LONDON – Singer Tom Jones was recovering in a Monaco hospital Sunday, saying “severe dehydration” forced him to cancel a concert in the glamorous principality.

The star, famed for his swivel-hipped appeal and soulful voice, apologized to his fans on his website and emphatically denied British press reports that he had suffered a heart scare that forced him to cancel his Monaco concert Saturday night.

“There are NO heart problems, as has been reported in the press,” the singer’s website said.

Jones, a 71-year-old Welshman who burst to international fame in 1964 with “It’s Not Unusual” and other hits, blamed his illness on a long successful tour “where many of the shows were in locations that were in the throes of high summer heat.”

The website statement indicated that Jones had no choice but to make a rare cancellation: “Sir Tom was ordered by doctors not to perform in Monte Carlo yesterday evening due to severe dehydration,” the statement read. “This was extremely disappointing for Tom, the band and all connected with the tour.”

Saturday’s canceled show was to have been the finale of his 3-month “Praise & Blame” tour.

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A spokesman for the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco said Jones was admitted to the hospital Saturday night and was doing well Sunday. There was no word on when he would be released.

Jones, whose charisma onstage earned some comparisons to U.S rocker Elvis Presley, made his singing debut at 3. He appeared in hundreds of clubs and dance halls before his breakthrough series of hits catapulted him to some of the world’s finest venues, with repeated shows at Las Vegas’ glitzy hotels and casinos.

At the peak of his fame, and for decades afterward, adoring women near the front of the audience would shower him with their underwear as a sign of devotion.

Filmmaker Coppola marries rocker Mars

ROME – Filmmaker Sofia Coppola went back to her roots for her wedding Saturday, marrying rocker Thomas Mars in the remote, southern Italian town where her great-grandfather was born.

Coppola’s famous filmmaker father, Francis Ford Coppola, escorted the 40-year-old Sofia down the aisle to a waiting Mars, lead singer of the French band Phoenix and the father of their two young daughters.

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The early evening ceremony took place in the garden of the palazzo that the elder Coppola renovated in the historic center of Bernalda, a city near the Gulf of Taranto in Italy’s Basilicata region, according to Mayor Leonardo Chiruzzi who performed the ceremony.

The bride wore a sheer, lavender tulle dress and Mars a gray suit with a flower in the lapel. The bride and her father were preceded down the aisle by the couple’s older daughter and other children.

After Coppola and Mars said their “si” in the civil service, she tossed her bouquet and a friend caught it, Chiruzzi said.

The newlyweds and the father of the bride, wearing a white linen suit and pink shirt, then popped out of the palazzo briefly to greet onlookers. She was holding a glass of bubbly.

This was her second marriage; she divorced fellow filmmaker Spike Jonze in 2003.

Anthony prosecutor writing book about case

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ORLANDO, Fla. – One of the prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder trial is writing a book about the case.

Jeff Ashton confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that he is finishing a book entitled “Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony,” scheduled for release in November.

Ashton was the co-prosecutor in the trial of Anthony, the young Florida mother accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. He gave an impassioned closing argument, saying that Anthony killed Caylee because the little girl interfered with her social and love life.

Anthony was acquitted of killing her daughter and Ashton retired days later.

 


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