newsmakers

newsmakers

Little Feat co-founder Richie Hayward dies

NEW YORK

Richie Hayward, co-founder of Little Feat, an eclectic jam band that maintained a strong cult following throughout the decades, has died. He was 64. The drummer had been suffering from liver cancer and died Thursday at a hospital near Vancouver, Canada, after complications of pneumonia, his publicist, Bridget Nolan, confirmed Friday.

“He was waiting for a liver transplant,” said Nolan.

Hayward last performed with the band July 11. He helped form Little Feat in 1969, along with frontman Lowell George, Bill Payne and Roy Estrada. The group fell apart in 1979 after George died but reformed in 1987, and had been a fixture on the touring circuit.

NJ’s Lautenberg, Lady Gaga team up

TRENTON, N.J.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the nation’s oldest senator, will have a fundraiser at Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour at the Verizon Center in Washington on Sept 7. The Washington Post reports the 86-year-old New Jersey Democrat is SFlboffering seats in a private suite for $2,500 a person for political-action committees and $2,400 for individuals.

‘Lion King’ actress to get crucial procedure

NEW YORK

An 11-year-old girl who played young Nala in “The Lion King” on Broadway will get a potentially life-saving procedure. Shannon Tavarez has leukemia and will get an umbilical-cord blood transplant Tuesday. It’s used as an alternative to treat the disease when a perfect bone-marrow match can’t be found. Cast members had a bone-marrow donor registration drive for her last month.

Vindicator wire services

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