ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP/ROCK

Child Custody Turmoil: Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor has ended a bitter custody battle with the father of her 3-year-old daughter by turning the child over, a move that reportedly comes on the heels of a halfhearted suicide attempt by O’Connor, a London newspaper has reported. In a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail of London, O’Connor, 32, said she sent her daughter, Roison, to live with Irish Times columnist John Waters to end a contentious custody battle. She also said in the interview that the turmoil surrounding her daughter had prompted her to swallow a handful of Valium tablets last week and that she wrote a note in which she said, “I would kill myself and that I hoped I died. But it wasn’t really a suicide attempt.” The newspaper also reported that, a day before taking the pills, O’Connor spat in Waters’ face during a court hearing and, in January, accused her former companion of lodging false child-neglect claims with local authorities. Meanwhile, the singer’s label, Atlantic Records, declined comment but said that O’Connor has not amended or denied the statements attributed to her by the Daily Mail. O’Connor retains full custody of her 12-year-old son, Jake, a child from her former marriage to drummer John Reynolds.

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Rock Sales Still Slipping: Is rock dead? Rock music sales continued to decline in 1998 while gospel and R&B; gained market share, according to a survey by the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Rock dropped from 32.5% of the market in 1997 to 25.7% last year, the study found, continuing a trend that has seen the genre lose ground nine of the last 10 years after accounting for a robust 41.7% of the market in 1989. Gospel grew to 6.3% of the market in 1998 (up from 4.5% in ‘97), while R&B; accounted for 12.8% (up from 11.2%). The survey found the recording industry shipped $13.7 billion worth of product in 1998, up from $12.2 billion in 1997.

TELEVISION

Peter Boyle Recuperating: Actor Peter Boyle, 65, was said to be “much improved” and “doing really well” Thursday as he recuperated in a Los Angeles hospital from a heart attack he suffered Monday. A spokeswoman at CBS, where Boyle plays Ray Romano’s dad on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” said that Boyle will miss at least two of the season’s final three episodes, although he could be back for the season finale if doctors give him the OK.

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Like, Pretty Good Ratings: ABC got off to an encouraging start with its new sitcoms “It’s like, you know” and “The Norm Show” on Wednesday. The former, which lampoons life in Los Angeles, drew 12 million viewers nationally and fared especially well locally, improving on its “Dharma & Greg” lead-in. The latter, with Norm Macdonald, attracted 13.9 million viewers, nearly equaling tune-in for “The Drew Carey Show” preceding it. “Norm” has already irked one group, with the National Assn. of Social Workers complaining about ethics violations by Macdonald’s character, a tax cheat sentenced to do social work. The show’s producers declined comment.

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KCET Draws Strong Pledges: KCET-TV reports that the public television station’s March pledge drive, which ended Tuesday, raised more than $1.8 million--some $300,000 over this year’s goal and topping last year’s take of $1.7 million. A station spokeswoman said the results “continue a trend in membership and unrestricted giving that has been on the upswing for several months.” She also credited two local productions--a Vikki Carr concert and KNBC-TV weatherman Fritz Coleman’s video archive “It’s Me! Dad!”--with boosting pledges. Meanwhile, the spokeswoman said “no more layoffs are anticipated” following last month’s elimination of 16 KCET staff positions in the face of a $1.7-million budget shortfall.

QUICK TAKES

Riley Weston, the actress-writer who drew headlines for passing herself off as 19 instead of her actual 32 while writing for the WB’s college-age drama “Felicity,” has been cast as a 14-year-old runaway in the upcoming independent feature film “Dancing in the Shadows.” . . . KCBS-TV has won eight of this year’s 11 Edward R. Murrow journalism awards given out by the Radio and TV News Directors Assn. for the four-state region of California, Hawaii, Arizona and Nevada. Among them: overall excellence, best newscast (“CBS 2 News at 11 p.m.”) and best investigative reporting. . . . The June 6 concert with R. Kelly, Busta Rhymes, Foxy Brown, Deborah Cox, Nas and Kelly Price has moved venues and will now be at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, not at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre as reported in Thursday’s Pop Date Book. . . . Michael W. Smith triumphed Wednesday at the Gospel Music Assn.’s annual Dove Awards in Nashville, winning six trophies including best artist and producer of the year. Kirk Franklin and veteran Bill Gaither received four awards each.