ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604230053
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 11 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The People Column
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
Jimmy Fortune, Statler Brothers tenor, was taken to a hospital for severe back pain Thursday, forcing cancellation of the group's concert in Danville, Ill.
The popular country quartet planned to be back on stage Friday night, in De Moines, Iowa, Ann Peters said by phone from the Statlers' office in Staunton, Va.
``He had severe muscle spasms in his back and left arm,'' Peters said. She said he was given medication and was feeling better.
Fortune, 40, was taken by ambulance to United Samaritans Medical Center in Danville. He said Fortune was complaining of upper back pain. He received a series of tests and was released within about two hours, she said.
Fortune was stricken while reaching for some clothes in the group's bus before the performance, said Marshall Grant, the group's manager.
``There was a terrible pain that hit him in his middle back, middle to upper back, I should say,'' Grant said. ``I never saw anybody hurt so bad so quick.''
Peters said the Statlers would return to Danville to perform Monday night.
The Statler Brothers - Harold and Don Reid, Phil Balsley and Fortune - are one of country music's most durable groups. They have sold some 20 million albums and had 10 No. 1 singles over the past three decades. Their variety show on The Nashville Network is in its fifth season.
Fortune joined the group after illness forced the late Lew DeWitt to quit in 1982.
Shere Hite says German women get more respect than their American counterparts, and that's one reason she renounced her U.S. citizenship.
``I feel I have more freedom of expression and autonomy when speaking from Europe,'' said the feminist author, who became a German citizen earlier this year.
In Bonn to promote her autobiography, which for now is available only in Germany, the 53-year-old Hite complained about a ``reactionary mood'' in the United States that she likened to the McCarthy era.
She said Germany has achieved a lot in the area of women's rights: ``Germany even has a woman speaker of Parliament. Germany has a minister for women's affairs in every town and on the federal level who is charged with trying to see that women have equal rights.''
In 1976, Hite published the best seller ``The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study of Female Sexuality.'' The second Hite report delved into men's sexuality. The books earned Hite $2.5 million despite widespread criticism of her methodology.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB