POP/ROCK - Sept. 8, 1987

Singer Arlo Guthrie inherited his father’s musical talent but he is confident he isn’t going to come down with the same illness that took Woody Guthrie’s life in 1967. The odds are 50-50 that Arlo will develop Huntington’s chorea, a hereditary neurological disorder that strikes in mid-life, but he refuses to worry. “I don’t remember ever being overly concerned about getting the disease and I’m still not,” the 40-year-old balladeer told People magazine. Guthrie has declined to take a blood test that would reveal whether he might develop the illness and he shies away from benefits for Huntington’s victims. “I went to Farm Aid,” he said. “I sang at the March of Dimes telethon and I would do it for Huntington’s too if it weren’t so closely associated with me. I don’t want to be the poster boy for Huntington’s disease.”