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Pervis Jackson is an American R&B singer, noted as the bass singer for The Spinners , and is one of the group's original members. He is perhaps best known for his line of "12:45" from the group's Billboard Top 10 smash, "They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play)". As of 2008, Jackson was still singing with The Spinners. 08-18-2008 Pervis Jackson, a member of "The Spinners," died from cancer at Sinai Grace hospital this morning.

The group took off in the 70's with one of its bigger hits - Games People Play.

According to the Detroit News, Pervis Jackson died of cancer on August 18, 2008 in Detroit, MI. He was 70-years-old.

Last living partner of Atlantic Records

Gerald "Jerry" Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "Rhythm & Blues", and was integral in signing and/or producing many of the biggest acts of the last 50 years, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan. Wexler was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Death of Jerry Wexler
Wexler died at a hospice in Sarasota, Florida on August 15, 2008 from congenital heart disease according to his son, Paul.  Jerry Wexler was 91 years old of age at the time of his death.

2 persons with last name Allen died in about 24 hours period

Christie Allen (died August 12, 2008) was a pop singer in Australia
Sandy Allen (died August 13, 2008) was a world's tallest woman (lived in Indiana, USA).

Christie Allen (September 12, 1954 - August 12, 2008) was a pop singer who had a successful career as a recording artist in her adopted homeland of Australia.

Her first three singles from her debut album Magic Rhythm were substantial hits. The first single was a ballad "Falling In Love With Only You" reaching number 20 in 1979. Her next two singles were strongly influenced by the popular disco style - "Goosebumps" reached number 3 in 1979, and "He's My Number One" reached number 4 in 1980. With sales of 60,000, "Goosebumps" would be Allen's greatest success and was one of Mushroom Record's highest selling singles at that time.

Allen was voted the country's most popular female performer at the Countdown Awards in 1979 and 1980.

Christie Allen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2008 and died at her home in country Western Australia on 12 August 2008.

Go to next page for death of Sandy Allen

There is a rumor going on in the WWW (among younger generation folks).

The rumor says the Hip Hop (rap) artist Lil Wayne's daughter Reginae is killed in a car accident Sunday, August 10, 2008.

But everyone related to Reginae says she's alive and well.

This is becomeing a news right now.

George Furth (December 14, 1932 - August 11, 2008) was a Tony Award-winning American librettist, playwright, and actor.

Furth won both the Tony and Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical for Company, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play for Precious Sons.

Death of George Furth
Not much detail is available on George Furth's death.

Frequently cast as a bespectacled, nerdish, ineffectual type, Furth appeared in such films as Blazing Saddles, The Best Man, Myra Breckinridge, Oh God!, Hooper, The Cannonball Run, Young Doctors in Love, Doctor Detroit, Bulworth, and in perhaps his best remembered role, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which he portrayed Woodcock, the railroad guard robbed twice by the titular pair. His many television credits include Tammy, McHale's Navy, F Troop, Ironside, I Dream of Jeannie, That Girl, Green Acres, The Monkees, The Odd Couple, Bonanza, Happy Days, All in the Family, Murphy Brown, L.A. Law, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Murder, She Wrote, and the made-for-TV movie The Scarlett O'Hara War, in which he portrayed famed film director George Cukor. He adapted Twigs for a 1975 television production starring Carol Burnett.

British actor, well known in the US

Terence Rigby (January 2 1937 - August 11, 2008) was an English actor. In the 1970s he was well-known as police dog-handler PC Snow in the long-running series Softly, Softly: Taskforce

The star's film credits included Mona Lisa Smile in 2003, James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The Dogs of War (1980), Get Carter (1971), and Scandal in 1989.

Death of Terence Rigby
Terence Rigby died at his London home and had been suffering from lung cancer.
Terence Rigby was 71 years old at the time of his death

• Terence Rigby at the Internet Movie Database (Filmography)
• BBC article on Terence Rigby

Buy From Amazon: Isaac Hayes' CDs

* Younger generation people know him as a voice of "Chef" from "South park" 

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American soul and funk singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, composer and actor. Hayes was one of the main creative forces behind southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served as both an in-house songwriter and producer with partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s, Hayes became a recording artist, and recorded successful soul albums such as Hot Buttered Soul (1969) and Black Moses (1971) as the Stax label's premier artist.

Death of Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes was found dead in his home located just east of Memphis, Tennessee on August 10, 2008 as reported by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Department. A Shelby County Sheriff's deputy responded to Hayes' home after his wife found him on the floor near a still-running treadmill. Hayes was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08pm.

2 days later (August 12, 2008) Isaac hayes' death was officially filed as a stroke brought on by chronic hypertension.  Isaac Hayes was 65 years of at the time of his death.

* Isaac Heyes' biography, discography, & filmography continues next page
* Please share your memory, leave your comment
* Buy From Amazon: Isaac Hayes' CDs

Isaac Hayes - Shaft

Howard G Minsky (January 21, 1914 - August 10, 2008) is the producer of the blockbuster film Love Story which when released in 1970 was widely thought to have saved Paramount Pictures during a financially strained time. He later produced Jory in 1973.

Death of Howard Minsky
Howard Minsky died of natural causes at a hospital in Florida.  He was 94 years old at the time of his death.
Howard Minsky lived in Palm Beach, Florida. 

Howard Minsky started working from silent movie era.
Howard Minsky had married to his wife Sylvia for over 65 years until her death in 2002.

Bernard Jeffrey "Bernie Mac" McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008) was a two time Emmy Award-nominated American actor and comedian.

Death of Bernie Mac
Bernie Mac was hospitalized with pneumonia on August 1, 2008 and the following day, a source close to the family said that Mac was in "very, very critical" condition. He was recovering from pneumonia, most likely brought on by his sarcoidosis, in a Chicago hospital. His publicist, Danica Smith, said that he was expected to make a full recovery and that he was responding well to treatment.

On August 9, 2008 it was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times that Bernie Mac had died, with confirmation by the Associated Press about the cause of his death

* Bernie Mac's biography & filmography continues on next page
* Share your memory, leave your comment

Bernie Mac Show
2 times Emmy nominated, 2 times Golden Globe Nominated

Bernard J. "Bernie" Brillstein (April 26, 1931, in New York City, New York - August 7, 2008, in Los Angeles, California) was an American film and television producer and executive producer.

Death of Bernard Brillstein:
On the evening of August 7, 2008, around 9:00pm, Brillstein died of chronic pulmonary heart disease at a Los Angeles hospital.[4] He is survived by his wife Carrie, daughter Leigh and Kate Brillstein, and three sons Michael Brillstein, David and Nick Koskoff.

Bernard Brillstein formed The Brillstein Company in 1969. There, he continued to manage stars and develop television programming. He produced such popular television hits as Hee Haw, The Muppet Show and Saturday Night Live.

Bernard Brillstein later became manager of SNL alums Gilda Radner , John Belushi and Lorne Michaels, as well as Jim Henson (of Muppets fame) and Paul Fusco (voice and operator of ALF). He produced such other television shows as Alf: The Animated Series, and Normal Life.

Bernard Brillstein has been responsible for such successes as The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Dragnet, Ghostbusters II, Happy Gilmore and The Cable Guy.

Bernard Brillstein received the honor as recipient of a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, on April 18, 2001.

Brillstein Quote. "...you're no one in this business, unless someone wants you dead."

* America apologizes for not knowing such a legend, but some of us do.

Reg Lindsay (1929 - August 5, 2008) was a Australian Country and Western singer who won three Golden Guitar Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty year music career.

Death of Reg Lindsay
Reg Lindsay died of pneumonia after a long battle with illness, surrounded by his wife Roslyn and three daughters. Red Lindsay was 75 years old at the time of his death.

Richard Blackwell (AKA Mr. Blackwell), 85, has been in the hospital and unconscious since Tuesday, his partner, Robert Spencer, said from his home in Los Angeles. He is suffering from septic shock and is being treated with antibiotics. Doctors say his condition is stable.

Richard Blackwell (born August 29, 1922, Brooklyn, New York as Richard Sylvan Seltzer) is a fashion critic, journalist, television personality, artist, former child actor and former fashion designer, sometimes known just as Mr. Blackwell. He is the creator of the Ten Worst Dressed Women list, an annual awards presentation he unveils in January of each year.

On August 4, 2008, actor Morgan Freeman was listed in serious condition at Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee, after a car accident the previous night around 11:30pm

Morgan Freeman was seriously injured in an automobile accident near Ruleville, Mississippi, on August 3, 2008. The vehicle in which he was traveling, a 1997 Nissan Maxima, flipped over several times. He and a female passenger were rescued from the vehicle using the "Jaws of Life". Freeman was evacuated via medical helicopter to a hospital in Memphis. Drugs or alcohol have not been ruled out

* Update: Morgan Freeman is in good spirits and is planning to have surgery. "He has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage but he is in good spirits."

Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, film director and narrator. Noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice, Freeman has become one of Hollywood's most popular and respected actors

Erik Darling (September 25, 1933 - August 3, 2008) was an American songwriter and a folk music artist. He was an important influence on the folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Inspired by the folk music group The Weavers, in the '50s, he formed The Tunetellers, later called The Tarriers with actor/singer Alan Arkin. Their version of the "Banana Boat Song" reached #4 on the Billboard charts.

Darling left that group to replace Pete Seeger in The Weavers, staying with them from 1958 through 1962. He then formed The Rooftop Singers, who had a number one single with the song "Walk Right In", and his solo album True Religion for Vanguard was influential on younger folkies of the day. In 1967, Darling and Paul Bennett were co-credited for writing the song "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," by Quicksilver Messenger Service, which appears to be a medley of Darling's 1958 song "St. John's River" and Joan Baez's "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You".

He died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina from lymphoma. He was 74.

* Christina Applegate's on-again, off-again boyfriend died last month (July 1, 2008) 

On 3 August 2008, People Magazine reported that Applegate had been diagnosed with breast cancer. This was confirmed by her representative, who said in a statement: "Christina Applegate was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer. Benefiting from early detection through a doctor ordered MRI, the cancer is not life threatening...Christina is following the recommended treatment of her doctors and will have a full recovery. No further statement will be issued at this time."

Christina Applegate (born November 25, 1971) is an Emmy Award winning American actress, known for playing Kelly Bundy on the long-running FOX Broadcasting Company sitcom Married... with Children. She has since established a film and television career, with major roles in several pictures, such as Farce of the Penguins, Anchorman, The Sweetest Thing, a Broadway revival of the musical Sweet Charity. She currently plays the lead character, Samantha Newly, in the ABC sitcom Samantha Who?

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008) was a Russian novelist, dramatist and historian. Through his writings, he made the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's labour camp system, and for these efforts, Solzhenitsyn was both awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 and exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974. He returned to Russia in 1994. That year, he was elected as a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Department of Language and Literature. He was the father of Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a well-known conductor and pianist. He died at home after years of declining health on August 3, 2008

Bernie Mac’s publicist said the actor’s pneumonia was not related to his sarcoidosis, which has been in remission since 2005, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

Elizabeth Taylor, 76, was admitted to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., on Tuesday, a source told Access. "Ms. Taylor is fine"

There was a rumor saying Elizabeth Taylor is in life support after suffering heart failure.

For now, Elizabeth Taylor's status is not disclosed to public.

Not much informatioin on her death is available.

Gordon Ramsay slipped off a cliff and then nearly drowning in freezing cold water. clambering down a 280ft drop.  "I thought I was a goner," he told The Sun. 

Gordon James Ramsay, (born November 8, 1966) is a chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded a total of 12 Michelin stars, and in 2007 became one of only three chefs in the United Kingdom to hold three Michelin stars at one time. He is best known in the United States as the host of FOX's Hell's Kitchen, which premiered in May 2005, and of Kitchen Nightmares, which premiered in September 2007, based on his successful British show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

Shia Saide LaBeouf (June 11, 1986) is a Daytime Emmy Award- and BAFTA-winning American actor and comedian.

Shia LaBeouf was in the recent movies such as Transformers & the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

In the early morning hours of July 27, 2008, authorities arrested LaBeouf on drunk driving charges in Los Angeles, after the actor was involved in a car collision in which he, his passenger and another driver were injured.

The car was rolled.  Shia LeBeouf is hospitalized after DUI arrest

* A few days before, Robert Novak ran over a homeless man with his Corvette.  This was a semi-top news in The US. 

Robert David Sanders "Bob" Novak (born February 26, 1931) is a conservative American political commentator, syndicated columnist and journalist who writes the longest-running current U.S. syndicated political column (45 years, as of February 2008).

Brain Tumor:
On July 27, 2008, Novak was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a written statement given to his publisher, Novak said: “Doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment. I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period.”

* Youssef Chahine is an important figure in world cinema history. But, he remains as a inor celebrity for people in Western nations.

Youssef Chahine (January 25, 1926 - July 27, 2008) was an Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry since 1950. He was credited with launching the career of actor Omar Sharif.

Illness and death
Chahine was hospitalized at Ach-Chourouq hospital in Cairo in a coma following an apparent cerebral haemorrhage, on Sunday, June 15, 2008.

On Monday, June 16, 2008, Chahine was flown to Paris on an emergency flight and admitted to the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of Paris, where his niece told AFP his condition was "critical but stable."

Youssef Chahine died in his Cairo home on Sunday July 27, 2008

Kelsey Grammer has been hospitalized in New York after feeling faint following a recent heart attack .

Publicist Stan Rosenfield says Grammer checked himself into an undisclosed hospital over the weekend as a precaution and his condition is not life threatening.

Kelsey Grammer had a heart attack that nearly killed him two months ago.