Rod Stewart: Grave Digger
After playing semi-pro soccer, Rod the Mod abandoned his athletic dreams to work with the dead. He dug graves at London’s Highgate Graveyard but laid down his shovel after just a few weeks.
Chubby Checker: Chicken Plucker
Before he was twisting, the rock ‘n’ roll legend was plucking. As a teenager, the man born Ernest Evans tore the feathers off dead chickens at the Fresh Farm Poultry Market in Philadelphia, where his boss gave him the nickname “Chubby” and occasionally let him sing to customers over the loudspeaker.
David Lee Roth: Hospital Orderly
Long before Van Halen, the not-yet-Diamond Dave fluffed pillows and emptied bedpans in a hospital. It’s a career field he almost went back to post-stardom — in 2004, Roth started training to become a paramedic.
Madonna: Doughnut Slinger
As a struggling dancer in New York City, Her Madgesty worked behind the counter at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square. She was reportedly fired for squirting jelly on a customer.
James Brown: Pool Ball Racker
He was “the hardest-working man” even pre-show business! Brown grew up in Augusta, Ga., during the Great Depression, taking on several odd jobs to earn money, including shining shoes, washing cars, picking cotton and racking pool balls in local bars.
Gwen Stefani: Floor Scrubber
The Hollaback Girl’s very first job was mopping floors at a Dairy Queen near her home in Fullerton, Calif. She eventually left to work at a department store before joining her brother’s band, No Doubt.
Those born with a thirst for fame as well as an unfortunate (or boring) moniker face a tougher road to the A-list. So it’s no wonder that many celebs choose to drop their given name for something a bit more… catchy.
Of course, the gawking public isn’t dumb. They know the odds are slim that Sting was born with such an evocative handle. Each week we see an avalanche of searches for celebrity “real names.” Folks look up the obvious stage names (Larry the Cable Guy) as well as some that are a tad more subtle (John Wayne). Some of the lookups are met with disappointment. Madonna’s real name is, in fact, Madonna. Same deal with Prince.
Below we list the 20 top “real name” searches from the past week. Madonna and Tiger top the list, but you’ll find all sorts of actors, athletes, and musicians in the mix. Most people stick with the name they’re given. Celebrities are not “most people.”
He’s a screen legend – heck, he’s even been knighted! But Sir Ben Kingsley isn’t above a little kiss-and-tell when it comes to his on-screen smooch with 22-year-old Mary-Kate Olsen in The Wackness.
“She was completely in charge.”
The actor, 64, said of their enthusiastic make-out scene in a telephone booth.
The former star of Gandhi and Schindler’s List – who’s currently shooting with Martin Scorcese in Boston – drove down to New York for the movie’s Cinema Society and Sony Cierge-sponsored party at the Gramercy Roof Club.
source: Ben Kingsley: Mary-Kate Was ‘In Charge’ of Make-Out Scene [people]
Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday dinner was last night and the event was filled with celebrities who were lucky enough to be invited.
Mandela became the oldest elected President of South Africa when he took office at the age of 77 in 1994. He decided not to stand for a second term as President, and instead retired in 1999, to be succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.
Other guests at Mandela’s birthday dinner included Pierce Bronson, Neil Diamond, Forrest Whitaker, Will Smith, Bill Clinton and Annie Lennox. What an interesting, yet diverse group of people.
What others said:
Dlisted says, “Naomi showed up with her new boyfriend, Marcus Elias. New boyfriend did a good job of hiding the bruises on his face because you know Naomi beats his ass.”
Cops say 36-year-old Calvin Houghland was drinking a bit too much last night at some place called “The World Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge” when he started harassing Cher and, at one point, tried grabbing the 62-year-old diva. More importantly, what the hell was Cher doing at The World Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge?!
That’s when cops kicked Houghland out of Tootsies, telling him to get lost. He was arrested around 1:00 AM after he kept going back to the club. He’s been charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct, and is currently cooling his heels in the slammer awaiting release on $3,000 bond.
As mourners left the Tim Russert memorial, moments after hearing someone perform Somewhere Over The Rainbow at the service, a rainbow was seen over Washington, D.C.
“Pamela and the kids have moved in with me. It’s awesome, man. It’s definitely working. You can tell on the kids’ faces — they’re happy when we’re together.”
This relationship seems perfectly suited for reality TV — I wish them lots of luck!
Tila Tequila, who has proudly proclaimed that her MTV bisexual dating series, A Shot At Love, prompted the State of California to legalize gay marriage, is reportedly dating Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am.
Does she seriously think she’s the reason gay marriage is now allowed?
source: Tila Tequila Will.i.am Dating Rumors [popcrunch]
Less than 24 hours after a group of concerned parents and religious leaders gathered outside the Universal/Motown offices in Los Angeles to protest the bloody promotion for Ashanti’s “The Way That I Love You” single, the singer’s label has pulled the offending “Gotchagram” clip from her site.
And, according to one of the protest leaders, the decision came after his group threatened to picket Ashanti’s performance at Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday.
The singers label issued the following statement:
“Following discussions with Ashanti, we have jointly decided to remove the TheWayThatILoveYou.com website that hosts the Gotchagram. Ashanti and her music have always been about self-empowerment and addressing the issues that are most meaningful to her. We stand by our artist and her creative choices.”
Paul Porter of the nonpartisan media justice think tank Industry Ears said he was pleased with the rapid response, which he said came from the top. “I just got off the phone with [Motown Records President] Sylvia Rhone,” he told MTV News on Wednesday, just before the statement was issued. “And she said they were going to pull it down, and that was the goal, so we’re happy about that.”
Porter said the decision to can the promotion came after his group threatened to protest Ashanti’s performance of the national anthem during Sunday’s playoff game in Los Angeles.
Just after noon (ET) on Wednesday, Porter provided MTV News with a copy of the e-mail he sent with the protest threat, as well as what he said was the response from Rhone, which read, “The sight [sic] is down, I took it down this morning.”
As of 12:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the link to the Gotchagram was still on Ashanti’s official site, but it redirected users to her official homepage instead of the offending one.
Here’s the video for Ashanti’s single, “The Way That I Love You.” I suppose that one should keep in mind, Ashanti doesn’t kill the boyfriend in the video, only thinks about it. At the end, she throws the phone at him and leaves.
Former supermodel Jerry Hall’s youngest son is so protective of her, he has banned her from having a boyfriend.
The Texan beauty, 51, admits 10-year-old Gabriel - from her marriage to rocker Mick Jagger - is sickened by the thought of his mother bringing someone home, and has even threatened suicide to persuade her to continue to live her life as a single mother.
She says,
“Gabriel gets very angry with me if I work too much. And he absolutely hates the idea of me having a boyfriend. He says, ‘If you get a boyfriend, I will kill myself.’
I say to him, ‘But darling, you will grow up and get married one day and it would be nice for Mum to have some company.’ And he says, ‘No Mum, I am never going to leave you.’ But that’s what boys are like, isn’t it?”
No… boy’s aren’t like that — him threatening to kill himself is not normal!
And Hall insists she’s in no rush to marry again, because she’s happy on her own:
“I think having a partner is a bonus, but I don’t think it’s a necessity. I’ve always had my own money and worked and looked after myself.
I do see people and have dates and I think love is a wonderful thing, but that hasn’t really happened to me. I haven’t fallen in love. Maybe it will happen one day. But I think it would probably be idiotic to marry again. It seems to me that you do that when you want to have children. And I’ve had mine.”
Hall has three other children with ex-husband Jagger: Elizabeth, 24; James, 22, and Georgia, 16. The couple split in 1999.
After word spread that Prince covered Radiohead’s “Creep” at the Coachella festival, the tens of thousands who couldn’t be there ran to YouTube for a peek. Everyone was quickly denied — even Radiohead.
All videos of Prince’s unique rendition of Radiohead’s early hit were quickly taken down, leaving only a message that his label, NPG Records, had removed the clips, claiming a copyright violation. But the posted videos were shot by fans and, obviously, the song isn’t Prince’s.
In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince’s performance from a text message and thought it was “hilarious.” Yorke laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O’Brien, said the blocking had prevented even him from seeing Prince’s version of their song.
“Really? He’s blocked it?” asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. “Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment.” Yorke added, “Well, tell him to unblock it. It’s our … song.”
YouTube prohibits the posting of copyrighted material. If the site receives a complaint from a copyright owner, it will in most cases remove the video(s). Whether the same could be done for a company not holding a copyright is less clear, but Yorke’s argument would seem to bear some credence according to YouTube’s policies. YouTube, which is owned by Google, declined to comment. Prince also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The dispute was an interesting twist in debates over digital ownership, held between two major acts with differing views on music and the Internet. Radiohead famously released their most recent album, “In Rainbows,” as a digital download with optional pricing. They also have a channel on YouTube.
When Prince performed at Coachella on April 26, he prohibited the standard arrangement of allowing photographers to shoot near the stage during the first three songs of his set. Instead, he had a camera crew filming his performance.
Prince, who founded NPG Records in 1993, has been innovative when it comes to music distribution, too. He released his 1997 album, “Crystal Ball,” on the Internet and in 2006 was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Webbys. In 2007, he gave away copies of his disc “Planet Earth” in a British Sunday newspaper.
But the Purple One has also shut down his official Web site and last September said he would sue YouTube and eBay for not filtering unauthorized content.
Prince fans have organized to urge him to relent in his legal fights to control images and photographs of himself. As of yesterday, the most popular YouTube clip about Prince playing “Creep” is an expletive-laden rant from Sam Conti Jr., who describes himself as a “former Prince fan.”
Seems a bit overboard, doesn’t it? Did Prince even ask permission to cover the song in the first place?
Here’s Prince’s performance of Radiohead’s “Creep”. Let’s see if “his people” contact Daily Motion to have this clip removed.
source: Radiohead To Prince: Unblock ‘Creep’ YouTube Vids [billboard]
In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince’s performance from a text message and thought it was “hilarious.” Yorke laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O’Brien, said the blocking had prevented even him from seeing Prince’s version of their song.