Search Results for: Refused

Lawyers for Britney Spears and the Skechers footwear company have settled competing federal lawsuits over a deal for the pop star to market a line of roller skates and accessories, court documents state. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Spears filed a $1.5 million breach of agreement lawsuit against Skechers in December, claiming the Manhattan Beach-based company failed to pay her adequately for marketing a line of skates and accessories. The 21-year-old pop star also claims Skechers failed to find outside businesses to make accessories for her line, and used her presence in ads to increase sales of its… Read more »

Controversial Irish singer Sinead O’Connor, once famously booed offstage for tearing up the Pope’s picture, declared on Thursday that she’s had it with the music business and with being famous. “As of July 2003, I shall be retiring from the music business order to pursue a different career,” wrote O’Connor – who distinguished herself in the 1990s as much with her shaven head and brash opinions as with her music – on a Web site devoted to all things Sinead, (http://www.sinead-oconnor.com). Although the site is not the official home page for the singer, Lellie Capwell, a spokeswomen for Vanguard Records,… Read more »

A federal judge rejected a constitutional challenge Thursday by Verizon Communications Inc., which is trying to avoid turning over the names of two of its Internet subscribers suspected of illegally offering free music for downloading. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, who ruled against Verizon in January in the same case, determined that First Amendment protections concerning anonymous expression do not conflict with the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The law permits music companies to force Internet providers to turn over the names of suspected music pirates upon subpoena from any U.S. District Court clerk’s office, without a judge’s signature… Read more »

Phil Spector’s lawyer addressed his client’s arrest in the February shooting death of Lana Clarkson for the first time on Tuesday, contesting an investigator’s comments ruling out the possibility of a suicide. “I am convinced that the thorough and accurate investigation of the evidence by the Los Angeles sheriff’s department, its criminalists and the county coroner will prove that Phil Spector is innocent of any crime,” attorney Robert Shapiro told the Associated Press. Shapiro, who did not return calls from MTV News, commented after Captain Frank Merriman told the AP that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department believes a crime… Read more »

Should old acquaintances be forgot and never brought to mind? Not if you’re the Osbournes. Sharon and Ozzy aren’t about to forgive and forget a woman who allegedly crashed their New Year’s Eve party and walked out with a $15,000 diamond necklace she obtained by winning a raffle illegally. The Osbourne camp issued a statement to the press Friday evening to draw attention to the incident, and to talent agency ICM, where the presumed perpetrator is employed. The party, which doubled as a ceremony to renew their 20-year-old marriage vows, was held at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The necklace was… Read more »

Phish put its long-suffering fans out of their misery in style. Returning from a two-year hiatus, the Vermont jam band with the obsessive fan base played a long, high-energy show at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve before a raucous crowd, with some fans paying more than $1,000 to get into the sold-out concert. A band known for its New Year’s Eve showmanship didn’t disappoint: Tom Hanks made a surprise stage appearance, and as the clock struck midnight costumed dancers on stilts spread through the audience and fake snow and white balloons tumbled from the rafters. But the crowd… Read more »

Sixty years after his birth, one of the most important artists ever to emerge from Seattle is – at least officially – almost invisible here. There’s no Jimi Hendrix Boulevard, no Hendrix Arena, no Hendrix Elementary School. The only thing the city has done to recognize the man many consider the world’s greatest guitar player is to give him a rock – in the African Savanna exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo. Biographer Charles Cross of Seattle, who has spent years researching Hendrix for an upcoming book, called the oversight “almost criminal.” “The Seattle city government has never given any… Read more »

Word has surfaced that the ex-wife of Creed’s Scott Stapp was arrested earlier this month for aggravated battery with a weapon after she hit the famed rocker in the face with a cell phone during an argument in the bedroom of his Orlando, Florida home. Hillaree Stapp “picked up a cell phone and punched [Scott] with it across his left side of his face” with enough force to cause his head to “jerk to the right,” according to a report filed by the Orange Country (Florida) Sheriff’s Office. The incident took place on November 14 as the pair discussed “the… Read more »

A federal judge threw out a $70 million lawsuit filed by an anti-gangsta rap crusader who claimed lawyers for two record labels tried to drive her to emotional and financial ruin. C. DeLores Tucker and her husband sued in 1999, claiming she was the victim of malicious prosecution because of her campaign against gangsta rap. According to her lawsuit, she met with executives from Time Warner and Death Row Records in 1995 to try to persuade them to clean up the language in gangsta rap. The Tuckers claimed that Death Row Records, rap label Interscope, five attorneys and two hired… Read more »

About 50 Syrian protesters crashed a U.S.-sponsored public rock concert in Damascus on Thursday held in honor of victims of the September 11 attacks, demanding Washington stop its battle cry against Iraq. “Stop the drums of war so we can hear your music,” protesters yelled at the rock memorial, which was attended by around 150 people, including some Americans. The protesters also waved signs and shouted slogans protesting against U.S. support for Israel, accusing the United States of “serving Zionist criminals” and participating in “dirty crimes” against the Palestinian people. President Bush told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that… Read more »