Rapper Heavy D is dead at 44: report

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 8, 2011 7:01pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Heavy D, who scored hit singles such as "Now That We Found Love", died on Tuesday after falling at his Beverly Hills home, according to media reports. He was 44.

Celebrity news website TMZ.com said the rapper, whose real name is Dwight Errington Myers, was found on a walkway and an ambulance was called. When emergency workers arrived he was conscious and speaking but died later at a nearby hospital.

Beverly Hills police confirmed the basic information, but declined to release a name pending family notification. Police Lt. Mark Rosen said a man was found on a walkway at 2:25 p.m. EST, conscious and talking, but having difficulty breathing. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died on Tuesday afternoon.

Further details were undisclosed pending an investigation, but Rosen said there were no signs of foul play.

The singer's New York-based agent was not immediately available for comment.

Rotund rapper Heavy D was born in Jamaica and moved to Mt. Vernon, New York as a child. He enjoyed hip hop music as a kid and formed his first group, the Boyz, with high school friends who took the stage names DJ Eddie F, Trouble T-Roy and G-Wiz.

The group became Heavy D & The Boyz and released their first album in 1987, which included singles "Mr. Big Stuff" and "The Overweight Lover's in the House." Their breakout album came with 1989's "Big Tyme," which included the hits "Somebody for Me" and "We Got Our Own Thang."

The band met with tragedy in 1990 when Trouble T-Roy died in an accident. One year later, they scored their biggest hit with the album "Peaceful Journey" and single "Now That We Found Love," which reached the top five on R&B charts and crossed over to mainstream pop audiences.

A string of hits followed in the 1990s. The band sang the theme song for popular TV show "In Living Color," and Heavy D's 1999 CD "Heavy" became his seventh album to chart among the R&B top 10.

During those years, the rapper also began acting, working in small roles on film and TV before landing a role in high-school TV drama "Boston Public". His film work included parts in "The Cider House Rules," "Step Up" and "Big Trouble."

Heavy D performed at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards and at the Michael Jackson tribute show in Cardiff, Wales, both in October.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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"Harry Potter" is top People's Choice nominee

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 8, 2011 2:57pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nominations for the annual People's Choice Awards were announced on Tuesday, with popular films like the final "Harry Potter" and the latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" and their actors among nominees.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" will compete for favorite movie, alongside "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "The Help" and "Bridesmaids."

The final "Harry Potter" film in the long-running series was the most-nominated movie of all, with nine nods.

Daniel Radcliffe, who plays British boy wizard Potter, and Johnny Depp, Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates" films, will compete for favorite movie actor, along with "Twilight" heartthrob Robert Pattinson, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

Favorite movie actress nominees include Emma Stone, who starred in civil rights drama "The Help," along with Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway and Reese Witherspoon.

The People's Choice Awards, which will take place on January 11, come at the start of Hollywood's annual season of film and television honors leading up to February's Oscars. But the People's Choice winners are judged by popular vote, not by critics or industry associations as are many other awards.

The People's Choice awards also are given in TV and music in some 43 categories. Organizers said more than 40 million people voted online or via mobile phones and social media websites like Facebook or Twitter, for their nominees.

Of the nominees, singer Katy Perry landed in the most categories, seven, including favorite female artist and favorite pop artist. She also crossed over into film with a nod for animated movie voice for "The Smurfs."

In the category of favorite female artist, Perry will compete with Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Adele. Favorite male artist nominees were Justin Bieber, Blake Shelton, Bruno Mars, Eminem and Enrique Iglesias.

In the TV arena, nominees for best network drama were "The Good Wife," "Grey's Anatomy," "House," "Supernatural" and "The Vampire Diaries."

Nominees for network comedy were Emmy-winning "Modern Family," which will compete with "The Big Bang Theory," "Glee," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men." "Glee" actors including Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer and Leah Michelle all earned nods in favorite comedy actor or actress categories.

Voting ends on December 6. More nominees can be found at www.PeoplesChoice.com.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

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Jackson doctor to star in tell-all documentary

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 8, 2011 1:03pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson will star in a tell-all TV documentary airing this week, the company behind the film said on Tuesday.

The 50-minute documentary about Dr. Conrad Murray will air in the United States on MSNBC on Friday under the title "Michael Jackson and the Doctor," the network said.

The broadcast will come just days after Murray, 58, was found guilty on Monday of gross negligence in his care of the Jackson, leading to his death in June 2009. Murray pleaded not guilty but did not testify at his trial and is now in jail in Los Angeles ahead of a November 29 sentencing hearing.

The documentary explores the relationship between Jackson and his personal physician. It was shot before Murray's conviction and in it the doctor reveals details of his time with Jackson.

"Walking around with painful feet as a dancer, unbelievable calluses, so I brought the appropriate specialists. He was very pleased of course," Murray says in an excerpt posted on celebrity website TMZ.com.

The documentary was produced by October Films and what's it all about? productions and is distributed by British company Zodiak Rights.

They secured exclusive access to Murray in November 2009 -- following Jackson's death on June 25 of that year -- and filmmakers shot footage of the doctor over two years and during his six-week trial, Zodiak said.

The film will air on Thursday in Australia, and later this week in Britain, Zodiak said.

Medical examiners found Jackson died of an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol and sedatives, which Murray said he gave the singer as a sleep aid.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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World online music sales seen up 7 percent in 2011

LONDON | Tue Nov 8, 2011 1:30pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Global online music revenues are expected to rise by about 7 percent this year to $6.3 billion as digital services such as Spotify and iTunes gain momentum, technology research firm Gartner said on Tuesday.

But sales of CDs, hurt by piracy as well as paid-for online distribution, will continue to decline faster than can be made up for by digital sales, as the music industry struggles to adapt to consumers' changing behavior, Gartner predicted.

By 2015, Gartner forecasts online music spending will rise to $7.7 billion from $5.9 billion in 2010. In the same period, consumer spending on CDs and other physical music forms is seen falling to about $10 billion from $15 billion.

"The music industry was the first media sector to feel the full impact of two major forces -- the Internet and technology-empowered consumers," Gartner analyst Mark McGuire said in a report.

"It has staggered through the first decade of the 21st century and entered the second bedraggled financially and facing a powerful set of intermediaries, which are creating borderless global ecosystems that defy the industry's previous notions of control and monetization," he wrote.

Many consumers took early advantage of the Internet to illegally share music through services like Napster, hurting music labels like Universal, Warner and EMI that still dominate the industry.

But the convenience of legal purchasing from stores like iTunes is increasingly encouraging consumers to pay for music and the big labels are also raising more money from live music, sending many stars who had given up touring back on the road.

In addition, a host of subscription services to streamed music like Spotify, Lastfm.com and Pandora are gaining popularity. These are often offered by third parties keen to exploit a new market, including Facebook and mobile operators.

Gartner expects subscription services to be worth $2.2 billion by 2015, accounting for 29 percent of all online music spending by consumers.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by David Holmes)

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