RIP

BMX legend Dave Mirra may have suffered from CTE -- just like several ex-NFL players -- and it may have been a factor in his suicide ... so says the Mayor of Greenville, NC.

Katie May, a hugely successful model and social media star, died Thursday after a stroke left her in critical condition.

May had been hospitalized since Monday when a blockage in her carotid artery caused the "catastrophic" stroke. She remained in critical condition until her death. Sources tell TMZ she was taken off life support Thursday evening, and she died in L.A. surrounded by family and loved ones.

Katie had a huge social media presence, with nearly 2 million people following her on Instagram. She was also known as the "Queen of Snapchat" and modeled for dozens of websites and magazines, including Playboy and Sports Illustrated.

Katie leaves behind a 7-year-old daughter and her family started a gofundme page to support the little girl. Katie was 34.

Maurice White, co-founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, died in his sleep Thursday morning ... TMZ has learned.

Maurice died in L.A. after a long battle with Parkinson's. He was diagnosed in 1992 and his condition deteriorated in recent months. The disease had progressed to the point he was forced to stop touring with the band 1994.

New stories are circulating that Diddy was out to kill Tupac Shakur. Well, a similar story was published in a big newspaper years ago ... and the paper was forced to eat crow and retract it.

There's a film Netflix is about to release based on a book with the premise ... Diddy hired hit men to murder Tupac in 1996. The author of the book -- a retired LAPD investigator -- claims Diddy hired a Crip to kill Tupac for $1 million.

Turns out the L.A. Times published a similar story in 2008, claiming 2 years before the murder Diddy's boys shot Tupac 5 times in NYC outside a recording studio, but failed to kill him. The paper relied on FBI files and Diddy's own people as sources.

The Times published a major retraction, saying, "The Times has since concluded that the FBI reports were fabricated and that some of the other sources relied on -- including ... a 'confidential source' cited in the FBI reports do not support major elements of the story."

The paper concluded it believed the story was no longer credible.

As for the documentary, which purports to chronicle the 1996 murder in Vegas, the author relies on a confession from a Crip gang member, who said Diddy hired him to kill Tupac.

Diddy has denied involvement in both the '94 shooting and the '96 murder.

Katie May, a hugely popular Playboy model and social media sensation, suffered a "catastrophic" stroke ... according to her family.

May, known as MsKatieMay on the Internet, is hospitalized in critical condition after suffering the stroke Monday in Los Angeles. We're told she'd recently complained of neck pain and sought treatment. Her family tells us the devastating stroke was caused by a blockage in her carotid artery.

There have been rampant rumors on the Internet that Katie died. People have been posting R.I.P. across all her social media sites. She's only in her mid 30s, so the stroke is especially shocking.

Known as the "Queen of Snapchat" ... she's modeled for Playboy and Sports Illustrated. She has almost 2 million followers on Instagram alone.

Katie has a 7-year-old daughter, and the family has started a gofundme page to support the little girl. We don't know Katie's prognosis yet, but it seems grim.

She captioned her last IG post, "Hope everyone is having a great Monday! It's very windy here today in LA."

Celine Dion rhapsodized about how her late husband would be driven to tears by watching "The Price is Right."

Celine told a packed crowd at the Vegas memorial for Rene Angelil how he would get emotional when someone won the Showcase Showdown.

Celine Dion tearfully recalled moments in her life with late husband Rene Angelil at his Vegas memorial.

Celine told the crowd in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace that she can "still feel his strength and his warmth."

She talked about how Rene kept her grounded, and how he hated no one.

Very emotional.

Joe Alaskey, who voiced legendary cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety and Sylvester the Cat has died.

Alaskey's family members announced the news of the NY native's death Wednesday night.

Alaskey voiced other Looney Tunes characters as well, including Marvin the Martian and Foghorn Leghorn.

Joe -- who was a successor of voice actor Mel Blanc at Warner Brothers -- voiced many of his famous characters from 1990-1995. Alaskey did some non-Warner Bros' work too, he voiced Grandpa Pickles on Rugrats and was most recently featured on Investigation Discovery's "Murder Comes To Town."

Joe was 63. RIP ... Doc.

Celine Dion is about to take center stage for the first time since husband Rene Angelil died, but not to sing.

We're told Celine's back in Vegas where she'll honor her late husband Wednesday with a celebration of life service. The venue is the Caesars Palace Colosseum ... the site of her Vegas residency.

Celine will speak at the event ... but we're told there's no plan for her to sing.

Rene was laid to rest in Montreal at an elaborate funeral in the Notre-Dame Basilica. A day later, Celine buried her brother ... so it's been a rough start to 2016.

As we previously reported ... she's canceled her Vegas shows until February 23.

Howard Stern Wack Packer "Crackhead Bob" was hospitalized 2 days before his father found him dead ... TMZ has learned.

Bob -- real name George Harvey -- had been "feeling weak" according to his father ... who told cops his son had long suffered with high blood pressure and seizures. He also said Bob had previous strokes and a heart attack ... all symptoms consistent with someone recovering from crack abuse.

He was admitted to a hospital on January 18, and was supposed to have a follow-up doctor's visit on January 20. His father told cops ... when Bob didn't show up at the doc's office, that's when he went to his apartment.

Scott Weiland's ex-wife needed cops to keep the peace after going nuclear when she was barred from taking some of his instruments.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... officers were called to a recording studio in Burbank, CA last week -- where Scott's ex, Mary Forsberg, was causing a scene while trying to make off with a keepsake.

Mary showed up with her and Scott's teenage son -- we're told he wanted one of his dad's guitars -- but an employee of the recording studio refused to give them access.

An argument ensued ... and cops were called to calm everyone down.

Mary was told it was a civil issue ... and would need her lawyer to work out any division of property.

The tension's been building -- as we first reported, Mary filed docs stating Scott wanted her, not widow, Jamie Weiland, to be executor of his will.

Start the countdown to a lawsuit.

"Crackhead Bob" ... one of Howard Stern's Wack Packers, is dead ... the latest in a bizarre string of deaths for the show.

Howard announced the death Monday morning ... saying Bob's father had found him in his apartment in Texas. The cause of death is still unclear at this point.

Bob, whose real name was George Harvey, was a regular on the Stern Show from 1995 to 2001. He'd admitted that smoking crack messed up his speech and left him partially paralyzed.

He made a surprise return to the show in October 2005 with improved speech. 'Crackhead' was 56.

In the last 18 months ... Eric the Actor, Riley Martin and Johnny Fratto have also died.

Keep your head low, Beetlejuice.

The family of a 19 year old USC Berkeley soccer player who died in March claims he was illegally served booze at a USC frat party hours before his death ... this according to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports.

The freshman soccer player, Eloi Vasquez, was killed as he tried to run across the 10 freeway sometime after 2 in the morning on March 28th ... and now his family is pointing the finger at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

In the lawsuit, Vasquez's family says he was allowed into a party at the TKE house even though he had no I.D. -- but the people at the door knew he was likely under 21.

Still, the family claims he was not only served a ton of booze -- but the frat and other party organizers failed to take care of Vasquez when it was obvious he was hammered and unable to care for himself.

Vasquez reportedly left the party around 1:30 AM and somehow got to the 10 freeway -- where he was struck by a car and killed.

The family is suing the entire student executive board of TKE -- from the president to the social chair and even the treasurer -- along with USC and others they believe had a role in the party.

Paris Hilton arrived at LAX Wednesday dressed to pay her last respects to her uncle Monty Brinson.

Paris flew in from Switzerland especially for the funeral of Brinson, who used to be married to her aunt Kim Richards. Monty died Sunday after a long battle with cancer ... and the loss is obviously hitting Paris hard.

She posted a picture collage with Monty calling him an "incredible man with such a huge heart."

R.I.P.

Here's video of the moment Def Leppard had to think their cruise was cursed -- when the host broke the news one of the rockers on board had died.

The deceased was Jimmy Bain, the famed bassist for classic metal groups Dio and Rainbow. He was on the cruise to perform with his new group, Last in Line ... but they never took the stage.

Bain's rumored to have died from pneumonia, but his official cause of death has not been determined.

The whole cruise was filled with mishaps -- including Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott losing his voice! We got Brian Forsythe from the band Kix, also on the cruise, and he explained how the rock show turned into a memorial at sea.

Future is a total dead-end for cops looking for a lead on who gunned down his former bodyguard, Michael Phillips.

Sources close to Future tell us he's devastated by Big Mike's sudden death but hasn't worked with him since 2012.

We're told Future has no information about what went down in the moments leading up to Mike's death. But at the same time we're told he refuses to talk to cops ... even to say he knows nothing.

As we previously reported, the police have several leads but no suspects. They're opening up the Rolodex, hoping Big Mike's contacts might provide some clues.