Ask American Profile

Leon Russell, Chuck Norris, Aaron Brown, Jane Seymour

Why has the great Leon Russell been passed up by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Fill us fans in on what Mr. Russell is up to.
—Nick Coby, Cle Elum, Wash.

Oklahoma-born Russell is being inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk this year, which sometimes is a preface to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So stay tuned. An accomplished piano player, showman and writer of classics such as Joe Cocker’s "Delta Lady," George Benson’s "Masquerade" and "A Song For You," recorded by Ray Charles, Russell still performs. But he hasn’t released any new music since 2002, when he churned out three new albums, Moonlight and Love Songs, Crazy Love and Life and Love. He lives with his wife of 25 years, Jan, in Nashville, Tenn., where he’s working on a new musical project.

Could you give me any information on Chuck Norris? What is he doing and where is he now?
—Kathleen Harlow, Huntley, Ill.

Martial arts expert-turned-actor Norris, who last year starred in a two-hour Walker, Texas Ranger TV movie called Trial By Fire, soon will add another accomplishment to his resume: author. He’s preparing to release The Justice Riders, the first of what he plans as a series of novels set in the Old West, with all profits going to Norris’ Texas-based Kickstart Foundation, which trains troubled kids in martial arts and points them on the right path—just as martial arts did for him. "I was an at-risk kid," Norris admits. "I grew up in poverty with an alcoholic father who was gone all the time. I could have gone the wrong way very easily. Fortunately, my mom kept me on the right trail, and the martial arts turned my life around."

What can you tell me about Aaron Brown, and why he’s no longer on CNN? We sure do miss him.
—A. Underman, Dublin, Calif.

Brown has covered many newsworthy events, including the O.J. Simpson trial, the Columbine High School shootings, the death of Princess Diana, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the D.C. sniper, the Columbia space shuttle disaster and the tsunami in Southeast Asia. He was the founding anchor of ABC-TV’s World News Now and reported with Peter Jennings for World News Tonight. He recently served in CNN’s New York bureau as anchor for NewsNight With Aaron Brown and host of CNN Presents, but he left the network late last year for some much-deserved time off with his wife of 23 years and his teenage daughter. In his spare time, he loves to golf and cook.

What is Jane Seymour doing these days?
—Marge D., Coldwater, Mich.

When she’s not working in front of the cameras, Seymour is an accomplished painter with her own art gallery in Los Angeles. She also promotes her line of upscale home décor, the Jane Seymour Home Collection, now entering its sixth season. Most recently, she created a variety of beds and bedding inspired by her homes in England and California, as well as by the romantic atmosphere of the Grand Hotel on Michigan’s scenic Mackinac Island. (The romantic movie Somewhere in Time, in which she starred with the late Christopher Reeve, was filmed there.) The former star of TV’s Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is married to director James Keach, appeared in the hit 2005 movie Wedding Crashers and will star in a new TV sitcom called Modern Man, which debuts this spring on the WB network.

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