AMY GRANT HAS HEART SURGERY

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A publicist for Amy Grant says the contemporary Christian singer had open heart surgery to fix a heart condition she has had since birth.

Doctors discovered Grant had a heart condition called partial anomalous pulmonary venous return (PAPVR) during a routine checkup. Velvet Kelm, her publicist, said Grant's doctor said the surgery yesterday “couldn't have gone better.”

Grant, who has been married to country singer Vince Gill for 20 years, is six-time Grammy winner with pop hits like “Baby, Baby,” “Every Heartbeat” and “That's What Love is For." She's sold more than 30 million albums.

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CMT TV SPECIAL

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country stars highlighted the heroic work of citizens and communities around the country who were coming together to help each other in the middle of the coronavirus epidemic during the "CMT Celebrates Our Heroes" TV special.

But last night’s show largely didn't address the protesting and rallies for racial justice that have gripped the country in the previous week following the death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.

CMT started the show with a simple text introduction: “As social unrest grips the nation, we want to say thank you to those taking action against injustice. There are heroes all around us."

The special aired in place of their CMT Music Awards, which were postponed to October. The special, which appeared to be mostly pre-recorded performances and dedications from artists like Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs and Darius Rucker, focused on good news stories of health care workers, educators, first responders and more.

“LET IT GO” SONGWRITING TEAM TEACHING MASTER CLASS

NEW YORK (AP) — Imagine being a young songwriter and getting tips from a creative team that really knows how to construct a tune. After all, they wrote “Let It Go.”

The husband-and-wife songwriting duo of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez are among the stars who have signed on to give master classes and advise fledgling artists to benefit the nonprofit TheaterWorksUSA.

Joining the Oscar- and Tony-winners for virtual tutorials are Tony award-winning Broadway director Jerry Zaks and Tony-nominee Judy Kuhn. Broadway director Stephen Brackett, composer Joe Iconis, two-time Tony winner Donna Murphy and Broadway musical director Kimberly Grigsby are also involved.

The participating composers, performers and directors will use Zoom to offer their expertise on audition technique and performance. Some classes will be one-on-one and others will have multiple participants. Prices range from $35-$150 with most of the teachers donating their time.