Danny Gans' former manager Chip Lightman has gotten the "amicable" resolution to the lawsuit he fired against Donny & Marie Osmond for firing him as producer of their show at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, after all.
Lightman released a statement yesterday:
“I am pleased we were able to resolve this matter and am sorry that, in the heat of battle, comments may have been made that were hurtful to the Osmonds. Both Donny and Marie are talented, hardworking artists and I wish them continuing success in their careers.”
Donny responded:
“My sister and I want to thank Chip Lightman for great contributions he made in launching our show at the Flamingo. We look forward to the opportunity to work with him again in the future.”
"Comments (that) may have been harmful"?
"...work with him again in the near future?
Maybe Lightman really did have material for a tell-all in his pocket, as he'd threatened on Twitter before deleting the tweet.
In his suit against the toothsome twosome, the unloved Lightman accused Donny of being "underhanded, devious, fraudulent and greedy," being out to "line his own pockets with ill-gotten gains to fund his lavish lifestyle of exotic cars, luxury hotel suites and private jets," and acting in a manner that's "contrary to the wholesome, all-American, good-natured image that he presents to the public."
As for Marie? Lightman says the tragic mother was "liable for the fraud perpetrated by Donny through her acquiescence, awareness, and utter failure to disclose" his action.
There's an interesting and forgotten footnote to Chip Lightman's lawsuit against Donny Osmond, for firing him as producer of the Donny & Marie show at the Flamingo. In August, 2009, after it was announced that Donny would compete in ABC's Dancing with The Stars, Mike Weatherford wrote in the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
"The Flamingo was wise to lock in the duo with a contract extension through Oct. 15, 2012. The two originally were courted by late impressionist Danny Gans and his manager, Chip Lightman, who produced under the name GansLight Entertainment.
"Lightman says Gans' family is no longer financially involved in the Osmond show. He's helming it under the name Chip Lightman Entertainment. However, the giant building wrap on the side of the Flamingo is cost-prohibitive to change, so Gans' name will stay."
Lightman's suit claims his contract with the Osmonds show runs through October 15, 2012.
In his Las Vegas Sun article on yesterday's Danny Gans Memorial Champions Run for Life, John Katsilometes reports that "Osmond talked glowingly of Gans, who was managed by Lightman and instrumental in bringing Donny & Marie to the Flamingo two years ago. He says he took on the role of spokesman for the annual run-walk charity event as a tribute to Gans."
“'This shows it is not just a publicity thing with me,' Osmond said. 'Danny was such a good friend of mine. We texted jokes to each other. He came to the show, and he’d have notes for me all the time because he’s such a perfectionist. He came into my dressing room and had four pages of notes, and 90 percent of what he said was spot on.”
Though he's being sued by Danny Gans' former manager and producing partner, Donny Osmond couldn't miss hosting yesterday's second annual Danny Gans Memorial Champions run for the Nevada Cance Foundation-- not when it's been retitled the “Danny Gans Memorial Champions Run for Life Hosted by Donny Osmond."
Chip Lightman filed suit after Osmond fired him last month as producer of the Donny & Marie show at the Flamingo on the Las Vegas Strip. Lightman claims the contract runs through October 2012. Donny said he couldn't talk about the lawsuit, but to John Katsilometes of the Las Vegas Sun, did respond to its claim he has a “lavish lifestyle of exotic cars, luxury hotel suites and private jets.”
Said Donny: “I drive a smart car and a pickup. I don’t think those are exotic cars.”
Danny Gans' former manager Chip Lightman has made it very clear that Las Vegas blogger, New York Times stringer (who, interestingly did not pen the recent high-profile Times stories on the Vegas economic slump or Liberace Museum), Gay Vegas author, concert promoter and comp queen Steve Friess wasn't far off the mark when he wrote: "In Las Vegas, when left to our own devices, we do things a little differently.”
Lightman has filed a blistering lawsuit against Donny Osmond for firing him as producer of the Donny & Marie stage show at the Flamingo Hilton, accusing the squeaky-clean, caffeine-free, toothy, Mormon entertainer of being "underhanded, devious, fraudulent and greedy," being out to "line his own pockets with ill-gotten gains to fund his lavish lifestyle of exotic cars, luxury hotel suites and private jets," and acting in a manner that's "contrary to the wholesome, all-American, good-natured image that he presents to the public."
Yet, Lightman now says he hopes the suit's resolution will be "amicable."
Amicable.
Amicable!
Lightman's publicist spread the 23-page complaint yesterday as an attachment to an email that read:
"At this time the claim will speak for itself. I am hopeful and optimistic that an amicable resolution will come quickly to this unfortunate situation I never wanted to find myself in."
Lightman, who announced the lawsuit on his Twitter account, also deleted from his Twitter page a threatening "tweet" aimed Friday at Donny and his sister Marie.
Chip Lightman knows how to hit Donny Osmond where it hurts: smack in the middle of his squeaky-clean Mormon image.
Lightman, who made his reputation as manager and sidekick to the late local superstar Danny Gans, filed suit against the wholesome entertainer last week after Osmond announced he was dropping Lightman as producer of the Donny & Marie show at the Flamingo (Lightman and Gans-- who died suddenly in May 2009--brought the brother-sister act to the Flamingo, in effect reviving their careers, two years ago, producing the show under the Ganslight banner).
Mike Weatherford of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Lightman's suit claims Donny Osmond was "underhanded, devious, fraudulent and greedy," out to "line his own pockets with ill-gotten gains to fund his lavish lifestyle of exotic cars, luxury hotel suites and private jets," and acted in ways that are "contrary to the wholesome, all-American, good-natured image that he presents to the public."
"The lawsuit claims that Osmond conspired to cut Lightman and the William Morris Agency out of a Flamingo contract extension through 2012, and claims Donny threatened not to perform beyond next week if "the Flamingo did not terminate any and all agreements" with Lightman.
"The suit alleges that '(d)ue to the declining economy, poor investments and his extravagant lifestyle," Donny "lived paycheck to paycheck scraping by to cover his own expenses.' That, Lightman alleges, motivated him to try to cut costs and commissions.
"The Osmonds' attorney, Howard King, said Wednesday he had not seen the complaint to comment on specifics. But he wrote in an e-mail, 'Of course, we are surprised and disappointed that Mr. Lightman took such precipitous action, especially in light of the substantial sums he has been paid, despite the facts that he neither created, financed or owns the show, nor does he engage the 48 talented and dedicated people who produce and perform the show each night.'"
Weatherford reports that the lawsuit claims the Osmonds each had a base salary of $1.6 million, plus 40 percent of gross box office receipts over $250,000, and that the Flamingo obtained life insurance policies for both Donny and Marie in the amount of $5 million each.
He also points out that Gans stopped working with Lightman from 2004 through early 2008, but reconciled.
Danny Gans' former manager Chip Lightman has declared war on Donny and Marie Osmond, filing a lawsuit against them and threatening to reveal the secrets of the Mormon siblings in a "tell all book."
Lightman struck out on his Twitter account in response to the Osmonds' announcement that they were bouncing him from his role as producer of their show at the Flamingo Hilton.
Gans and his longtime friend and sidekick Lightman brought the show to the Flamingo two years ago under their Ganslight banner. The Osmonds said on September 25th that the Ganslight contract expired last week and that "we have decided not to renew that contract.
"The show will of course continue... and we hope to explore future opportunities with Chip Lightman."
Lightman posted Friday on Twitter, a common means of communication among Las Vegas showbiz insiders, claiming there are two years left on their "commitment" and accusing Donny Osmond of "putting out false information" (he'd later accuse the brother-sister act of "contractual interference and deceitful dealings" and claim that Donny told him his contract wouldn't be renewed unless he'd take a 50 percent pay cut).
Most chilling to the "squeaky clean" Mormon Osmonds and others in Sin City circles was Lightman's threat that he "has already been approached for a 'TELL ALL' BOOK."
Lightman indicated the type of the secrets he could be prodded to spill back in December when, unprompted, he contradicted the official timeline of Gans' untimely drug-related death on May 1, 2009, that Gans' wife Julie had given police. Fun Fact: Lightman tweeted on March 21st that "Donnie & Marie are a class act."
Chip Lightman, the longtime manager of late Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans, has been bounced as producer of Donny & Marie Osmond's show at the Flamingo.
Gans and Lightman brought the show to the Strip venue two years ago, reviving Donny & Marie's Las Vegas career. There have been rumours for weeks that the Osmonds were severing ties with surviving producer Lightman (and the Ganslight company), but everything was confirmed late yesterday in a statement from Donny Osmond:
"The contract with Ganslight to produce our show expires in a few days, and we have decided not to renew that contract. The show will of course continue, and we look forward to a long run. We want to thank everyone at Ganslight for their efforts, and we hope to explore future opportunities with Chip Lightman."
Donny Osmond gave an emotional eulogy at Gans' memorial service at the Wynn after Gans' untimely drug-related death on May 1, 2009. We reported last week that Donny will again host a Danny Gans memorial charity run in nearby Henderson on October 9th.
Lightman made headlines last December, when he contradicted the timeline of Gans' death, stating that Gans' wife Julie told him that Gans had been dead for several hours before she called 911, telling police she just discovered his lifeless body. Henderson Police chose not to investigate the discrepancy, stating "there is no evidence to not believe" Mrs. Gans' timeline. The Las Vegas news media also failed to investigate the circumstances of the musical impressionist's mysterious death.
The Las Vegas Strip did not dim its lights to mark the first anniversary of the passing of the man who was the entertainment and gambling mecca's greatest homegrown superstar, but there were some who took time to remember the life and legacy of Danny Gans.
Norm Clarke tells us that friends and colleagues of the late musical impressionist gathered yesterday afternoon at his grave at Palm Memorial Park on Eastern Avenue. About a dozen people attended the 2 p.m. tribute, and it is that story-shifting inner circle, the ones who hold the secrets of his life and death, whose names stand out. Among them:
Chip Lightman, his longtime manager who says he received a phone call from Gans' wife Julie in the early hours of May 1, 2009, telling him that Gans had died hours earlier;
...Alicia Jacobs, the beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter for local station KVBC-TV, who touted her close friendship with Gans and was the first person Lightman notified of the death that morning (around the same time that paramedics arrived at Gans' Henderson estate);
...R.G. Ryan, who collaborated on Gans' posthumous autobiography, The Voices In My Head, and who's refused to comment on the controversy regarding the timeline of Gans' demise or the drug use that led to it; his assistants and members of his band and crew.
Gans' wife and family packed up and moved from Las Vegas to La Cañada Flintridge, California, outside Los Angeles shortly after his death, which occurred about three months after he opened at Steve Wynn's Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino.
It was a year ago today that the world learned of the death of Las Vegas musical impressionist, Strip superstar and uniquely American show business legend Danny Gans. One year later, the feature-length articles on the unexplored areas of his life and the unanswered and uninvestigated aspects of his death that more than one Las Vegas journalist had promised would be written have yet to materialize. And neither of the two daily newspapers has posted any mention of the tragic anniversary on its website.
And click here to visit the official Danny Gans website, which includes performance footage and other Gans, including his favorite recipes, cooked by his wife Julie, who reported his death at age 52 in his bedroom in the early hours of May 1, 2009, to police.
Musical impressionist Rick Ludwig, the Danny Gans of Des Moines, Iowa, is not sitting by his phone, waiting for the call from Las Vegas to take the mantle of the fallen Strip superstar. He's out there working his "i-man show," with little of the Sin City production values but a hundred and ten percent of the talent and gumption it takes to get out there and conquer another crowd with a trunk of quick-change costumes, a sound system and an incredible voice as well as knack for mimicry.
This weekend it was the 3rd annual Blue Ribbon National Bacon Festival, where Rick, in his "Big Elvis" persona, brought home the bacon with The National Anthem.
Now, sure it's funny, with the guy in the pig suit standing behind the big Elvis. But take time and listen to Rick's voice (and hang in to the very end to watch the pig and hear Rick bring home the bacon at 1:30!). The man's got the goods-- and dozens of other voices. This is wholesome, family, Gansian entertainment.
Sez Rick: "It was a rush! The bacon-covered caramel donuts were awesome! Elvis really enjoyed it!"
What does the "i" stand for? Good question. The "i" stands for Impressionist, which is defined one way by Merriam-Webster as "an entertainer who does impressions." And an Impression is defined as "an imitation or representation of salient features in an artistic or theatrical medium; especially : an imitation in caricature of a noted personality as a form of theatrical entertainment.
That's what Rick Ludwig does when he sings and does impressions of some of the biggest artists of yesterday and today, which include... Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Neil Diamond, Elton John, Billy Joel, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, John Denver, Toby Keith, Billy Idol, Ozzy Osbourne and Joe Cocker just to name a few.
Rick's resourceful and comedic use of costumes and props for these artists brings life to his characters and accompanies his vocal talents to make for an "impressive" and unforgettable evening of entertainment.
Who is Rick Ludwig?
Rick Ludwig is one of the Midwest's best kept secrets when it comes to variety style vocal performance and impersonations of the greatest singers since the 1950s until the present. Rick sings over 100 different songs from over 30 different artists spanning over 50 years and he also impersonates many of these artists with costumes or hilarious props. Rick's incredible 4 octave range (from bass to falsetto) allows him to do almost any song made for a man (and them some).
Rick has performed (sang) at over 3,500 shows from 1990-present, including, but not limited to wedding ceremonies, wedding receptions, corporate parties, karaoke shows, singing telegrams, senior citizen centers, nightclubs, casino shows and even funerals.
Rick began singing in public at a very young age of four in church, performing special numbers. The love for singing has always been in his blood! He is a natural when it comes to singing like the original artists and impersonating their famous moves! Rick has even been compared to the late, great Vegas entertainer/singer/impersonator Danny Gans, by some big fans of Danny's that saw his show several times.
Rick performs the oldies, classic country, new country (including hits on the radio today), classic pop and rock & roll songs and even contemporary Christian and gospel songs. He also likes to throw in a few Patriotic songs every now and then.
A spokesman for the Henderson, Nevada Police Department says that recent comments by Danny Gans' manager do not lead them to question the accepted timeline about Gans' death on May 1st, nor to suspect any evidence of foul play.
Tabloid Baby has been in contact with Henderson Police spokesman Keith Paul since the beginning of the week. After conferring with detectives assigned to the Gans case, he told us exclusively:
"There is absolutely no evidence based on their investigation to not believe Mrs. Gans' timeline. There is no indication of foul play, no indication for us to suspect that Mrs. Gans' timeline is incorrect or that Mr. Gans was dead for any perceptible amount of time prior to his wife calling.
"Again, there is absolutely no indication of foul play."
Danny Gans' wife Julie called the Henderson 911 operator at 3:44 a.m. on May 1st, to say she had awakened four minutes earlier to find her 52-year-old husband was not breathing. She then performed CPR while the 911 operator guided her through the motions.
“I get a call at 3:15 in the morning, and it’s Julie, his wife, and she goes, ‘Dan is gone.’ I’m like, “What!?” At that moment, it was like I was dreaming. I didn’t think I was awake and on the phone, and then I go, What do you mean?’ And she said, ‘Danny died, Chip.’
“...I asked, ‘When did it happen?’ She said, ‘A couple of hours ago.’”
Lightman's statement not only indicated that Danny Gans had been discovered dead hours earlier, but that his wife had phoned Lightman a half hour before calling 911.
Police spokesman Paul would not say if detectives had interviewed Lightman about his latest story, or whether they had checked cell and home phone records in their investigation. "We will not be releasing details into the death investigation," he said.
Las Vegas news media fails again
Of perhaps equal significance, Paul also told us that no other news organization-- not the Las Vegas Sun, whose columnist John Katsilometes got the explosive scoop, not the competing Las Vegas Review-Journal, not any television news outfit, blogger or gossip columnist, had contacted Henderson Police to inquire about this latest twist. No one in the Las Vegas news media has followed up since December 23rd, despite the fact that Tabloid Baby representatives had reached out to Katsilometes and several other Las Vegas journalists to tip them on the story.
No one with a journalistic background could deny the Lightman statement was provocative and compelling. Any journo with a stake in Las Vegas crime reporting would check it out, even knock it down. But no curiosity whatsoever? Not even a phone call?
That's another reason the behaviour of the Las Vegas news media has become a story of its own.
Musical impressionist Danny Gans may be a distant memory in Las Vegas in 2010, but a little bit of his act and legacy live on thanks to Donny Osmond, whose sibling show with sister Marie at the Flamingo was produced by Gans and his manager Chip Lightman.
Las Vegas Sun entertainment columnist John Katsilometes mentions in another 2009 wrapup column that the crowd-pleasing Gans, who was guaranteed to bring the audience to its feet more than once in every show, gave his pal Donny am "awww"-inspiring line he uses every night:
"A line Danny Gans gave to Donny Osmond: When Donny is cheered during 'Puppy Love,' he says, 'I still got it.' Osmond still uses it in the show at Flamingo."
Katsilometes brought a new twist to the Danny Gan's death in an article published on December 23rd, in which Lightman contradicts the official police report that says Julie Gans told Henderson Police Detective Chad Mitchell that she suddenly awoke at 3:40 a.m. when she no longer heard her husband's snoring dialed 911 four minutes later:
Said Lightman: "I get a call at 3:15 in the morning, and it’s Julie, his wife, and she goes, 'Dan is gone.' I’m like, 'What!?' At that moment, it was like I was dreaming. I didn’t think I was awake and on the phone, and then I go, 'What do you mean?' And she said, 'Danny died, Chip.' I’m saying, 'No.' She said, 'Call whoever you have to call and let them know, and I’ll talk to you later.'
"I asked, 'When did it happen?' She said, 'A couple of hours ago.'"
No Las Vegas news organization has yet followed up on the story. In fact, one prominent Las Vegas journalist suggested in an email that this out-of-state volunteer organization do the work they're paid to do:
"Nobody cares about Gans as much as you do... Why would you 'want' us to investigate it? If you're this big-shot investigative guy... and you're convinced there's a big story being covered up in a concerted, orchestrated effort by a daily newspaper, wouldn't you be trying to uncover and sell it yourself?"
Aside from the "selling," every "journo" in Las Vegas knows that's what we've been doing for eight months now...
In a shocking interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Danny Gans’ manager has raised disturbing new questions about the circumstances of the musical impressionist’s drug-related death.
Chip Lightman, who was first to receive word from Gans’ wife Julie that the Las Vegas Strip star had died in his bed early on the morning of May 1st, indicates that Gans may have died hours earlier than police reported, and that Julie Gans phoned Lightman a half hour before she called 911.
STEVE MARCUS/LAS VEGAS SUN
According to the incident report from the Henderson Police Department, Gans’ wife Julie (“Julia”) awoke “at approximately 0340 hours… and realized Daniel was no longer snoring. When Julia checked on Daniel she realized he was unresponsive and she could not tell if he was breathing and or if he had a pulse. Julia immediately called 911.”
Lightman, however, tells Sun columnist John Katsilometes that Julie Gans called him at 3:15 a.m., and told him that Gans had died “a couple of hours ago.”
“I get a call at 3:15 in the morning, and it’s Julie, his wife, and she goes, ‘Dan is gone.’ I’m like, 'What!?’ At that moment, it was like I was dreaming. I didn’t think I was awake and on the phone, and then I go, 'What do you mean?’ And she said, ‘Danny died, Chip.’ I’m saying, ‘No.’ She said, ‘Call whoever you have to call and let them know, and I’ll talk to you later.’
“I asked, ‘When did it happen?’ She said, ‘A couple of hours ago.’”
Lightman also responds to a question Tabloid Baby first asked in the days following Gans’ death: why he immediately phoned Alicia Jacobs, the beauty queen turned local entertainment reporter who flaunted her close relationship with Gans, to inform her of Gans' passing.
“I had collected my thoughts, and I thought, ‘OK, how do I get the word out? Do I get Steve Wynn up at about 4 in the morning and tell him? Or do I call (Wynn Las Vegas spokeswoman) Jennifer Dunne? ... I finally just called Alicia. She was the first person I thought of to get the word out, get it on the air, and I knew her number. When something like that happens, you’re in shock. Danny had just done an interview with her, and she was fresh on my mind when I thought ‘media.’ I thought, ‘I’ll just call Alicia.’ They were friends, too.”
Lightman’s latest statements are all the more disturbing in light of the fact that they come more than seven months after Gans’ death, with more than enough time to prepare his answers, and after he and others close to the situation have altered their stories more than once to fit new information and circumstances that arise.
And while it's Lightman's backhanded swipe at Gans' widow in an interview to promote the Gans autobiography that stands out, Lightman's latest version also paints a very different picture of Gans.
While he once claimed that Gans seemed to be in perfect health in the days leading to his death, he now tells Katsilometes that the star was ill.
“A few days before he died, I said, ‘You don’t look like you feel well.’ He said, “I’ve been fighting something. I’m just drained beyond drained. My shoulder has been acting up, the kids are sick, everyone around me is sick.’ The Wednesday night before he died — we always sat and met before onstage, usually at 7:10 — and he didn’t look good. He looked worn out..."
He admits that Gans may have been using steroids-- for his vocal cords:
"People said to me, when the coroner’s (report) hadn’t come out yet, 'We know he’s doing tons of steroids, and he had bulked up like the Hulk,' and all this stuff. And you know, if Dan did that, he didn’t do it around me. If Dan took any steroids, it was for his voice, to lessen the inflammation on his vocal chords... He worked out five days a week, and he had a 2,000-square-foot gym at his house."
He even says Gans' Encore Theatre may have been cursed.
“The biggest concern was the room People said it was a bad-luck room, it’s cursed. Dan was saying, ‘Spamalot didn’t work, Avenue Q before Spamalot didn’t work. Nothing has worked, and they were very good shows.’"
The Henderson Police Department investigation into Gans’ death was open for almost two months, but no criminal charges were filed. We do not know if the police looked into the records of Gans' home or Chip Lightman's phone calls.
Julie Gans and her children moved to Los Angeles during that time. Although the three teenage children have been brought out to speak with the media twice since the tragic death, Julie Gans has not been seen in public.
The Las Vegas news media as a group deliberately avoided any investigation of the circumstance of Gans' death or unexamined private life (Katsilometes wrote the day after Gans’ death about rumours of Gans’ steroid use — but never followed up), and Steve Friess, a local blogger, comp queen, New York Times stringer and close associate with Gans boss Steve Wynn, joined with Jacobs in a campaign to stop any investigation into the death and in fact, have this site shut down.
Public perception of the Born Again Christian, athletic, corporate entertainer has shifted in recent months with the revelations that a pharmacy co-owned by Gans marketed a male erection party pill. Gans’ children, brought out to face the media last month to promote the recently-published autobiography, changed a story they’d told earlier to acknowledge that their father did take prescription medication.
There's no longer any denying an intimate relationship between the deaths of Michael Jackson and Danny Gans.
Gans' manager Chip Lightman tastefully chose the day of Michael Jackson's funeral to announce that he's been hired by Jacko's brother Jermaine to help launch a "comeback," beginning with convention and corporate bookings.
According to Norm Clarke in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Lightman (known for phoning beauty queen-turned-TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs in the early hours of May 1st to inform her that her good friend had been pronounced dead only minutes earlier) has not booked any Vegas gigs. Norm says Lightman "employed a similar strategy with Gans, who went on to become a Las Vegas headliner sensation.
"Lightman said Jermaine Jackson, who had limited success as a solo act, is putting together a show based on his hits (two top 10 entries), Jackson 5 hits and a tribute to Michael.
"Jermaine, who sang Michael's favorite song, 'Smile,' at his brother's memorial, plans to hire some of Michael's musicians, said Lightman.
"...Jermaine recently announced he was organizing a tribute to Michael in Vienna, Austria, and promised 1 billion TV viewers. But no family members agreed to participate.
"Larry King's wife, Shawn, was initially involved, but pulled out."
Another connection: Shawn King was set to perform with Danny Gans at the Wynn Resorts' Encore Theatre on May 2nd.
Lightman has been booking some acts into Gans' theatre at the Encore. We reported in July that he'd floated the story that he'd talking to a representative of Jackson's brothers about having them take over the empty stage.
Hours after the disturbing news that drug victim Danny Gans owned his own pharmacy comes word that the Danny Gans industry plans to carry on with the release of several new products.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, which has given scant coverage to the details of Danny Gans untimely and unexpected death on May 1st, announces today that Gans' autobiography, The Voices In My Head, will be published in October "through Stephens Press, which is owned by the same parent company as the Review-Journal."
Gans' former manager Chip Lightman and the Gans estate also plan a fall release for a Danny Gans music CD and a "full-length video" of one of Gans' shows. The publicity claims that Gans finished recording the CD "months before he died," although his last musical CD was released in 2000.
The three posthumous products will be sold individually and also bundled in a single package.
Through their company, GansLight Entertainment, Gans and Lightman also produced the Donny and Marie Osmond show at the Flamingo on the Las Vegas Strip. Lightman has ended the partnership with the Gans estate and is now producing the Osmonds solo as Chip Lightman Entertainment. The Review-Journal notes that Gans's name will remain on the giant "building wrap" poster on the Strip because it "is cost-prohibitive to change."
Gans' close friend, beauty queen-turned-TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, revealed this week that Gans' widow and children have left Las Vegas "for good" and moved back to Los Angeles.
Click the photo for our complete coverage of the death and legacy of the Las Vegas superstar
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