The White Stripes' Jack White (file)
Photo: Jason Squires

It seems Jack White has fallen out of love with a girl. The White Stripes frontman, 29, and his actress girlfriend, Renée Zellweger, 35, have called it quits after more than a year and a half together. Zellweger's publicist told People magazine that the couple broke up in September but "remain good friends. No scandal. No new relationships." ... Meanwhile, the White Stripes, known to have Luddite tendencies, are actually embracing the 21st century. The band has made The Blackpool Deluxe EP, a collection of live tracks from its performance at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England, available for download at the iTunes Music Store. The three-song EP, featuring versions of "Jolene," "Seven Nation Army" and "Hotel Yorba," is available for just $2.97. ...

Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff and Paris Hilton all made the top 10 of the Internet Movie Database's 2004 STARmeter, which lists IMDb.com's top 25 stars of the year, based on the search behavior of the site's more than 20 million users. Johnny Depp took the #1 spot. ... Earlier this month, New Found Glory announced the first batch of dates for their Back to Basics Tour of smaller venues throughout the country. Now, they've added more shows: They'll hit Hartford, Connecticut, on April 1, then head up to Canada for a string of dates. The last date listed for the tour — which also features Reggie and the Full Effect and Eisley — is April 24 in Seattle. ...

Following the passing on Tuesday evening of actor Jerry Orbach, NBC has announced that it will debut the new series Orbach was set to star in, as planned, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A spokesperson for "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" issued a statement on Wednesday confirming that the episodes already taped with Orbach will air in the midseason of 2005. Orbach had recently left the cast of "Law & Order" to star in the spinoff series. ... Dick Clark, who has been as much of a New Year's Eve fixture as the ball that drops at midnight in New York's Times Square, will be forced to watch his "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" show from a hospital bed in California, where he is recovering from a mild stroke he suffered on December 6, according to The Associated Press. "Even though I won't be in New York this year," Clark said in a statement, "I will be watching 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' on TV." Regis Philbin will take over hosting duties for the show. ...

112 will play legendary Motown quartet the Four Tops on NBC's "American Dreams." The Atlanta group will sing the Tops' classic "Reach Out I'll Be There" on the show. Slated to air Sunday, the episode will also feature an appearance by "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson, who will play the Four Tops' manager. ... Italian goth-rockers Lacuna Coil are slowly revealing information about their new album. Lead singer Cristina Scabbia told Coil fan site EmptySpiral.net that "we have a couple of songs that are 90 percent done ... and they sound really, really good." Scabbia goes on to explain that the new album will be "an evolution" from 2002's Comalies album, and that the new songs feature "a lot of aggressive parts and a lot of melody at the same time." ...

12.29.2004

Musician, activist, iPod pitchman — Bono's résumé is already pretty full. But now he's taken on another title: editor. On Tuesday, the U2 frontman served as "guest editor" for British radio station BBC Four's "Today" news program. His responsibilities included assigning beats to writers and lining up guests for the show. Bono chose topics like the relationship between Irish and North African music, combating poverty around the world, and Britain's foreign policy. Guests who contributed pre-recorded commentaries included former President Bill Clinton and a German nun named Sister Benedicta. ...

Guitarist Walter "Hank" Garland, who played with the likes of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, died on Monday in Orange Park, Florida, of a staph infection, according to The Associated Press. Garland, 74, performed on Elvis singles including "Little Sister" and "Big Hunk O' Love," and had his first million-selling hit at the age of 19 with the country song "Sugar Foot Rag." Garland had been battling illness since 1961 when a car crash put him in a coma for several months. ... Queens of the Stone Age associate Chris Goss, who has produced and played with Queens mastermind Josh Homme's former band Kyuss and various side projects, was rushed to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, over the holidays. According to posts on QOTSA.com and MastersOfReality.com (the band Goss fronts), he was suffering from a "severe internal infection" and was listed in critical condition at Eisenhower Medical Center. Over the weekend, though, he recovered and is now "resting comfortably." ...

Ash are going to release a U.S. version of their album Meltdown, already certified gold in the U.K., to coincide with a new "Star Wars" video game called "Republic Commando" that features their song "Clones" as the theme song. Meltdown, due out March 8, was produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, System of a Down) to give it more of an "American" sound. "I always think American records sound better sonically," frontman Tim Wheeler said in a statement. "They always seem to have better engineering, better studios, so we wanted to check it out firsthand." The U.S. version will also feature bonus tracks and DVD footage not available on the European full-length. ... Boy George is slated to DJ at WinterFest, an annual gay and lesbian ski week held in Lake Tahoe. The former Culture Club frontman's gig will take place toward the end of the seven-day long WinterFest, on March 12 at the Horizon Casino Resort. ...

• The White Stripes
• Lindsay Lohan
• Hilary Duff
• New Found Glory
• Eisley

June 23 [10:00 EDT] -- Lawrence Payton of Motown Records soul artists the Four Tops reportedly died Friday of liver cancer at the age of 59.

The Associated Press reports that Payton finally succumbed to the disease that had prevented him from performing with his bandmates in recent years.

The Four Tops, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, crafted a lengthy and prolific career that saw the band sell more than 50 million records with its rich vocal harmonies. The group¹s impressive run began on Motown Records in 1964 with "Baby I Need Your Loving," and went on to include the hits "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)," "Reach Out I'll Be There," and "River Deep, Mountain High."

After the group's primary success in the 60s and early 70s, the band scored a comeback hit in 1981 with "When She Was My Girl," and continued to chart in the United Kingdom through the 80s.

• The Four Tops