MC Breed

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) _ MC Breed, a Michigan rapper who burst onto the national scene with the 1991 hit "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'," died Saturday. He was 37.

The rapper, whose given name was Eric Breed, died at a friend's home in Ypsilanti, about 30 miles southwest of Detroit, a Washtenaw County medical examiner's spokesman said Monday.

Toxicology reports were pending, but no foul play was suspected in the 37-year-old's death.

Breed had suffered from kidney failure, according to The Detroit News and The Flint Journal.

Breed released 13 albums from 1991 to 2004, and collaborated with artists such as Tupac Shakur and Too Short.

He moved to Atlanta in the 1990s, but always identified with his tough Flint roots.

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John Michael Hayes

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ John Michael Hayes, a screenwriter who was nominated for Academy Awards for the classic Alfred Hitchcock film "Rear Window" and for "Peyton Place," died Wednesday. He was 89.

Hayes, who was involved in Dartmouth College's film studies program, died of natural causes at a retirement community in Hanover, John Wilson of Rand Wilson Funeral Home said Monday.

Hayes also had collaborated with Hitchcock on "To Catch a Thief," "The Trouble with Harry" and the 1956 remake of Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much." His most recent writing credit is the 1998 film "Iron Will."

Hayes was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1919. He got his start writing for newspapers and radio. After paying his way through school at Massachusetts State College, Hayes moved to Hollywood. There he landed a job writing for Lucille Ball's radio program "My Favorite Husband" and the serial drama "The Adventures of Sam Spade."

His radio work caught the attentions of Universal Studios, which hired him as a screenwriter in the early 1950s.

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Richard Hickox

LONDON (AP) _ Richard Hickox, a British conductor who made a particular mark in opera and choral music with orchestras around the world, died Sunday of a heart attack, his agent said Monday. He was 60.

Hickox died in a hotel in Cardiff, Wales, said Stephen Lumsden, managing director of Intermusica Artists' Management Ltd.

Hickox had been scheduled to conduct the new English National Opera production of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Riders to the Sea," which opens on Thursday.

He was musical director of Opera Australia, associate guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, founder and music director of the City of London Sinfonia, co-director of the period instrument group Collegium Musicum 90, and conductor emeritus of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

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Robert Lucas

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Robert Lucas, who until recently fronted the blues rock band Canned Heat and was known for his barrelhouse vocals, died Sunday. He was 46.

Lucas died at a friend's home in Long Beach. The cause of death was an apparent drug overdose, his former manager Skip Taylor said.

Lucas had two stints as lead singer, harmonica and bottleneck guitar player between 1994 and 2008 for Canned Heat, a Los Angeles-based blues and boogie band that formed in 1965 and had late 60s hits with "Goin' up the Country" and "On the Road Again."

The band has had four frontmen in its more-than-40-year history, Taylor said.

Lucas recently left the band to pursue his solo career and wrote and recorded seven solo albums.

He also performed with Big Joe Turner, George Smith, Pee Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulsom, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Percy Mayfield.

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Cecil Underwood

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) _ Cecil Underwood, a high school teacher who went on to hold the distinction of being West Virginia's youngest and oldest governor, died Monday. He was 86.

Gov. Joe Manchin's office confirmed the death.

Underwood was admitted to Charleston Area Medical Center Sunday and died Monday, hospital spokesman Dale Witte said. Details about the cause of death were not immediately available.

Underwood became West Virginia's youngest governor when he won his first term in 1956 at the age of 34. He won his second term 40 years later on his 74th birthday.

Underwood held a number of jobs between his terms as governor, including serving as president of Bethany College. He also held positions at Huntington-based Island Creek Coal Co., Monsanto Corp. and the New York Life Insurance Co.

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