NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Whitney Houston is back on charts

NEW YORK

Fans are showing their grief over Whitney Houston’s death by buying her music. Since her death, her album sales have been boosted by almost 6,000 percent.

Data released late Tuesday by Nielsen SoundScan showed that Houston’s album sales for the week ending Sunday — the day after her death — were at 101,000. The week earlier, she had sold just 1,700 copies of her albums.

Her “Greatest Hits” album catapulted to the No. 6 position on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart, with about 64,000 copies sold. In the past week, it had sold only 607 copies. And “I Will Always Love You” sold 195,000 digital tracks. The past week it had sold 3,000, an increase of 6,877 percent.

Houston, 48, was one of music’s top-selling artists.

Gym Class Heroes at NBA All-Star show

ORLANDO, Fla.

Gym Class Heroes and J. Cole will headline the first NBA All-Star pregame concert. Pentatonix and Kayla Brianna also will perform before tipoff Feb. 26.

Gym Class Heroes, led by Travie McCoy, will be joined by Neon Hitch on their single “Get Yourself Back Home.” Rapper J. Cole, the first artist signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, is a recent Grammy nominee. Pentatonix recently earned fame by winning “The Sing Off” and Brianna, daughter of former NBA player Kenny Smith, will debut her single “If You Love Me.”

Tightrope walk over falls gets approval

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario

Daredevil Nik Wallenda is set to walk a 1,800-foot tightrope across Niagara Falls this summer, a feat the seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas said has been his childhood dream.

The Niagara Parks Commission, which months ago refused even to consider the idea, voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the walk between the U.S. and Canada.

Wallenda plans to run a 2-inch wire about 70 feet above the 160-foot gorge, which will dip down in the middle, meaning he’ll walk downhill during the first half of the 30- to 40-minute walk and uphill until the end.

Wallenda has until the end of March to work out details. He has a deal with Discovery television to broadcast the event live.

Vindicator wire reports