Death List Members in the News
May 2007
Charles Nelson Reilly
January 2007
Bobby Hamilton
December 2006
Gerald Ford
November 2006
Jack Palance
August 2006
Fidel Castro, Kirk Douglas, John Madden
July 2006
Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Phyllis Diller,
B.B. King, Dale Jarrett, Arnold Palmer
May 2006
Keith Richards, David Blaine
April 2006
Tony Stewart, Gerald Ford, B.B. King, Queen Elizabeth, Mickey Rooney, Bob
Barker, Harry Morgan, Charlton Heston, David Blaine, Vin Scully, Muhammad
Ali, Hugh Hefner, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis
March 2006
Courtney Love, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Jerry Lewis, Osama Bin Laden,
Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford
February 2006
Walter Cronkite, Brian Dennehy, Don Knotts, Willie Mays, Vin Scully, Tony
Bennett, Courtney Love, Bob Barker
January 2006
Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, B.B. King, Walter Cronkite, William Shatner, Courtney
Love, Nick Nolte
December 2005
Richard Pryor, Ozzy Osbourne & Queen Elizabeth, Nick Nolte, Hugh Hefner,
Tony Bennett, Tony Stewart, David Blaine
November 2005
George Michael, Courtney Love, William Shatner, Muhammad Ali
October 2005
Rosa Parks, William Shatner, Joe Namath, B.B. King, Jerry Lewis, Tony Stewart,
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Jack Klugman, Michael Waltrip, Hugh Hefner,
Dale Jarrett
September 2005
September 30 - Courtney Love
September 30 - Ozzy Osbourne
September 25 - B.B. King
September 24 - Michael Waltrip
September 9 - Ozzy Osbourne
September 8 - Willie Nelson
September 8 - Courtney Love
September 5 - Jerry Lewis
September 1 - Arnold Palmer
August 2005
William Shatner, Vin Scully, Ron Popeil, Hugh Hefner, Dale Jarrett, Keith
Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, John Madden, Courtney Love, Richard Pryor, Sterling
Marlin, Tony Stewart, Tony Bennett, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis
July 2005
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Courtney Love, Jerry Lewis, Muhammad
Ali, Kirk Douglas, Bob Barker, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett,
Phyllis Diller, Michael Waltrip, Gerald Ford, Mickey Rooney, Jack Klugman,
Keith Richards, Nick Nolte, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross
June 2005
Jim Otto, Vin Scully, Tony Bennett, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth,
Muhammad Ali, Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Klugman, John Madden
May 2005
Michael Waltrip, Queen Elizabeth, Fidel Castro, Tony Stewart, Walter Cronkite,
Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, George Michael, Vin Scully, Keith Richards, Don
Knotts, Brian Dennehy, Michael Waltrip, Wilford Brimley, Ozzy Osbourne, Willie
Mays, Bob Barker, Nick Nolte, Jim Otto
April 2005
Larry Hagman, Richard Pryor, Willie Mays, Phyllis Diller, David Blaine, Tony
Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Muhammad Ali, Nick Nolte and William Shatner, B.B.
King, Ozzy Osbourne, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross, Pope John Paul II
March 2005
Ozzy Osbourne, Pope John Paul II, Courtney Love, Phyllis Diller, Vin Scully,
Fidel Castro, Ed Asner, Bob Barker, B.B. King, Arnold Palmer, Keith Richards,
Muhammad Ali, Jack Palance, Jack Klugman, Sterling Marlin, Joe Namath, Charlton
Heston, Jerry Lewis, Horatio Sanz
February 2005
Pope John Paul II, Wilford Brimley, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Willie
Nelson, B.B. King, Ozzy Osbourne, Dale Jarrett, Fidel Castro, Phyllis Diller,
Courtney Love, Gerald Ford, Larry Hagman, Rosa Parks, Mickey Rooney, Hugh
Hefner
January 2005
Willie Mays, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, Vin Scully, John Madden,
Johnny Carson, Brian Dennehy, Kirk Douglas, William Shatner, Rosa Parks, Jerry
Lewis, Courtney Love, Pope John Paul II, Willie Nelson, Mickey Rooney, Gerald
Ford, Bob Barker
December 2004
Richard Pryor, Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Keith Richards, Rosa Parks,
Nick Nolte, Don Knotts
November 2004
Kirk Douglas, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis, Larry Hagman, Johnny
Carson, Queen Elizabeth, B.B. King, Muhammad Ali
October 2004
Courtney Love, Keith Richards, Tony Bennett, Fidel Castro, Ernest Borgnine,
Mickey Rooney, Willie Nelson, Jack Klugman, Jack Palance, Pope John Paul II,
Hugh Hefner, Rodney Dangerfield
September 2004
Courtney Love, Arnold Palmer, Rosa Parks, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker,
Nick Nolte, Tony Bennett
August 2004
Arnold Palmer, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker, Brian Dennehy, Ernest Borgnine,
Rosa Parks, Walter Cronkite, Willie Mays, Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro,
Julia Child, Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rooney, Joe Namath, B.B. King
July 2004
Rosa Parks, Courtney Love, Fidel Castro, Nick Nolte, Don Knotts, Larry Hagman,
Kirk Douglas, William Shatner
September 30, 2005: Courtney Love Took Drugs Aged Four
Courtney
Love took drugs at the age of just four, claims her mother Linda Carroll in
a new biography.
The book ‘Her Mother’s Daughter’ says it offers the “true history of the wildly confabulatory Courtney Love” – although the singer disputes much of the material.
As xfm reports, one of the allegations talks about Love aged four, saying: “"Her hippie father Hank would dose her with 'magic pills' and draw psychedelic squiggles all over her naked body".
The expose also alleges that as a child Love had “mood swings that no doctor can explain or cure” and that she was prone to “dark moods and paranoia”. Love went on to have therapy aged six.
However, Love’s manager Peter Asher says that her mother’s book contains "numerous substantial inaccuracies and several scurrilous falsehoods," and is a "work of vicious and greedy fiction."
From Gigwise.com, Scott Colothan
September 30, 2005: Osbourne: 'My marriage was violent'
Hellraiser
Ozzy Osbourne once broke his wife Sharon's two front teeth during an alcohol
fuelled argument, after she hurled a bottle at his head.
The rock matriarch reveals the violent truth behind her turbulent marriage in her new autobiography Extreme - but insists she had her revenge.
She writes: "We were both drinking heavily, though I hated the stuff and was only doing it to keep up with him.
"One time I threw a full bottle of scotch and it hit him on the back of his head. He turned, came charging back and hammered me against the wall so violently that my two front teeth broke off.
"I smashed his precious gold discs, including the first gold for The Blizzard of Oz album. Ozzy called me psycho woman."
From Ireland Online
September 25, 2005: Q&A: B.B. King marks his 80th birthday
NEW
YORK (Billboard) - He is an icon whose name has become a brand for his own
style of blues. Most anybody who has slung a guitar over their shoulder would
give an appendage for the privilege of playing with him.
And yet, in this year that marks his 80th birthday (September 16) and the arrival of a new album titled "B.B. King & Friends — 80," he humbly says, "There are a lot of people who haven't heard of B.B. King."
That is hard to imagine. Since he started recording in 1949, King has set a standard of musical excellence that has influenced scores of followers. A player, singer, writer and bandleader, he is a Mississippi Delta pioneer who forged his own unique sound from the influence of his forebears.
One of his most famous encounters was during an onstage jam with Stevie Ray Vaughan, the revered guitarist who died in 1990. Seeking to impress his idol, Vaughan played a furious flurry of notes. Though equally virtuosic, King responded with a single, pure ping. Recognizing the simple statement King was making, Vaughan was reduced to tears of laughter.
In his 56th year of recording and heavy touring, King sounds as enthusiastic today as he probably was at the beginning.
He is still on the road, of course, with a regimen that includes a touring
summer blues festival. The "80" album features collaborations with
Eric Clapton — with whom King won a best traditional blues album Grammy
Award for "Riding With the King" — Elton John, John Mayer,
Gloria Estefan and others. Ground has been broken on the B.B. King Museum
& Interpretive Center in his hometown of Indianola, Miss., and a chain
of nightclubs that carries his name continues to flourish.
Although he says his pace has slowed, King continues to work harder than many
musicians who are decades younger. Clearly, the thrill is very much alive
for music's new octogenarian.
Q: Did you ever imagine you would still be doing this when you turned 80?
A: (Laughs) No. I wouldn't have bet you that I would've got over 50. But I'm
happy to be here. I feel that I'm very lucky. This year has taken its toll,
it seems to me, on people in entertainment. Peter Jennings … Mr. (John)
Johnson in Chicago, the man who started the first black magazines like Ebony
and Jet, he died … Luther Vandross … and Little Milton.
So I feel happy and lucky. It's sort of like when you get into the army; your buddy gets shot next to you, and you say, "I'm sorry, so sorry." But then you think, deep down, "I'm glad it wasn't me."
Q: What keeps you doing it at this point?
A: Well, popularity has a lot to do with it. Blues music doesn't get exposed
on radio like other types of music. So if I don't take it to the people, they
don't know I'm out here. I go around the country or out of the country —
I've played 90 different countries — and I noticed a long time ago when
I go to some city, I start to get mail and the record sales go up.
Q: How did you start making music?
A: Oh, I guess I started like most people did. I played little gigs around,
tried to make people like me by doing the best I could. Finally I was a disc
jockey, and I got popular in the area of Memphis, as far as the station could
be heard. So I'd play little gigs. My guarantee at first was $100, then $150
a date.
Q: What was your first recording contract like?
A: My first record contract was with Modern Records; they were starting a
new label called RPM, and Ike Turner at the time was kind of a scout for them.
Ike and I knew each other, so he introduced me and that was my first recording
contract. I had recorded prior to that, for a company out of Nashville called
Bullet; I recorded four sides for them, but no contract.
Q: Was there a sense that music could make you rich when you started out?
A: (Laughs) Well, I didn't think I'd get rich, but I thought I'd do a heck
of a lot better than I was doing on the plantation. I was getting half a cent
a side for each record, so that meant I got a penny for every (single) I sold.
That was my first deal.
But I probably would've done it for nothing, because I wanted to be recorded. When you want to record and you believe you've got something and you want the world to hear it, you don't think about the other stuff. You just want to record it. I think a lot of the young people today feel the same way, but I don't think they'd do it for nothing. They've got better sense than I had. (laughs)
Q: Rolling Stone magazine recently named you the No. 3 guitarist of all time,
behind Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman. How did you feel about that?
A: Well, I liked it very much. But had they asked me, I wouldn't have put
me up that high. I would've thought that Eric Clapton and a few others would've
gone ahead of me there. But since they said it, hallelujah!
Q: How did you develop your playing style?
A: I could lie to you and say, "Yeah, I knew I was going to have this
style," but I don't know how I did it. I was crazy about, believe it
or not, the Hawaiian style of music. The Hawaiians have a different sound,
the ukulele and the guitar, and so does country music with that steel guitar.
To me, man, that's the greatest sound of a guitar ever.
So every time I'd pick up a guitar, I'd trill my hand, and when I trill my hand my ears said it sounded like a steel guitar, if you know what I'm saying. I finally got to a place where every time I picked up a guitar I had to sound like that, because I couldn't do anything else.
Q: How are you feeling about the B.B. King Museum & Interpretive Center
in Indianola?
A: Oh, man, that's one of the greatest things that I think has happened to
B.B. King. I'm from the Delta — Mississippi. Most of the blues singers
in the world come from the Mississippi Delta, so this museum will tell a lot
of these stories about not only B.B. King but about the Delta and music as
a whole that has to do with the blues.
I'm one (who believes) … that blues is the origin of much of the Western music we hear today. So this museum will tell a big part of that story.
Q: Are you giving them a lot of stuff to display there?
A: Oh, yes, quite a bit. You might even get a chance to see two or three Lucilles
(his guitars) there.
Q: Do you have a favorite B.B. King album?
A: Yes, one called "My Kind of Blues" — but I don't think
anybody bought it but me! (laughs) I recorded it in one evening, the whole
thing, starting about 3 o'clock and finishing about midnight. And I was doing
songs that to me had the blues feeling that we don't get in a lot of the songs
we play.
Q: How about a favorite song?
A: I'd have to go with "The Thrill Is Gone," because if I didn't
play that I'd probably get tomatoes thrown at me.
Q: How did that song come about?
A: Well, I heard the melody of it from a guy called Roy Hawkins. I liked the
melody so well I rewrote the tune, the lyrics for it, and for two or three
years every time I'd go to a session I had ideas for it, but it never worked.
So finally one night in New York, about 2 in the morning, I pulled it out and had a great rhythm section — I had Herbie Lovelle on drums, Paul Harris on keyboards, Hugh McCracken on guitar, Gerald Jemmott on bass, and, boy, the minute we started, it clicked. I could hear it right there.
Q: Do you foresee playing music for the rest of your life?
A: I intend to do it for as long as possible, as long as my health lets me.
I'm diabetic, but other than that, my health is pretty good. I can get along
pretty well. People still buy my records and come to my concerts. I don't
want to go fishing every day, and I don't feel like watching Hoot Gibson,
Roy Rogers and all those guys, the old movies I'm crazy about, cowboy movies.
I couldn't do that every day. So what else is there for me to do?
From Reuters/Billboard, Gary Graff
September 24, 2005: Waltrip joins Bill Davis Racing in 2006
Michael
Waltrip has a new ride next season with Bill Davis Racing and will continue
to be a valued pitchman for NAPA Auto Parts.
Two months after announcing his departure from Dale Earnhardt Inc., Waltrip said Friday that he's joining Davis. Separately they have accounted for three Daytona 500 victories. Waltrip won twice, and a car owned by Davis took NASCAR's most prestigious race with Ward Burton behind the wheel. Together, they have nine Cup victories overall.
"I like the way Bill does business and he has created a strong organization," Waltrip said. "NAPA and I look forward to continuing our winning ways on the track as well as extending our successful marketing efforts off the track."
"NAPA and Michael Waltrip are the perfect combination to re-establish our two-car Cup team in 2006," said Davis. "NAPA and Michael are held in high regard in our sport and have been successful in each Series they have competed. We plan to build on their success and create a very competitive team next year and beyond."
Waltrip got his first career victory in his first race under the NAPA sponsorship in the 2001 Daytona 500. But the 42-year-old driver with four career victories has become one of the most popular figures in the sport in large part because of his humorous NAPA commercials.
That wasn't lost on the sponsor, which decided to go with the driver to a new ride rather than remain as a backer of DEI.
"It's no secret that our association with Michael has been a key ingredient of our marketing efforts," NAPA president Bob Susor said in a statement. "Michael has promoted our brand in his own unique style."
Davis said the deal is for one year and that the team will continue to field Dodges. His continuation with Dodge had been subject to considerable speculation since the automaker pulled factory support because of the car owner's flirtation with Toyota, which is expected to enter the Nextel Cup series as early as 2007.
"There are a lot of things on the horizon," Davis said, declining to elaborate on his plans beyond next season.
Bill Davis Racing, which also fields a Dodge for Scott Wimmer in the Cup Series, has three Toyotas in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series driven by Mike Skinner, Bill Lester and Johnny Benson.
From TSN.ca
September 9, 2005: Ozzy sports helmet-head at Pats' pregame rock fest
There
were no wardrobe malfunctions or unscripted political pontificating at last
night's ``NFL Opening Kickoff'' pregame show, but there was a Prince of Darkness
sighting. Ozzy Osbourne made a surprise guest appearance when the bat-chewing
rocker-turned-mumbling reality dad exploded from an enormous Patriots helmet
to join Green Day and Santana for the pregame festivities.
Despite all the pop star firepower on display, this was Ozzy's crowd. A mammoth
football helmet would not be the usual lair for Mr. Osbourne, but the near-geriatric
rocker proved more than comfortable, grinning maniacally throughout his metal
classic ``Crazy Train.''
The fireworks in Foxboro didn't truly begin until Green Day ripped into its
chunky power chord anthem, ``Boulevard of Broken Dreams.'' While not exactly
a celebratory jock jam, the moody rocker was delivered with style and snotty
panache nonetheless.
Santana's miniset overshadowed Green Day's, mostly because of the band's prime
placement on the 50-yard line. Mystical guitar wizard Carlos Santana was without
Rob Thomas for the mega-hit ``Smooth,'' but his guitar pyrotechnics more than
made up for the singer's absence.
He was then joined by Michelle Branch on his new single, the folk-rock gold
of ``I'm Feeling You.'' The combination of Branch's sweet alto and Santana's
fiery licks undoubtedly will launch this tune into the pop stratosphere.
Before country siren Trisha Yearwood gave a thankfully straight rendition
of the national anthem to end the pregame celebration, the crowd made its
favorite artist of the night known, with chants of ``Ozzy! Ozzy!'' reverberating
throughout The Razor.
A taped performance of the Rolling Stones live in Detroit, and a live feed
of Kanye West and Maroon 5 in Los Angeles actually began the show, but the
Jumbotron proved no match for the live entertainment at Foxboro.
From the Boston Herald, Christopher Blagg
September 8, 2005: Nelson plans relief concert in Austin
AUSTIN
-- Country star Willie Nelson will headline a benefit concert in Austin to
aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The concert is planned September 21 at the Frank Erwin Center on the campus of the University of Texas.
Nelson publicist Elaine Schock says the money raised will go to the Red Cross.
Nelson is also donating funds from shows at Carl's Corner on September 26 and 27. Carl's Corner is located on Interstate 35 between Waco and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Nelson, who lives in Austin, launched a radio ad campaign this week asking Americans to help family farmers in Gulf Coast states who suffered hurricane losses.
Nelson is founder and president of Farm Aid, which will hold its 20th anniversary concert on September 18 in the Chicago area.
From the Associated Press
September 8, 2005: Courtney Love
People in the News: Cobain's daughter is grunge-free
Life
can't be easy when your mom is often out of it, or in rehab, and your dad
committed suicide, but Frances Bean Cobain sounds wonderfully poised for her
age.
In her first interview, the 13-year-old tells Teen Vogue: "I'm a different person. I don't want to be titled as Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain's daughter. I want to be thought of as Frances Cobain."
The seventh-grader also did a photo shoot for the mag, showing a softer sense of style than that of her parents. "I don't like to look sloppy. I'm a girly-girl," she said.
Nor is Frances a fan of her mom's hard-rocker look.
"I prefer when she's more 'classy starlet.' I don't really like her hard-metal stuff, or when she doesn't brush her hair."
Frances also follows her inner counsel. She says her mom tells her to "live free and be free, but listen to other people's advice,' " says Cobain. "I listen, but I don't always follow it."
From the Associated Press
Courtney Love to Lose New York Home?
Troubled rocker Courtney Love is facing eviction from her New York home she's been trying to sell for the past few months.
Love, 41, who was recently ordered back into rehab after failing a drug test, has had the Manhattan loft listed for $5.5 million for several months.
After missing two $30,000 mortgage payments for July and August, Mercury Capital Corporation seeks to foreclose on Love and "be decreed the owner of any personal property" in the home, according to documents in a lawsuit.
Love reportedly purchased the condominium four years ago for $2.4 million, taking out a $1.5 million mortgage. She then borrowed another $1.5 million from lender Mercury Capital Corporation, according to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Legal representatives for Love and Mercury have yet to comment.
From the World Entertainment News Network
September 5, 2005: Jerry Lewis raises $55.9 million at telethon
BEVERLY
HILLS, Calif. - The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon raised $54.9 million for
the Muscular Dystrophy Association and more than $1 million for victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
Lewis, 79, decided to devote the two-day telethon to both children with muscular dystrophy and Katrina victims after seeing reports from the Gulf Coast.
The Katrina donations will go to the Salvation Army in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Tens of thousands of people are out of their homes, and many of those homes have been destroyed.
“I’m overjoyed we were able to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and at the same time continue our 40-year tradition of helping my kids,” Lewis said.
The telethon’s total to fight muscular dystrophy was $4.5 million less than last year, but lower figures were expected due to the outpouring of donations for the hurricane victims. It was only the third time in 40 years that the telethon failed to surpass the previous year’s total.
From the Associated Press
September 1, 2005: How Arnie does it
Arnold
Palmer loves golf more than anybody I’ve ever met. Talk about the game
of a lifetime: He’ll be buried with a club in his strong grip. The Bell
Canadian Open in September will mark the 50th anniversary of Arnold’s
first tour victory. He won’t play there, but he continues to compete
vigorously when he comes out on the Champions Tour.
The impressive thing he can still do when he’s not overtaxed is turn his body back and through in the full swing. Most 75-year-olds can’t make a complete turn because their bodies lose flexibility. Arnold has started a comprehensive physical-fitness program with a trainer, focusing on stretching exercises and strength work. He says it’s working great. So listen up if you worry about losing distance as you grow older. Get some help from the fitness experts and see the difference, as Arnie does.
He also is taking advantage of modern equipment like hybrid clubs. Plus, as many heroic shots as Arnold Palmer has hit in his career, he has hit just as many “safe” shots to win as much as he did. He’s a brilliant chess player on the golf course.
From Golf Digest, Tom Watson with Nick Seitz
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