Celebrity News Page 1860

Former frontman of Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose, faced a lawsuit from his ex-bandmates, Duff McKagan and Slash concerning the royalties of their song's catalog. McKagan and Slash stated that Rose had signed a publishing deal with Sanctuary that included the lucrative back catalog of the band without their consent.

Accusing Rose of fraud, copyright infringement and breach of fiduciary duty, the two men placed the lawsuit in Los Angeles District Court on Wednesday. No comments from Rose himself or his representative so far.

The Cinderella man this time truly comes to a happy ending in his real life. According to the statement of his publicist, Russell Crowe has reached a settlement with concierge Nestor Estrada concerning the felonious telephone tantrum incident that occurred at the Mercer Hotel in June.

"Both sides expressed satisfaction at the resolution," the actor's publicist, Robin Baum, told E! Online Thursday. However, no details were revealed about terms of the settlement.

Being considered to violate the 1998 settlement between states and tobacco companies forbidding tobacco ads targeting young people, Gretchen Wilson was requested by the state attorney general to stop "glamorizing" the use of smokeless tobacco at her concerts. The country singer previously was clearly seen pulling a can of Skoal from her pocket while performing her new song, "Skoal Ring."

"Many young people attend your concerts and purchase your music and T-shirts," Attorney General Paul Summers wrote in his letter sent to Wilson Thursday. "Because your actions strongly influence the youth in your audience ... I ask you to take steps to warn young people of negative health effects of smokeless tobacco use."

Fans of Pearl Jam should be very delightful as the band set to launch its own digital download store via its official Web site, http://www.pearljam.com, on September 1. Developed by Basecamp Productions, this store will provide the full contents of the group's fall tour concerts for $9.99 as 192K MP3s.

The plan to carry out this idea has been floating around the Pearl Jam camp for several years. "The thing we were looking for was a really good way to manage the thing. That's where Basecamp came in. They developed a killer application I'm really confident the fans are going to love," so said Tim Bierman, manager of Pearl Jam's Ten Club fan organization, optimistically.

Successfully getting through his surgery, Bo Bice finally is allowed to check out from Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas. The American Idol finalist is going to rest for about six weeks in the process of recovering.

"He's in an undisclosed place for more R&R," said his minister, Donny Acton, who is the pastor of New Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church. "It's pretty serious stuff, and you can still get an infection."

Finding her second novel to be a little non-fictional, Pamela Anderson finally concluded to delay the release of "Star Struck." It appears to her that the storyline of the follow-up to last year's surprise hit, " Star," was too close to her own real life.

"I decided I needed to fictionalize it more, maybe kill a few people, throw in a little of this and a little of that. It just started feeling a bit too familiar to me," she explained.

More awards fell to Green Day's hands as the group won the categories of The Best Band on the Planet and Best Live Act at the Kerrang! Music Awards on Thursday. Held at The Brewery in East London, the Britain-based annual event also granted the Annual Icon Award for "A Notoriety That Has Spread All over the Globe" to rocker Marilyn Manson. Meanwhile, Killing Joke earned the Lifetime Achievement Award while Iron Maiden took the honor to be inducted into the Kerrang! Hall of Fame.

After decided to part ways in January to concentrate on their careers, celebrity couple, Orlando Bloom and Kate Bosworth, has rekindled their romance. Coming back with his ex-girlfriend, Bloom admits he's never been happier, though she's been reported to have a passionate love affair with director's assistant Lundi Shackleton.

"I'm really happy, Kate is a great girl. I am having a really good time. I went out to Australia to see Kate and she's doing an amazing job. She's such a talented actress, she's beautiful girl, she's a beautiful person and we are having such a great time together," so said Bloom expressing his feeling.

The influential musician P. Diddy has teamed up with award-winning producer Emilio Estefan, forming a multi-media venture called Bad Boy Latino. Concerning their new project, both of them plan to recruit, produce and market a musical artist roster for Bad Boy Latino.

"The Latino market in the U.S. is such a beautiful, diverse, and powerful market and I am blessed to have a partner like Emilio," Diddy said. "He is an amazing example of how creativity, combined with hard work and a belief in one's self, can spark an entire cultural movement." Wish you both all the best guys.

Congrats to actress Soleil Moon Frye and husband Jason Goldberg for their marriage now becoming even more complete with the arriving of a child. The happy couple welcomed their first child, Poet Sienna Rose Goldberg, early Wednesday morning in Los Angeles. Poet weighed in at a healthy 7 pounds, 13 ounces and most important is that mother and child are "doing wonderfully," so a source said.

Pop singer Justin Timberlake accepted an apology and damages from a British newspaper, News of the World, after the paper previously claimed that the man had cheated girl friend Cameron Diaz behind her back. As many had known before the paper claimed Timberlake had an affair with model Lucy Clarkson while he was in Britain at the end of 2003 to promote his album "Justified."

As fate would have it, the paper has at London's High Court on Wednesday admitted the July 2004 story was fabricated and agreed to pay undisclosed substantial damages and said it would run a prominent apology. Whereas, model Clarkson apologized for the distress and embarrassment she had caused and agreed to pay a sum equal to that she had agreed to receive from the paper. Justin said he would donate the libel damages to charity. So sweet.

R. Kelly has just sparked controversy concerning his "Trapped in a Closet," yet he'll soon out from the closet as MTV is bringing him onto the stage at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. The R&B star appearance, which was announced Tuesday by the network, will mark his first time performing on the annual awards show. Kelly will join previously announced performers Green Day, Coldplay, The Killers, Shakira, Kanye West, Ludacris, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent and Kelly Clarkson.

Showed up in federal court Tuesday, singer Rod Stewart said he was there to "defend my honor" in a breach of contract lawsuit filed by a Las Vegas resort. There stood the rapper to face off against Harrah's Entertainment in a lawsuit over a canceled casino concert. The Harrah's-owned Rio Hotel-Casino claims the British rocker canceled a 2000 concert while recuperating from thyroid surgery. Thus, the company is seeking the return of $2 million paid to Stewart for the show, plus interest and attorney's fees.

As for his side, Stewart's lawyer, Louis "Skip" Miller, told reporters his client has been willing to reschedule and has offered to perform two shows for the price of one, but is not being permitted to do so. Further, Miller explained that the thyroid surgery "took him about 10 to 12 months to get his voice back" and now "He is able and willing to do these concerts for them." According to Morris, they actually had been willing to discuss another Stewart show, but wanted the singer first to return the $2 million. When Stewart declined, the company moved forward with the lawsuit.

Driving down a highway in a Mercedes with two friends Thursday, Scarlett Johansson suddenly noticed that she was being followed by four sport utility vehicles with paparazzi inside. Trying to evade, the U.S. actress drove her car in Disneyland's parking lot, paid the 10-dollar parking fee to get in, but was still being followed.

As she tried to elude the paparazzi, she swerved into another car carrying a mother and her two children, said Johansson's publicist Marcel Pariseau. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident and police weren't investigated it because no police report was filed. "The two parties exchanged insurance information on their own, and no police report was filed to my knowledge," Anaheim Police Department spokesman Rick Martinez said Monday.

One more trouble to solve for rapper 50 Cent. The star, born Curtis James Jackson III, filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday against a Philadelphia car dealership, Gary Barbera Enterprises, which he claims has used his name and image in its advertisement without permission.

Per the suit, Gary Barbera Enterprises used the slogan "Just Like 50 Says!" over the backdrop of a Dodge Magnum and a photo of the rapper, allegedly without getting his consent. Thus, 50, who in the lawsuit describes himself as "a hugely popular and extremely successful hip-hop music artist ... known for his good looks, `gangsta' image and hard knocks success story," is seeking more than $1 million from the car dealer.