People: Pharrell Williams to join ‘The Voice’ as coach
Pharrell Williams will be joining the coaching lineup of NBC’s “The Voice” when that reality singing competition show returns in the fall.
NBC made the announcement Monday, though the rest of the show’s seventh season coaching lineup won’t be announced until a later date.
Williams previously appeared as a mentor for Usher’s team in the show’s fourth season. He last appeared on “The Voice” in May to perform “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke.
The rest of the “Voice” coaching team is in flux. Last season, the lineup consisted of Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Shakira and Usher.
Longtime judge CeeLo Green announced in February that he wouldn’t be back after Season 6, as he wanted to focus on recording a new album. And Christina Aguilera is taking a hiatus while she gives birth to her second child later this year.
Family asks Jones not to skydive
Actress Shirley Jones is celebrating her 80th birthday on the ground, instead of skydiving as she had planned.
A spokesman for “The Partridge Family” actress said Monday that Jones agreed to postpone the jump after her sons and grandchildren staged an intervention to ask her to reconsider.
Jones announced last week that she planned to celebrate her birthday by jumping from a plane for the first time, something she said she wanted to do all her life.
John to marry Furnish in May
Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, are planning a low-profile wedding in May, following a change in British law allowing gay marriages.
The singer told NBC’s Today show that he wants to celebrate “very quietly,” and added: “It will be a joyous occasion and we will have our children.”
The two men, who have been in a civil partnership since 2005, have two children.
Man pleads not guilty in shooting
A Massachusetts man has been ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to shooting his hip-hop artist and reality TV star uncle.
Gai Scott, of Randolph, was ordered held Monday pending a hearing to determine whether he’s a danger to society. That hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Police said Scott shot Benzino, whose real name is Raymond Scott, on Saturday on state Route 3 in Duxbury as Benzino came upon his mother’s funeral procession.
Scott was charged with assault with intent to murder. His lawyer says his client acted in self-defense and legally owned the gun.
Benzino is recovering from a gunshot wound at a Boston-area hospital. He is a cast member of the VH1 reality show “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” and CEO of Hip-Hop Weekly magazine.
The birthday bunch
Actress Jane Powell is 85. Actress Debbie Reynolds is 82. Actress Annette O’Toole is 62. Singer Susan Boyle is 53. Rapper-actor Method Man is 43. Country singer Hillary Scott (Lady Antebellum) is 28.