LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Ray Charles' final CD, "Genius Loves Company," features Charles duets with 12 of the leading contemporary singers of soul, pop and jazz -- and producers said the line of artists who wanted to participate was so long that there might well have been a secon

LOS ANGELES, June 10 (UPI) -- Ray Charles, a 12-time Grammy-winning singer-pianist who pioneered the blending of country and R&B, died Thursday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 73.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., March 23 (UPI) -- Starbucks and Concord Records announced Tuesday Ray Charles' upcoming CD of duets will be released in Starbucks shops late this summer.

CARMEL, N.Y., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Composer Bart Howard, who penned the 1962 hit "Fly Me To the Moon," has died in Carmel, N.Y., from complications of a stroke at the age of 88.

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 30, the 273rd day of 2003 with 92 to follow.

A man who has confessed to four separate homicides during one 18-month period has been ordered to stand trial in Pittsburgh.

Composer and pianist Hall Overton was born this day in 1920 in Bangor, Mich. He played with Stan Getz, Oscar Pettiford, Teddy Charles and Jimmy Rainey, and wrote arrangements for Thelonious Monk's historic orchestral concert at Town Hall in 1959.

BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR HOLLYWOOD ECONOMY

FLATTERY DOESN'T ALWAYS WIN THE PRIZE