'Spirit in the Sky' Singer Critically Injured

The singer-songwriter behind the 1969 rock hit "Spirit in the Sky" was hospitalized yesterday after being critically injured in a Northern California car accident that killed a motorcyclist. Norman Greenbaum, 72, a longtime resident of Santa Rosa, was the passenger in a Subaru Outback that collided with a motorcycle at a street intersection near the city, the California Highway Patrol says.

The motorcycle driver, Ihab Usama Halaweh, 20, of Santa Rosa, died at the scene; his passenger and Greenbaum were taken to the hospital with critical injuries. The Subaru driver wasn't injured, and investigators don't believe that alcohol or drugs were factors in the accident, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. (More California Highway Patrol stories.)