Fashion designer, Jagger’s girlfriend
NEW YORK - L’Wren Scott, a fashion designer and celebrity stylist who was Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, was found dead in Manhattan of a possible suicide, a law-enforcement official said Monday.
The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the victim’s next of kin had not yet been notified of her death.
The official said Scott’s assistant found her hanging from a doorknob at 10 a.m. Monday. The official said no note was found, and there was no sign of foul play.
A spokesman for Jagger said the singer was “completely shocked and devastated by the news.” The pair had been dating since 2001.
Scott, who was adopted by Mormon parents and raised in Roy, Utah, had her own fashion label popular with celebrities. She was a fixture on Jagger’s arm and, at about 6-foot-3, towered over her famous boyfriend.
She founded her high-end label in 2006 and recently created a more affordable line of clothes with Banana Republic.
On the red carpet, she had dressed stars such as Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Jessica Parker and Angelina Jolie.
Just last month, Scott canceled her London Fashion Week show because of reported production delays.
Listerine heiress, Edwards supporter
BLOOMBERG NEWS
WASHINGTON - Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, the heiress to one of America’s great business fortunes whose support of presidential candidate John Edwards had attracted her, at 100, the type of public scrutiny she had spent a lifetime avoiding, has died. She was 103.
She died Monday at her estate in Upperville, Va., said her longtime lawyer, Alexander D. Forger.
The granddaughter of the inventor of Listerine, Mellon was well-off even before her 1948 marriage to Paul Mellon, the son of Andrew Mellon, the Pittsburgh industrialist turned financier. Together, the couple continued Andrew Mellon’s philanthropic support of arts and education, while preferring to avoid the public spotlight.
At the couple’s estate in Virginia, Mellon hosted upper-crust visitors over the decades including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, and, fatefully, Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and presidential hopeful.
In June 2011, a federal grand jury indicted Edwards on charges of violating campaign finance laws. At the heart of the case was $725,000 paid by Mellon - referred to as “Person C” in the indictment - starting in 2007 for the benefit of Rielle Hunter, Edwards’ pregnant mistress.
Mellon wrote the checks to an interior-decorator friend, Bryan Huffman, who acted as an intermediary between her and the Edwards camp.
Mellon wasn’t accused of wrongdoing and wasn’t summoned to testify at Edwards’ trial in Greensboro, N.C., in April and May 2012.
On its ninth day of deliberations, the jury acquitted Edwards on one count. The jury deadlocked on the five other counts and prosecutors decided not to retry him on those charges.
Jingle writer, Tony winner for La Mancha
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Mitch Leigh, a successful advertising jingle writer whose debut attempt at writing music for a Broadway show became the instantly celebrated hit Man of La Mancha and earned him a Tony Award, has died. He was 86.
Leigh died Sunday in New York of pneumonia and complications from a stroke, said his assistant, Lisa Maldonado. A memorial was being held Monday afternoon in Manhattan.
Leigh followed up his early theatrical success by producing and directing for the Broadway stage, including a 1985 production of The King and I with Yul Brynner in which he earned a Best Director Tony nomination, but never reached the dizzying heights he did with Man of La Mancha in 1965.
He also produced The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm in1999, supplied the music for Ain’t Broadway Grand in 1993, produced Chu Chem, billed as the first Chinese-Jewish musical in 1989, and backed a 1983 revival of Mame with Angela Lansbury. In later life, he turned to real estate and the creation of a huge residential and commercial project in New Jersey.
Born Irwin Michnick in the Brooklyn borough of New York in 1928, Leigh was a childhood fan of Benny Goodman, served in the Army and went to Yale University for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, studying under Paul Hindemith.
Leigh created his own radio and television commercial production house in 1957, called Music Makers Inc., which employed a staff of composers, musicians, and orchestrators, turning out jingles for hundreds of commercials. He penned “Nobody Doesn’t Like Sara Lee,” and his clients included American Airlines and Polaroid.
Drummer for punk rockers the Stooges
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Scott Asheton, drummer for the influential punk rock band the Stooges, has died. He was 64.
Publicist Michele Adler confirmed Monday that Asheton died Saturday. No other details were provided.
Bandleader Iggy Pop posted on his Facebook page Sunday that he’s “never heard anyone play the drums with more meaning than Scott Asheton.”
Asheton was part of the Stooges when they formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Mich. His older brother, Ron Asheton, who was the group’s guitarist, died in 2009. The Stooges released their self-titled debut in 1969.
“He was like my brother,” Pop’s statement read of Scott. “He and Ron have left a huge legacy to the world. The Ashetons have always been and continue to be a second family to me. My thoughts are with his sister Kathy, his wife Liz and his daughter Leanna, who was the light of his life.”
Asheton suffered from undisclosed illnesses in 2011 and was unable to perform at summer music festivals in Europe with the Stooges.
While the Stooges weren’t a commercial success, they went on to become one of the significant bands in punk music. Their raw sound helped inspire the first generation of punk musicians. The band influenced acts including Patti Smith, the Ramones and Sid Vicious. The group landed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
After recording three albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Stooges split and Pop went on to a successful solo career. The band reunited for 2007’s The Weirdness and Ready to Die, released last year.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 03/18/2014