Italian tenor di Stefano dead at 86
MILAN, Italy, March 4 (UPI) -- Famed Italian lyric tenor Giuseppe di Stefano has died at his home in Santa Maria Hoe, north of Milan, his wife Monika Curth said. He was 86.
The Los Angeles Times said di Stefano had never fully recovered from head injuries he sustained trying to protect Curth during a 2004 robbery at his family's villa in Kenya.
Reportedly idolized by late opera icon Luciano Pavarotti, di Stefano was the long-time singing partner of soprano Maria Callas, whom he met in 1952.
Born in Sicily, di Stefano was drafted into the Italian army during World War II. After the war, he made his operatic debut in 1946 in Reggio Emilia as Des Grieux in Jules Massenet's "Manon."
He made his La Scala debut in the same role the following year and first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1948 as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's "Rigoletto."
Di Stefano went on to sing 112 performances there from 1948 to 1965.
His last performance was in Rome in 1992.
Curth told the Times he will be buried in Santa Maria Hoe after a church funeral Wednesday.
New 'Consequences' memoir is a fake
NEW YORK, March 4 (UPI) -- Riverhead Books is recalling all copies of "Love and Consequences" after the memoir was revealed to be a fake, The New York Times said Tuesday.
The unit of Penguin Group USA recently published the book about the life of a half-white, half-American Indian girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child who ran drugs for the Bloods gang.
Margaret Seltzer wrote the purported memoir under the pseudonym Margaret B. Jones, however, Seltzer's sister saw a newspaper article about the author and called the book's editors and said that Margaret Seltzer is all white and grew up in the upscale Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles with her biological family.
In addition to yanking the volume from shelves, Riverhead Books has also canceled Seltzer's book tour.
"There's a huge personal betrayal here as well as a professional one," Sarah McGrath, the editor at Riverhead who worked with Seltzer for three years on the book, told the Times.
"I just felt that there was good that I could do and there was no other way that someone would listen to it," Margaret Seltzer said in a telephone interview with the newspaper.
'Away,' 'Promises' win big at Genies
TORONTO, March 4 (UPI) -- "Away From Her" won seven prizes, including one for best picture, at the 28th annual Genie Awards at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The movie also earned Sarah Polley awards for director and adapted screenplay during ceremonies Monday night.
Julie Christie, who plays a beautiful, brilliant woman struggling with Alzheimer's disease in "Away From Her," won the prize for best lead actress, while Gordon Pinsent won the equivalent lead actor award for playing her devoted husband.
Their co-star Kristen Thomson won the supporting actress gong and the film also received the previously announced Claude Jutra Award.
The mob drama "Eastern Promises" also won seven prizes, including those for original screenplay, cinematography, editing, original score, overall sound and sound editing.
One of the film's stars Armin Mueller-Stahl won the award for performance by an actor in a supporting role.
Chesney nominated for 12 ACM awards
NASHVILLE, March 4 (UPI) -- Nominations for the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards were announced Tuesday in Nashville, with Kenny Chesney piling up 12 nominations.
Chesney is up for 12 awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist. In addition, he was nominated as an artist and producer for Album of the Year for "Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates," as well as Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for "Don't Blink."
He has been selected Entertainer of the Year the past three years.
Rodney Atkins earned six nominations, Brad Paisley garnered four and Big & Rich and Sugarland received four nominations as a duo.
Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift also each earned three nods.
For the first time, fans will choose the winner of the Academy's highest honor, Entertainer of the Year.
Fan voting begins May 5 and details on how to participate will be announced at a later date, the academy said.
Winners of the awards will be announced during a May 18 broadcast on the CBS television network from Las Vegas.
