First nominees announced for People’s Choice Awards

Beverly Hills, Calif. – Johnny Depp, Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston, Ellen DeGeneres, Carrie Underwood and Shakira lead the nominees for the 33rd annual People’s Choice Awards.

The nominations were announced Tuesday.

Internet research firm Knowledge Networks called on pop culture fans to help determine the nominees. The public can help choose the winners online at www.pcavote.com. The CBS-TV show will be broadcast from the Shrine Auditorium on Jan. 9.

A second round of nominees for categories that includes favorite movie, new TV comedy and remake of a song will be announced later.

Record mogul recovering

New York – Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, is recovering after hitting his head in a fall at a recent Rolling Stones concert.

Ertegun, an integral figure in the careers of artists including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, was attending a Stones concert at the Beacon Theatre on Oct. 29 when he slipped and fell, according to a statement released by Atlantic Records.

He injured his head and was taken to a hospital, according to the statement, but he is improving. Atlantic Records denied reports that Ertegun had been in a coma.

Ertegun, 83, is considered one of the most important figures in modern pop music, helping to shape the sound of rock, pop and soul with his artists and his production work.

She was just joking

New York – Faith Hill insists she’s no Kanye West.

The country music superstar says she was just joking when cameras showed her screaming “WHAT?” in apparent anger when she lost the female vocalist of the year award to newcomer Carrie Underwood at the Country Music Assn. Awards ceremony Monday night in Nashville, Tenn.

“The idea that I would act disrespectful towards a fellow musician is unimaginable to me,” Hill said in a statement. “For this to become a focus of attention given the talent gathered is utterly ridiculous. Carrie is a talented and deserving female vocalist of the year.”

Media outlets and blogs zeroed in on Hill’s reaction after Underwood’s name was announced at the ceremony. While other nominees – Sara Evans, Gretchen Wilson, Martina McBride – gave the typical gracious loser smile, Hill, who was standing backstage, turned to the camera and shouted, “WHAT?”

Although her voice could not be heard, it was clear from her lips what she said. She looked visibly upset and then it looked as if she were storming off.

However, Hill, 39, said it was all a joke.

This is the second time in less than a week that an awards show loss has resulted in an (apparent) on-camera freakout by a loser. Last week, Kanye West stormed the stage at the MTV Europe Music Awards and interrupted the speech of the winners, claiming his video deserved the honor.

Teen held in actress’s death

New York – A construction worker was jailed without bail Tuesday after confessing to the slaying of an actress left hanging from a shower rod in the bathroom of a Manhattan apartment.

Diego Pillco, 19, made written and videotaped statements implicating himself in the slaying of Adrienne Shelly, Assistant Dist. Atty. Marit Delozier said Tuesday at Pillco’s arraignment in state Supreme Court. Pillco was then ordered held without bail pending a Thursday hearing.

“He said he fought with the victim, tied a sheet around her neck and dragged her to the bathroom and hung her from the shower rod,” Delozier said at the brief hearing. “This is an exceptionally egregious case.”

Shelly, who appeared in the movie “Factotum” with Matt Dillon last year, was renovating the Greenwich Village apartment she used as her office. Pillco, one of the workers, was one of the last people seen going into the apartment, police said.

Shelly, whose birth name was Adrienne Levine, was found last Wednesday about 6 p.m. hanging over the bathtub. Police were hesitant to label the case a suicide, observing that no note was found and sneaker prints that did not match Shelly’s shoes were recovered from the bathtub.

Shelly, 40, was raising a 3-year-old daughter, Sophie, with her husband, Andy Ostroy.

Smith out of hospital

Nassau, Bahamas – Anna Nicole Smith has been discharged from the hospital where she spent a week receiving treatment for pneumonia, an attorney for the reality TV star said Tuesday.

Physicians at Doctors Hospital released the 38-year-old former Playboy Playmate on Monday after determining that her collapsed lung had stabilized, attorney Wayne Munroe said.