Jon Stewart joins NYC mayor in honoring 9/11 first-responder

Jon Stewart joins NYC mayor in honoring 9/11 first-responder

NEW YORK

Jon Stewart joined New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to honor a cancer-stricken Sept. 11 first-responder who helped win a fight for health care.

The mayor presented ex-firefighter Ray Pfeifer with a key to the city Saturday.

Pfeifer rose from his wheelchair to say that the legislation passed by Congress last month extends health care to tens of thousands of World Trade Center first-responders.

Stewart and Pfeifer spent weeks in the halls of Congress challenging lawmakers to vote for the legislation that extends federal health monitoring and treatment for Sept. 11 first-responders through 2090.

Stewart made sure politicians who balked at supporting the bill were identified in the media. The former “Daily Show” host says he was a “wingman” to Pfeifer and other responders.

Natalie Cole funeral to take place Monday in LA

LOS ANGELES

A funeral for Grammy Award-winning singer Natalie Cole will take place Monday in Los Angeles.

A spokesperson for the family said Saturday that the service will be at West Angeles Church of God in Christ, where Cole once was a member. R&B star Chaka Khan is expected to sing at the funeral.

Cole will be buried next to her parents, sister and brother at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

She was known for such R&B hits as “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love),” “Inseparable” and “Our Love.” In 1991, she intertwined her musical legacy with that of her father Nat King Cole to make his “Unforgettable” a Grammy-winning hit through technological wizardry.

She died New Year’s Eve at age 65 of pulmonary arterial hypertension, which led to heart failure.

R&B singer Otis Clay dies at age 73

chicago

Hall of fame rhythm and blues artist Otis Clay, known as much for his big heart and charitable work in Chicago as for his singing internationally, died Friday. He was 73.

The Mississippi-born Clay – whose gruff, tenor-tinged voice on blues songs such as “Trying to Live My Life Without You” varied from his haunting but hopeful baritone on gospel standards such as “When the Gates Swing Open” – died suddenly of a heart attack at 6:30 p.m., said his daughter, Ronda Tankson.

The one-time Grammy nominee had a year of touring planned behind recent records and recognition at May’s 37th Blues Music Awards, manager Miki Mulvehill said. Clay is nominated for Soul-Blues Male Artist and Soul-Blues Album for “This Time for Real,” his collaboration with Billy Price.

Associated Press