newsmakers

newsmakers

Deep Purple’s Jon Lord dies

LONDON

British rocker Jon Lord, the keyboardist whose powerful, driving tones helped turn Deep Purple and Whitesnake into two of the most-popular hard- rock acts in a generation, died Monday. He was 71.

A statement on Lord’s official website says the Leicester, England-born musician suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism in London after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

“Jon passed from Darkness to Light,” the statement said.

Lord co-wrote some of Deep Purple’s most famous tunes, including “Smoke on the Water,” and later had a successful solo career after his retirement from the band in 2002.

Kitty Wells, 1st female country superstar, dies

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Singer Kitty Wells, whose hits such as “Making Believe” and “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” made her the first female superstar of country music, died Monday. She was 92.

The singer’s family said she died peacefully at home after complications from a stroke.

Her solo recording career lasted from 1952 to the late 1970s, and she made concert tours from the late 1930s until 2000. That year, she announced she was quitting the road, although she performed occasionally in Nashville and elsewhere afterward.

Her “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” in 1952 was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts and dashed the notion that women couldn’t be headliners.

‘Today,’ new co-host fall to ‘GMA’ in Week 1

NEW YORK

A majority of morning viewers has greeted the arrival of Savannah Guthrie with a yawn in her first week as “Today” show co-anchor.

Nielsen says NBC’s “Today” was beaten last week by ABC archrival “Good Morning America” by 357,000 viewers.

“GMA” drew an average of 4.57 million viewers, compared with 4.21 million for “Today,” according to preliminary ratings released Monday by the Nielsen Co.

The “Today” show loss suggests lukewarm audience interest in Guthrie. Or perhaps viewers were displaying resentment toward NBC for ousting Ann Curry, who shared co-anchoring duties with Matt Lauer for just a year. She joined the program in 1997.

“Today” was the undisputed morning leader in the ratings since 1995 until this spring, when a resurgent “GMA” snapped its winning streak with several weeks on top.

Uma Thurman gives birth to a baby girl

NEW YORK

It’s a girl for Uma Thurman and her financier boyfriend.

Thurman’s representative confirmed Monday that the actress gave birth. She did not release details, including the baby’s name.

Thurman, 42, has two other children, 13-year-old Maya Ray and 10-year-old Levon Roan, with ex- husband Ethan Hawke. This is her first with financier Arpad Busson.

Busson has two sons with Elle Macpherson.

Vindicator wire services