Singer Loretta Lynn hospitalized with pneumonia (AP)

ASHLAND, Ky. – Country music singer Loretta Lynn was hospitalized over the weekend with the early stages of pneumonia, according to a representative of the performer.

The 76-year-old Lynn was scheduled to perform Saturday at the Performing Arts Center in Ashland, Ky. and Sunday in Durham, N.C., but the Kentucky center issued a news release saying she is in the hospital and would be unable to perform. The Kentucky theater says the show will be rescheduled.

Loretta Lynn Enterprises posted a statement on her website Saturday night that confirmed the cancellations due to illness.

"Doctors have diagnosed her as the beginning stages pneumonia, and will continue to need rest. Loretta is doing well and is disappointed but feels confident she will be ready for upcoming November dates."

Calls by The Associated Press to representatives of Lynn were not immediately returned Saturday.

In August, Lynn canceled shows because of knee surgery. Before that, she returned to live performances with a show at the Grand Ole Opry after being forced to cancel shows in Ohio and Connecticut because she was hospitalized for heat exhaustion.

The daughter of a Kentucky coal miner, Lynn had a string of hits starting in the 1960s — "Coal Miner's Daughter," "You Ain't Woman Enough," "The Pill," and "One's on the Way." Many of her songs reflected her pride in her humble background and her experiences as a wife and mother. Her 1977 autobiography was made into a movie that brought an Oscar for Sissy Spacek's portrayal of Lynn. More recently, Lynn marked 50 years in country music and won two Grammy awards in 2005 for her album "Van Lear Rose."

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Jim Nabors hospitalized with throat infection (Reuters)

HONOLULU (Reuters) – Singer and actor Jim Nabors, star of the 1960s TV series "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," has been admitted to a Honolulu hospital with a throat infection, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

The 81-year-old Nabors was admitted to Queens Medical Center in Honolulu on Sunday after suffering swelling of his throat, said Stan Cadwallader, the actor's business partner and representative.

Nabors, whose immune system has been compromised since he underwent a liver transplant 17 years ago due to hepatitis C, is responding well to antibiotics, Cadwallader said.

"Other than this whole setback, he's in pretty good health," he said, adding that Nabors could be released from the hospital on Thursday.

Nabors had been scheduled to sing the U.S. national anthem on Tuesday at a sacred Japanese tea ceremony aboard the USS Arizona Memorial at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, event representative Lisa Ontai said.

The entertainer was forced to cancel the appearance because of his illness, Ontai said.

Nabors is best known for playing Gomer Pyle in 1960s TV comedy series "The Andy Griffith Show" and on its spinoff, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," where he continued his role as the bumbling, naive Marine.

Nabors lives in Honolulu, and every year the car racing enthusiast performs the song "Back Home in Indiana" at the start of the Indianapolis 500 race.

(Reporting by Suzanne Gordon and Steve Gorman, Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Johnston)

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Jerry Lewis briefly hospitalized in Sydney (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Veteran entertainer Jerry Lewis canceled a benefit show in Australia on Friday when he fell ill and was taken to a hospital, but he has since returned to his normal routine, his publicist said.

Lewis, 85, arrived in Australia on Monday for a two-week fund-raising tour for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation of Australia. But a sold-out show scheduled for Friday at the Rooty Hill RSL, an entertainment and dining club in the Sydney suburbs, was canceled because of "poor health," the foundation said in a statement on its website.

Candi Cazau, the entertainer's Las Vegas-based publicist, said Lewis was "just feeling a little under the weather" on Friday night, possibly as a result of the 17-hour time difference between Sydney and Los Angeles.

"He went to the hospital but was released shortly thereafter," she added. "He's back at his hotel and back to his normal routine."

She called the whole episode "nothing serious."

Although beset for years by numerous ailments, including heart attacks, an inflammatory lung disorder and chronic back pain caused by pratfalls earlier in his career, Lewis remains highly vigorous for his age, Cazau said.

"I don't know where he gets the energy," she said. "He's nonstop."

The Muscular Dystrophy Foundation said Lewis' itinerary in Australia includes appearances in Melbourne and in Brisbane, where he performed on Wednesday at a gala dinner for 250 people.

The zany comic-actor, a veteran of over 45 films during a career spanning five decades, is due back in the United States on July 4, she said.

Lewis announced in May that he was retiring this year as host of the annual Labor Day holiday telethon for the U.S.-based Muscular Dystrophy Association, of which he remains national chairman. The group is separate from the Australian foundation.

He is slated to make what he said would be a final appearance on that show in September.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Gomez hospitalized after 'Tonight Show' appearance (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Selena Gomez has been admitted to a hospital following an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

A spokeswoman for the "Wizards of Waverly Place" star says Gomez "wasn't feeling well and was taken to the hospital" and is undergoing "routine tests." She did not specify Gomez's condition.

The 18-year-old singer-actress was promoting the upcoming film "Monte Carlo" on the talk show.

Gomez's appearance to promote the film at a Santa Monica, Calif., mall on Friday was canceled.

The hospitalization was first reported by TMZ, which said Gomez suffered from nausea and a headache before going to a Los Angeles-area hospital.

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Indian movie star Rajnikanth hospitalized (AP)

NEW DELHI – The Indian movie star Rajnikanth has been hospitalized with stomach and respiratory infections but is recovering.

His wife Latha Rajnikanth says the actor has been in the hospital in the southern Indian city of Chennai for a week and was recently moved to the intensive care unit.

She told reporters on Thursday that her husband first complained of dehydration and a stomach infection and later developed a respiratory infection.

A statement from the Sri Ramachandra Medical Center said the star was admitted on May 13 and put in intensive care on Wednesday where he was responding well to treatment.

The 60-year-old has acted in more than 175 films since 1975. He is one of India's biggest movie stars, especially in Tamil and Telugu films in southern India.

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Etta James hospitalized with blood infection (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Singer Etta James has been hospitalized with blood poisoning, her son said on Friday.

The 73 year-old blues legend was admitted to hospital in Riverside, California, earlier this week with a urinary tract infection and the blood infection sepsis, said her son Sametto James.

"It was a really bad infection," Sametto James said before adding, "Right now she's doing a lot better."

Etta James is a three-time Grammy winner whose songs like "The Wallflower" and "Good Rockin' Daddy" made her a key figure in the early days of rock 'n' roll. Her signature song, the 1961 ballad "At Last," proved her a master of the blues.

James, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, has struggled with obesity in the past. In 2003, she underwent gastric bypass surgery.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Christine Kearney)

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Etta James hospitalized with blood infection (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Singer Etta James has been hospitalized with blood poisoning, her son said on Friday.

The 73 year-old blues legend was admitted to hospital in Riverside, California, earlier this week with a urinary tract infection and the blood infection sepsis, said her son Sametto James.

"It was a really bad infection," Sametto James said before adding, "Right now she's doing a lot better."

Etta James is a three-time Grammy winner whose songs like "The Wallflower" and "Good Rockin' Daddy" made her a key figure in the early days of rock 'n' roll. Her signature song, the 1961 ballad "At Last," proved her a master of the blues.

James, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, has struggled with obesity in the past. In 2003, she underwent gastric bypass surgery.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Christine Kearney)

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