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Former Monkee Davy Jones dies at age 66 in Florida - Yahoo! News

(Reuters) - Davy Jones, former lead singer of the 1960s made-for-television pop band The Monkees, died on Wednesday after suffering a heart attack in Florida, according to his longtime publicist. He was 66.

His publicist, Helen Kensick, said Jones died of a heart attack in Indiantown, Florida, but she had no further details.

Christine Weekes, administrative manager for the medical examiner's office in Fort Pierce, Florida, near the Martin Memorial Hospital South where the performer had been taken, confirmed the death.

Jones, born in Manchester, England, became the principal teen idol of the rock quartet featured on the NBC comedy series "The Monkees," which was inspired in part by the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" and ran for two seasons from the fall of 1966 to August of 1968.

Although not allowed to play their own instruments on their early records, Jones and his three cohorts -- Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork -- had several hits that sold millions of copies, including "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer."

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"Bad" cocaine killed American TV producer in Uganda - Yahoo! News

KAMPALA (Reuters) - An American television producer found dead on a hotel balcony in Uganda last week died after taking contaminated cocaine, police and a private investigator said on Saturday.

An official toxicology report confirmed the narcotic was in Jeff Rice's blood, dispelling initial suspicions the father-of-two known for his work on the U.S. show "The Amazing Race," had been poisoned by attackers.

Rice, who was found slumped over a table bleeding through the nose and mouth, died of asphyxiation, a post mortem showed. Drug users who fall unconscious risk inhaling vomit.

"Rice ... used cocaine which had lethal additives and that's what killed him," Uganda police spokesperson Asuman Mugenyi told Reuters.

Brad Nathanson, a private investigator and friend of Rice, said he had been shown the toxicology report by police and there was no evidence of "foul play" in Rice's death.

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Whitney Houston open casket photo on tabloid cover - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (TheWrap.com) - In a classy move certain to enrage fans while boosting sales, the National Enquirer has published a photo of Whitney Houston's open casket this week.

The image of the late pop diva was purportedly taken during a private viewing at the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, N.J.

The exercise in sensationalism is on par with the photos of Houston's last meal and the bathtub she died in that TMZ ran in the days immediately after her February 11 death at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

There's some precedent for the Enquirer's ghoulish glimpse at Whitney's wake. The tabloid ran similar open casket shots of Elvis Presley after the King of Rock died in 1977.

Just as it did with Presley, the headline loudly proclaims that it is "the last photo" taken of the singer.

The Enquirer also teases some other tawdry details about the Houston viewing. The singer was reportedly outfitted in her favorite purple dress, $500,000 worth of jewelry, and had gold slippers on her feet.

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Miami officials investigating singer Chris Brown - Yahoo! News

(Reuters) - Miami officials on Thursday said they are investigating R&B singer Chris Brown, who is currently on probation for assaulting ex-girlfriend Rihanna, following reports that he may have been involved in the theft of a mobile phone.

Celebrity news website TMZ.com reported that a 24-year-old woman filed a police report in Miami Beach this past Sunday for "robbery by snatching" and that Brown was the culprit.

The TMZ report said the woman tried to take pictures of the singer as he was leaving a nightclub and Brown took her iPhone and drove away.

Miami Beach police did not immediately return calls for comment, nor did Brown's representatives.

But Florida state attorney in Miami-Dade County, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, issued a statement late Thursday to address "erroneous reports ... regarding the Miami Beach Police Department's investigation of singer Chris Brown."

"My prosecutors are currently speaking with witnesses and reviewing all of the materials supplied by Miami Beach Police. Only after these reviews have been completed would any type of action be considered or taken," Rundle said in the statement.

Brown, 22, who won a Grammy award earlier this month, is currently midway through a five-year probation after pleading guilty to criminal assault for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. If arrested again, Brown risks being jailed for probation violation.

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Whitney Houston's clothes, earrings up for auction - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Whitney Houston has barely been dead a week, and already several of her belongings -- including a pair of earrings and a vest that she wore in the 1992 movie "The Bodyguard" -- will go on the auction block next month.

The items, which celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien obtained following the singer's February 11 death, will be included in the Hollywood Legends auction, which will be held at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills on March 31 and April 1.

Also among the Houston items that will go on the auction block: Several dresses, including a floor-length, black velvet dress owned by the singer and valued at $1,000-$2,000. (The vest and faux-pearl earrings that Houston wore in her breakthrough film "The Bodyguard" are valued at $400-600 and $600-$800, respectively.

The Hollywood Legends auction will also include memorabilia such as Charlie Chaplin's cane, the jacket that Clark Gable wore in "Gone With the Wind," and the staff that Charlton Heston used in the 1956 epic "The Ten Commandments."

Houston died at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills on February 11, prior to Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammys party. The singer was found submerged in her bathtub by a member of her personal staff, and emergency responders were unable to revive her. Houston was 48.

The singer was buried in at the Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, N.J. -- next to her father, who died in 2003 -- on Sunday. On Saturday, an invitation-only funeral service for Houston at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J. -- which Houston attended and sang at as a child -- included tributes from Kevin Costner, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Houston's producer Clive Davis and others.

A cause of death has not yet been announced, pending the results of a toxicology test.

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Bobby Brown briefly appears at Houston funeral - Yahoo! News

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Whitney Houston's ex-husband, Bobby Brown, has briefly appeared at her funeral before leaving.

Brown arrived as the service began. He walked to the casket, touched it and walked to the back of the New Jersey church Saturday.

Brown says in a statement that he and his children were seated but asked repeatedly to move. Brown says he left because he didn't want to create he a scene.

As he left, Brown appeared upset.

Houston died Feb. 11. A cause of death hasn't been determined.

Houston and Brown were married 15 years and have one daughter together. In 2003, police responding to a domestic violence call about Brown found Houston with a cut lip and bruised cheek. Their tumultuous relationship ended in 2007.

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Stars line up to perform at Whitney Houston's funeral - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alicia Keys and actor Kevin Costner will take part in the funeral of Whitney Houston along with the pop star's godmother Aretha Franklin, her cousin Dionne Warwick and singer Stevie Wonder, her family spokeswoman said.

Houston will be laid to rest on Saturday after the noon (1700 GMT) service at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, where she performed while growing up.

Police have urged the thousands of fans expected to crowd the area to stay home and watch the funeral which will be broadcast live.

The singer died in a Beverly Hills hotel room almost a week ago on the eve of the music industry's Grammy Awards. She was found underwater in a bathtub in her hotel room, according to police.

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