R.I.P.

Roger Williams, a virtuoso pianist who topped the Billboard pop chart in the 1950s and played for nine U.S. presidents during a long career, passed away Saturday.

He was 87. The electrifying stage performer and an adept improviser died at home in Los Angeles of complications from pancreatic cancer, according to reports.

Williams' 1955 hit "Autumn Leaves" is the only piano instrumental to reach No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts and remains the best-selling piano record of all time.

Nicknamed the "pianist to the presidents," Williams played for every commander in chief from Harry Truman to George W. Bush. He was a close friend to several.

Williams was close friends with Jimmy Carter, with whom he shared a birthday. When the two men turned 80, Mr. Williams played at the Jimmy Carter Library.

As a teenager, Williams had already scored his own 15-minute radio show on KRNT, broadcast live from a Des Moines, Iowa (his hometown), department store.

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Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis has died. The controversial firebrand, who remade one of the NFL's best known franchises in his own renegade image, was 82.

The Raiders said he died at his home in Oakland.

In recent years, Davis was best known for dubious personnel moves, lackluster success and irritating fellow NFL owners. But his teams pioneered the "vertical" or "West Coast Offense" style of play and won three Super Bowls (XI, XV, XVIII).

Al Davis (1929-2011) was a 1992 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.

With his authoritarian, often-polarizing style, Davis became - as coach, then owner and managing partner of the Raiders - the symbol of the franchise for decades.

The Raiders’ signature silver and black colors were chosen by Davis to intimidate, as was their pirate insignia. The Raiders’ unofficial team motto, also coined by Davis - “Just win, baby!” - was reflected in their take-no-prisoners style of play.

Wherever the team called home (the Raiders moved from Oakland to Los Angeles, then back again) Davis was a fan favorite ... mostly. Sometimes not at all.

From his emergence in the '60s to his death this morning, Davis was an enigmatic guy. Bot good or bad, his influence on pro football will never be forgotten.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple and the man responsible for numerous technology innovations that shape our lives on a daily basis, has passed away.

He was 56.

Jobs announced in 2004 that he suffered from a rare form of pancreatic cancer and had a tumor removed later that year, but he continued to deal with a number of health problems since then.

In 2009, after stating his "health-related issues were more complex than I thought," Jobs underwent a liver transplant. Less than two months ago, he resigned as CEO of Apple, telling the public he could no longer meet the "duties and expectations" for himself in that position.

Apple - which released its latest iPhone model this week - released a statement soon after Jobs passed away. It reads: "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being.

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Our thoughts go out to Jobs' family and loved ones.

Self-proclaimed "King of Infomercials" Don Lapre, who later went to jail after being arrested for conspiracy and fraud, was found dead Sunday morning.

His body was discovered in his Arizona jail cell after an apparent suicide.

Lapre, who has been a fixture on early AM TV hocking various products, was to be tried within days for allegedly selling millions in bogus vitamins.

Don Lapre Infomercial

Don was facing 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and promotional money laundering for hocking "The Greatest Vitamin in the World."

The FDA begged to differ with that description.

Concluding that Lapre was making wild claims about the vitamin that were simply unsupported by evidence, officials locked him up on MANY charges.

Lapre was accused of fleecing 220,000 people out of nearly $52 million. It's unclear how Lapre killed himself, but U.S. Marshals are investigating.

He was a staple on early a.m. TV for years with spots like the one above, in which the salesman tries to sell tiny classified ads out of his apartment.

Lady Gaga moved us last night at the iheartradio music festival when she performed a tribute to Jamey Rodemeyer, a young fan who committed suicide last week.

"We lost a little monster this week and I wanted to dedicate this song to him tonight," Gaga said of the teenager, before belting out an eight-minute, stripped-down, yet still spirited version of "Hair," her anthem of individuality.

Watch the singer's full, moving performance right here:

Lady Gaga - Hair (Live Jamey Rodemeyer Tribute)

Mid-song, Lady Gaga said "Jamey, I know you're up there looking on us, and you're not a victim, you're a lesson to all of us ... Bullying is for losers."

Rodemeyer was only 14 when he took his own life last Sunday, following online bullying (specifically gay slurs) for a year. He considered Gaga his idol.

As celebrities go, he certainly could do worse. R.I.P.

R&B singer Vesta Williams has died. Law enforcement sources say that the death is currently being treated as a suicide or accident, but not as a homicide.

Multiple bottles of prescription pills were found in the El Segundo, Calif., hotel room where her body was found around 6 p.m. Thursday, reports say.

Several bottles were discovered; some of them empty.

R.I.P. Vesta Williams (1963-2011).

The coroner won't know if drugs played a part in the singer's death until the toxicology reports are in, and that could take up to six weeks.

Williams was best known for the R&B hits, "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", "Sweet Sweet Love", "Congratulations" and "Special". She was 48.

[Photo: Fame Pictures]

It's the end of an era. A really long, cheesy era.

The legendary soap opera All My Children ends Friday after more than 40 years. Originally a half-hour show, AMC premiered in January 1970, it was later expanded to an hour. Thousands upon thousands of episodes followed.

Earlier this month, Susan Lucci, 64, who has played Erica Kane on the soap since 1970, vented her frustration with the show's end in a new epilogue the star added to the paperback version of her autobiography, All My Life: A Memoir.

Lucci said ABC exec Brian Frons aided its demise by pushing aside creator Agnes Nixon in 2008 and appointing writers who'd provide “sub-par" content.

"An iconic show was losing out to greed," Lucci said of ABC’s decision to cancel the soap opera in favor of a food show called The Chew (starting Monday).

If Brian Frons could show his bosses that he could save the network 40 percent, he could keep his job, even if the rest of us ended up losing ours."

Chew on that, ABC bigwigs.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Just before Troy Davis was executed last night for killing police officer Mark MacPhail more than 20 years ago, he professed his innocence one last time.

The Georgia man's controversial case had become a cause celebre in recent days, as a crowd of over 500 cried, hugged, prayed and held candles.

They represented hundreds of thousands of supporters worldwide who took up the anti-death penalty cause as Troy Davis' final days ticked away.

"I am innocent," Davis said Wednesday, minutes before his death.

"All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth. I ask my family and friends to continue this fight."

Prosecutors and MacPhail's family were stoic but said that justice had finally been served, while dismissing questions regarding Davis' innocence.

Davis was scheduled to die at 7 p.m., but the hour came and went as the U.S. Supreme Court apparently weighed the case, halting the execution.

More than three hours later, the high court said it wouldn't intervene. The justices did not comment on the order rejecting Davis' request for a stay.

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Dolores Hope, the vibrant and talented wife of the late Bob Hope, has passed away. She was a staggering 102 and had been in good health until very recently.

She died peacefully Monday morning at her home in Toluca Lake, Calif.

Born in the Bronx, Dolores was singing in a Manhattan club under the professional name Dolores Reade when newcomer Bob Hope, fresh off a performance in a Broadway show, walked into the club with the dancer George Murphy.

Hearing Reade sing "It's Only a Paper Moon," Hope said to Murphy, "I'm going to marry her." He did just that, on February 19, 1934. They raised four adopted children and remained in love until his death in 2003 at age 100.

Dolores continued to sing throughout her life, and had received many humanitarian awards and had seven Honorary Doctorates over the years.

R.I.P.

Frances Bay, an actress whose career began in the '30s, and who is forever recognizable to younger audiences as the woman Jerry Seinfeld jacked a marble rye from on the street, and as Happy Gilmore's beloved grandma, has passed away.

She was 92. Her cousin Les Berman told the AP that Frances Bay died Thursday at a Los Angeles area hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

After working as a radio actress before World War II, Bay married and became a housewife. She returned to acting in the 1970s and her career took off.

Bay played Fonzie's Grandma Nussbaum on Happy Days and kindly older ladies in shows like The Jeffersons, The Dukes of Hazzard and Who's the Boss?

The Canadian-born actress and Walk of Fame member also was cast by director David Lynch in several films, including Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart.