Green Day - Amelia Lily will star in a new London production of Green Day musical American Idiot. The X Factor runner-up, who is currently starring in a tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, will play the role of Whatshername in the show, which originally opened on Broadway in 2010. American Idiot will be staged at the Arts Theatre, running from 17 July to 27 September.
Global Role - Shakespeare's Globe has appointed Emma Rice as its new artistic director. Rice, currently joint artistic director of theatre company Kneehigh, replaces Dominic Dromgoole, who announced in 2013 that he would be stepping down in April 2016. She becomes the third artistic director at the South Bank venue, and its first female one. Rice said she would take custody of the theatre "with an open heart, fierce passion and excited mind". She added, "Open to the elements, and to its audience, this unique and important space demands theatre that brims with passion, joy and humanity."
So Long - R&B and soul singer Ben E King, best known for the classic song Stand By Me, has died at the age of 76. King started his career in the late 1950s with The Drifters, singing hits including There Goes My Baby and Save The Last Dance For Me. After going solo, he hit the US top five with Stand By Me in 1961. It returned to the charts in the 1980s, including a three-week spell at number one in the UK following its use in the film of the same name and a TV advert. It was also the fourth most-played track of the 20th Century on US radio and TV. Earlier this year, the US Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry, declaring that "it was King's incandescent vocal that made it a classic".
Farewell - Jack Ely, the singer whose hit Louie Louie became one of the most famous songs of the 20th century and sparked an FBI investigation, has died aged 71. The former Kingsmen vocalist died at his home in Portland, Oregon, his son Sean Ely said. His band's take on Louie Louie was released in 1963 and is widely considered the definitive version of the three-chord garage classic which has been covered hundreds of times by acts including Iggy Pop and The Clash. The record's famously unintelligible lyrics resulted in a probe by the FBI after claims that they were obscene. The governor of the state of Indiana banned it after a woman claimed it carried obscene messages when slowed down to 33rpm.
(Jim Evans)
