Arrest in Ramones manager death

Stein co-managed The Ramones during their 1970s heyday

The personal assistant to former Ramones manager Linda Stein has been arrested in connection with her death.

Formal charges were pending against Natavia Lowery, 26, after she "made statements implicating herself" in the killing, a police spokesman said.

Stein was found dead at her Manhattan apartment on 30 October. She had died from blows to the head and neck.

The 62-year-old managed the Ramones along with Danny Fields during the band's heyday.

The ex-wife of Sire Records head Seymour Stein, she went into property after parting company with the band in 1980.

Dubbed a "broker to the stars", Stein's clients included Madonna, Sting, Steven Spielberg and Angelina Jolie.

'Roller coaster'

According to the New York Times newspaper, Stein was the model for the agent who tries to sell Charlie Sheen's character an apartment in the film Wall Street.

Born in Manhattan, she worked as a teacher before a blind date with Seymour Stein brought her into the music business.

The record mogul would later tell Vanity Fair magazine their marriage had resembled "eight years on a roller coaster, and not always strapped in".

Stein is credited with arranging The Ramones' July 1976 appearance at the Roundhouse in London, thought to be one of the key moments in the creation of the British punk scene.