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Mary J. Blige & MCA Hit With $10 Million Dollar Lawsuit

R&B superstar Mary J. Blige and her label, MCA Records, were hit with a $10 million lawsuit in United States District Court in the Southern District Of New York on Monday (January 27). The suit was filed by songwriters Kiyamma Griffin and Floyd Howard, who maintain that they were never paid any royalties for five songs they produced and wrote for the R&B diva.

The songs in question include “Sexy” by Howard and Griffin as well as Griffin’s “No Happy Holiday” from Blige’s 1999 set, Mary; and “Flying Away” by Howard and Griffin, “Destiny” by Griffin, and “To You” by Griffin from Blige’s 2001 album, No More Drama.

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Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Common Planned For New Roy Hargrove Set

Mainstream jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove plans to go in a more contemporary direction with his next recorded outing. Leading a newly formed ensemble called RH Factor, he will deliver the album Hargroove, tentatively scheduled for May 20.

Configured as a hip-hop-meets jazz project, Hargroove will also feature vocalists Erykah Badu and D’Angelo and rhyme stylers Common and Q-Tip, among other special guests.

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Prosecutors May Subpoena Aretha Franklin

DETROIT – Prosecutors may subpoena singer Aretha Franklin to obtain information about her home that was destroyed by a fire in October.

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office will decide this week whether to issue an investigative subpoena that would “compel her to testify,” said Assistant Prosecutor James Halushka.

Since the Oct. 25 fire, which has been ruled an arson, investigators have tried at least three times to interview Franklin. Her attorney, Elbert Hatchett, has answered most investigators’ questions on her behalf.

Halushka said if the subpoena is issued, the only way Franklin could avoid directly answering questions would be to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

“I wouldn’t expect her to do that because she is not a suspect,” Halushka told the Detroit Free Press for a Monday story.

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Jennifer Lopez Divorce Final This Weekend

Jennifer Lopez’s divorce from dancer Chris Judd will be finalized this weekend. Her second marriage will be legally dissolved on Sunday, January 26.

J-Lo’s first marriage was to Ojani Noa and the couple divorced in 1997. Her next long-term relationship was with rap mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. She met Judd on the set of the video for her hit “Love Don’t Cost A Thing.” A month after splitting with Combs, she married Judd in September, 2001 and they separated seven months later. She filed for the divorce in July, 2002. Judd will reportedly receive a $15 million settlement.

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‘Gimme a Break’ Star Nell Carter Dies

Nell CarterNell Carter, who played the sassy, matronly housekeeper on the 1980s sitcom “Gimme a Break!” and received a Tony Award in 1978 for her performance in the Broadway musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” died Thursday, her publicist said. She was 54.

The singer-actress collapsed in her Beverly Hills home and was found by one of her 13-year-old sons, spokesman Roger Lane said.

Carter had suffered from diabetes for years, Lane added, and underwent brain surgery in 1992 to remove an aneurysm. She recovered and continued to perform, mostly on stage.

Carter was in rehearsals at a Long Beach theater for “Raisin,” the musical version of “Raisin in the Sun.”

In addition to Carter’s Tony win for “Ain’t Misbehavin,’” she won an Emmy in 1982 for a TV broadcast of the show.

Her NBC comedy “Gimme a Break!” ran from 1981 to 1987, and garnered two more Emmy nominations, in 1982 and 1983.

In 1985, an episode of the show was broadcast live

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