Etta James' funeral: Christina Aguilera, Stevie Wonder say goodbye

 

 

Etta James’ funeral marked a final goodbye for family, fans and famous friends as they gathered Saturday in Los Angeles to bid farewell to the singer.

Christina Aguilera helped give the four-time Grammy winner a fitting sendoff by singing James’ signature song, “At Last,” for the hundreds of mourners at Greater Bethany Community Church in Gardena, Calif. Stevie Wonder joined up with the church choir to pay his respects to James, who passed away Jan. 20 at 73, and Al Sharpton was there to give the eulogy.

The funeral follows a public viewing on Friday where fans gathered at Inglewood Cemetery Mortuary to reminisce about the legendary singer. 

PHOTOS: Etta James' funeral

"Whenever I hear that song, I freeze," Donald Hicks, 67, of Inglewood told the L.A. Times about James' megahit "At Last." "I even pull over when it comes on."

News spread in December that the rhythm and blues singer was suffering from terminal chronic leukemia. The bleak diagnosis followed past health issues like sepsis, kidney failure, gastric bypass surgery, dementia and drug addiction. In addition, her children were involved in court proceedings to take control of James’ estate away from her husband, Artis Mills, but lost.

An inspiration to generations of musicians, she was “equally at home singing unadulterated blues, searing R&B and sophisticated jazz," says Times pop music writer Randy Lewis.

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-- Emily Christianson

Photo: Stevie Wonder sings at Etta James' funeral. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Etta James is terminally ill, live-in doctor says

Etta James, the "At Last" singer whose health has been in decline, is terminally ill with chronic leukemia, her doctor says.

Dr. Elaine James, who has lived with the 73-year-old singer since March 2010, made the announcement Thursday, explaining that James’ leukemia was deemed incurable two weeks ago. The diagnosis was determined with help from an oncologist-hematologist and an internist.

"I am Southern and Christian and would just ask for the prayers of her fans and friends," the doctor, who is no relation to the singer,  told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "[Fans] know she’s been sick, but not how sick."

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, where blood cells are produced, according to our sister blog Booster Shots. When abnormal cells are created, they disrupt the function of healthy cells. Treatments for more advanced stages of chronic leukemia can include drug therapy, chemotherapy and bone marrow or stem cell transplants.

Adding to Etta James' suffering are kidney failure and dementia, according to court records, and Elaine James says Etta's communication is at this point mostly just "uh-huhs”"and "no's." The Riverside resident, who underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003, was hospitalized earlier this year with blood and urinary tract infections, and has suffered from heroin and painkiller addictions in the past.

Donto James and his brother Sametto James told Reuters on Friday that they were not involved in the announcement and are still trying to determine the accuracy of the diagnosis.

Donto has been involved with ongoing court proceedings concerning his mother's estate and care. So far, he is asking for a conservator to take over his mother’s $1-million estate in place of her husband, Artis Mills, and is questioning the employment of Elaine James. The doctor’s salary was previously reported at $20,000 per month, then $25,000 and now $30,000.

In past proceedings, Donto has drawn comparisons between Elaine James and Michael Jackson’s live-in physician Dr. Conrad Murray and recently said of his mother's at-home care: "I saw her the day before yesterday, and I think she needs to be in the hospital. She doesn't look good."

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-- Emily Christianson

Reuters contributed to this report.

Photo: Etta James in 2009. Credit: Rick Diamond / Getty Images.

Demi Lovato announces a 10-date U.S. concert tour

When Demi Lovato quit the Jonas Brothers' tour abruptly last October to seek treatment for personal issues, the idea that she'd be out on a tour of her own a year later seemed unlikely at best. But the former "Sonny With a Chance" star is doing just that, Camp Demi announced Friday.

Lovato's 10-date U.S. mini-tour will start in Detroit on Nov. 16 before she heads to Connecticut and Pennsylvania. She'll also stop in Kansas City, Mo., New Orleans, St. Louis, Atlanta and Chicago. And tucked in the middle of all that? Two shows in her home state, Texas, in Houston and just outside of Dallas, where she was born.

"Hope to see everyone soon on tour!!," the 21-year-old said Friday on Twitter. Alas, though tickets go on sale Oct. 14, folks in Southern California will have to wait a little longer to see her closer to home.

Lovato, who's been doing the rounds with her newest song, "Skyscraper" -- watch the "Dancing With the Stars" performance below -- took her life apart and rebuilt it after last year's meltdown, which included punching a backup dancer while on tour. During 90 days at an in-patient treatment facility in Illinois, she dealt with emotional and physical issues including eating disorders, cutting and bipolar disorder.

After returning home in January, she announced her decision to leave her Disney Channel show "Sonny" and focus on music. She sat down with The Times in September to discuss her reinvention, her new album "Unbroken" and the track "Skyscraper" in particular.

"I wanted to come out of the gate with this song, because a lot of people were expecting me to talk about what I've been through the past year," Lovato said. "I want my music to do the explaining."

 

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— Christie D'Zurilla
twitter.com/dzurillaville

Photo: Demi Lovato in Burbank in September. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Jani Lane: Alcohol poisoning killed former Warrant singer

Jani Lane -- lead singer of the band Warrant during its heyday -- died of alcohol poisoning, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Lane died of "acute ethanol intoxication," which is when a person drinks alcohol to a level where he is poisoned, Assistant Chief Ed Winter of the L.A. County coroner's office told L.A. Now on Wednesday.

Obituary: Jani Lane, lead singer for metal band Warrant, dies at 47

The rocker, born John Kennedy Oswald, was found dead in Room 118 of the Woodland Hills Comfort Inn on Aug. 11. A recording of the 911 call after his body was discovered by housekeeping -- obtained by TMZ -- revealed nobody willing to go into the room to check for a pulse.

Alcohol and prescription medications were found in the hotel room where he died, though police officials said at the time that there was no indication that the father of two girls had intentionally taken his own life.

Lane, whose lead-singer relationship with Warrant was on-again, off-again, wrote hits for the band including "Heaven," "Cherry Pie" and "Down Boys." Warrant's first two albums -- "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich" in 1989 and "Cherry Pie" in 1990 -- both went double-platinum.

Jerry Dixon, Warrant's bassist, said in an interview with the San Antonio Examiner that the band's most recent communication with Lane was in 2008, when he and the band hooked up for a series of shows that summer.

"We flew back to L.A., and he was out of his mind again. And we said, 'That's it.' That was that," Dixon said. "We gave it the high school try and did about 10 shows. He just had a lot of demons."

A private funeral service for Lane was held Aug. 20 in Doylestown, Ohio. With about 100 friends and family members in attendance, the singer's older brother Eric Oswald performed the Beatles' "In My Life" toward the end of the memorial, according to the Royalton Post. 

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— Christie D'Zurilla
Twitter.com/dzurillaville

Photos: Jani Lane, performing in 2005, left, and in a Warrant promo picture in 1988. Credits: Ethan Miller / Getty Images, left; John Scarpati, right.

Sly Stone homeless? Or choosing a camper-van over a house?

This post has been corrected, as detailed below.

If Sly Stone is homeless, it's by choice and not necessity, according to sources close to the funk legend.

Stone's attorney Robert Alan has supposedly rented a four-bedroom home in Woodland Hills for his client, one unnamed source told Showbiz411 exclusively. "He's too paranoid to come inside," another source told writer Roger Friedman. That person was described as a friend of the singer.

Alan wouldn't comment on the rental house, Friedman said. Documentary director Willem Alkema co-wrote Sunday's "Sly Stone Is Homeless and Living in a Van" article for the New York Post.

That's not to say Stone hadn't admitted struggling with drugs, nor that he isn't in financial trouble of the maybe-a-$50-million-lawsuit-will-fix-it variety -- he sued former manager Jerry Goldstein in early 2010, alleging fraud and the diversion of $20 million to $30 million in royalties. Goldstein, who took the name War from that band in a legal battle in 1997, countersued Stone a few months later, alleging the singer had slandered him onstage at the Coachella festival.

Four of the original War members, who regrouped as the Lowrider Band, are pursuing a $10-million lawsuit against Goldstein over allegedly unpaid royalties.

[For the Record, 9:10 a.m. Sept. 29: This post originally said attorney Alan had confirmed to Friedman that Stone had been paid by Alkema for the interview. No such payment occurred, Alkema told the Ministry on Thursday. The Showbiz411 article has since been revised, with references to payments deleted. A reference to Friedman saying in the original Showbiz411 article that the filmmaker was seeking a re-release of the documentary and would benefit from publicity has been removed from this post as well. Alkema said via email that he is not seeking a re-release of his film in the U.S., where it has not been screened beyond film festivals. "If there is a re-release it needs a happy ending," Alkema wrote. "Sly will make it if he tries."]

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-- Christie D'Zurilla
Twitter.com/dzurillaville

Photo: Sly Stone at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica in April 2008. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Sly Stone: Homeless in L.A. is only part of the funk icon's story

Sly Stone is homeless and living in a camper-van in L.A., the world learned Sunday, thanks to the director of a documentary about Sly and the Family Stone who co-wrote a story for the New York Post.

However, in some boiled-down reports circulating since Sunday's story was published, a depiction of Stone as content and continuing to record music on a laptop in the van he calls home falls short of painting a complete picture of the funk legend's situation.

Stone's financial woes and transient lifestyle were brought to light in 2009, ahead of the release of director Willem Akema's documentary, "Coming Back for More."

It's a huge step down for the onetime multimillionaire, who sold his music rights to Michael Jackson for a mere $1 million in 1984 and as recently as 2007 did an interview with the Los Angeles Times at a secluded home in the Napa Valley.

Stone sued former manager Jerry Goldstein for $50 million in early 2010, alleging fraud and the diversion of $20 million to $30 million in royalties. Goldstein countersued in August 2010, alleging the singer had delivered a slanderous rant against him while onstage at the Coachella music festival.

Yet Stone told the Post for the recent article, "I like my small camper. I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving."

A person who might agree with the "must keep moving" part is one of Stone's unintentional neighbors.  The musician has set up camp on a residential street in L.A.'s Crenshaw neighborhood, in one of two vehicles he has left from what had been -- as recently as four years ago, the Post said -- a lavish collection of automobiles to match his once-lavish lifestyle.

"I think a lot of people put up with him because he is an old celebrity," said the Crenshaw neighbor, who declined to go on camera with "Inside Edition" and reportedly said he was close to calling authorities to deal with the van.

Vesta Williams: '80s R&B diva found dead in a hotel room at 53

Vesta Williams, the R&B singer who rose to fame in the '80s, was found dead Thursday evening in an El Segundo hotel room. She was 53.

Though no official cause of death had been determined Friday, John Kades of the L.A. County coroner's office told the Associated Press that it "could be a drug overdose." An autopsy will be conducted, though foul play was not suspected.

Williams' hits included "Sweet Sweet Love," "Once Bitten Twice Shy" and "Congratulations," a tale of heartbreak over a love marrying someone else that she later described to Mo'Nique as "a premonition that came true" (video below). Williams appeared on the sitcom "Sister Sister" several times in the late 1990s, playing a best friend to Jackée Harry's character.

"Just received truly devastating news: R&B great, and my friend of many yrs, Vesta Williams (@vesta4u) has passed away," Harry said early Friday on Twitter. 

Law enforcement sources told TMZ that multiple bottles of prescription pills were found in the room, where Williams' body was discovered around 6:15 p.m. Toxicology test results typically come in around six weeks after an autopsy is conducted.

 

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-- Christie D'Zurilla
Twitter.com/dzurillaville

Photo: Vesta Williams at the 41st NAACP Image Awards in February 2010. Credit: Jason Merritt / Getty Images.

 

Paul McCartney, Nancy Shevell post notice of intent to marry

This post has been corrected, as detailed below.

Paul McCartney and fiancee Nancy Shevell have posted notice of their intent to marry, at the same central London spot where the Beatle married his first wife in 1969.

McCartney, 69, and American Shevell, 51, posted wedding banns Wednesday at the Westminster Register Office, a.k.a. Old Marylebone Town Hall. They must wait 16 days after posting the marriage banns, then they have a year from that "go" date to get the civil ceremony done. 

It's a second marriage for Shevell, an executive at a transportation company based in New Jersey who's also been on the board of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. McCartney in 1969 married Linda Eastman, who died of breast cancer in 1998. He and Heather Mills wed in 2002, then split in 2008 with an acrimonious divorce that included a court-ordered settlement of nearly $50 million. 

On the banns posted Wednesday, McCartney gave his profession as "business executive," with his multi-millionaire future wife listed simply as an "executive."

The register office is described by Britain's Independent newspaper as "the venue of choice for countless loved-up celebrities from the Beatles onwards," with an impressive marble entry and four "marriage rooms."

Too bad they didn't wait until January or February -- could've gotten a 20% discount on a winter wedding.

[For the record, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 2: A previous version of this post incorrectly said that Linda McCartney died in 1988. Thanks to commenters Sean Greene, Richard LeComte and Fatima Curiel for flagging the gaffe.]

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Reuters contributed to this report.

Photo: Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell in June at the fifth-anniversary celebration of "The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil" show in Las Vegas. Credit: Steve Marcus / Las Vegas Sun

Amy Winehouse: Dad says seizure killed her, hints at more music

Amy Winehouse was a generous spirit who probably died of a seizure resulting from alcohol withdrawal, according to her father, Mitch Winehouse. And, he said, he hopes there will be more Amy Winehouse music released in the future.

The "Back to Black" singer was found dead July 24 at age 27 in her north London home. No conclusive cause of death has been determined, though toxicology tests that came back after the autopsy revealed no illegal drugs in her system. A funeral was held July 26, and Winehouse's body was cremated.

Mitch Winehouse, who was in New York for a jazz singing gig of his own when he heard of his daughter's death, spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview that aired Monday and with Piers Morgan in a chat scheduled for broadcast Tuesday.

"Her legacy will be her music," the tearful and heartbroken father told Morgan (a clip from the interview is below). "Hopefully there will be some more music. I don't think there's a great deal to come, [but] there will be some more hopefully."

Add to that the five-time Grammy winner's posthumous foundation to assist young people, including those struggling with addiction; Winehouse said he expects it will ultimately "help thousands and thousands of children. And what better legacy could you want than that."

Winehouse believes his daughter died from a seizure brought on by sudden withdrawal from heavy alcohol use. He told Cooper that she'd been clean of illegal drugs for about three years, but had been prescribed Librium to decrease her seizure risk during detox.

"She had a series of seizures brought on by this binge drinking and then stopping to drink ... ," Winehouse said on the Monday premiere of "Anderson." "I think it's what the doctor said, I think she had a seizure and this was the time when there was no one there to rescue her."

The inquest into Amy Winehouse's death will resume Oct. 26 in London.

 

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Photo: Amy Winehouse in July 2009. Credit: Toby Melville / Reuters

Madonna and those hydrangeas, the gift that keeps giving [Video]

The latest news angle in Madonna's ongoing Hydrangea Scandal? Madonna has apologized!

Actually, no she hasn't! Madonna has simply made a video that managed to turn her hatred of the puffy flowers into another 48 hours of total global supremacy!

For the record, Madonna's video -- a silent-film response, below, to people who would dare call her rude -- is not an apology, to the flowers or the fellow who presented one to her at the Venice Film Festival. La Grande Battleaxe de Photo Op has rarely, if ever, apologized for anything. In fact, a decade ago somebody made the mistake of asking Madge to regret something and all it did was generate more ink. (Madonna had been asked to present at the Turner Awards ceremony. But the organizers had refused to call her Mrs. Ritchie, per her demand. The Turner people also asked Madonna not to swear in her speech, so she did. Later, she explained, “People expect that sort of behavior from me.")

Cut to 2011, and Madge is still working the same schtick, only with subtitles. And the kids still love it.

Who are we to buck the tide? The Ministry of Gossip hereby declares this whole week to be Madonna Awareness Day -- because you can't capture all that is Madge in a mere 24 hours. And to celebrate, of course, we're encouraging fans the world over to send Madonna flowers. You guess what kind.

Given how much Madonna just loves dragging this out she's sure to love each and every hydrangea that is sent. No doubt she expects such behavior from us.

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Photos: Look, Madge! It's hydrangeas, with diamonds on top! Credits, from left: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times; Jason Merritt / Getty Images