Kate Spade was under treatment for depression
NEW YORK — Designer Kate Spade, who committed suicide in New York this week, had been treated for depression and anxiety for five years, her husband said Wednesday. “She was actively seeking help for depression and anxiety over the last five years, seeing a doctor on a regular basis and taking medication for both depression and anxiety,” her husband Andy Spade said in a statement carried by It was a blunt rebuke to claims by the designer’s sister that Kate Spade needed mental health care but refused treatment over concerns about potentially hurting the light-hearted brand. The death of the 55-year-old star designer, whose body was found Wednesday in her Park Avenue apartment, “was not unexpected by me,” Spade’s older sister Reta Saffo told
from her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Celebrity news website TMZ cited police sources as saying Spade had fallen into depression in recent weeks after her husband left her and was seeking divorce. Andy Spade said that the couple had been living apart but in the same neighborhood, caring for their 13-year-old daughter Bea. —
Facebook announces first original news shows
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook on Wednesday announced its first original news shows for the social network, joining other online platforms producing video to compete with television. The news shows will be produced for Facebook by a variety of partners including CNN, Fox News, ABC News and Univision. The programs are producing the social network’s on-demand video service called Facebook Watch, which is part of an effort to compete with platforms such as Google-owned YouTube, and potentially develop a wider following. Facebook said the launch of news shows was also aimed at offering its members “trusted” content following concerns that the platform was used to spread misinformation. “Earlier this year we made a commitment to show news that is trustworthy, informative, and local on Facebook,” said a statement from Facebook news partnerships chief Campbell Brown. The first programs include ABC’s featuring contribution from the network’s journalists from around the globe; CNN’s featuring the popular CNN host; and
hosted by chief news anchor Shepard Smith. —
Indie rockers start streaming site for outtakes
NEW YORK — Indie rockers The National and Bon Iver on Wednesday unveiled the latest entrant into the streaming universe — a site for musicians to post their outtakes hassle-free. Dubbed People, the platform is designed not as a rival to major streaming sites such as Spotify but rather as a free site of benefit to musicians and, ideally, to fans. People, available in test form at will let artists upload tracks that did not make the cut for albums, early versions of songs that did see the light of day, or pretty much anything else the musicians think the world may want to hear. Justin Vernon, the central member of Wisconsin-based experimental rockers Bon Iver, speaking to said that many musicians lose focus and rhythm because they need to wait months before putting out their music. “So for me, People is a necessity for publishing certain music without cause for PR alarm, or any other reason than just to publish it,” he told the newspaper. —
Hollywood plans Bob Marley biopic
New York — The story of Bob Marley, the Jamaican superstar who in his short life brought reggae into the global mainstream, is set to become a Hollywood biopic. A representative for Paramount Pictures confirmed Wednesday that the studio was developing a film on the life on Marley, who died in 1981 at age 36. The studio did not offer further details but news site Deadline Hollywood said that the reggae legend’s son Ziggy Marley, himself a successful reggae musician, was leading production plans. The late legend has already been featured extensively in concert movies and documentaries, notably the 2012 film by Scottish director Kevin Macdonald which brought together archival footage and interviews. Any Hollywood biopic is likely to be scrutinized in Jamaica and abroad over what it chooses to emphasize. Marley has become loved by global audiences for hits such as “No Woman, No Cry” and “Redemption Song,” but diehard fans often question whether casual listeners appreciate his Afrocentrism, his Rastafarian faith or his major influence as a peacemaker within Jamaica. Marley’s fame has only grown since his death, which was triggered by cancer in a toe. —
‘Look Away’: Songwriter sued over Chicago hit
LOS ANGELES — Thirty years after the band Chicago hit number one with the ballad “Look Away,” a man who was just a teen back then is suing to say that he wrote the song. Brendan Greaves from northern Britain filed suit Tuesday seeking $20 million in damages from Diane Warren, the prolific songwriter who is credited with penning “Look Away,” which topped the US singles chart in late 1988. Greaves said he had submitted the song to a British school music competition in 1987 when he was a 14-year-old student. He did not win the contest sponsored by now defunct EMI Records, but alleged that Warren acquired the tune through the contest. On why it took him so long to complain, Greaves in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles said that he lived in a “quiet village” in Yorkshire and had not heard the Chicago song until 2015. Representatives for Warren did not immediately comment. The number of copyright lawsuits has been proliferating in recent years in the United States, especially since a ruling in favor of the family of Marvin Gaye. —