Singer James Taylor and his new wife will become parents next month when a surrogate mother gives birth to their twins, Boston newspapers reported Wednesday.
Taylor, 52, and his wife, Caroline Smedvig, 47, a publicist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, are having the babies carried by a close family friend, the papers reported.
The woman underwent in-vitro fertilization in 2000. The Taylors are the biological parents, the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe said.
The twins will be Taylor’s third and fourth children. He has two grown children from his previous marriage to musician Carly Simon.
No street honors for Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor won’t get a street named after him in Peoria, Ill., after all.
The city council in Pryor’s hometown voted 6-5 on Tuesday against a study of renaming a street for the comedian and actor. Several council members said there was little public support for the idea, and plenty of public opinion against it.
Councilwoman Gale Thetford said several callers told her they objected to honoring Pryor — whose past drug use is well known — regardless of his contributions to the entertainment world.
Pryor suffered near-fatal burns in a 1980 fire linked to cocaine free-basing.
Pavarotti donates school for Mayas
Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti inaugurated one of his personal charity projects, a school for Mayan Indian children on the shores of Lake Atitlan, in central Guatemala.
“This is a donation for our youth, and a symbol of Italy’s commitment to Guatemala,” Pavarotti said at the ceremony on Tuesday.
Despite his good intentions — he raised money for the school at the 1999 Pavarotti and Friends charity concert in his hometown of Modena, Italy — Guatemala’s political tensions marred his visit.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu originally was scheduled to accompany Pavarotti at the inauguration 100 miles west of the capital. But she refused to attend because President Alfonso Portillo was planning to be there.
Copperfield yearns for pitter patter . . .
David Copperfield lives in a four-floor penthouse, 55 stories above Manhattan, complete with a swimming pool and a screening room. He earned $60 million last year, placing him fifth on the Forbes magazine list of richest celebrities.
Now, he wants a wife and kids to share it.
“I’m trying to balance my life a little bit,” the illusionist says in the April 9 issue of People magazine. “I need a form of escape even when I’m working really hard.”
Part of that balance comes from his girlfriend, 22-year-old Belgian model Ambre Frisque. It’s the first serious relationship for Copperfield, 44, since his 1999 breakup with supermodel Claudia Schiffer, whom he was engaged to for six years.
His next feat, Copperfield! Tornado of Fire, airs April 3 on CBS. He’ll walk through heavy gusts and withstand flames as hot as 2,000 degrees.
No takers for limo owned by Lennon
Baby, you can drive my car.
Bidders hesitated to take up the invitation Tuesday, as a limousine once owned by John Lennon failed to reach its reserve price at auction.
The 1970 Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman attracted a telephone bid of $270,000 — $14,000 short of its reserve price — during a sale at London’s Hard Rock Cafe.
The Mercedes limo, complete with black velvet upholstery and a built-in record player, was made to order for Lennon in 1970. Lennon sold it to fellow Beatle George Harrison when he moved from Britain to the United States in 1973. It was subsequently owned by Mary Wilson of the Supremes.
ALMANAC
It’s the 88th day of the year; 277 days are left in 2001. On this date:
In 1790, John Tyler, the 10th U.S. president, was born in Charles City County, Va.
In 1867, the British Parliament passed the North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.
In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed in June 1953.
In 1971, Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre. Calley ended up spending three years under house arrest.
Thought for today: “Tolerance always has limits — it cannot tolerate what is itself actively intolerant.”
— Philosopher-author Sidney Hook
Today’s birthdays: Former U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy, 85; actress Eileen Heckart, 82; former British Prime Minister John Major, 58; model Elle MacPherson, 38; actress Lucy Lawless, 33; country singer Brady Seals, 32; tennis player Jennifer Capriati, 25.
