MEMPHIS - From his birthplace in the southern U.S. city of Tupelo, Mississippi to Sydney, Australia, fans of legendary music star Elvis Presley are honoring him on what would have been his 75th birthday.
Presley’s former wife, Priscilla, and daughter, Lisa Marie, were presiding at a special ceremony at Graceland, the singer’s Memphis, Tennessee mansion. The […]

NEW YORK  - African-American lawyer and politician Percy Sutton has died at age 89.
Sutton was born the son of an ex-slave in Texas and went on to become one of New York City’s most powerful voices.
As a young man, Sutton hid on a passenger train to make his way to New York. He became a […]

WASHINGTON - More than 300 previously classified pages include investigation of man who threatened to kill pop star but no new information revealed about his death
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has released previously classified files related to pop star Michael Jackson, who died earlier this year.
The more than 300 pages from FBI files describe […]

STOCKBRIDGE - For a man identified so closely with small-town America, Norman Rockwell spent much of his life living in or near America’s biggest city. He was born in New York City in 1894, and did not move to a small town - Arlington, Vermont — until he was well into his forties. He spent […]

NEW YORK - Popular U.S. television comedian Soupy Sales has died.  He was 83 years old.
Sales died Thursday at a hospice in New York City.  He suffered from a number of health problems.
The U.S. comedy icon was wildly popular in the 1950s and 1960s.  He is best remembered for his pie-in-the-face acts, with thousands of […]

WASHINGTON - Mary Travers, the glamorous blond who sang into the middle microphone with folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died September 16 at 72 after a long battle with leukemia.  
Born in 1936, Mary Travers was two years old when her parents moved the family from Kentucky to Greenwich Village in New York City. […]

LOS ANGELES - Patrick Swayze was born in Houston. His mother, choreographer Patsy Swayze, owned a dance studio and Patrick became a dancer himself, moving on to advanced training in ballet in New York City.
He played in the original production of Grease on Broadway, and broke into films in 1979.  
Swayze had a role in The […]

LOS ANGELES - Pop star Michael Jackson will be laid to rest Thursday at a Los Angeles-area cemetery well known as the final resting place for scores of celebrities.
Jackson’s gold-plated coffin will be placed in a mausoleum at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park during a private evening service (7:00 pm local time, 0200 universal).  He […]

WASHINGTON - The official report from the medical examiner in Los Angeles concludes the death of pop icon Michael Jackson was a homicide.
The report - released Friday - says the singer died from a lethal combination of drugs that included the powerful anesthetic propofol and the sedative, lorazepam.
It says other drugs also contributed to his […]

WASHINGTON - The death of pop-singer Michael Jackson has become the focus of a murder investigation, although no charges have been filed against the main suspect, the entertainer’s personal physician, Houston-based Dr. Conrad Murray. Investigators say Dr. Murray administered a lethal combination of drugs to Jackson in an attempt to overcome the performer’s chronic insomnia.
A […]

WASHINGTON - Guitar legend and recording industry pioneer Les Paul died on Thursday, August 13, at a hospital in White Plains, New York, of complications from pneumonia. He was 94 years old.  Known for his virtuosity on guitar, Paul made breakthrough discoveries that forever changed the sound of popular music.
Les Paul single-handedly changed the course […]

WASHINGTON - Legendary inventor, guitar player and recording artist Les Paul has died from complications from pneumonia.  He was 94 years old.
Paul revolutionized the music scene with his solid-body electric guitar that he first built in the 1940s in his quest for a guitar with amplified sound.  In 1952, Gibson Guitar company began production of […]

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson’s family said Saturday they are seeking a private, second autopsy to figure out what caused the sudden death of the American pop icon Thursday at his Los Angeles home.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office conducted an autopsy of Jackson’s body Friday and said there were no indications of external trauma […]

WASHINGTON - American music superstar Michael Jackson died June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles. He was 50 years old. One of the most-recognized performers in the world, Jackson’s blend of pop, rock and soul appealed to people of all races and cultures.
Michael Jackson’s life was described as one of […]

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood actress Farrah Fawcett, a glamorous face on television in the 1970s series Charlie’s Angels, has died in Los Angeles at age 62.  The actress succumbed to cancer after a 2.5 - year battle.
Farrah Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1947 and got her start as a model and actress […]

LOS ANGELES - A longtime mainstay of late-night American television, Ed McMahon, has died at the age of 86.
A spokesman for the announcer and television host said McMahon died early Tuesday at a hospital in Los Angeles. The spokesman did not give a cause of death.
McMahon was best known as Johnny Carson’s sidekick on the […]

BANGKOK - American actor David Carradine has been found dead in a hotel room in the Thai capital Bangkok, where he was filming a new movie. He was 72.
It is not clear how the actor died. He was best known as the star of the 1970s U.S. television series Kung Fu and his film roles […]

WASHINGTON - Oscar-winning actor Paul Newman, who also made his mark as a movie director, philanthropist and auto racer, has died at the age of 83 following a long battle with cancer. A spokesman said Newman died late Friday, surrounded by family and friends at his country farmhouse near Westport, Connecticut. 
Paul Newman was one of […]

WASHINGTON - Early rock ‘n’ roll guitar legend Bo Diddley died near Jacksonville, Florida, Monday, 2 June, of heart failure. He was 79 years old. One of the most well loved of the early rockers, Bo took the blues and folk music of his native Mississippi and combined them with Latin American and African rhythms to come up […]

WASHINGTON - Legendary Hollywood actor and political activist Charlton Heston has died at the age of 84.
Charlton Heston was a Hollywood icon. His square jaw, broad shoulders and resonant voice served him well in big-budget historical movies in the 1950’s and ’60’s.
He portrayed a series of heroic figures: Andrew Jackson, El Cid, John the Baptist, […]

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood writers have voted to end a three-month strike that crippled film and television production. Hollywood is breathing a sigh of relief after the worst labor dispute in decades.
The writers walked off the job November 5. Tuesday, Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America West, said they will end the […]

WASHINGTON - Hailed as one of the century’s greatest tenors, Luciano Pavarotti died Thursday at his home in Modena, Italy, at the age of 71. He was considered one of the last in the line of classic Italian tenors, with musical ties to Enrico Caruso, the famous opera star of the early 1900’s. Pavarotti earned […]

WASHINGTON - The jazz world is mourning the loss of one of its greatest drummers, Max Roach. Among the so-called “architects” of the be-bop movement, Roach died in his sleep on August 16 at a hospital in New York. He was 83.
The sound of modern jazz would probably not be the same had Max Roach […]

HOLLYWOOD - After hosting the United States gameshow The Price Is Right, Bob Barker has decided to call it quits and retire from being the gameshow’s 35 year-long host. Barker plans to end the show in June of 2007.
“I will be 83 years old on Dec. 12…. and I’ve decided to retire while I’m still […]