Jared Leto nearly signed Billie Eilish and her big brother Finneas
The evergreen 49-year-old invited the talented twosome to perform a couple songs during an intimate dinner party for 12 at his $5M military base-turned-compound in the Hollywood Hills .'They showed up with a Guitar Center PA [speaker] and played the most heartbreakingly beautiful music with, like, you know, it shouldn't have sounded that good, it was impossible that it sounded that good,' Leto recalled.
Billie Eilish used to “sit in the car and cry” to The Killers track ‘Mr. Brightside’.
© Bang Showbiz Billie Eilish The 19-year-old singer has said she was obsessed with the hit 2003 track when she was younger, and she even connected with the song on an emotional level, even though nothing in her life was “at all” close to the situation described in the lyrics.
She said: "I mean, there was a lot of times when I would just sit in the car and cry to 'Mr. Brightside' even though nothing in my life, at all, was that situation."
Both Billie and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, are both fans of The Killers, and consider ‘Mr. Brightside’ to be an “important piece of music” to them.
Jared Leto nearly signed Billie Eilish
Jared Leto nearly signed Billie Eilish when he first met her before she was attached to a music label.The 30 Seconds to Mars frontman was amazed by talents of the 19-year-old singer and her producer brother Finneas O'Connell when he first met the siblings through a friend and concerned signing them before they found fame.
Speaking during an appearance at the 2021 iHeartRadio ALTer EGO event, Finneas added: “The Killers is a band that I think we both sort of view as a childhood favourite - especially Hot Fuss, the album, because 'Mr. Brightside' on it is just such an important piece of music to us.”
Gallery: 10 things you didn’t know about Mac Miller (BANG Showbiz)
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Happy birthday, Mac!
Mac Miller was famous for his smooth raps and incredible musical talent. The Pittsburgh-born rapper began his career on the city’s hip-hop scene at just 15. On September 7, 2018, the music world was rocked when the news broke that Mac had sadly passed away at the age of 26. So, on what would have been his 29th birthday, here are 10 things you didn’t know about the late star...
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He tried to be a singer-songwriter before becoming a rapper
Mac only started rapping at 14, but he was always interested in music. In 2013, the late rapper’s friend Jimmy Murton told Complex that as a teenager, Mac would go really hard on his guitar. “He wanted to be a singer-songwriter, but people were hating on his voice. He kind of let that dream fade,” Jimmy said.
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He stole to pay for studio time
Getting a foothold in the rap music scene wasn't easy for Mac and he resorted to illegal means to pay for studio time. In the early days of his career, the rapper would steal televisions and purses at house parties and sell them.
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Mac had been to jail several times
He had his fair share of stints in the slammer. In 2011, following a show in Upstate New York, the rapper spent a night in jail for the possession of marijuana. Then in 2018, Mac crashed his Mercedes into a power line in the Los Angeles Valley and fled the scene. The police eventually found him at his home, where they discovered that he had a blood alcohol level that was twice the legal limit. The rapper was arrested on driving under the influence and hit-and-run charges, and was later released on a $15,000 bail.
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He launched his own record label imprint
In 2013, Mac launched REMember Music, which was created in memory of a late friend whose initials were REM. The rapper’s vision for the label was to give musicians and creatives based in Pittsburgh the ability to connect and reach a larger audience across the nation.
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He often skipped classes
When Mac attended Taylor Allderdice High School, he would often only show up to school just to pass music and rarely attended classes. Despite this, the rapper was still able to graduate. According to his friends, Mac’s teachers believed in him: “They let him graduate even though he shouldn't have. He was charming. He had that air of innocence about him, so teachers believed him, like, H'e's cutting class because he's pursuing his rap career.'"
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NFL Star Darrelle Revis helped him blow up
Just like Mac, former New York Jets player Darelle Revis is also from Pennsylvania and found out about him through the Pittsburgh circuit. Revis brought Mac’s music to his agent Neil Schwartz, who helped the rapper get a meeting with Jive and Barry Weiss. Later Mac and Revis even recorded a song together, with the footballer hiding under the name “Mr. Manhattan".
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He was a self-taught musician
Mac played an array of instruments, including the piano, guitar, drums, and bass. He wrote and arranged all of the music on his jazz EP ‘You’, which was released in 2012 under the alias Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival. During an interview with HipHopDX, Mac told Sean Price that there were other intruments he was trying to learn: “I play the kazoo every now and then. I’m trying to learn how to play the trumpet and the saxophone. That’s what I’m learning how to play."
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Mac perfected his skills at the Shadow Lounge
At 15 years old, Mac was a regular performer at the Shadow Lounge, a club that was famous on the local Pittsburgh rap scene. Although he wasn’t old enough to drink, the Shadow Lounge was where Mac honed his rap and freestyle skills. Justin Strong, the owner of the Shadow Lounge, has shared memories of the rapper’s time there: “I remember yelling at him for having a bottle of Hennessy in the green room. Although it's mostly 21 and over, we've given the younger cats a chance to get on stage and build a fan base and polish their craft. We're proud to have played a role,” he said.
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He would pull all-nighters to write raps
Once Mac started to rap, it became a full-time hobby. “He would come to school looking so tired,” Jimmy Murton recalled.: "He’d be like, ‘I’ve just been up all night rapping and writing.’ I would walk by a classroom and I’d see him furiously writing in his notebook."
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Mac always had a positive outlook on life
In a 2018 interview with Vulture, Mac talked about how he had a substantial grasp on life. The rapper had an understanding that there would be good days and bad days: “When you feel sad, it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world. Everyone has those days when you doubt yourself, and when you feel like everything you do sucks, but then there’s those days when you feel like Superman. It’s just the balance of the world. I just write to feel better.”
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And it’s not just The Killers that Billie used to be obsessed with, as her family recently revealed they almost took her to therapy over her love for Justin Bieber.
Billie Shepherd quits Dancing on Ice
TV Billie Shepherd has quit 'Dancing on Ice' after suffering a concussion.The 31-year-old TV star has been forced to withdraw from the ITV show after hitting her head on the rink in a fall, with medics telling her to quit the series for her own safety.
Billie’s mother, Maggie Baird, said: "I just want to say, we did consider taking you to therapy for how incredibly...you were in so much pain over Justin Bieber.
"It was so intense, it caused you so much pain!"
Maggie even said the ‘Bad Guy’ hitmaker used to cry in the car to Justin’s track 'As Long As You Love Me', in the same way she did to ‘Mr. Brightside’.
She added in July: "Driving to the dance studio with Billie, playing this song, sobbing, and then driving back and sobbing...
"It was either Marina and the Diamonds or this, sobbing...Any Justin Bieber, but I just happen to remember this one really well, and the video, and Billie talking to me about it, and being excited that it was coming out and just crying and crying."
At home with the Petrovs — when Joan and Dud met Peewee and Jack .
In this extract from Sandra Hogan's new book With My Little Eye, a pair of Russian defectors find themselves living with a family of ASIO spies.Joan was on her knees beside the tub, bathing Sue-Ellen and Mark, when she met Russian defector Evdokia Petrov. Dudley ushered Mrs Petrov into the room and, while the children squealed and splashed, the two women made stilted conversation. Mrs Petrov had come to look Joan over and decide whether she and her husband Vladimir would come to live with the Doherty family for two months.
The evergreen 49-year-old invited the talented twosome to perform a couple songs during an intimate dinner party for 12 at his $5M military base-turned-compound in the Hollywood Hills .'They showed up with a Guitar Center PA [speaker] and played the most heartbreakingly beautiful music with, like, you know, it shouldn't have sounded that good, it was impossible that it sounded that good,' Leto recalled. 
Jared Leto nearly signed Billie Eilish when he first met her before she was attached to a music label.The 30 Seconds to Mars frontman was amazed by talents of the 19-year-old singer and her producer brother Finneas O'Connell when he first met the siblings through a friend and concerned signing them before they found fame. 
TV Billie Shepherd has quit 'Dancing on Ice' after suffering a concussion.The 31-year-old TV star has been forced to withdraw from the ITV show after hitting her head on the rink in a fall, with medics telling her to quit the series for her own safety. 
Jared Leto nearly signed Billie Eilish and her big brother Finneas 
Jared Leto nearly signed Billie Eilish 
Billie Shepherd quits Dancing on Ice 
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At home with the Petrovs — when Joan and Dud met Peewee and Jack 
