Chaka Khan and Stephanie Mills to go Head-to-Head in 'A Night for the Queens' Verzuz Battle

Two heavyweights of 80s R&B music are about to get into the virtual ring and duke it out for vocal superiority. 

On Nov. 18, Chaka Khan and Stephanie Mills will go head-to-head a special holiday edition of Verzuz.

The entertainment series created by Swizz Beats and Timbaland during the heart of the pandemic pits some of today and yesteryear's best artists against each other in a battle-rap format. 

The duo, who are friends off the stage, first pitched the idea for a showdown with each other last year. 

"Chaka was interested. We were willing to do it. The Verzuz people weren’t interested. Yeah, they weren’t interested.” Mills said during an interview with The Breakfast Club in June.

Mills wasn't sure why the battle didn't come together then, but the star, who rose to fame as Dorothy in the Broadway run of the musical "The Wiz," posted “It’s about to go down!” on Twitter following the announcement. 

The singer, a Grammy winner for "Never Knew Love Like This Before," faces a tough opponent in Khan —  who has 10 Grammys and is known as the "Queen of Funk."

Read the entire announcement below:

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9-year-old Boy Wounded at Astroworld Fest Dies

Photo Courtesy of Blount Family 

Over a week after a deadly crowd surge turned Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival into a tragedy, the death toll continues to climb for the Houston concert.

Late Sunday the family of Ezra Blount, a nine-year-old who was in a coma after being trampled during the event, announced that he passed away.

"The Blount family tonight is grieving the incomprehensible loss of their precious young son," their lawyer Ben Crump said in a statement. "This should not have been the outcome of taking their son to a concert, what should have been a joyful celebration. Ezra's death is absolutely heartbreaking. We are committed to seeking answers and justice for the Blount family. But we stand in solidarity with the family, in grief, and in prayer." 

Blount, from Dallas, was on his father Treston's shoulders during the Nov. 5, concert at NRG Park. When the killer crowd surge began shortly after 9 p.m., his father lost consciousness and Blount was trampled. The youth was on life-support for days before his passing, which made him the youngest victim of the melee to lose his life as well as moved the total death toll of the concert to 10.

I am saddened to learn of Ezra’s death this evening. Our city tonight prays for his mom, dad, grandparents, other family members and classmates at this time. They will need all of our support in the months and years to come. May God give them strength. RIP Ezra. st #AstroWorld pic.twitter.com/Ankq7FMa3l

— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) November 15, 2021

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has insisted that no stone will be left unturned in the search for what caused the "mass casualty incident," took to the internet to share in the family's grief and promise support from the city.

"I am saddened to learn of Ezra’s death this evening," Turner posted. "Our city tonight prays for his mom, dad, grandparents, other family members and classmates at this time. They will need all of our support in the months and years to come. May God give them strength." 

The Blount family has filed a lawsuit accusing the organizers of negligence. It is one of the more than 100 Travis Scott, Drake, Live Nation and other entities associated with the event are facing from the families of those that have died and some of the 300 reported fans that were injured. 

Astroworld Death Toll at Nine, 22-year-old Bharti Shahani Dies After Five Days in ICU

Bharti Shahani (Photo Credit GoFundMe)

Nearly a week after rapper Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston devolved into a "mass casualty event" that left eight dead and hundreds injured, the death toll continues to climb.

Bharti Shahani, a 22-year-old Texas A&M student, who had previously been declared brain dead after being injured in a deadly crowd surge that began while the singer was on stage, passed away Wednesday according to her family who spoke at a press conference earlier today. 

“She was like an angel to us,” Shahani’s father, Bhagu “Sunny” Shahani, said. “She was the head of the family, she was a very nice girl. Always calm, always listened. She had a bright future. Only thing I’ll request, to the Houstonians, to please, please make sure that she gets justice. And I don’t want somebody else’s daughter to go like this.”

Shahani attended the concert with her sister and cousin, but the trio was separated when waves of fans began surging toward the main stage. Her sister Namrata and cousin Mohit Bellani lost their phones during the event and were not able to locate Shahani, who was rushed to Houston Methodist Hospital while receiving CPR and suffered multiple heart attacks according to her family. 

Bellani told Houston's ABC affiliate that “people started toppling like dominos" during the surge.

"It was like a sinkhole. People were falling on top of each other. There were like layers of bodies on the ground, like two people thick," he said.  "We were fighting to come up to the top and breathe to stay alive.”  

According to Bellani, Shahani lost oxygen for several minutes and because of that, her brain stem got swollen to almost 90 percent.  She was given little chance to live by doctors, as she showed no sign of brain activity and had been placed on a ventilator.

A GoFundMe was set up to cover medical and other expenses for Shahani, who would have graduated in the spring with a degree in electronics systems engineering. She joins John Hilgert (14), Brianna Rodriguez (16), Jacob Jurinek (21),  Franco Patiño (21), Axel Acosta (21), Rudy Peña (23), Madison Dubiski (23) and Danish Baig (27) as those who paid the ultimate price when chaos broke out amongst the estimated crowd of more than 50,000 people that attended the concert.

She may not be the last, however. Nine-year-old Ezra Blout, who was trampled in the melee, is reportedly fighting for his life.