newsmakers

newsmakers

R&B star El DeBarge enters drug rehab

DETROIT

R&B star El DeBarge has entered a rehabilitation center and dropped out of a national tour with KEM and Ledisi that’s scheduled to kick off Friday in Texas.

The 49-year-old singer said in a statement he hates to disappoint his fans but voluntarily checked into the center “to deal with issues stemming from many years of substance abuse.” He has battled drug addiction for the past two decades.

The Michigan native headed up the group DeBarge, which hit it big in the 1980s with No. 1 hits such as “Time Will Reveal” and “Rhythm of the Night.”

El DeBarge triumphantly returned last year with the release of “Second Chance,” his first album of new music in 16 years, earning two Grammy nominations for his work on the record.

Lady Gaga concert gets HBO treatment

NEW YORK

Lady Gaga is bringing her spectacle to HBO. The network said Tuesday it is taping two Lady Gaga shows in New York’s Madison Square Garden later this month for a concert special. The documentary of Gaga’s “Monster Ball” tour will be televised May 7, two weeks before the singer is releasing a new disc.

Eminem, Arcade Fire at Bonnaroo festival

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

A reunited Buffalo Springfield will play its only festival date this year at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, joining Eminem, Arcade Fire, Widespread Panic, Lil Wayne, The Black Keys and Robert Plant in celebrating 10 years down on the farm.

Bonnaroo will take place June 9-12 in Manchester, Tenn., on the 700-acre farm it has called home since its debut in 2002, featuring four-dozen jam- band-leaning acts.

To celebrate the anniversary, Dr. John and The Original Meters will make a rare joint appearance to re-create their 1974 album “Desitively Bonnaroo,” the source of the festival’s name. Bonnaroo shed the jam-band label early on and has become one of the most eclectic summertime gatherings of its kind, drawing tens of thousands of revelers each year to rural central Tennessee.

Liz Taylor remains in LA hospital

LOS ANGELES

Heart trouble is keeping Elizabeth Taylor hospitalized in Los Angeles, but her publicist says the 78-year-old actress is OK and has been visiting with family and friends.

Taylor publicist Sally Morrison said Tuesday that the “Butterfield 8” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” Oscar winner is comfortable at Cedars- Sinai Medical Center.

Taylor was taken there last week to be treated for symptoms of congestive heart failure, a condition she disclosed in November 2004.

Flavor Flav pitches new show at school

CLINTON, Iowa

Now that he’s opened his first chicken restaurant in Iowa, rapper Flavor Flav would like to earn his high school diploma in the state and record his efforts for a new reality TV show.

Flav, whose real name is William Drayton Jr., grew up in Freeport, N.Y. He says he dropped out of school in 10th grade. He opened Flav’s Fried Chicken in Clinton, Iowa last month — his only connection to the Mississippi River town.

Last week, the 51-year-old pitched his idea for “Flavor Flav Goes Back to High School” to the local school superintendent and a school-board member.

He says he’ll approach the full board in a couple of weeks.

Jack Black helps name panda cub

ATLANTA

Jack Black joined Zoo Atlanta for a naming ceremony for a 3-month-old giant panda cub, the only one of the endangered species born in a U.S. zoo last year.

The zoo Tuesday named the cub Po after the main character voiced by Black in his upcoming animated sequel “Kung Fu Panda 2.”

Zoo officials say that in return for the name, studio Dreamworks donated money to the zoo to help with its panda- conservation program. The zoo declined to say how much. The zoo pays China a $500,000-per-year lease to display the pandas.

Vindicator wire services