People, Sep. 4, 1995

STEVIE’S ISRAELI NANNY HUNT

Poor, blind and growing up in Detroit’s roughest ghetto, STEVIE WONDER didn’t have much, but he did have his music–plus a beloved nanny. Now a multimillionaire and deeply spiritual guy, Wonder traveled to Israel’s remote Negev desert last week to search for his former nanny; he believes she is living among the Black Hebrews, a splinter Jewish sect whose adherents (above, with Wonder) claim to be descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. By week’s end, however, the singer still hadn’t found his long-lost care giver. But the trip wasn’t a total loss: Wonder performed concerts in Jerusalem and Ramat Gan and said he was thrilled at “seeing the Holy Land in spirit.”

SEEN & HEARD

Tony Danza showed an inquiring photographer who’s the boss last week by kicking in the paparazzo’s car window and seizing his video camera–or so charges the unidentified photographer, who also alleges that Danza ran his car off the road after the photog taped Danza and his kids on a Malibu beach.

Arnelle Simpson, 26, is no Kato Kaelin–in fact, her court appearance in support of father O.J. barely made a legal or tabloid ripple. Don’t tell it to Treach, lead rapper of Naughty by Nature. At a concert in Los Angeles, Arnelle caught the O.P.P. man’s eye; the two have been dating ever since.

JUNIOR HEARS A MELODY

He finally cornered his very own entertainment conglomerate, but who knew that MCA conqueror EDGAR BRONFMAN JR. was also cornering the market on torch songs? Next month three ballads co-written by the rookie media mogul appear on Intimacy, a new album by Bruce Roberts (the very same singer who made his living back in the 1970s as the musical voice of Danny Partridge on The Partridge Family TV show). And there’s more: this coming February, Bronfman-penned lyrics to a song called To Love You More will turn up on pop-schmaltz goddess Celine Dion’s new disc. But don’t start combing your Yanni albums looking for the junior Bronfman’s name in the liner notes. He writes under a very showbizzy-sounding alias: “Junior Miles.” THE LITTLEST MAKEOVER

According to the blitzkrieging defense attorney herself, the question observers were asking about LESLIE ABRAMSON all last week was, “Has she had a face-lift?” Actually, the lawyer for Erik Menendez underwent nothing more than a (very subtle) hair- lift, swapping her famous fusilli curls for a slightly more relaxed, swept-back look. Abramson thus followed the lead of O.J. prosecutor Marcia Clark, whose own makeover scored big in the court of public opinion. Abramson admits her new do was a concession to TV. “I like my hair its usual, old way,” she says, “but it kept getting in my face, and the camera people at ABC [where she toils as an O.J. analyst] decided to pull it back.” Alas, we’ll miss the hair in its starring role, since Court TV isn’t televising the new Menendez trial.