Celebrity Spotlight & Birthdays
Filed at 1:29 p.m. EST
By The Associated Press
In the spotlight: Steve Earle, Nashville's
bad boy
Image: ``I got me a fearless heart,''
singer-songwriter Steve Earle has boasted. ``Strong enough
to get you through the scary parts.''
Personal stats: Born Stephen Fain Earle on
Jan. 17, 1955, in Fort Monroe, Va., Earle grew up
near San Antonio, Texas. A proficient
guitarist, he was a veteran of the Texas coffeehouse
circuit by the time he moved to Nashville,
Tenn., in 1974. For the next five years, he worked the
clubs and shopped for a record deal.
His 1986 debut album, ``Guitar Town,''
coincided with the surge of ``New Country'' spearheaded by
Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam. The album hit
No. 1 on the country charts.
Earle's fearless rock streak -- combined with
graceful lyrics about displaced small-town youth
-- prompted frequent comparisons to Bruce
Springsteen. (``Real country and real rock are so
close to being the same that sometimes they
are exactly the same thing,'' Earle says.)
From the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Earle
made few inroads onto the country charts. And he
didn't succeed in the pop sector because he
wasn't considered an all-out rocker.
His outspoken ways and wild lifestyle also
took their toll. ``I did things to make things hard on
myself,'' he says. But after his release from
a drug rehabilitation program in 1995, Earle began to
fight his way back.
``The music business has left Earle for dead
so many times that no one really expects him to
bounce back anymore,'' said an article in
Newsweek in 1995. ``So in his utmost ornery fashion,
that's exactly what he's doing.''
Update: While still in his teens, Earle was
hanging around legendary Texas singer/songwriters
Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, and his songs
have continued to feed Nashville. Emmylou Harris
and Patty Loveless are among those who have
recorded his songs.
Earle was named No. 1 country artist in
Rolling Stone magazine's recent critics' poll. And his
album, ``El Corazon,'' was nominated for a
1999 Grammy.
Quote: ``All my albums are about the same
thing. Me. It's just the way I see things and you see
things different at 40 than you did at 31,
especially if you get to be 40 the way I did.''
And now for the fluff:
Celebrity birthdays Jan. 17-23:
Jan. 17: Actress Betty White is 77. Actor
James Earl Jones is 68. Actress Sheree North is 66.
Talk-show host Maury Povich is 60. Singer
Steve Earle is 44. Actor David Caruso is 43. Singer
Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles is 42.
Actor-comedian Jim Carrey is 37. Singer Shabba Ranks is 33.
Singer Ray J is 18.
Jan. 18: Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is
58. Actor-director Kevin Costner is 44. Rapper DJ
Quik is 29.
Jan. 19: Actress Jean Stapleton is 76. Actor
Fritz Weaver is 73. Actress Tippi Hedren is 64.
Singer Phil Everly is 60. Actor-singer
Michael Crawford is 57. Actress Shelley Fabares is 55.
Singer Dolly Parton is 53. Singer Robert
Palmer is 50. Actress Katey Sagal (``Married ... With
Children'') is 43. Singer Trey Lorenz is 30.
Singer-musician John Wozniak of Marcy Playground is
28. Actor Shawn Wayans is 28. Singer A.J.
McLean of Backstreet Boys is 21. Actress Jodie
Sweetin (``Full House'') is 17.
Jan. 20: Actor DeForest Kelley is 79. Singer
Ron Townson of The Fifth Dimension is 66. Comedian
Arte Johnson is 65. Movie director David
Lynch is 53. Musician Paul Stanley is 49. Musician Ian
Hill of Judas Priest is 47. Comedian Bill
Maher is 43. Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 41. Actress Stacey
Dash (``Clueless'') is 32. Singer Xavier is
31.
Jan. 21: Singer Richie Havens is 58. Singer
Mac Davis is 57. Actress Jill Eikenberry is 52. Actor
Robby Benson is 43. Actress Geena Davis is
42. DJ Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC is 34. Rapper
Levirt of B-Rock and the Bizz is 29. Singer
``Baby Spice'' Emma Bunton of The Spice Girls is 21.
Jan. 22: Actor John Hurt is 59. Actress Linda
Blair is 40. Actress Diane Lane is 34. Actor-rap DJ
Jazzy Jeff is 34. Actress Olivia d'Abo (``The
Single Guy'') is 30.
Jan. 23: Actress Chita Rivera is 66. Actor
Gil Gerard is 56. Actor Rutger Hauer is 55. Singer Anita
Pointer is 51. Musician Danny Federici of
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is 49. Actor
Richard Dean Anderson (``MacGyver'') is 49.
Singer Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) is 46. Singer Anita
Baker is 41. Actress Mariska Hargitay is 35.
Actress Tiffani-Amber Thiessen is 25.
