SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2014 BlackBerry and singer Alicia Keys to part ways

licia Keys and BlackBerry Ltd will cut ties at the end of January, just one year after the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter was hired as a A“global creative director” for the struggling smartphone maker. The Canadian company on Thursday confirmed the singer’s upcoming departure. The move comes as BlackBerry retreats from the consumer mar- ket to focus on businesses, governments and other large organizations. “BlackBerry and Alicia Keys have completed our year-long collaboration,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We have enjoyed the opportu- nity to work with such an incredibly talented and passionate individual.” Keys was hired when the company launched its long-delayed BlackBerry 10 devices in January of last year. The new phones were seen as BlackBerry’s last chance to win back market share lost to Apple Inc’s iPhone and devices using Google Inc’s Android technology. But sales flopped, triggering billions of dollars in losses and forcing BlackBerry to slash its staff. In recent months the company has tried and failed to sell itself. The chief executive who hired Keys has left, along with many of his senior executives. In her BlackBerry role, Keys contributed to a collaborative project encour- aging fans to submit photographs that later appeared in music videos tied to her tour. Shortly after taking the job, some tech blogs noted a tweet from her veri- fied Twitter account that appeared to have been sent from an iPhone. Keys said at the time her account had been hacked.— Reuters BOOKS Conservative NY ‘Sycamore Row’ retains No. 1 radio host Bob Grant spot on US best-sellers list dead at 84 ongtime conservative radio host Bob Grant, whose combative style became the template for broadcast- ohn Grisham’s “Sycamore Row” held on to the top spot of Lers such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, has the best-sellers list on Thursday, besting James Patterson’s died at age 84. J“Cross My Heart” in sales during Christmas week. Grant’s death on Tuesday in Hillsborough, N.J., after a The list is compiled using data from independent and chain short illness was confirmed on Thursday by New York bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors radio station WABC, which once fired him over his acid- nationwide. tongued remarks about the plane crash death of one of President Bill Clinton’s cabinet members, the first black Hardcover Fiction Last Week commerce secretary. “Remember this: If you are offended during the next 1. “Sycamore Row” by John Grisham two hours, it’s nobody’s fault but mine,” Grant said at the (Doubleday, $28.95) 1 top of a broadcast featured in a 2010 tribute. “Because somebody’s got to say these things. It has to be me.” 2. “Cross My Heart” by James Patterson Grant was born Robert Ciro Gigante in Chicago in 1939. (Little, Brown, $29.00) 5 He began his broadcasting career in the 1940s at WBBM in Chicago. He moved on to radio and television jobs in Los 3. “Command Authority” by Tom Clancy Angeles and was named afternoon drive time host at (Putnam, $29.95) 3 WABC in 1984. Over the years, Grant, who was white, offended some 4. “Doctor Sleep” by Stephen King listeners by referring to former New York Mayor David (Scribner, $30.00) 4 Dinkins, who’s black, as a “washroom attendant,” calling Clinton a “sleazebag” and suggesting women on welfare 5. “The First Phone Call From Heaven” should be sterilized. by Mitch Albom (Harper, $24.99) 2 He once said of blacks: “I can’t take these screaming savages, whether they’re in the African Methodist Church, 6. “Takedown Twenty” by Janet Evanovich A picture taken on September 22, 2013 in Amsterdam, the A.M.E. church, or whether they’re in the streets, burn- (Bantam, $28.00) 6 shows US author Donna Tartt attending the world launch ing, robbing, looting.” of her new book “The Goldfinch” (Le Chardonneret). And, in a May 1993 broadcast, he lambasted Martin 7. “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt Donna Tartt is back with with “The Goldfinch” (Le Luther King Jr. as “that slimeball” and “this bum, this wom- (Little, Brown, $30.00) 7 Chardonneret), a novel of initiation, meditation on art, anizer, this liar, this fake, this phony.” WABC mostly breathless thriller and a radiography of whims of fate, defended Grant’s First Amendment right to voice his opin- 8. “The Longest Ride” by Nicholas Sparks obsessions and vices of America. — AFP ions. But he apparently crossed the line in 1996 amid early (Grand Central, $27.00) 8 reports that there was only one survivor of the crash of a 4. “David and Goliath” by plane carrying US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in 9. “Innocence” by Dean Koontz Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, $29.00) 5 Croatia. “My hunch is that he (Brown) is the one survivor,” (Bantam, $28.00) 9 5. “George Washington’s Secret Six” by he said. “I must have a hunch. Maybe, ‘cause at heart, I’m a Brian Kilmeade (Penguin/Sentinel, $27.95) 4 pessimist.”Two weeks later, Grant was taken off the air. He 10.“Inferno” by Dan Brown (Doubleday, $29.95) 6. “The Pioneer Woman Cooks” by moved to WOR in New York before returning to WABC in Ree Drummond (William Morrow, $29.99) 6 2006. Grant is survived by his sons, Jeff Grant, of Sun City, Hardcover Nonfiction 7. “I Am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai Ariz., and Chris Grant, of Fallbrook, Calif., and by his (Little, Brown, $26.00) 10 daughters, Alisa Mingus, of Kalamazoo, Mo., and Cynthia 1. “Killing Jesus” by Bill O’Reilly 8. “Si-Cology 1” by Si Robertson Gaydosh, of Bridgewater, N.J., according to an obituary and Martin Dugard (Henry Holt, $28.00) 1 (Howard Books, $22.99) 8 prepared by a New Jersey funeral home. The obituary says 2. “Things That Matter” by 9. “The Bully Pulpit” by Grant “was a proud friend of Bill W. for 44 years” - a refer- Charles Krauthammer (Crown Forum, $28.00) 2 Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster, $40.00) 9 ence to William Wilson, a founder of Alcoholics 3. “Guinness World Records 2014” 10.“Miracles and Massacres” by Glenn Beck Anonymous. — AP (Guinness World Records, $28.95 ) 3 (S&S/Threshold, $27.00) 7.