Bluesman 'Magic Slim' dead at 75
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Morris Holt, the Mississippi-born blues musician known as "Magic Slim," died in a Philadelphia hospital, his representatives said. He was 75.
Billboard.com said the guitarist died Thursday while on tour in Pennsylvania. The cause of his death was not reported.
"Magic Slim embodied the heart and soul of this label," Blind Pig Records owner Jerry Del Giudice told Billboard.com. "It was Magic Slim, and the guys like him, and their music, that inspired us to start the label in the first place."
Holt signed with Blind Pig in 1990 and the label released 10 of his albums through 2012.
The musician and his band the Teardrops won numerous Blues Music Awards and the state of Mississippi erected in 2011 a Blues Trail Marker in front of a building in Grenada where Holt's mother had operated a restaurant.
Holt and the Teardrops, who played for years in Chicago's nightclubs, have been described as "the last real Chicago blues band," Billboard.com said.
McCready's funeral, memorial plans set
FORT MYERS, Fla., Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A private funeral in Florida and a public memorial in Tennessee are being planned for the late country music star Mindy McCready, E! News said Friday.
McCready, 37, shot herself at her home in Arkansas Sunday after years of battling addictions to drugs and alcohol.
E! said her funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at Crossroads Church in Fort Myers, Fla., but burial arrangements are still being planned.
Her friends in the country music community are working on a memorial tentatively scheduled for March 6 at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville, Tenn.
The singer is survived by her parents, as well as two young sons, who had been removed from her home and placed in foster care shortly before her death.
She lost custody of Zayne, 10 months, and Zander, 6, after she allegedly started drinking and using drugs again following the January death of her fiance, David Wilson.
McCready's friend, Danno Hanks, a private investigator, told People.com McCready had been upset after she was served with court papers proposing her little boys be sent to live with her mother, with whom she had a stormy relationship.
"The most important thing are my babies must come home," Hanks said McCready wrote in an email.
"She lost all hope," Hanks said of McCready.
People.com said police responding to the scene of McCready's death reported her house smelled foul because food was left out to spoil and dog feces were everywhere.
But McCready's longtime friend, Shawn Carnes, told E! News the singer took pride in her home and always attempted to curtail the mess created by two young children.
"It is nonstop with two kids, but it wasn't filthy," Carnes said. "We all -- including Mindy -- kept that house as immaculate as we could."
Jay-Z, Timberlake confirm concert tour
LONDON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Justin Timberlake announced on his website he and Jay-Z will headline separate days at London's Wireless Festival 2013 this summer.
The wildly popular music artists are collaborators on the current hit song "Suit & Tie."
Timberlake is to lead the lineup of musicians playing at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park July 12. Also on the bill that day will be Snoop Dogg, Trey Songz, John Legend, Miguel and Frank Ocean.
This will be Timberlake's only U.K. festival performance of the year.
"So this is your one chance to see him in a festival setting in 2013, performing songs from his new album, 'The 20/20 Experience,'" a message on his website said.
Jay-Z will be the headlining act at the London festival July 13. Set to take the stage that day as well are Emeli Sande, Rita Ora, Calvin Harris and Kendrick Lamar.
Jay-Z and Timberlake announced Friday they are planning a North American stadium concert tour together this summer.
Their "Legends of the Summer" show will stop in 12 cities, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto.
Megan Fox to star in 'Ninja Turtles'
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Hollywood starlet Megan Fox has signed on for a role in the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie, produced by her "Transformers" collaborator Michael Bay.
Fox and Bay had an infamous falling out after the actress described the veteran producer as acting like Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler on the sets of 2007's "Transformers" and 2009's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
She didn't appear in the third installment, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" in 2011.
However, Bay announced on his website Thursday he will be working with Fox again on "TMNT."
"We are bringing Megan Fox back into the family," Bay wrote.
No details about how the two buried the hatchet or what role the actress will play were immediately available.
