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Taking Names

By | Thursday, August 28, 2008

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Bolton, Nic off — again

There will be no wedding bells for "Desperate Housewives" star Nicollette Sheridan and singer Michael Bolton, Zap2it.com reports.

The couple, who announced their engagement in 2006, have broken things off. No reason was given, but the split is not acrimonious, Miss Sheridan's rep, Nicole Perna, tells People magazine.

Miss Sheridan, 44, and Mr. Bolton, 55, have a long history together. They dated for several years in the 1990s following her divorce from Harry Hamlin and rekindled their relationship after she ended her engagement to Nicklas Soderblom in 2005. Not long after that, Mr. Bolton and Miss Sheridan announced they were engaged and planning to marry in the near future. That didn't happen.

Miss Sheridan is at work on the fifth season of "Desperate Housewives," which premieres Sept. 28 on ABC.

Songs sung badly

Disappointed Neil Diamond fans will get a refund after attending a concert at Ohio State University in which the 67-year-old singer's voice sounded raspy, Associated Press reports.

Some fans left the Monday concert early, and others said Mr. Diamond completed the concert without mentioning anything to the audience about his voice. In a statement issued Tuesday, Mr. Diamond — whose hits include "Sweet Caroline," "Song Sung Blue" and "Solitary Man" — says a doctor has diagnosed acute laryngitis. According to the Columbus Dispatch,11,000 fans attended Monday evening's concert.

A throat ailment for a singer isn't unusual, especially for someone Mr. Diamond's age, the newspaper noted. At 67, he's performing three times a week on a lengthy tour — which stopped at the District's Verizon Center earlier this month. Still, some Ohio fans, who paid $19.50 to $120 per ticket, wondered why he went on with the show if he could barely talk, let alone sing. When Mr. Diamond took the stage, it was apparent that his voice had been reduced to a harsh rasp. Many fans left the show early, some demanding their money back.

Eve Samuels, Mr. Diamond's spokeswoman, says the singer is offering a refund to those who place a request before Sept. 5. Meanwhile, Wednesday's concert in Green Bay, Wis., will be rescheduled for Sept. 12, and Friday's concert in St. Louis will instead take place Sept. 10, AP reports.

An honor for Emerson

Governor Tim Kaine is appointing University of Mary Washington professor Claudia Emerson as Virginia's new poet laureate. Miss Emerson won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called "Late Wife."

The book uses a collection of handwritten letters to reflect on her failed marriage of 19 years and her blossoming relationship with her second husband.

Miss Emerson is a graduate of the University of Virginia and earned a master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, AP reports.

Celebrity rap sheet

• Rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight is in a Las Vegas jail on drug and assault charges after he was accused of beating his girlfriend while brandishing a knife. Mr. Knight, 43, was arrested Wednesday on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, possession of dangerous drugs without a prescription and battery domestic violence.

• Former teen star Mackenzie Phillips has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance after she reportedly was found carrying drugs at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, AP reports. The 48-year-old co-star of the old sitcom "One Day at a Time" was heading to New York when she failed to pass a security screening and a secondary search turned up a small amount of cocaine and heroin in her possession, police said.

• Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports