The Last Word: Bobby Brown’s Fake Heart Attack, Ginuwine’s Fake Record Deal, and Janet Jackson’s Fake Marriage

Hey young world. What’s good? The week has passed and we’re talking about Fred Thompson’s Republican debate performance, DC sniper Lee Boyd Malvo regretting his role in the sniper killings, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre waiting to see if he will still have a job, and the 14-year-old student who police discovered with a […]

Hey young world. What’s good? The week has passed and we’re talking about Fred Thompson’s Republican debate performance, DC sniper Lee Boyd Malvo regretting his role in the sniper killings, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre waiting to see if he will still have a job, and the 14-year-old student who police discovered with a stash of weapons and plans to turn a Pennsylvania high school into another Columbine.Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims killed in that shooting rampage in Cleveland, Ohio. Shout out to Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Akon and the rest of the American Music Award nominees as well as New York for giving us another season of her crazy yet entertaining VH1 reality show and the sounding boards, who keep giving me feedback…whether I like it or not.  And now our feature presentation…the Last Word for the week ending Oct. 12, 2007. 1. Ray Charles’ Son Sues Singer’s Former Manager Looks like Ray Charles can join James Brown on the list of singers who can’t seem to rest in peace. EURweb.com reports that the late singer’s son, Ray Charles Robinson Jr. Is suing his father’s manager for $10 million in damages.  The suit, which was filed Friday (Oct. 5) at a Los Angeles court, stems from allegations that Adams cheated Robinson out of family company shares following Ray Charles’ death. According to court papers, Adams was named by the singer as the executor of his estate.  Robinson claims in the suit that Adams coerced him into relinquishing shares in a family-owned production company, according to Agence France Presse, which reports that. Robinson admitted he was not in a state to make such an agreement since he was having drug problems.  The suit goes on to reveal accusations of Adams seeking control of the company to profit from Ray Charles’ name. Now I ain’t saying he a gold digger, but…  2. Justin Timberlake Makes Billboard History Congratulations are in order for Justin Timberlake, who became the first male solo male artist this decade to generate six top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from the same album. The feat was accomplished through his hit song “Until the End Of Time,” which jumped from number 41 to 28 this week.  The six hits can all be found on Timberlake’s latest release, FutureSex/LoveSounds. For those keeping track, the last solo male artist to do this was Michael Jackson, whose album Dangerous album produced seven such hits from 1991-93, according to Billboard.com. Shania Twain’s Come On Over, which had six top 40 Hot 100 hits from 1997-99, was the last album overall to get to that level. 3. Bobby Brown Suffers Mild Heart Attack or Misunderstood Doctor’s Visit? OK. This is what we know. Bobby Brown was taken to Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Tarzana, California on Tuesday (Oct. 9) afternoon by his girlfriend Alicia Etheridge after having severe chest pains. “This morning they did diagnose him as suffering from a mild heart attack … they attributed (it) to stress and diet,” Brown’s attorney, Phaedra Parks, told the Associated Press, adding that the crooner was released Wednesday (Oct. 10) morning in good condition. Parks further stated that Brown, who thanked his fans for their good wishes, is still planning to take the stage at the V100 Taste of Soul concert and festival on Saturday (Oct. 13) in Los Angeles. While it’s good to see Bobby back in good health, the whole situation was news to the 38-year-old singer himself as he told EUR’s Lee Bailey. “I heard that I had a heart attack earlier, but I didn’t.” Instead, Brown said his visit to the hospital as nothing more than a simple pre-tour check-up. “I gotta make sure my vitals and everything is straight” Brown told EUR. “I just had some procedures done. The doc cleared me and said, you know, [go] do what I do.”  So how did Parks get Brown’s situation twisted? According to the singer, “She got bad information from somewhere else, and that just goes to show that people need to talk to each other more often in order to make things right”  And that, ladies and gents, are the facts of the case. So who do you believe, Bobby B or his attorney and the media? I leave it up to you and those folks who are under the assumption that singer could withdraw from KFC or that crash crack diet he’s always rumored to be on. Let me know what the verdict is. 4. Janet Jackson Talks Marriage and New Book With her new movie Why Did I Get Married? hitting theaters today (Oct. 12), it may seem that Janet Jackson is open to talking about marriage. Or at least the possibility of marriage.  While she’s quick to shoot down rumors of jumping the broom with longtime beau Jermaine Dupri, Ms. Jackson was a little more open about sharing what she got out of her previous unions with former husbands James DeBarge and Rene Elizondo. “I didn’t really take anything from my personal marriages,” Jackson shared with People.com. “But from experience, and even from doing this film, it makes me realize that marriage is definitely a work in progress…but if it’s something you really want and the love is there, you will put in the work in time.”  As for Dupri, the So So Def mogul has his own theory about why his relationship with Jackson is successful.  “The altar is like a party for your marriage. That is how I look at it,” Dupri said when asked if the fact that he and Jackson aren’t married is the secret to their loving and long lasting relationship. “I don’t think marriage itself even matters. I think people put too much importance on labels when it comes to marriage. Nothing changes when you go to the altar…if you’re with somebody, you’re with somebody.”  Now that we’ve established that a church ceremony isn’t in Janet’s immediate future, we can take comfort in knowing that the singer is writing a book on her personal struggle with her weight. “[I’m] really coming from the soul with it, and what I was going through at different times in my life and what possibly brought it about for myself,” Jackson said about her latest project during a press roundtable for Why Did I Get Married? And if you want to know exactly how Jackson shed the extra pounds in time to promote her latest album, she’s got you covered with details on what she did “nutrition-wise” to shed the weight “when she needed to.” But be warned, “It’s different for everyone,” the songstress said about her method.  Translation: Don’t think you’re going to get all sexy like Janet after a couple of reps and a crash diet. It ain’t that type of workout. 5. Ginuwine Becomes Victim of Fake Record Deal Record company people may be shady, according to A Tribe Called Quest, but does Rule #480 apply to shady labels that don’t exist? In a lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan’s Supreme Court, Ginuwine said that he was persuaded to sign a record deal with King Music Group on May 8, 2007.  King Music Group Inc. is a company that a personal acquaintance named Michael Bourne said he owned. According to court papers, the contract stated that Ginuwine was set to receive $1.75 million to record his first album with King, including a $500,000 advance.  In nearly five months, the singer hasn’t made any records and hasn’t been paid a cent, according to the lawsuit, which further stated that there is no corporate record for King Music Group Inc. anywhere in New York, California, Florida or Tennessee. And to make matters worse, Corey D. Boddie, Ginuwine’s lawyer, recently told the AP that his client is now unable to record anywhere else. He said the singer could be sued if he made records for another company while under contract to King. King Music and Bourne are charged with breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation, according to the suit, which seeks $4 million in damages.6. Mya’s Lifetime Connection to Breast Cancer R&B songstress Mya is putting her talent towards a personal cause as she lends her voice to the first-ever theme song to Lifetime Teleivsions’s 13th annual “Stop Breast Cancer for Life” campaign. Co-written specifically for Lifetime by Grammy-winning producer/songwriter James Poyser, “My Bra” will feature vocals from Mya, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor. Viewers can hear the song in various on-air and online elements of the campaign, including the specially-themed Lifetime original movie Matters of Life and Dating. Matters of Life and Dating will premier at 9PM (ET/PT) Oct. 22 on Lifetime. Proceeds from the sale of “My Bra” will go towards breast cancer research.