VARIOUS: SHOWBIZ Review of the Year 2009 part 1 - YEARENDER - Looking back on 2009 - the showbiz stories that dominated the year

Record ID: 275552

  • Title: VARIOUS: SHOWBIZ Review of the Year 2009 part 1 - YEARENDER - Looking back on 2009 - the showbiz stories that dominated the year
  • Date: 19th December 2009
  • Summary: FANS DANCING TO 'THRILLER'
  • Embargoed: 3rd January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Reuters ID: LVADHO822CJA04TXEMQR26YOBM8Z
  • Story Text: 2009's top entertainment stories.
    THE KING OF POP DIES
    It was meant to be the comeback of the year. Instead, Michael Joseph Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, died on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50. Jackson died in Los Angeles, three weeks before he was to begin a sold-out series of 50 comeback concerts in London.
    Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael -- first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6.
    Their group later became The Jackson 5. Jackson made his first solo album in 1972.
    Jackson released "Thriller" in 1982, which went on to become the biggest-selling album of all time with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide. The next year, he unveiled his signature "moonwalk" dance on a 1983 Motown anniversary television special. Jackson won 13 Grammy Awards and was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His lifetime sales tally is believed to be about 750 million records.
    In August 2009, Los Angeles coroners ruled his death a homicide caused by an overdose of sedatives and the powerful anesthetic propofol. Police have investigated Jackson's personal physician but no charges have been filed to date against anyone.
    Jackson was given a televised public memorial in Los Angeles in July and was buried at a private funeral on September 3. "This Is It" the film, and an album of the same name are based on 80 hours of rehearsal video intended for Jackson's personal use. Sony's Columbia Pictures studio bought the film rights for 60 million U.S. dollars.
    In 1993, Jackson was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year old boy. He later reached a reported 23 million (USD) out of court settlement with the family of his accuser. Jackson went on trial in 2005 on charges of molesting another 13-year old boy in 2003. He was acquitted of all charges.
    In 1993 he announced he had become addicted to painkillers and abruptly canceled a world tour. In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie Presley, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
    Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999. Jackson had two children with Debbie Rowe -- Prince Michael I (12) and Paris Michael (11). He later had a third child Prince Michael II, 7, also known as Blanket, with an unidentified woman.
    Custody of Jackson's children was awarded to his mother Katherine after the singer's death.

    FARRAH FAWCETT DIES
    Overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson on the same day, Charlie's angel , actress Farrah Fawcett, died after a long battle with cancer. She was 62. Fawcett, was first vaulted to stardom by a poster of her in a red swimsuit and rapidly became one of the reigning sex symbols of the 1970s. She was diagnosed with anal cancer in late 2006. It spread to her liver in 2007, proving resistant to numerous medical treatments in Germany and California.
    Fawcett's death in a Los Angeles hospital came just six weeks after the television broadcast in May of a video diary she made chronicling her battle with cancer and her final months. Called "Farrah's Story," the documentary was effectively a self-penned obituary by the actress, who was bedridden and had lost her famous hair by the time it was shown.

    PATRICK SWAYZE DIES
    Another icon of romantic movies in the 80s, Patrick Swayze, also died of cancer. The actor was diagnosed in March 2008 with pancreatic cancer.
    The Texas native began his career as a dancer and made dozens of stage, film and television appearances over four decades. Pop culture immortality came with 1987's "Dirty Dancing," which defied Hollywood expectations to become one of the most-watched movies of all time.
    An unlikely romance builds between the pair as Swayze's character trains a gawky teen to stand in for his partner at a dance-off in the film's climactic scene and confronts her father with the often-quoted line from the film: "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."
    "Dirty Dancing," which was made for a modest budget and almost scrapped by its studio, became a massive box-office hit, earning Golden Globe nominations for both stars and spawning the Oscar-winning hit single "(I've Had) The Time of My Life."

    SUSAN BOYLE'S 'DREAM' ROCKETS TO THE TOP OF THE CHARTS
    Susan Boyle's debut 'I Dreamed A Dream' topped the UK and US album charts.
    The 48-year old Scottish singer, known for her dowdy looks but stunning voice, became an international YouTube sensation in April after appearing on the TV show "Britain's Got Talent." Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream," which was released in November, marked the best U.S. opening of a female artist's debut album since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. The album is already the third best-selling of the year after becoming the largest global CD pre-order in the 14-year history of Amazon.com.

    'SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE' CONTROVERSY
    Even before it walked away with eight Oscars, British movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' was marred with controversy. First of the Indian Diaspora disapprove of India being portrayed as a Third-World country and firmly believe that the condition is not as bad as portrayed, then there was the issue of the credits for the title song.
    But mostly it was the fact that the child actors were said to have been underpaid which provoked a huge debate.
    Newspaper reports said that the children's parents accused the film's producers of exploitation, while the main protagonists of the movie enjoyed the glitz of Hollywood.
    The film's British director, Danny Boyle, spoke of how he set up trust funds for two of the children and paid for their education. But it emerged that the children, who played Latika and Salim in the early scenes of the film, were paid less than many Indian domestic servants.

    MADONNA DIVORCED, ADOPTS AND 'CELEBRATES'
    Madonna started 2009 divorced. In October 2008, Britain's Sun newspaper reported that the singer and her husband Guy Ritchie planned to divorce.
    They both initially denied reports that they planned to end their eight-year marriage.
    The British tabloid, The Sun quoted a "highly-placed source" as saying Madonna, 50, and Ritchie, 40, "just couldn't live together any more" and could "no longer bear to live with the pretense" of being happily married.
    Rumours that the London-based couple planned to split circulated for months, fueled by reports that the singer had lined up Fiona Shackleton, a lawyer who acted for former Beatle Paul McCartney in his divorce.
    Madonna and Ritchie have a son, Rocco, who was several months old on their wedding day. In 2006 Madonna applied to adopt David Banda, a boy from Malawi whose mother died shortly after his birth.
    In April this year, Madonna was allowed to adopt a second child from Malawi, a 4-year old girl called Mercy James.
    The Malawi Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling which said Madonna could not adopt Mercy James because she was not a resident of the southern African country. Rights groups accused the government of giving Madonna special treatment and said the case would encourage foreigners to think they can adopt Malawian children at will.
    Mercy is the fourth child in Madonna's family. The singer also has a daughter, Lourdes, from an earlier relationship. She was married once before to actor Sean Penn, in the 1980s.
    Her new album 'Celebration' shot into the top ten of Britain's album charts, proving once again that the material girl is still very much a force to reckon with.

    MEL GIBSON DIVORCES AND HAS BABY WITH RUSSIAN GIRL-FRIEND
    Another high-profile divorce that made it into the media spotlight was that of Mel Gibson. The actor/director divorced his wife of 28 years and had a baby with his Russian girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.
    Gibson, 53, already has seven children.
    In filing for divorce, Gibson's wife, Robyn, cited irreconcilable differences with the "Lethal Weapon" star.
    Gibson was one of the highest-paid and most popular actors in the world in the 1990s, winning best-director and best-picture Oscars for his 1995 movie "Braveheart" but had a recent fall from grace in 1996 when he was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving in Malibu, California by a deputy from the Los Angeles Country Sheriff's Office and made anti-Semitic comments at the officers.

    JOHN TRAVOLTA LOSES ONLY SON
    The actor John Travolta mourned the death of his 16-year old son who died after an accident in the family's holiday home in the Bahamas. Jett Travolta died in January during the family's New Year's vacation. His death certificate listed the cause as seizure disorder.
    Travolta told the Bahamian Supreme Court that his son was autistic and suffered from a seizure disorder. He would suffer a seizure every five to 10 days, and Travolta said the seizures would last for 45 seconds to minutes.

    POLANSKI IN JAIL
    Polish-born film director Roman Polanski was arrested at the request of the United States when he flew into Switzerland on September 26 to receive a lifetime achievement prize at a film festival in Zurich.
    Polanski fled U.S. sentencing for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
    The Academy Award winning director -- whose films include "The Pianist" in 2002 for which he won an Oscar, "Rosemary's Baby", "Repulsion" and "Knife in the Water" -- was originally indicted on six charges, including rape, for having sex after plying the girl with champagne and drugs.
    The 76-year old director was released on bail into house arrest in his Swiss chalet after posting 4.5 million U.S. dollar bail, on condition he wore an electronic monitoring tag, surrendered his identity and travel documents and did not leave his house.
    House arrest means the Oscar-winning director could spend time with his family -- he is married to French singer and actress Emmanuelle Seigner, with whom he has two children -- while waiting for a decision on extradition.

    TIGER'S TROUBLES
    In less than three weeks, professional golfer Tiger Woods went being the highest-paid sports celebrity to daily fodder for the global tabloids resulting in defecting sponsors and an embarrassing number of sex scandals. Trouble emerged for Tiger Woods after a car accident in early morning hours near his Florida home on November 27, 2009. He was taken the hospital and released but refused to speak with the local police. Speculation that the accident was provoked by a blazing quarrel between Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, over his affairs.
    The tabloids soon released videos and pictures of numerous women claiming to have had a sexual relation with the golfer. Woods, the world's number one golfer and a married father of two young children, said in a statement published on his website that "I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves."
    The golfing icon, the world's first billionaire athlete who is believed to be the wealthiest sports personality on the planet said December 11 via his website, that he would take an "indefinite break" from pro golf, sending shockwaves through the sporting world.

    OPRAH QUITS
    Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, one of the most influential and highly paid women on television, announced that she is ending her popular daytime talk show in 2011. She is expected to move to cable network OWN, or Oprah Winfrey Network, a Los Angeles-based joint venture she formed with Discovery Communications Inc, when her current syndication deal for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" runs out in 2011. OWN will be available in more than 70 million homes.
    Winfrey's production company, Harpo Inc, declined to comment on whether or when a revised form of the program might appear on OWN, whose launch has been delayed several times since its original 2009 start date.
    "The Oprah Winfrey Show," broadcast from Chicago on ABC stations across the United States and in more than 140 countries overseas, is one of the television industry's biggest money-makers. It is the top-rated U.S. daytime talk show, averaging 7.1 million viewers this year.

    MOTOWN CELEBRATES 50 YEARS
    It has created some of the biggest starts like Wonder and The Temptations, and some of the all-time entertainment greats have come together to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Motown hit factory in Detroit.
    Berry Gordy founded what would become Motown Records a half-century ago with an 800 USD loan and was located in Detroit from 1959 to 1972 before moving to Los Angeles. Detroit's output included scores of hits, including "My Girl" by The Temptations, "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye.

    THE BEATLES BACK CATALOGUE REMASTERED
    The Beatles' entire back catalogue was remastered for the first time and went on sale.
    The re-mastered catalogue, its first overhaul since 1987, was seen appealing mainly to Beatles' fans who would appreciate subtle variations and improvements that technology has brought.
    The new music collection comprises 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in Britain, and "Magical Mystery Tour," which became part of the Beatles' core catalogue when the CDs were released in 1987.

    POPE RELEASES ALBUM
    Pope Benedict XVI took a stab at the music charts ahead of Christmas by launching an album which features his voice, set to the sounds of the Vatican Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    "Alma Mater" is the title of the album and it features for the first time ever the voice of Pope Benedict XVI, set to music composed for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome -- the oldest existing choir in the world which has been around for some 900 years.
    The compilation has been four years in the making under the guidance of producer Vincent Messina. And the album is being released under Geffen/Universal who signed and unprecedented world-wide record deal with the makers just over a year ago.
    The album's eight tracks are a blend of Lauretan Litanies, prayers and passages recited and sung by the Pope. The pontiff's voice, recorded by Vatican Radio, appears throughout the album in Italian, Portuguese, French and German.
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