Jon Batiste might be the Grammys biggest surprise: The multi-genre performer and recent Oscar winner made such an impression on voters that he scored the most nominations with 11 on Tuesday.

Will Smith wouldn’t seem an obvious candidate for a midlife crisis. Hugely successful, immensely popular, indefatigably sunny.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears is free. A Los Angeles judge on Friday ended the conservatorship that has controlled the pop singer's life and money for nearly 14 years.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chris Stapleton was the big winner with six trophies including song and album of the year and Luke Combs claimed the biggest prize with entertainer of the year at the Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday night.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Rudd has been crowned as 2021’s Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine.

NEW YORK (AP) — Dean Stockwell, a top Hollywood child actor who gained new success in middle age in the sci-fi series “Quantum Leap” and in a string of indelible performances in film, including David Lynch's “Blue Velvet,” Wim Wenders' “Paris, Texas” and Jonathan Demme's “Married to the Mob,…

NEW YORK (AP) — The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will return to its pre-pandemic form this year, with its route restored through Manhattan, high-flying helium balloons once again pulled by handlers and crowds welcomed back to cheer them on.

DEARBORN, Mich. — The first stop on Romain Grosjean’s monthlong tour of the United States with his family was the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, where his wife had arranged a tour for the race car driver and their three children.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — “Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk said Friday that he “had a small heart attack” but will “be back soon.”

MISHIMA, Japan — The soon-to-be Olympic champion was in what cyclists derisively call “the pain cave,” empty lungs searing and legs feeling like dead weight. The climb he was on seemed interminable, the evil gradient sending him straight into the sky.

HARRISBURG — A state report released Friday lays out a plan for the Pennsylvania state park system that has seen considerable use by the public during the ongoing pandemic.

TAMPA, Fla. — WWE star Sheamus is offering ring-side seats and “many beers" to anyone who returns a prop cross necklace that was stolen from an arena on the campus of the University of South Florida.

HOUSTON  — ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, the long-bearded bassist for the million-selling Texas blues rock trio known for such hits as “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin'," has died at age 72.

LONDON — A British journalist and her publisher contested a defamation claim in a London court on Wednesday from billionaire Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich over a book about the rise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

NEW YORK — If there's going to be a surge in viewership interest in the Tokyo Olympics, NBC Universal is still waiting.

ATHENS, Greece — A sports commentator in Greece who made an on-air remark about a South Korean athlete at the Tokyo Olympics that the station called racist has been fired, the country's state-run broadcaster said Tuesday.

NEW YORK — An estimated 17 million people in the United States watched the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics held in a largely empty stadium, down 36% from the kickoff to the Rio de Janeiro Games five years ago.

NEW YORK — R. Kelly's lawyers said Monday they would fight prosecutors' bid to tell jurors about allegations beyond the actual charges at his upcoming federal sex trafficking trial.

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court on Friday disqualified a private judge being used by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in their divorce case, handing Jolie a major victory.

One of Molly Solomon's favorite memories from the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics was watching Lindsey Vonn in the start house. Cameras would focus on the skiing great, with microphones picking up her breathing while she listened to final instructions.

LOS ANGELES — Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday to four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts.

COLUMBIA, S.C.  — Prompted by Britney Spears’ conservatorship fight, a bipartisan legislative effort has emerged to reform the process created to protect the rights of more than 1 million people across the United States under the protective arrangements.

TOKYO — Toyota won’t be airing any Olympic-themed advertisements on Japanese television during the Tokyo Games despite being one of the IOC’s top corporate sponsors.

ESPN has finally landed Peyton Manning as a “Monday Night Football” commentator. It's just not in a way anyone expected, and it won't be for the full season.

NEW YORK — Prince Harry is writing what his publisher is calling an “intimate and heartfelt memoir.”

NEW YORK — If all goes well for NBC Universal over the next several weeks, Americans will be buzzing about the Olympic performances of Simone Biles, Gabby Thomas, Kevin Durant or some unexpected star.

NEW YORK — The television rating for baseball’s All-Star Game sank to a record low but viewers increased by 1%.

NEW YORK — Harry Styles will hit the road on a U.S. tour this fall, with 40 concerts scheduled in such cities as New York City, Denver, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES — A judge allowed Britney Spears to hire an attorney of her choosing at a hearing Wednesday in which she broke down in tears after describing the “cruelty" of her conservatorship.

LOS ANGELES — "The Crown” tied with “The Mandalorian” for the most Emmy nominations Tuesday with 24 apiece, but the Marvel universe also got bragging rights with runner-up “WandaVision.”

Even with an option to watch “Black Widow” at home, audiences went to the movie theater in pandemic record numbers this weekend to catch the first Marvel movie released in two years.

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh museum has returned to public view a 19th-century diorama that shows lions attacking a camel and its human rider, about a year after covering it up in response to complaints about how the courier was depicted.

NEW YORK — A tearful, repentant Michael Avenatti, the brash lawyer who once represented Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, was sentenced Thursday to 2 1/2 years in prison for trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike by threatening the company with bad publicity.