Anyway, I happen upon the article, oddly enough, in "the Money Times" which I would think would have other interests. Still, even though they seem to be business/financial news oriented, they front-page stories about babies dying due to hospital error and the fact that 1 out of every 10 NYC straight men engages in gay sex. Hmm, financial news, they say.
Now, I only digress to mention that to support the whole point, which I seem to be having a minor issue with getting around to. Point is, the first third of the article is about the story. The rest of this thing is dedicated to a mini-bio of Willie Nelson. Now, it seems to me that anyone who knows who he is doesn't need this (either you know it or you don't really care), and anyone who doesn't know probably isn't going to bother with it.
So, why add it? To look good. Look at almost any blurb-type story the media prints, about someone getting busted, or hurt, or whatever, and you'll see this, time and time again. "So-and-so did such-and-such today, and that's really all there is to say. So-and-so was born yadda yadda yadda and got their start blah blah blah before going on to yackety-schmackety." They know that this article doesn't have enough substance to stand alone, but they also know that humans are gluttons for news about celebrity figures, so they can't not print it, but they have to pad the thing out to make it long enough for you to stay with them and to make them look good.
Don't fall for it. Fluff is fluff.