By Zachary Swickey

New Jersey’s hottest rock export Jon Bon Jovi is the latest star to get the death hoax treatment, as false reports of his demise ran rampant late yesterday on the Internet. A rep for the singer quickly quashed the rumors, saying JBJ was alive and even performing at a charity even that night.

The rumors gained steam as a trending topic yesterday on Twitter when accompanied with a fake press release that was frequently being retweeted. Noisecreep points out that the false report appears to have been copied from an LA Times story on the death announcement of Michael Jackson.

A photog friend of Jovi’s snapped a fun pic of the star holding a sign that reads “Heaven looks a lot like New Jersey! Dec. 19th 2011, 6:00” to post on Twitter ending the hoax. So at least he was a good sport about the whole silly ordeal.

Unfortunately, death hoaxes have become something of a trend. Several notable stars, from Jaleel White (aka Steve Urkel) to living legend Paul McCartney, have had to publicly deny their own death. Here are some of the craziest death rumors about our favorite stars that we’ve heard about. Read More...

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Amy Winehouse

As fans around the world continue to mourn the death of singer Amy Winehouse, the circumstances that led to her untimely passing are beginning to come to light.

While we still don’t know what killed Winehouse, we know that she was given the “all-clear” by doctors at a check up on Friday and was found unresponsive at her home in London’s Camden district by her bodyguard at 4PM on Saturday. “She was in her bedroom after saying she wanted to sleep, and when he went to wake her he found she wasn't breathing," Winehouse’s U.K. representative Chris Goodman told TMZ. “He called the emergency services straight away. He was very shocked. At this stage no one knows how she died. She died alone in bed."

Winehouse leaves behind a legacy as a brilliantly talented but endlessly troubled star. The problems started not long after the release of her breakthrough album “Back to Black.” Following several run-ins with the law and a leaked video of the singer smoking drugs, her Visa was denied and she was unable to attend the 2008 Grammys, where she scored five wins, including Record and Song of the Year. A flurry of assault and drug charges, as well as turmoil in her personal life, followed. She spent much of 2009 and 2010 in St. Lucia trying to clean up her act and refocus on her music. Things had looked promising for the star by early 2011, as she booked a European tour and claimed to be working on a new album.

Read on for more on Winehouse plus an expert's take on why musicians are drawn to substance abuse. Read More...

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Credit: Gil Kaufman

Photo by Gil Kaufman/MTV News

I've been to 50 shows, maybe 100, where I was assured I was seeing the next big thing. And most of the time, sadly, I was seeing something, but it wasn't big and it was hardly a thing.

But this one felt different.

There was something off about Amy Winehouse when I first laid eyes on her in March of 2007. Here was this latest British next big thing, a truly buzzed-about artist with a larger-than-life persona who shuffled out on stage and looked like a hyper-realized version of 1,000 other hipster chicks at that year's South by Southwest music festival in Austin.

From the big, retro gold doorknocker earrings, to the towering 1950s beehive with the blonde streak up front, the gold anchor necklace pendant, pin-up girl bicep tats and cat-eye mascara, Winehouse made an impression, sure.

But she was intensely shy, even awkward, on stage. That is, when she finally got to the stage.

She, of course, showed up horribly late, an almost unforgivable sin at SXSW, where showcases are run like clockwork. Her voice was as promised, a massive instrument, deep and rich, well-lived in for a woman in her early twenties. Too well lived-in, if I'm being honest. But that's what made her stand out. The whole wise-beyond-her-years effect. Though, looking back (and the thought might have occurred to me even then), I'm not sure it was wisdom that had rung those miles up.

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Ryan Dunn

Ugh! We hate even giving them ink because we know that’s exactly what they want, but we think you should be aware that in their ongoing quest for publicity, the horrible people at the Westboro Baptist Church – of “God Hates F**s” fame (ah hate, what a Christian thing to be known for, right?) – plan to picket any memorial or funeral service held for Jackass star Ryan Dunn.

The folks from Westboro, led by disbarred attorney Rev. Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, are known for these sorts of stunts. They have protested the funerals of soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, gay hate crime victim Matthew Shepherd and Michael Jackson. They even recorded a song called “God Hates The World,” a play on Jackson’s charity single “We Are the World,” which should not be confused with their summer 2010 jam, “God Hates Lady Gaga – No Poker Face.” These people are the worst.

You can check out a clip from the press release this pack of clowns unleashed after the jump (warning: the language is offensive and disgusting). But rather than pay them any more attention, we’re going to point you to one of the awesome things Ryan Dunn was doing just a few days before his passing. On June 6, Dunn appeared on Minute to Win It with Steve-O, where they played for their respective charities, National Down Syndrome Congress and the Teammates for Kids Foundation. Dunn’s obituary asked that all contributions be sent to Teammates for Kids.

Sounds more Christian to us than anything the Westboro Baptist Church has ever done.

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