Issue date: July 25, 1999
Sexy Latin singer
Ricky Martin is everywhere, yet he was unheard of a few months ago.
Why is he so sizzling hot now?
Cynthia Ellis, Fredricksburg, Va.
Most important, Martin, 27, connects with fans. "He dances well,
but from the waist down, making it very erotic. Then he looks the
audience straight in the eye. His live performances are exciting,"
says David Bischoff, whose bio on the Puerto Rican singer is just
out. The current Martin mania was born at winter's Grammys when,
after his invigorating performance, host Rosie O'Donnell said she'd
watch him all night (then called the next day to book him on her
show) and Madonna declared, "He's so cute!" Martin is no passing
fancy, Bischoff says. "He's got the kind of personality and looks
that weather well. The fact that he'll soon have a movie career
will make him a kind of Bing Crosby or Dean Martin." (more)
I tune into
nearly every Michelle Kwan performance on TV, whether it's a Disney
special or championship competition. I notice she always has a gold
medallion around her neck. Is it special?
Josephine Solari Amesbury, Mass.
The delicate gold dragon on a red silk cord (replica at
right) is a Chinese good-luck charm. It was a gift to the skating
genius from her paternal grandmother a decade or so ago. Kwan, who
turned 19 this month, won't put toe to ice, or anywhere else, without
it; she hasn't taken it off in all those years. And it's brought
much luck: Kwan is widely considered the world's best skater, with
three national and two world championships, and an Olympic silver
medal ('98). This fall she enters UCLA.
Has Barbra
Streisand put her career on the back burner for a life of domesticity
with James Brolin? It seems she's been hibernating since their wedding
a year ago.
Gary Bennett, Studio City, Calif.
No need to worry about Streisand taking on Martha Stewart, although
with her penchant for perfection, she could. When Streisand, 57,
wasn't playing the market, investing her millions in Pfizer and
Starbucks, she spent her first blissful year of marriage recording
the just-released CD A Love Like Ours. The single I've
Dreamed of You, which she sang to Brolin at their nuptials,
could become a wedding classic. She'll count down to 2000 with a
New Year's Eve show in Las Vegas; she has hinted it may be her last
public concert ever.
Please tell
me more about remarkable Charlotte Church, whose Voice of an Angel
CD is flying out of stores. Will she make a second album?
Randy Beavers, Yucaipa, Calif.
The teen soprano sensation plans a second recording this
summer. First, however, you may see her Thursday (8 p.m. ET) as
part of ABC's Celebration of American Song. "My friends and
family keep me normal," the candid 13-year-old from Wales told us
as she readied to sing for the president at the pre-taped show.
She is most taken with Hillary Clinton, who she says is the "epitome
of girl power. Spice Girls, eat your hearts out." Church loves movies
(favorite stars include Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow), her PlayStation
and shoe shopping. She has "billions" of CDs, and if she could,
she'd sing with Lauryn Hill, Will Smith, All Saints, Placido Domingo
and Luciano Pavarotti. (more)
Much is
being made of the second pairing of Pretty Woman co-stars
Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in Runaway Bride. For my money,
I'd prefer another Roberts-Mel Gibson film. Will they team up again?
Clemmie Hacker, Concord, N.C.
Neither rules it out. They had tons of fun making Conspiracy
Theory (despite Gibson pranks such as leaving freeze-dried rats
in Roberts' trailer), and both say they'd love to be paired again.
Roberts, 31, having a great summer with Notting Hill and
Bride, is now making Erin Brockovich. Gibson, 43,
playing full-time dad since his seventh child's birth last spring,
is about to start The Patriot, a Revolutionary War drama.
Cuba Gooding
Jr. has to be one of Hollywood's most likable stars; he always seems
so upbeat. I know he's young, but I wonder whether he has a family.
Terrence Brown, Texarkana, Texas
The energetic Oscar winner (it's for good reason he leaps around
in those Pepsi commercials) says family grounds him. At 31, he's
married to his high school sweetheart and is the father of two boys,
ages 2 and 4. He took time off this summer just so they could play,
and makes a point of separating his work and family lives.
Go to the top
BIRTHDAYS
JULY 25: Louise Brown, 21; Matt LeBlanc, 31; Walter Payton,
45.
JULY 26: Jeremy Piven, 34; Dorothy Hamill, 43; Mick Jagger,
56.
JULY 27: Betty Thomas, 51.
JULY 28: Scott Bloom, 26; Bill Bradley, 56.
JULY 29: Stephen Dorff, 26; Wanya Morris, 26; Elizabeth Dole,
63.
JULY 30: Vivica A. Fox, 35; Lisa Kudrow, 36; Laurence Fishburne,
38; Delta Burke, 43.
JULY 31: Wesley Snipes, 37.
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