newsmakers

February 6, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

h‘Wild Thing’ singer Reg Presley dies

LONDON

The structure is simple, the guitar riffs basic, the lyrics at best inane, but the Troggs’ “Wild Thing” remains a garage-rock classic more than 45 years after its release made The Troggs and lead singer Reg Presley international stars.

Presley, whose raunchy, suggestive voice powers this paean to teenage lust, died Monday after a year-long struggle with lung cancer that had forced him and the band into reluctant retirement, his agent, Keith Altham, announced on Facebook late Monday night. He was 71.

He said the singer had suffered a number of strokes recently and died at his home in Andover (70 miles west of London) surrounded by his family and friends.

The Troggs, part of the British invasion spurred by The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, perfected a simple, hard-driving approach to the three-minute rock song that was miles away from the lyrical art-rock of the Beatles or the poetic songs of Bob Dylan.

Prosecutor wants redo on Brown sentence

LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles prosecutors are asking a judge to order Chris Brown to redo his community service because of significant discrepancies in records submitted to a court.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray wrote in a motion filed Tuesday that the records submitted by Richmond, Va., police to prove the R&B singer performed six months of community labor are “at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting.”

Brown was allowed to perform his community labor sentence for the 2009 beating of Rihanna in his home state of Virginia. Richmond police submitted paperwork last year indicating Brown had completed his sentence, but the logs showed the singer performing double shifts in the city and at a day-care center where his mother once worked.

Magazine spans globe for swimsuit issue

NEW YORK

Few would think about swimming in Antarctica, but Sports Illustrated took its models there for its annual swimsuit issue — shooting on all seven continents for the first time.

The around-the-globe effort will be chronicled by the Travel Channel in a special Feb. 17. Sports Illustrated said Tuesday it’s the first to do a fashion shoot in Antarctica, where temperatures were subfreezing.

Among the locations featured are Namibia, China, Australia and Easter Island, one of the most remote places on Earth.

Swimsuit magazine editor MJ Day says it took seven months to complete.

Sports Illustrated will reveal its cover Monday. It can be a star-making opportunity. Last year’s cover model was Kate Upton. The magazine hits newsstands Tuesday.

Associated Press