Names and faces
■ Country music legend Kris Kristofferson has retired from the music business, according to a news release. In his music stardom, Kristofferson wrote and recorded classic tunes like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and crossed over into acting in films like “Heaven’s Gate” and “Blade.” However, in recent years Kristofferson, 84, had been dealing with memory loss, which he attributed to Lyme disease. If the retirement sticks, Kristofferson’s final performance would have been on the Outlaw Country Cruise in January last year. “It wasn’t any big stake in the ground, like ‘I’m retiring! I’m not doing this anymore!,” Tamara Saviano, Kristofferson’s longtime manager, told Variety. “It was an evolution, and it just felt very organic. There was no big change — it was this sort of slow ‘What should we do now? What’s next?’ And here we are in the middle of a pandemic… It was like, ‘Yeah, let’s retire.’” The singer is handing over business operations of his record label and management of his music catalog to his son, John Kristofferson. However, Kris Kristofferson will continue pursuing his creative passions and might even un-retire if he gets inspired. “I’m not gonna say Kris will never record again, Kris will never take the stage again, because the moment I say that Kris will prove me wrong,” Saviano said.
■ Rock icon Rod Stewart and his son have reached a plea deal to settle misdemeanor battery charges stemming from an altercation with a security guard at a posh Florida hotel. Prosecutors and defense attorneys announced Friday that Stewart and his son, Sean Stewart, would not be going to trial for the altercation at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach on New Year’s Day last year, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. Terms were not released. Stewart, 76 and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is best known for such hits as “Maggie May” and “Tonight’s the Night.” The London-born singer was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016. Security guard Jessie Dixon told police then that Stewart and his family were at the check-in table for a private party that they weren’t authorized to attend. Dixon said the group became loud and began causing a scene. Dixon told investigators that he put his hand on the younger Stewart’s chest and told him to back up and make space, the report said. That’s when Sean Stewart, the rock star’s 40-yearold son, got “nose to nose” with Dixon. Sean Stewart then shoved Dixon backward. Rod Stewart punched Dixon in his “left rib cage area” with a closed fist, a police report said.