03.31.08 (AP) Sean Levert, a third of the 1980s R&B trio LeVert and son of lead O'Jays singer Eddie Levert, has died after falling ill while serving a jail term. He was 39. Authorities said Monday that an autopsy was inconclusive but foul play was ruled out. Levert was sentenced last week to one year and 10 months in jail for failing to pay $89,025 in child support. He died at Lutheran Hospital in Cleveland late Sunday, less than an hour after he was taken there from the jail, said coroner Frank Miller. Levert was sentenced by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo, who said a presentence report indicated he had been addicted to marijuana from the time he was 14 until recently. He didn't speak at his sentencing and gave no indication of any health problems, the judge said Monday. His brother Gerald Levert, who had success as a solo artist after leaving their trio died in 2006 at age 40 of an accidental mix of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The brothers had formed LeVert in the 1980s with childhood friend Marc Gordon. Their hits included "Baby I'm Ready," "(Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop) Goes My Mind" and "Casanova." "Casanova" was nominated for a Grammy in 1988 for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal. It was also nominated for best R&B song. At Gerald Levert's funeral service in November 2006, Sean Levert and his father performed "Dance With My Father" and personalized the words for Gerald. The elder Levert's group, the O'Jays, was known for such smash hits as "Back Stabbers" and "Love Train." Sean Levert found a new third partner last year and was trying to revive LeVert. An autopsy was done Monday but no immediate cause of death was determined, according to Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County's coroner's office, but he said there was no evidence of foul play or trauma. Levert suffered from high blood pressure and had been hallucinating in jail, Caesar said. Toxicology reports could take four to six weeks, he said. Warden Kevin McDonough said earlier that Levert had been sick and guards were watching him at the jail's regular cellblock because he had been acting strangely. Sean Levert had pleaded guilty last week to six counts of nonsupport involving children ages 11, 15 and 17.
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03.27.08 (MusicPortal.com) Sevendust has announced the return of original guitar player Clint Lowery to the band. Lowery was with Sevendust when they formed in 1995 and singed to TVT Records in 1997. Lowery was a key member of the Sevendust attack throughout the their TVT years which saw the band release Sevendust (1997) Home (1999), Animosity (2001), Seasons (2003) and Southside Double Wide (2003). After leaving TVT in 2003 the band and Lowery mutually parted ways, with Lowery moving on to join his brother in the band Dark New Day. Sevendust brought in former Snot guitar player Sonny Mayo to replace Lowery and went on to release three full length albums. Next (2004) on the now defunct Winedark Records, Alpha (2007) on 7Bros. Records, Sevendust's wholly owned label through Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group and Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow which comes out April 1st on 7Bros/Asylum. Says Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose on Lowery's return: "This was extremely tough considering Sonny is our brother and has been amazing to work with. He didn't do anything wrong at all, we just owe it to ourselves and all the folks that grew up with us to put our original band back together. Clint has always been our brother and Sonny will always remain our brother as well. We are sorry to say goodbye to Sonny and I'm sure this will be tough on the fans that follow him, but we're excited about reuniting the original lineup of Sevendust." Saya vocalsi LaJon Witherspoon: "Everything happens for a reason. Sonny is an incredible person and we thank him for everything. Just like when you leave home, you come back! Hopefully everyone will understand the decision we have made. God bless you all. Welcome home Clint Lowery." LaJon Witherspoon, Vocals Sevendust's new record Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow is out on Tuesday, April 1st, for which the band will be hitting the road in support of later in the month.
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03.26.08 (AP) The judge who presided over Phil Spector's first murder trial has rejected a defense motion to disqualify him from the retrial because of alleged prejudice against the legendary rock music producer. Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler signed a declaration that he was not biased or prejudiced against any party in the case, according to court papers released Tuesday. Spector's first trial ended in a jury deadlock last September. Spector, famed for his "Wall of Sound" recording technique, is accused of killing actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra mansion on Feb. 3, 2003. In the statement the judge signed March 19, Fidler also said the motion filed by Spector attorney Doron Weinberg was untimely and any protests of the judge's actions should have been filed when they occurred during the trial. Weinberg said he was preparing to file a writ with the state court of appeals seeking a hearing before a neutral judge. Weinberg filed a 44-page motion last week listing numerous alleged acts of bias by the judge. They included: the imposition of a gag order limited to Spector's wife and a potential defense witness as well as his decision to withdraw a jury instruction and craft a new one after jurors first announced they were deadlocked. The defense alleged that Fidler wanted to counter public perceptions that celebrities were given special treatment and could not be convicted in California courts. Clarkson, 40, was working as a hostess at the House of Blues when she met Spector and went home with him. The actress best known for her role in "Barbarian Queen" died of a gunshot fired inside her mouth while she was seated in a foyer of Spector's mansion. The prosecution claimed Spector, 68, shot her and that had a history of threatening women with guns; the defense argued Clarkson shot herself, either accidentally or by suicide. No date has been set for the retrial and a hearing on that issue was scheduled for Friday.
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03.25.08 (AP) The Smashing Pumpkins are suing Virgin Records, saying the record label has illegally used their name and music in promotional deals that hurt the band's credibility with fans. In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, the rockers said they have "worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public," and that Virgin's use of the band in a "Pepsi Stuff" promotion with Amazon.com and Pepsi Co. threatens their reputation for "artistic integrity." Virgin released the Smashing Pumpkins' music for more than 17 years, but the only active agreement between the two parties, the lawsuit claims, is a deal granting Virgin permission to sell digital downloads of the band's songs. The agreement does not give Virgin the right to use the band in promotional campaigns to sell outside products, the lawsuit said. The band members said they would "never grant such authority to Virgin, or any other entity." An after-hours call to Virgin Records wasn't immediately returned. The lawsuit demands that Virgin pay with the profits earned in the promotion and asks for an injunction against using the Pumpkins' name or music in the future.
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03.24.08 (AP) Neil Aspinall, a longtime friend of the Beatles who managed their business enterprises and helped make the group a moneymaking phenomenon decades after they split up, has died. He was 66. Aspinall's death was announced Monday in a statement from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, and the band's Apple Corps Ltd. company. Aspinall died Sunday night at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer, according to Geoff Baker, who formerly represented both Aspinall and Apple Corps. Aspinall's wife and five children were by his side; McCartney visited him before his death. He was a childhood friend of McCartney and Harrison in Liverpool, England. While he didn't contribute musically, he played several key roles in support of the Beatles, most notably as the head of their Apple Corps business, which oversaw the commercial concerns of the group, including licensing. "I've known Neil many years and he was a good friend. We were blessed to have him in our lives and he will be missed," Starr said in a statement Monday. Harrison's widow Olivia and the couple's son Dhani said: "Neil takes with him the love and history of his extended family. He was our constant and avuncular caretaker for so many years; there is no way to measure how much he will be missed." Aspinall and the late Mal Evans were the Beatles' roadies. Aspinall would drive them to gigs in his van before they became famous, and never left the band's tight-knit circle. He took over the management of Apple Corps in 1968, and continued to oversee the group's business affairs in the decades after they broke up in 1970. As head of Apple Corps, Aspinall was executive producer of the hugely successful "Beatles Anthology" album and was behind other successes, including the "Beatles One" album and the recent Cirque du Soleil production "Love," which has been a hit in Las Vegas. "As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for generations to come," the band's statement said. Aspinall stepped down from Apple Corps last year.
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03.22.08 (AP) Dolly Parton knows a good investment when she sees one, and these days she sees one in the mirror. Parton, whose business portfolio includes a theme park and an entertainment production company, says she's spending a lot of her own money trying to get back on country radio with her new CD, "Backwoods Barbie." "I'm looking at it like an investment," she told The Associated Press. "I thought, 'I've made enough money. I can afford to invest a little in myself.'" She has self-released the disc on her own label, Dolly Records, and hired a seven-member promotions team. (AP) Dolly Parton "How Blue" during taping of "CMT Giants" honoring Reba McEntire, in this Oct. 26,... Full Image "I purposely tailor-made this to try to get some hits," Parton explained. The album reached No. 2 on Billboard in its second week, her best showing in 17 years. The first single, "Better Get to Livin'," a country-pop song she describes as sonically similar to Keith Urban, sputtered at No. 48. But the second single, "Jesus & Gravity," is just now arriving at radio. At age 62, Parton remains an icon and inspiration to younger singers. "I don't think there's anything that woman can't do," said rising country star Kellie Pickler, who calls Parton her greatest influence. "She just walks into a room and lights it up. She's got that 'it' factor that money can't buy. She's the whole package." Music Row began to lose interest in Parton in the '90s as a new crop of country stars emerged. Her last Top 5 hit, "Rockin' Years," was in 1991, and she hasn't had a major label record deal in 10 years. "When it changed I was still as serious as ever and was thinking I'm still as good as ever, if I ever was any good," Parton said. She has watched with interest as new technology has created opportunities without the big labels. "Now the majors are what they used to think I was: history," she said. "I thought this is a good time, but I need to make an all-out effort. ... Whatever it takes, you fight for it. You do what you have to do to feed your habit, and I'm a music addict."
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03.21.08 (AP) Lawyers for the Beatles sued Friday to prevent the distribution of unreleased recordings purportedly made during Ringo Starr's first performance with the group in 1962. The dispute between Apple Corps Ltd., the London company formed by the Beatles that helps guard their legacy, and Fuego Entertainment Inc. of Miami Lakes stems from recordings the Fab Four apparently made during a performance at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. Eight unreleased tracks are said to be among the recordings, including Paul McCartney singing Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and McCartney and John Lennon singing "Ask Me Why." Apple Corps claims that the songs were taped without the consent of the band and that Fuego and sister companies Echo-Fuego Music Group LLC and Echo-Vista Inc. have no right to distribute them. "This appears to us to be a garden-variety bootleg recording," said Paul LiCalsi, an attorney for Apple Corps. But Fuego Entertainment says the recordings were legally made. "Don't claim that these were just bootlegged," said Fuego president Hugo Cancio. "It's not like today, that you just go in with a phone or a blackberry and you record." The lawsuit contends that the recordings are of poor quality and that circulating them "dilutes and tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image associated with the Beatles." Cancio said that he had not been served with a copy of the lawsuit, but that the filing demanding at least $15 million in damages was not expected. "I'm surprised because up to a few weeks ago, we were in good-faith conversations with Apple," he said. Also named in the lawsuit is Jeffrey Collins, a partner of Cancio who obtained the recordings. It's unclear how Collins obtained the recordings. Cancio intended to release the songs as "Jammin' with The Beatles and Friends, Star Club, Hamburg, 1962." "It's unfair to millions of Beatles fans not to allow this recording to be put out. The world deserves to hear these tracks," he said. "The fact is that we have it; they don't, and that is what's bothering them."
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03.20.08 (AP) Two former members of the Beach Boys settled a five-year legal dispute over use of the band's name, a lawyer said. Al Jardine and Mike Love reached an agreement after a two-day conference in Superior Court, attorney Lawrence Noble, who represents Jardine, said Thursday. Details of the settlement were not disclosed. "Mr. Jardine feels very happy and feels that this is a friendly settlement that allows them to focus on the talent and future of this American iconic band," Noble said. Love sued Jardine in 2003, claiming he fronted a group that used various versions of the Beach Boys name. The lawsuit said Love was the sole licensee to perform under the name, and that Jardine was denied use because he did not agree to abide by terms of a proposed license. Love was seeking $2 million in court costs and $1 million he said Jardine collected from using the name. A judge ruled in January that the case could go to trial. It was set to begin April 14. The Beach Boys were founded in 1961 by brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, their cousin Love and Brian Wilson's friend Jardine. Dennis Wilson died in 1983 and Carl Wilson died in 1998.
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03.05.08 (AP) Film and television composer Leonard Rosenman, who won two Oscars and two Emmys during his 50-year Hollywood career, has died at age 83 in Los Angeles, California. Rosenman died Tuesday of a heart attack at his home at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, said family friend Jon Burlingame. Rosenman was a concert composer when his friend James Dean introduced him to director Elia Kazan. Kazan asked the composer to write the score for "East of Eden," beginning Rosenman's film career. He went on to score dozens of films and television shows. Rosenman won back-to-back Academy Awards in 1975 and 1976 for his work on "Barry Lyndon" and "Bound for Glory." He was nominated twice more for his scores for "Cross Creek" in 1983 and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" in 1986. He won Emmys for his TV-movie scores for "Sybil" in 1976 and "Friendly Fire" in 1979. He also composed the music for the TV series "Combat!," and wrote much of the music for "Marcus Welby, M.D." and the theme music for "The Defenders." His other film music included scores for "Hell Is for Heroes,""Fantastic Voyage" and "A Man Called Horse." A native of New York, Rosenman served in the Army Air Forces in the Pacific during World War II. After his service, he moved to California and studied with composers Arnold Schoenberg and Roger Sessions.
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03.03.08 (AP) Blind rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey has died after a lifelong battle against cancer. He was 41. Healey died Sunday evening in a Toronto hospital, said bandmate Colin Bray, who was in the room with Healey's family when the guitarist died. The Grammy-nominated Healey rose to stardom as the leader of the Jeff Healey Band, a rock-oriented trio that gained international acclaim and platinum record sales with the 1988 album "See the Light." The album included the hit single "Angel Eyes." Healey had battled cancer since age 1, when a rare form of retinal cancer known as Retinoblastoma claimed his eyesight. Due to his blindness, Healey taught himself to play guitar by laying the instrument across his lap. His unique playing style, combined with his blues-oriented vocals, earned him a reputation as a teenage musical prodigy. He shared stages with George Harrison, B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bray said he and many others expected the guitarist to rally from this latest illness. "I don't think any of us thought this was going to happen," Bray said. "We just thought he was going to bounce back as he always does." Healey had undergone numerous operations in recent years to remove tumors from his lungs and leg. Bray and fellow bandmate Gary Scriven remembered their frontman as a musician of rare abilities with a generous nature and wicked sense of humor. Healey's true love was jazz, the genre that dominated his three most recent albums. His love of jazz led him to host radio shows in Canada where he spun long-forgotten numbers from his personal collection of over 30,000 vinyl records. His death came weeks before the release of his first rock album in eight years. "Mess of Blues" is slated for a North American release on April 22. He is survived by his wife, Christie, and two children.
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03.02.08 (AP) Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger escaped an assassination plot hatched in 1969 by the Hells Angels, a new British Broadcasting Corp. documentary has claimed. A program to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday says the rock star was the target of the plot following a purported dispute with the motorcycle gang over concert security. Jagger had vowed not to use Hells Angel members as bouncers following the death in December 1969 of an 18-year-old fan at a notorious free performance at Altamont Speedway in Northern California. In return, gang members hatched a plan to kill Jagger at his holiday home in Long Island, New York, the BBC claimed. "The Hells Angels were so angered by Jagger's treatment of them that they decided to kill him," Tom Mangold, the presenter of the program, was quoted as telling Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper. He said the plan was disclosed during an interview with Mark Young, a former FBI officer, for the BBC's "The FBI at 100" documentary. Mangold said the men tried to reach Jagger by sea. "The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard," he was quoted as saying. They all survived but made no other attempt on his life, Mangold said. It was not clear whether Jagger was ever informed of the alleged plot against him. LD Communications, Jagger's publicists in Britain, did not immediately return calls requesting comment. The Hells Angels have always denied any connection with the Altamont Speedway killing.
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03.01.08 (AP) The children of the late Conway Twitty have sued Sony/ATV for a share of royalties and publishing copyrights for the country artist's music. The lawsuit filed in chancery court this week claims the children didn't understand the agreement when Twitty sold his music publishing and sound recording interests to Sony-Tree in March 1990, three years before he died. But his widow, Dee Jenkins, disagreed with her stepchildren. They fought a 14-year legal battle over his estate after his death, which the children eventually lost. She said Friday that the family knew what they signed 18 years ago and that their lawsuit has dishonored their father's memory. But his daughter, Joni Jenkins Riels, said that nothing was explained and that they didn't know what rights they were giving up. "Dad had a long relationship with Sony. We tried to work with them, but it didn't work out. So, we had to file the lawsuit," Riels said Friday. The children could get more than $100,000 a year from the recordings if they were to get the copyrights back, says Rose Palermo, a lawyer for his estate, who added that she was concerned about the claims in the lawsuit. "I'm somewhat astounded that they make an allegation that they didn't know what they were doing," Palermo said. "He (Twitty) was supporting his children. And at the time, he was giving some of them $50,000 a year in salaries and a free place to live. "To make this allegation is a direct slam at Conway, who was one of the most honorable and decent guys that I've known in the music business," she said. Duff Berschback, representing Sony/ATV, declined to comment, saying he hadn't reviewed the lawsuit. Twitty, whose real name was Harold Jenkins, died after a 30-year career with 40 No. 1 hits, including "Hello Darlin'" and "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," a duet with Loretta Lynn.
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