Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Rae’s husband found dead
LONDON — The husband of Grammy-nominated British singer Corinne Bailey Rae has been found dead.
Police say Jason Rae was found in an apartment in the northern English city of Leeds on Saturday. Officers are awaiting results of toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.
A 32-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of supplying him with drugs but has been released on bail, officials said.
Thirty-one-year-old Jason Rae was a saxophonist with a funk band, the Haggis Horns.
Bailey Rae’s self-titled debut album sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S. after its release in 2006.
The 29-year-old was nominated for song of the year at the Grammy Awards in both 2007 and 2008.
Leader’s ex-wife weds
NEW YORK — The ex-wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has tied the knot at the famed Rainbow Room in New York’s Rockefeller Center, French newspapers reported.
Though details about the nuptials have been kept under wraps, Le Figaro and Liberation said in Monday editions that Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz — the former Mrs. Sarkozy — married Richard Attias, an events planner, Sunday night. The two dailies didn’t identify their sources.
Ciganer-Albeniz’s lawyer, Michele Cahen, did not return calls over the weekend seeking comment on the wedding plans.
The wedding ceremony and reception at the 65th-floor Rainbow Room, which offers panoramic views of New York, culminated three days of private festivities, LeFigaro said on its Web site.
The ceremony was scheduled to draw 150 guests, the report said.
Rowling interviewed
LONDON — J.K. Rowling said she contemplated suicide as she suffered from depression before her rise to success, according to an interview with a student journalist. The Harry Potter author said she had suicidal thoughts in her mid-20s, when she was a single mother and struggling to establish a literary career.
“Mid-20s life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted,” Rowling said, according to an interview posted online by student journalist Adeel Amini.
Rowling said in the interview, parts of which were published in Edinburgh University’s Student magazine, that she sought help from doctors and spent nine months receiving cognitive behavioral therapy, according to Amini.
Rowling has previously said she suffered depression before her Harry Potter series brought her international success. She has acknowledged that characters featured in the series called Dementors were inspired by her illness.
The author has said she sought medical help after her separation from first husband, Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist.
Today’s birthdays
Modeling agency founder Eileen Ford is 86. Former astronaut James Lovell is 80. Movie reviewer Gene Shalit is 76. Feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem is 74. Singer Anita Bryant is 68. Singer Aretha Franklin is 66. Actor Paul Michael Glaser is 65. Singer Elton John is 61. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is 60. Actress-comedian Mary Gross is 55. Actor James McDaniel is 50. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is 50. Actress Marcia Cross is 46. Actress Lisa Gay Hamilton is 44. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is 43. Baseball pitcher Tom Glavine is 42. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Debi Thomas is 41. Singer Melanie Blatt (All Saints) is 33. Actor Lee Pace is 29. Actor Sean Faris is 26. Auto racer Danica Patrick is 26. Singer Katharine McPhee (“American Idol”) is 24.