newsmakers

newsmakers

Woodstock singer Richie Havens dies

NEW YORK

Richie Havens, who sang and strummed for a sea of people at Woodstock, has died at 72.

His family says in a statement that Havens died Monday of a heart attack.

Havens, a folk singer and guitarist, performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. He returned to the site during the 40th anniversary in 2009.

The performer was born in Brooklyn. He was known for his crafty guitar work and cover songs.

Havens said in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press about Woodstock: “Everything in my life, and so many others’, is attached to that train.”

A public memorial will be planned for a later date.

Khloe Kardashian out on ‘X Factor’

NEW YORK

Khloe Kardashian is left out after the latest game of musical chairs on “The X Factor.”

Fox said Monday that although Mario Lopez is returning this fall as host of Simon Cowell’s music-competition series, Kardashian will not be joining him.

Cowell’s series, which never has quite met ratings expectations, is in the midst of turnover with its judging panel, too. Cowell and Demi Lovato will be returning, but Britney Spears and record producer Antonio “L.A.” Reid left and have not been replaced yet.

The show starts its third season in the fall.

Swift, Maroon 5, fun. lead awards

NEW YORK

It’s a three-way tie: Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and fun. are finalists in 11 categories at the Billboard Music Awards.

Billboard announced the finalists Monday. Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepsen and One Direction are up for 10, nine and eight trophies, respectively.

Swift, Maroon 5, Rihanna, One Direction and Justin Bieber will compete for the top-artist award. Adele’s 10 million-selling 2011 album, “21,” won top Billboard 200 album last year and is up for the award this year. It’ll battle Swift’s “Red,” Mumford & Sons’ “Babel” as well as One Direction’s albums — “Up All Night” and “Take Me Home” — both released last year.

Performers include Swift, Bieber, Bruno Mars, Miguel and Prince.

The Billboard Music Awards will air live on ABC on May 19 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

More than 40 million watch end of manhunt

NEW YORK

Nearly 42 million people watched the last hour of Friday’s manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect on television.

The Nielsen company said that was the number of people watching ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel or MSNBC during the hour that ended at 9 p.m. on the East Coast. That’s when police announced that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been taken into custody after hiding in a boat.

Nielsen said that’s roughly double the amount of people who are watching one of those channels on a typical Friday night.

The networks aired wall-to-wall coverage Friday night, averaging 35.9 million people for all of prime-time.

Vindicator wire services