Diva

Everyone knows that Taylor Swift can't sing. The teen star might hold the zeitgeist in her pink satin clutch, but she's regularly criticized for her live vocal performances, which tend toward wild notes and shortness of breath. Her turns onstage at the recent Country Music Assn. Awards, where she became the youngest-ever Entertainer of the Year, had critics pulling out descriptions like "shaky," "a train wreck" and (memorably, from Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker) "wobbly as a newborn colt."

In 1975, Donna Summer released a pop single unlike any before it. The singer, then an unknown in the U.S., was living in Germany and working with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder and lyricist Pete Bellotte. Together they came up with a breathy, minimalist number that sounded flagrantly sexy. Summer's coos acted as musical erotica atop a simple, four-on-the-floor drum beat. "Love to Love You Baby," all 17 minutes of it, set a template that would ignite Summer's career, and a style that defined an era: disco.

Enough with the "diva" word. Not all solo female acts are divas, nor do they have to be divas four times in one story, Robert Hilburn's review of Whitney Houston ("The Diva in Check," July 31). It's time to hammer another word to death. I almost long for the old hackneyed "superstar." Copy editors, are you reading this? BARBARA MARCUS Beverly Hills

Ah, the glamour of being an Olympic medalist. It is an overcast Wednesday morning in Newhall. The parking lot at the Oak Tree Gun Club is already filling up and the greatest competitive female gunslinger in the history of the good ol' USA is being put through the paces by a photographer. Our modern-day Annie Oakley stands on a square of dirt, next to a field of gravel and facing a scraggly hill. A sign warns of rattlesnakes in the area, and Kim Rhode laughs and says, "Almost sat on one here.

Aprile Millo sweeps into the lobby of the Algonquin Hotel, not far from the apartment she still maintains in Hell's Kitchen. She looks and sounds every bit the diva she unquestionably is. All in black, with an antique cross nestling in her decolletage, her hair chicly frizzy, she has been described by some as belonging among that all-but-extinct breed, the Verdi spinto soprano--that category between the lyric and dramatic soprano for whom Aida,...

Wednesday was a pretty good night for diva-watchers, if not necessarily for diva-listeners. Hollywood Bowl provided a massive showcase for an electronically boosted recital by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who sings regularly at royal weddings and royal opera houses. Daniel Cariaga reports nearby. Meanwhile, amid the decadent neo-deco splendors of the Wiltern Theatre, an even more flamboyant prima donna was humbly attempting to serve the loftiest of muses.

"Dawg! When you hit that high note -- 'That's the way that love's sup-POSE-ed to be' -- THAT was the Faith we've come to know and love throughout this competition. That was hot -- you ARE the next American Idol!!" Oh, that's right -- Faith Hill got the jump on "American Idol" long ago. Yet it was tough Friday not to keep watching from the wings during the opening of her two-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl expecting Randy Jackson or Paula Abdul to pop out and give her a standing ovation.

Recently, our fax machine spit out a missive from a group of cranky language lovers listing words and phrases that have surrendered "through misuse, abuse and repetition to the point of inducing nausea" any of the originality or sparkle they once possessed. The James Murray Society of English Excellence (shouldn't that be for English excellence?) is named after the original editor of what has since become known as the Oxford English Dictionary. The group is based in Traverse City, Mich.

Holmes onstage: Katie Holmes is headed back to the stage, this time for the annual Memorial Day weekend concert in Washington, D.C. She will team with actress Dianne Wiest to read one veteran's personal story at the May 24 event, to be televised on PBS. -- Roasting Joan: Comedian and QVC jewelry diva Joan Rivers will be the subject of a Comedy Central roast, taping in L.A. on July 26 and being shown Aug. 9. "I'm thrilled to be doing this for...

A landmark and celebrity watering hole, Alan Ladd's Spanish Inn in Palm Springs, has been sold for just under $2 million, according to local real estate brokers. The late film star's widow, Sue Carol Ladd, purchased the Barcelona-style 34-room hotel in 1978 and named it after her late husband. In its early years, the inn on North Indian Avenue was a favorite getaway spot for such stars as Lana Turner, Tyrone Power, Esther Williams and opera diva Amelita Galli-Curci.

Armani, Lagerfeld, Prada, Versace — some of fashion's leading designers have ventured into the world of opera, dressing divas and devils at venues such as La Scala and the Met. The trend, which began in the '80s, "has gone crescendo," says Helena Matheopoulos, who describes the couture-costume connection in the new book "Fashion Designers at the Opera" (Thames & Hudson). The London-based Matheopoulos, a former Tatler fashion editor and author of several opera books, focuses on a dozen designers.

Cesaria Evora, who started singing as a teenager in bayside bars on the West African island nation of Cape Verde in the 1950s and won a Grammy Award in 2004 after she finally took her music to stages around the world, died Saturday. She was 70. Evora, known as the "Barefoot Diva" because she always performed without shoes, died at a hospital in Mindelo, on her native island of Sao Vicente in Cape Verde, her label Lusafrica announced on its website . It gave no further details.

Like many people, Evan Cunningham spends time on Facebook and Twitter while at the office. He sends out party invitations or chats about beer. But unlike most people, he gets paid for it. And he gets a title. Cunningham's job is one of the newest in corporate America: social media manager. It's also known, depending on the company, as social media wizard, social media ninja, social media diva or just plain online communities manager. No matter what they're called, experts in marketing a company's name and wares on social network sites — such as Facebook, Twitter and special interest forums — are in demand.

With an international career that spans four decades, Jessye Norman is a long way from her childhood in a supportive, education-minded family in Augusta, Ga., singing in the church choir. It's much easier to envision the statuesque star as the reported inspiration for the 1982 French film thriller "Diva," whose title character embodies all the excess the word implies. One reason the stereotype lives on: In recent years, Norman has avoided the press. The reason, she says, is that many who show up to question her might as easily hail from the sports department or the gardening section as the classical music beat.

Jeanne Eagels' performance on Broadway in the 1920s as prostitute Sadie Thompson in the Somerset Maugham melodrama "Rain" won her wide renown. She's just as famous for her diva behavior and her alcohol and drug abuse. Though known for her stage roles, Eagels also made a handful of films. She scored a huge hit with her first talkie, the 1929 Maugham drama "The Letter," which has just come out on DVD. Eagels plays Leslie Crosbie, a married woman on a rubber plantation who shoots her lover.

It's hard to imagine one of the world's greatest dramatic sopranos singing out of tune. But when Christine Brewer was a child growing up in the tiny Illinois town of Grand Tower her musically inclined mother was so appalled by her daughter's apparent inability to sing properly that she made her learn to play the violin, an instrument that demands a particularly rigorous ear. The vocalist's education in string playing clearly paid off. It...

Jeanne Eagels' performance on Broadway in the 1920s as prostitute Sadie Thompson in the Somerset Maugham melodrama "Rain" won her wide renown. She's just as famous for her diva behavior and her alcohol and drug abuse. Though known for her stage roles, Eagels also made a handful of films. She scored a huge hit with her first talkie, the 1929 Maugham drama "The Letter," which has just come out on DVD. Eagels plays Leslie Crosbie, a married woman on a rubber plantation who shoots her lover.

'I am controversial because I speak the truth, and sometimes people think I should not do that," says Renata Scotto. "But, after saying the truth, I also say something , and that also bothers people." The Italian soprano, looking slim and considerably younger than her 51 years, pauses. Probably for effect--but one can't be sure; everything she does seems to be natural.

Good news for Celine Dion fans. After a four-year absence, the super diva is returning to Las Vegas. Dion will be back in familiar territory — the Caesars Palace stage that was the setting for her record-shattering 2003 to 2007 residency. Her new engagement calls for the five-time Grammy Award winner to perform 70 shows a year over three years. The premiere is March 15. The first leg of 54 shows concludes Aug. 14. Backed by 31 musicians — a full orchestra and band — Dion will sing a mix of Hollywood classics and fan favorites from her own catalog.

  Queen and Diva's mac 'n' cheese Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes Servings: 12 to 16 Note: From Sebrena Smith and Sean Swayze. Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try any of the L.A. Times Test Kitchen recipes from this week's Food section, we want photographic evidence: Click here to upload pictures of the finished dish. 1 pound bag elbow macaroni 2 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 3/4 teaspoon pepper 1 cup sour cream 1/2 cup (1 stick)