THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2007
PEOPLE
7A
"American Idol" backup singers, from left, Kenya C. Hathaway, Sharlotte Gibson and Sy Smith perform on the Fox talent show's stage March 28 in Los Angeles.
Frank Micelotta/ASSOCIATED PRESS
>> AMERICAN IDOL
BY LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
The women, who routinely work with the likes of Beyonce and Mariah Carey, are the "American Idol" equivalent of a Charlie's Angels musical rescue squad, doing anything to make would-be stars shine.
Backup singers help stars shine
They've been regulars with Fox's hit series since it switched from
LOS ANGELES — When Haley Scarnato blanked on the lyrics to "Missing You" on "American Idol," Sy Smith did everything she could to help. When Chris Sligh lost the rhythm on more than one song, Sharlotte Gibson was there for him.
And when contestants want to borrow professional gloss for their performances, backup singers Smith, Gibson and Kenya C. Hathaway are ready to deliver.
canned tunes to a live band in 2005 under music director Rickey Minor. If they've gotten more attention this season it may be due to Melinda Doolittle, who's gone from a career as backup singer to top contestant.
ENTERTAINMENT Keith Richards now denies snorting his father's ashes
Gibson, Hathaway and Smith have deserved applause all along, said Minor, who's worked with them on a variety of award ceremonies and concerts since the late '90s. The women met each other on auditions and clicked instantly.
"There's a reason it these three girls in particular," Minor said. Of the 100 or so backup singers the indemand director calls on for his gigs, they are always the first choice.
LONDON — Off the cuff or up the nose? That was the question Wednesday as Keith Richards said he was joking when he described snorting his father's ashes along with a hit of cocaine.
"It was an off-the-cuff remark.
a joke, it is not true. File under April Fool's joke," said Bernard Doherty, a Rolling Stones spokesman, about Richards' quote in NME magazine
"They have such a unique way of studying the material, learning it, and then there's their blend. ... Their pitch and intonation is so spot on," he said.
In the interview, Richards was quoted as saying: "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father."
Richards
on its Web site that the remark was "no quip, but came about after much thinking" by the 63-year-old guitarist.
But the magazine said
"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared ... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."
In a statement on the Rolling Stones Web site. Richards said:
Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84.
"The complete story is lost in the usual slanting! The truth of the matter is that I planted a sturdy English Oak. I took the lid off the box of ashes and he is now growing oak trees and would love me for it!"
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Associated Press
AUTOPSY RESULTS
One doctor authorized all 11 prescription medications found in Anna Nicole Smith's hotel room the day the Playboy Playmate died of a drug overdose, according to documents released by the medical examiner's office Wednesday.
\nna Nicole's 11 medications prescribed by one doctor
BY MATT SEDENSKY ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — One doctor authorized all 11 prescription medications found in Anna Nicole Smith's hotel room the day the Playboy Playmate died of a drug overdose, according to documents released by the medical examiner's office Wednesday.
More than 600 pills — including about 450 muscle relaxants
were missing from prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old, according to information obtained by The Associated
It was unclear if Smith took all of them.
P ress s throug h a public record s request.
D r
Hristine
Eroshevich,
a psychiatrist
and friend of
Cohen, a spokeswoman for the California Medical Board, would not comment on any probe into Eroshevich; she said investigations of doctors are not public record.
The type of drugs found in Smith's system were disclosed with the release of her autopsy report last week, but the remarkable quantity of drugs she had was unclear until Wednesday's release of additional records.
Dr. Joshua Perper, Broward County's medical examiner, said two other doctors also prescribed Smith drugs, but those medications were not found in her hotel room.
Calls to Eroshovich in Los Angeles were not immediately returned Wednesday. Candis
Most of the drugs were prescribed in the name of Howard K. Stern, her lawyer-turned companion, and none were prescribed in Smith's own name according to documents.
the starlet's, authorized all the prescription medications in the Hollywood, Fla., hotel room where Smith was found unresponsive shortly before her death Feb. 8, the medical examiner's office said. Eroshevich had traveled with Smith to Florida.
The powerful sleeping aid chloral hydrate, the medication blamed with tipping the balance in the toxic mix of drugs and causing her death, was prescribed Jan. 2. About two-thirds of the bottle was gone, according
to the medical examiner's records. The records also show 62 tablets of the anti-anxiety drug Valium were missing from a prescription less than
two weeks old at the time of Smith's death.
A probe by the Seminole Police Department agreed with Perper's assessment that Smith's death at 39 was an accident overdose and that there was no foul play.
none were prescribed in Smith's own name, according to documents. Perper has said all the drugs were meant for Smith.
Most of the drugs were prescribed in the name of Howard K. Stern, her lawyer-turned-companion, and
Information released by Perper's office shows eight of the prescriptions were issued under Stern's name; one under Eroshevich's name; and two were under the name of Alex Katz. It was unclear if Katz was an
alias or the name of someone connected to Smith.
Also missing were 79 tablets of the anti-seizure medications Topomax and Klonopin; and at least two dozen diuretics, antibiotics, antivirals and potassium supplements.
The records show Smith had three prescriptions for muscle relaxants in her hotel room: two for carisoprodol, prescribed Jan. 2 and Jan. 26, and one for methocarbamol, under the brand name Robaxin, prescribed Jan. 2. Some 415 of the carisoprodol pills were missing from their containers as well as 33 of the Robaxin pills, according to the documents.
The newly disclosed documents did not mention the strong painkiller methadone or the anti-anxiety pill Ativan, both of which were found in Smith's system. Also missing from the report was disclosure on who prescribed human growth hormone, the muscle-building, weight-reducing agent Smith was said to have been taking.
Two attorneys for Stern did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Smith had a stomach flu and a temperature that rose as high as 105 degrees in the days before her death, and she had an infection on her buttocks from repeated injections.
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