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BIRTH
It's a girl for Shark costar Jeri Ryan, 40, and her husband, French-born chef Christophe Émé, 38. Daughter Giséle, their first child together, arrived on March 2 in L.A.
EXONERATED
London police said on Feb. 28 that Amy Winehouse, 24, is no longer a
suspect in the alleged witness-tampering case against her husband, Blake
Fielder-Civil, 25. Winehouse was arrested and briefly detained in
December as part of the investigation, but was never charged. Meanwhile,
her publicist confirmed on March 3 that the singer was recently
diagnosed with impetigo and is taking antibiotics to treat the bacterial
skin infection.
COURTS
Boy George (né George O'Dowd), 46, pleaded not guilty to
false-imprisonment charges in London on Feb. 28. The singer was arrested
last spring for allegedly chaining a male model to a wall in his
home.... The Game (né Jayceon Taylor), 28, began a 60-day sentence at an
L.A. jail on March 2. The rapper was sentenced last month after pleading
no contest to gun-possession charges stemming from a February 2007
altercation at an L.A. community center.... Kid Rock (né Robert
Ritchie), 37, pleaded not guilty to battery charges on March 3 in
Atlanta. The rocker was arrested last October after allegedly taking
part in a fistfight in the parking lot of a Waffle House.... Jackass sidekick Steve-O (né Stephen Glover), 33, was arrested for alleged
vandalism early in the morning of March 3, after his L.A. neighbor
reportedly called the police claiming Glover was bashing holes in the
wall of their apartment building. Glover's manager did not return calls
for comment.... On March 4, businessman Lou Pearlman, 53, agreed to
change his plea to guilty in the federal conspiracy case against him.
The former Svengali behind pop acts like 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys
admitted that he had defrauded investors out of more than $300 million
over 20 years. Pearlman will now face up to 25 years in prison without
parole.... On Feb. 27, Bobby Brown, 39, accepted prosecutors' offer of
community service in lieu of facing drug charges in Brockton, Mass. Last
December, police say they found a small amount of a controlled substance
in the R&B singer's possession.
POSTPONED
On March 3, Van Halen canceled four March tour dates due to undetermined
health problems suffered by guitarist Eddie Van Halen, 53. The reunited
rockers have rescheduled the shows (including dates in Dallas and
Baltimore) for April.
DEATHS
Drummer Buddy Miles, 60, who played in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys in
the late 1960s and sang lead in the animated ''California Raisins'' TV ads
in the 1980s, of heart disease, Feb. 26, in Austin.... Richard Baer, 79,
who wrote for TV shows including Bewitched and Leave It to Beaver, of
complications from a heart attack, Feb. 22, in Santa Monica.... Gary
Gygax, 69, the fantasy novelist who co-created the role-playing game
Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, of an abdominal aneurysm, March 4, in Lake
Geneva, Wis.... William F. Buckley, 82, the conservative pundit, TV host
(Firing Line), and best-selling spy novelist (Saving the Queen), of
undisclosed causes, Feb. 27, in Stamford, Conn. On his PBS show, friend
Charlie Rose called Buckley ''a man of television: How many debates on Firing Line did he lose? Not many.''... British Invasion rocker Mike
Smith, 64, who sang lead in the Dave Clark Five (''Glad All Over''), of
pneumonia, Feb. 28, in Aylesbury, England. Smith had planned to attend
his band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in NYC on March
10. ''He was extremely excited and honored to have been inducted,'' said
Smith's agent in a statement. ''And I am glad that he will be remembered
as a Hall of Famer, because he was in so many ways.'' — Additional reporting by Stewart Allen
LEGACY: JEFF HEALEY (1966-2008)
Cancer may have taken the prodigiously talented guitarist's
sight at age 1 — and it would eventually take his life at age 41 on March
2 in Toronto — but for the decades in between, the disease never curtailed
his talent. Though he was best known for his 1988 rock ballad ''Angel
Eyes'' and his appearance in the 1989 Patrick Swayze film Road House,
Healey's greatest love remained jazz and blues. ''His life was cut
short,'' B.B. King tells EW. ''Jeff's passing is a tragic loss to the
world of blues.'' — Leah Greenblatt
CONTROVERSY
Some things are just too good to be true, and Margaret B. Jones' memoir
about growing up in South Central L.A. is one of them. After glowing
press for Love and Consequences (including a review in EW by yours
truly), Jones MDASH] née Margaret Seltzer — was outed by her sister and came clean March 4 to The New York Times. In the book, Seltzer, 33, claims
she was raised by a black foster mom, joined the Bloods, and received a
handgun for her 14th birthday; in actuality, she attended the same L.A.
private school as the Olsen twins. Riverhead, which published L&C, is recalling all copies and adds that it's ''saddened by this turn of
events.'' (Seltzer and her sister could not be reached for comment.)
