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Family sue singer Brandy for $50m
The parents of a woman killed in a freeway crash involving actress-singer Brandy sued the star for $50 million on Tuesday. The wrongful-death suit claims Brandy was driving recklessly when her Land Rover struck the back of a Honda driven by Awatef Aboudihaj, 38, The Insider first reported. Her publicist issued no comment.
The suit was filed on behalf of Aboudihaj Ahmed and Labridi Zohra in Los Angeles Superior Court. It comes a day after the California Highway Patrol recommended Brandy be charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter for the December 30 accident. The city attorney's office is reviewing the case. Brandy, whose real name is Brandy Norwood, has publicly expressed condolences to the victim's family.
Brandy, who earned a Grammy in 1999, has made five albums. She began her recording career at 14 and acted for film and television, starring on the sitcom Moesha from 1996-2001 and most recently as a judge for NBC's "America's Got Talent".
Move over Mozart, here comes Haydn
After Mozart, whose 250th anniversary prompted grandiose celebrations in Austria in 2006, it will be the turn of his friend, fellow composer and countryman Joseph Haydn to be at the centre of festivities in 2009, when Austria will mark the 200th anniversary of the death of the composer.
Organisers in Eisenstadt, in the eastern province of Burgenland, where Haydn lived for about 40 years, are planning a year of celebrations that they hope will rival the successful Mozart Year.
The highlight will be a performance on May 31, 2009 the anniversary of the composer's death in Vienna of Haydn's oratorio The Creation in Eisenstadt and cities around the world, including New York, Boston, Tokyo, Sydney and London.
Born in 1732, Haydn was regarded as "the most famous composer of his time". He invented the symphony and string quartet, according to the Burgenland director of Haydn Year 2009, Walter Reicher.
New Norah album breaks online record
Grammy-award winning jazz singer Norah Jones's third album Not Too Late has become the most pre-ordered album of all time on the online retailer Amazon.com.
EMI, which issued a profit warning earlier this month, had previously tipped the Jones album to be a big seller for the second half of their fiscal year.
The album is the No 1 in the iTunes albums music store in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland, according to the iTunes web site.
It is also number one on the Amazon.co.uk music chart.
The album follows the earlier mass-selling Come Away with Me and Feels Like Home and the Billboard magazine has described it as her "most complete and satisfying record to date."
Jolie shoots for first female 007
Angelina Jolie has revealed her ambition to play the suave British spy James Bond.
And if the actress' ambition of being the first female James Bond don't quite work out, she would be just as happy being the next Bond villain.
"I'd love to be a Bond villain or the first female Bond," she told Entertainment Weekly.
The Mr and Mrs Smith star was considered for the role of Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. However, plans fell apart after it was revealed that she was pregnant.
Meanwhile, the new James Bond movie Casino Royale continues to pack out Chinese cinemas after its Hollywood-style release in Beijing on Monday.
Bond star Daniel Craig attended the gala opening of the movie, the first James Bond film to be screened on China's screens.
Agencies
(China Daily 02/01/2007 page18)
