Coldplay’s Chris Martin buys Forest Whitaker’s Star Wars stormtrooper helmet & donates it to charity to raise £300,000
COLDPLAY’S up-coming album Music Of The Spheres was inspired by Star Wars – and now frontman CHRIS MARTIN has used his love of the sci-fi franchise to do some good.
I can exclusively reveal the singer bought a storm trooper’s helmet from Forest Whitaker, who played rebel leader Saw Gerrera in 2016 film Rogue One and had the prop as a memento from filming.
It has been signed by Forest and some of his Star Wars co-stars, as well as Chris’s bandmates Guy Berryman, Will Champion and Jonny Buckland. And rather than keeping it, Chris has donated the helmet to his pal Emmanuel Kelly, a refugee and musician from Iraq who was left with severely underdeveloped limbs after he fell victim to chemical warfare.
Emmanuel will auction it at the This Is Icon fashion week event at the Landmark Hotel in London next week, which raises cash for Wellchild, which provides care for seriously ill children and young people.
A source said: “Chris left everyone speechless when he handed over the helmet to Emmanuel to auction off. It’s a priceless piece of memorabilia from Star Wars.
“The organisers are expecting the bidding to go mad. Hopefully it will go for a lot of cash.”
Chris was introduced to Emmanuel’s music by a mutual friend five years ago and since then he has become his mentor.
He invited Emmanuel to perform with Coldplay, and earlier this year helped produce his song, Red Love, from his album Your Story.
Chris has told how Coldplay’s next album, out on October 15, was inspired by Star Wars.
He said: “I was watching the cantina scene and I was like, ‘I wonder what musicians are like across the universe?’ and that led to this whole thing.”
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a collaboration with Chewbacca.
Bey bags booze
BEYONCE was swinging booze, rather than swigging it, as she celebrated her 40th.
The superstar has just shared this photo on Instagram of her in full party mode, complete with a cocktail-shaped bag, after hitting the milestone on Saturday.
I doubt she would have been able to fit much more than a couple of Tic Tacs in that tiny clutch.
Then again, with the size of her entourage, she probably never needs to carry anything.
JAMES TOURS
JAMES ARTHUR has revealed he will hit the road again next year, touring the UK and US.
The 2012 X Factor champ made the announcement yesterday to coincide with the fifth anniversary of his smash hit song, Say You Won’t Let Go.
James will kick off his tour in Bournemouth on March 5, before he plays 15 more dates across the country – including gigs at the Royal Albert Hall and one in Belfast’s Ulster Hall on March 28.
He will then travel across the pond and play in a number of states over April and May.
James said: “I’m beyond happy about getting back on the road and seeing everyone again.
“Playing shows for my fans gives me life and that’s been taken away for the best part of two years. Needless to say, I’m itching to get back out there and perform for them again. Coming to a stage near you soon!”
Elt and Nas take the pizza
HE is one of the world’s biggest stars, worth £375million and has sold more than 300million records worldwide – but Elton John’s latest career move is flogging takeaways.
The music legend has been paid an absolute fortune to front Uber Eats’ Tonight I’ll Be Eating campaign, alongside rapper Lil Nas X.
In these snaps to promote the collaboration, they swapped famous outfits, with Elton slipping into the pink cowboy costume Lil Nas wore to the 2020 Grammy Awards, and the rapper in Elton’s eye-catching 1977 feathered look.
The Rocketman clearly has no shame when it comes to the ads either, as one shows him on a kids’ ride of a rocket, then complaining he has no money left.
Praising the Industry Baby rapper, Elton said: “He is one of the most influential voices in pop culture. From taking selfies to deciding to swap looks, working together has been a blast.”
The pair have also duetted on the track One Of Me, which appears on both Elton’s upcoming The Lockdown Sessions album and Lil Nas’ debut Montero.
While it was an unlikely collaboration with Uber Eats, at least Elt won’t go hungry when his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour restarts in a few weeks.
NEVER mind the shoot-outs, LEA SEYDOUX has teased the upcoming Bond film is centred around her character Madeleine Swann’s romance with 007.
She said of No Time To Die: “The film is a love story, it’s a story between the two of them.
“It’s very unusual for a Bond film to see 007 in love. And I think it’s quite modern in a way.”
On the spy, who had his heart broken by Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green in 2006’s Casino Royale, Lea said: “We needed Madeleine to tell Bond’s story. It was important to see Bond in love again.”
Hinting that Madeleine will not double-cross the spy, Lea told the No Time To Die podcast: “He had this relationship with Vesper but she betrayed him. And this time I think she’s the real love.”
Celeste not so amused
CELESTE was nominated for last night’s Mercury Prize for her debut album Not Your Muse but it sounds as if she isn’t such a fan of the record.
She is recoding again and hinted she is refusing to compromise her vision will be following her own vision this time around.
The singer-songwriter said: “I’ve just started writing. I don’t want to be compromised creatively.
“I’ll be in the studio this year and then probably touring next year.”
Also nominated was Wolf Alice, Arlo Parks and Ghetts alongside Laura Mvula who is planning a big change for her next record too. In an exclusive chat ahead of the event at London’s Eventim Apollo, she told me: “I’ve got people who I’ve got my eye on who I think I could do interesting things with – the more obscure the better.”
Ghetts, nominated for Conflict of Interest, took his chance before the bash to pester the sponsors Hyundai for a freebie.
He was heard asking representatives for the company: “Can I have a car please?”
It was worth a try.
Stormzy makes bank deposit
STORMZY is putting his big bucks to good use by supporting a food bank. He left volunteers stunned after turning up near his London home with two trolleys piled high with donations for the Dons Local Action Group. Co-founder Xavier Wiggins said: “It was a lovely surprise.”
GOOD ON MIM
THE breakout British star of the year MIMI WEBB has announced her debut EP after scoring hits with her last two songs Dumb Love and Good Without.
Friday sees her release her latest single 24/5 and has announced her first collection of songs, Seven Shades of Heartbreak, which will be out on October 22.
Boys are back
VENGABOYS had two No1 singles in 1999 – and now they are taking us all back there.
The group have today made a comeback with new music, releasing a cover of Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s song 1999, all about wanting to go back in time to that year when the Dutch group had hits Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom and We’re Going To Ibiza.
And they explain it was Charli who got them to do it.
Band member Kim Sasabone told me: “The whole idea came from Charli XCX. She spoke about us in interviews a couple of years ago then there was a headline saying, ‘Can Charli XCX bring Vengaboys back?’ We were already touring but we hadn’t made a hit record in years so we decided, let’s do that! So we borrowed her song.
“We released some stuff a while ago but it wasn’t good enough. But it feels different this time.”
They still have plenty of hardcore fans, if the messages they receive on social media are anything to go by. Kim joked: “The d**k pics are uncontrollable.”
But it’s her bandmate Robin Pors who gets the most attention from their male fans. He said: “I’m used to it. I’ve seen a lot of body parts flying around.
“Somebody once offered to pay me 10,000 euros to ‘hang out’ with him, whatever that means. That was quite odd. It was in Ibiza. I didn’t do it, but I’ll take it as a compliment.”
Meg’s magic match
MEGAN FOX has a hippy-dippy reason why she thinks her relationship with rapper Machine Gun Kelly works.
The actress has been dating him since earlier last year but reckons it was written in the stars that they would end up together.
She said: “I think part [of our connection] comes naturally because our relationship is so karmic that our spirit, our souls, are so intertwined on that higher plane.
“A lot of it is handled for us by our ancestors and the spirits and energies that are watching over us.”
They could soon be taking things to the next level too, as she is rumoured to have been seen with a band on her finger in New York this week while watching her beau rehearse for Sunday’s MTV VMAs.