Sugar Problems for Suge
Gunshot wounds aren’t the only affliction Marion “Suge” Knight is weathering. A source familiar with the situation says the 49-year-old Death Row Records co-founder, who was shot six times on Aug. 24 at a pre-MTV Video Music Awards party, is battling “advanced diabetes.” In 2010, Marc Brumer, an attorney who defended Knight after he was arrested for allegedly brandishing a gun, alluded to Knight’s insulin issues when he told the Los Angeles Times his client was a “businessman with diabetes” and “not a person who would flash a gun.” But if Knight is ailing, it’s hard to tell: He exited Los Angeles hotspot 1OAK on his own after the shooting.
Kilmer Joins Slasher Film
Slash tells Billboard that actor Val Kilmer has joined the cast of his remake of the cult 1972 prison thriller Cut Throats Nine, the second feature he’s producing through his Slasher Films company. Harvey Keitel is also set to star.
“Easy” to Entertain
Lionel Richie was serenaded with his own music at the exclusive St. Tropez restaurant Club 55 on Aug. 27. The singer-songwriter, his mystery girlfriend and entourage sat down for lunch and were approached by the eatery’s three-piece house band, which had been irking patrons by going from table to table for tips. But Richie, 64, welcomed the attention, clapping along and mouthing the lyrics to the trio’s covers of “Dancing on the Ceiling” and his Commodores-era hit “Easy.” One of his entourage tossed a €100 bill to the band, and the singer also posed for pics with the players.
Strings Attached
Neil Young spent the week before Labor Day recording with an orchestra and choir at the Streisand Scoring Stage on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, Calif. He stuck to singing and used guest guitarists. The record reportedly will be called Storytone and may arrive this fall.
-Megan Friend
Additional reporting by Phil Gallo