenRoom PRIn their new song, “Near Mrs.,” the members of Lanco reflect on the relationships that were almost the right fit, but didn’t quite stand the test of time.

That winding road of trial, error and heartbreak is what eventually led all five bandmates to their current partners. That lasting love at the end of the “Near Mrs.” will be the spotlight of the song’s music video, which arrives this afternoon.

“We wanted to heighten the last line of the chorus, ‘I would have missed out on you,’ and show off exactly who that person is to us,” explains lead vocalist Brandon Lancaster. “Looking back on everything from late-night hangs, weddings and babies…we have so much to be grateful for and this video represents that. This is something really special for our close-knit family to have in years to come.”

It’s an especially appropriate time to highlight family milestones, as two members of the band — bassist Chandler Baldwin and drummer Tripp Howell — are both expecting their first children in May. 

Brandon and his wife, Tiffany, also became first-time parents to daughter Elora Ivelle in September. 

The “Near Mrs.” music video will premiere on YouTube directly following a YouTube Live Q&A with the band today at 5:30PM CT.


By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.