Rock producer Phil Spector will go on trial in January for killing a B-movie actress, nearly four years after the fatal shooting took place, a judge said on Friday.
Spector, who has pleaded not guilty and is free on US$1 million bail, was not present at the hearing before Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler.
Best known for his work with the Beatles and his signature Wall of Sound recording technique, the 66-year-old music impresario is accused of shooting to death Lana Clarkson, 40, in the foyer of his Los Angeles-area mock castle three years ago.
An autopsy report concluded that Clarkson, the star of such movies as Barbarian Queen and Amazon Women on the Moon, died after a revolver was placed into her mouth and fired.
Spector's lawyers are expected to argue that Clarkson committed suicide, echoing claims the producer made to police shortly after they arrived on the scene.
On the brighter side, Nicole Kidman's celebrity wedding to country crooner Keith Urban got underway yesterday, with the Hollywood star arriving at the clifftop church in Sydney dressed in a flowing white gown and veil and clutching a posy of white roses.
A crowd of cheering people swarmed into the street leading to the church compound when Kidman's Rolls Royce limousine came past, causing it to slow down to avoid hitting someone. Police moved in to clear a path for the car.
Helicopters buzzed overhead and hundreds of people -- including a throng of media cameras -- lined the streets outside the compound in the beachside suburb of Manly as guests arrived in luxury sedans and minibuses.
Some climbed trees and the stone wall outside the compound trying to catch a glimpse of activity inside. Police, black-suited private security guards and a high wire fence kept out onlookers.
Kidman, accompanied by father Antony, arrived in a cream limousine after driving from her harborside mansion in another part of the city -- followed all the way by media helicopters.
She held a long-stemmed posy and wore drop pearl earrings and a willowy veil -- in keeping with the traditional theme that had been expected for the Catholic service. Her hair was down.
Good news on the home front will no doubt cushion the pain of a recent legal decision for British pop star Seal.
The singer announced last week that he and his German supermodel wife Heidi Klum, 33, were expecting their second child together. They married in Mexico in May 2005.
He also found out that he will have to pay his former manager a commission of at least US$920,000 on earnings from his first two albums, following a ruling in London's High Court.
Justice Charles Gray ruled last week that the Grammy award winner was contractually obliged to pay the commission -- more than 10 years after they stopped working together.
The judge backed a claim by John Wadlow, who was Seal's manager until 1995, for further payments under
management agreements made in 1990 and 1995.
Seal, whose hits include Kiss From a Rose and Crazy, was ordered to make an interim payment of US$920,000 by July 21. Wadlow had sought up to US$1.8 million. A future court hearing will decide the full amount to be paid to him.
Earlier this month, Seal, 43, told the court he had seen Wadlow as a surrogate father but later felt that his former manager had "ripped him off."
Seal, whose real name is Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel, maintained that Wadlow was not entitled to the commission, saying that the agreements between them were the result of undue influence and constituted an unreasonable restraint of trade.
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