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American singer Barbra Streisand has received France’s highest civilian honour, two days after performing her first concert in the country.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented the star with the Legion of Honour at a ceremony in Paris.

“You are the America that we love,” said Sarkozy. “Women like you… do a lot to bring our two peoples together.”

Guests at the presentation included veteran French singer Charles Aznavour and actor Alain Delon.

Streisand was accompanied at Thursday’s ceremony at the Elysee Palace by her husband James Brolin and her son, Jason Gould.
The 65-year-old sang at Paris’ Bercy stadium on Tuesday before an audience of 10,000 fans which included Sarkozy’s wife, Cecilia.
The singer told the recently elected leader he reminded her of former US presidents John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton, “who appreciated art and recognised the importance of the arts in the world”.
Streisand, whose scheduled concert in Rome on 15 June was cancelled due to reported production problems, performs this weekend in Berlin and will play Stockholm next week.
She will then head to Manchester on 10 July for the first of four UK concerts.

Usher is expecting bigger things than a new album the superstar announced Wednesday that he and fiancé Tameka Foster are expecting their first child together.
“We are extremely excited at this point in our lives planning our wedding and the joy that comes with expecting our first child together,” the couple said in a statement released to The Associated Press.
“We hope people will be happy for us and respect our privacy during this happy period in our lives.”
The baby is due in the fall, according to a representative for Usher.
This would be the first child for the R&B crooner/actor, and the fourth for the recently divorced Foster.
This is shaping up to be a busy year for Usher. Besides his marriage and a baby, he is expected to release the follow-up to his eight-million selling, Grammy-winning album “Confessions,” released in 2005. He also has a fragrance due out in September.

Janet Jackson’s main squeeze Jermaine Dupri was spotted out at Parc in Hollywood on Monday night. He and a couple of his entourage were arguing about which set of wheels they were going to take. Dupri ended up driving into the sunset in a white Bentley.

If only all of us had the luxury of choosing which car to take out. And not just any car – a Porsche, a Benz, a Ferrari, a Bentley… does he have a Rolls Royce?

But no. We’d be lucky if we could hail a cab in New York after a second of standing on the sidewalk. Can he adopt me? Please.

These days, Bon Jovi’s a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll and the biggest band around. After nearly a quarter-century together, the Garden State quintet landed its first chart-topping bow thanks with the country-infused Lost Highway. For the week ended Sunday, Lost Highway found its way to the top by selling 291,000 copies. These the music is more of fusion and mixing and remixing tunes to try and get something that the fans and audience shall take to. The other thing is that musicians need to be at their creative best at all times to woo the fans. They might folk to your album on your past record but what will eventually drive sales is the quality of the album. ‘It’s my life’ from Bon Jovi is a song that I keep mumbling quite often and surely the singer is one of the best in the business.

A battle over ownership of Michael Jackson memorabilia is headed back to a Nevada courtroom, where the King of Pop is seeking the return of items with held from an auction of family items.

Jackson’s sister, singer Janet Jackson, also is seeking the return of items held back during a May 30-31 memorabilia auction at the Hard Rock hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ordered 60 items impounded at the Clark County courthouse, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Monday, while she sorts out ownership and decides whether to punish the company that brought the items to auction.

Gonzalez scheduled a July 16 contempt-of-court trial after deciding June 12 that Universal Express Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., violated earlier court orders to withhold some of the more than 1,100 items offered at auction.

“Per the judge’s order, we have delivered 35 items claimed by Janet Jackson and 23 items claimed by Michael Jackson, with two in transit to Las Vegas,” Coppedge told The Associated Press.

Overall auction sales were estimated at more than $1 million, topped by Michael Jackson’s black, military style coat with an “M” crest. Universal reported the jacket fetched $20,400.

Michael Jackson items withheld following a last-minute court battle included a steamer trunk of the pop star’s personal effects, his personal collection of Three Stooges photos, sheet music signed by participants in the “We are the World” charity fundraiser, and a piece of Australian aboriginal art that Jackson received in 1987 to mark record sales of his “Thriller” album.

Janet Jackson items with held included the original certificate of her marriage to singer James DeBarge, high school notes, and script pages from her 1984 appearance on the “Diff’rent Strokes” TV series.

Gonzalez had accepted a confidential settlement May 30 allowing the auction to go forward, but prohibiting Universal Express from “selling, giving, conveying or transferring by any means” the 25 items specified by Michael Jackson’s lawyers.
Under the settlement, which had been confidential, Jackson’s lawyers dropped their effort to block the auction.

In a June 12 hearing in Las Vegas, the judge ordered the settlement to be enforced, made Janet Jackson a party to the agreement, and ordered Universal Express to pay some of Michael Jackson’s legal expenses.

T.I. has been saying for months that sometimes he can be two people in one person’s body: A calm, cool, collected businessman who can mingle with Hollywood stars and fashion and music moguls at one minute, and then the kind of guy you’d see fighting outside a club.

Well, he wasn’t outside a club, but on Sunday afternoon (June 24) at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California, T.I. was involved in a brawl nonetheless.

During a luncheon held by Kevin Liles of Warner Music Group, the MC got into a fight with Ludacris’ manager Chaka Zulu.
According to witnesses, T.I. punched Zulu in the face and a small, brief melee ensued.

The luncheon, called “Make It Happen” , was aimed at power brokers and actress Holly Robinson Peete was the guest of honor. Yung Joc, Musiq, Twista, Brandy, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth and Omar Epps were in attendance, among others.

Ludacris and Zulu are said to have arrived about three hours into the event, with Zulu and Tip’s altercation happening shortly after. At press time it was unclear what had sparked the confrontation.

T.I. and Ludacris had been microphone rivals for quite some time before squashing their differences a couple of years back.

One of the rarest and visually spectacular shows lined up for Glastonbury this year is the return of Björk. Already picked out as the best set of the Coachella festival in California this April, her headlining performance on the Other Stage on Friday night promises female brass-band choirs, insane costumes and stunning projections underneath the Somerset stars. The last and only time Björk performed at the Glastonbury festival was in 1994, but it might as well be a lifetime away for her,” I can’t remember anything about it. Somebody had to remind me!” Insane costumes is something that is a co-related thing in the fashion industry as well as the music industry, many music stars like Janet Jackson had frequent incidents of designer clothes revealing the body’s of these stars. But all in all we look forward to the singer’s performance and hopefully it would leave a lasting impression on her fans.

Madonna’s latest claim to fame has her raving about being totally hooked on some anti-wrinkle type Israeli skin creams. Everyone has heard Madonna talk about being a follower of Kabbalah and when her mentor introduced her to the cream she immediately gave it a try. Over the years she had done great at reinventing herself and keeping fit and toned. She has a body at her age that most women half her age would kill for. Unfortunately her age shows in her face and that is something she wants to eliminate. A morning and nightly ritual may help or maybe there really is no way to defeat time. It is just a race that we all inevitably will lose. I don’t think it’s really all that special of a cream. The ingredients are simple and probably pale in comparison to higher end cosmetic products but Madonna loves the stuff. Whatever works for her I suppose. I doubt we will be seeing this cream widely available on our drug store shelves.

The Icky Thump Records store opened Monday night at midnight to sell copies of the Stripes’ new album, with the first 500 customers receiving tickets for a special Wednesday White Stripes concert, taking place inside the store itself.

It’s been nearly seven months since Tower Records shuttered its doors…

Rumor has it that the White Stripes will continue operations at the building for a bit longer – here’s hoping they have the good sense to charge less than MSRP for the goodies they sell there, otherwise they’re gonna go bankrupt, just like the former owners of the ol’ Tower Records building.

Wednesday night, after being introduced by comic actor Jack Black, Jack and Meg White appeared on the store’s makeshift stage in very old-school Stripes mode: Gone were the mariachi costumes, gothic undertaker suits, and bandito mustaches of recent Stripes image makeovers, now replaced by their basic late-’90s red-and-white motif (Jack sported plain red slacks, a fitted black tee, a clean-shaven face, and center-parted bowl cut bob; Meg, seated behind her peppermint-swirl-patterned drum kit, was indie-girl fetching in a striped sailor shirt).

The Dr. Feelgood band sued one of their managers Monday, claiming that Carl Stubner made business decisions with his own interests in mind and gave Lee bad career advice, which in turn tarnished the group’s image.

In the $20m lawsuit lodged at Los Angeles County Superior Court the band – Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee – accused manager Carl Stubner of “extortionist tactics”.

Mötley Crüe is claiming that Rock Star made Tommy Lee look like less of a rock star.
The suit also alleged Stubner persuaded Lee, the ex-husband of Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, to sign on for a series of reality television projects that tarnished his and the band’s image.

According to the lawsuit, Stubner told the band that he’d only make Lee readily available for tour dates if they and the other managers agreed to increase his commission. The defendant also demanded 100 comped tickets per show and then sold them at “scalper” prices, Sixx, Lee, Neil and Mars allege.

Motley Crue are one of the most successful US rock bands of all time, selling more than 40 million albums worldwide and 25 million records alone.

This no ordinary show off by the singer and mind you it was a revealing pose by the singer who was relaxing with boyfriend Jay-Z. She’s got the seventh best pair of legs in the pop business – and singer Beyonce usually takes every opportunity to show them off.
Beyonce revealed her refreshingly curvy figure on the beach in millionaire’s playground St Tropez as she shared a romantic break with her boyfriend, rap mogul Jay-Z. Beyonce and Jay-Z, who have been together for four years, are constantly at the centre of wedding rumours, but they have not officially confirmed them. However, it seems that Beyonce, who has been pursuing a career as an actress, with roles in films Austin Powers, and Dreamgirls may be ready to make the move. The chart-topping singer recently revealed: “I want to get married and really want a family—in a perfect world I’d have two boys and a girl.”You know someone loves you by the way he treats you and respects you. I and Jay respect each other.” Hopefully things just get better and better between the two and the live happily together.

Jessica Biel has joined Justin’s European tour again.
Jessica, who recently visited Justin while he was performing in the UK, arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday (17.06.07), where the couple stayed at romantic five-star hotel The Dylan.
Justin and Jessica then traveled together to Sweden where they were spotted having dinner at Stockholm’s Lebanese restaurant Beirut Café with 13 members of the singer’s entourage.
In an interview for People magazine the owner of the restaurant Elias Karroum said: ”They seemed like an ordinary couple in love. They were very sweet. They also tried to smoke a water pipe with apple-flavored tobacco. They said they’d tried it before, but we had to show them how to do it properly.”
The two were romantically linked earlier this year just weeks after Justin split from his long-term girlfriend Cameron Diaz.
Last week, the “SexyBack” singer admitted it was a bad idea for Jessica, 25, to join him on the UK leg of his tour.
Justin said: “She truly insisted that she came with me on tour. I don’t know how to say no to a pretty face. But it wasn’t really a good idea. Jessica met up with me in Manchester, but for Paris I told her categorically no. This tour is very important for me. I’m doing it really seriously so there’s no question of playing sweethearts.”
It looks that Justin was unable to say no after all.

Veteran rock star, Ozzy Osbourne triumphed at last night’s Mojo awards and was crowned icon of the year at the music prize ceremony.
Alice Cooper also joined the former vocalist of “Black Sabbath” in the row of winners after he was honored as a hero at the annual awards. The winners of the music ceremony are voted for by readers of Mojo magazine.
Commenting on Osbourne’s success, Mojo editor-in-chief Phil Alexander exclaimed: “There are icons and there is Ozzy Osbourne. Long may he continue to reign.”
Meanwhile the new super star Amy Winehouse won the song of the year prize for her single “Rehab”.
The soul songstress missed out on the prize for best album, which was taken by “The Good, the Bad and the Queen” the first offering from the new band formed by former “Blur” and “Gorillaz” frontman Damon Albarn.
The singer lost the prize for best live act too. It was given to the Canadian indie rock band “Arcade Fire”.
The best breakthrough award was given to the one-band-man “Seasick Steve”.
The award for maverick act went to post-punk group “Echo and the Bunnymen”, while American band “The Stooges” picked up the lifetime achievement prize after being recognised as the “godfathers of punk”.
The award for classic album was picked up by Bob Marley’s relatives, who was praised for Exodus. Meanwhile the American band “The Doors” were granted entry into the illustrious Mojo hall of fame.

With the success with a country remake of “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” with Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles, which earned them the sole Grammy of their 25-year career, Bon Jovi is releasing the country-influenced album “Lost Highway” on Tuesday on Island Records. And nobody in the band seems sure what the reception will be — from their fans to the country music industry.

Jon Bon Jovi said during a recent interview.
“I just found myself listening to this kind of music, and finding that they were telling stories. That’s something we’ve been doing our whole career,” he said. “So it was very much a fit for us.”

But while the albums of Bon Jovi’s career have tended in the past decade to be more politically influenced “Bounce” was inspired by 9/11, “Have a Nice Day” followed the presidential election, this album appears to be personal, filled with stories inspired by the band members’ lives, loves and losses.

It was the inspiration behind the album, which despite its lukewarm reception from critics has already received a fair amount of airplay for its first single “(You Want to) Make a Memory.”

“Richie (Sambora) and David (Bryan) suffered a lot in the last year, a lot of pain. In what had been a very peaceful decade and a half, suddenly there was a lot of pain in the organization,” Bon Jovi said. “I think it was cathartic for Richie to express with me or through me the hell he has been dealing with: losing his dad, losing the wife. And David, it’s the same thing. So it was an easy record to write.”

West Coast rapper The Game, who was arrested on charges of impersonating a police officer last year, rejected a Manhattan prosecutor’s offer Wednesday of a guilty plea for a sentence of time already served.
A guilty plea to the misdemeanor charge in exchange for the time he spent waiting to go to court would have ended the case against The Game, whose real name is Jayceon Taylor, said his lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman.
“Why should he plead guilty to bogus charges for a non-jail sentence if he’s innocent”, Lichtman said outside court. “And he is innocent. It’s rare that I have a 100 percent innocent defendant, but this is one.”
The 27-year-old rapper, who refused to speak about the case, was arrested in November 2006 after he told a cab driver that he was an undercover police officer and persuaded him to run a series of red lights, police said after his arrest.
Taylor, of Glendale, Calif., allegedly picked up a livery cab the night of Nov. 16, 2006, shortly after he appeared on CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman.” The cab driver drove about 13 blocks before he was pulled over, police said at the time.
Lichtman, calling the charges harassment and a “new low” for the police, said outside court, “This case will end in a dismissal or an acquittal.”
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge James Burke scheduled Taylor’s next court appearance for Sept. 20.
Taylor, sporting a teardrop tattoo under his left eye, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ “LA” logo tattooed on his right cheek, and more elaborate tattoo art on his right neck, was recognized as he left through the courthouse lobby. He refused to sign autographs and left in a black Cadillac Escalade sport utility vehicle.
Lichtman said the rapper will be on a concert tour through Europe for the next two months.

The White Stripes returned to the UK yesterday to play an intimate gig at the Rivoli Ballroom in south-east London.
Jack and Meg White had earlier played an acoustic set to a group of old-aged pensioners at the Royal Chelsea Hospital before heading over to the Rivoli for another show.
The band arrived on stage at about 21:15 BST to massive cheers from the small audience which had crammed inside the tiny venue for the band’s first full gig since 2005.
Coated in red velvet and with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, the White Stripes seemed to perfectly complement their ornate surroundings – even members of the Kensington Pearly Kings and Queens society were present.
The band opened with Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground as the heat was instantly turned up in the packed hall.
Noting the intimacy of the venue, Jack said: “If you wanted to know what our first gig at the 100 Club was like, you’re sitting in it. Maybe this is a bit cooler”, he joked.
The band then played their new single Icky Thump, taken from the forthcoming album of the same name, before breaking into When I Hear Your Name, Hotel Yorba and the Dolly Parton cover Jolene – which the band released as a single in 2004.
New tracks Effect and Cause, Catch Hell Blues and I’m Slowly Turning into You were all well received by the crowd as the White Stripes interspersed newer songs with some well-loved classics.
Proceeds from the show were donated to the Chelsea Pensioners’ Fund and other charities linked to the Pearly Kings and Queens Society.

Mel C. (also known as Sporty Spice) has shed some light in the recent “Spice Girls are getting together” rumors. She told BBC that:

“For the first time ever, there is some truth in the rumors… it could happen.”

Previous statements pointed out that every spice girl agreed to reunite except Mel C. She might have just changed her mind but only if it would be for a short time, a tribute to the fans. On the other hand she does not think that they will be able to get back on top like popular band Take That. Mel does not want to be the one to stop the project. If the other Spice Girls want it she will be there to support the band. Fans must be delighted but the band needs to understand that chances for success are quite little. The Spice Girls were great but the music industry changed a lot as they well know.

Pop star Justin Timberlake is set to do a collaboration with Duran Duran. It would be the second one and its purpose is to help the career revival of the legendary band. The previous collaboration was for Duran Duran’s track “Night Runner”. Now there are talks about a new song named “Falling Down”. Timberlake said:

“We’re currently working on a second song which I wrote with Simon. It’s an honor to be making music with them – these guys were my childhood idols.”

The problem here is that I don’t think Justin Timberlake is the proper star to make things count with Duran Duran. Maybe Timberland would be better but who knows? Maybe the choice is good and this single (“Falling Down”) will be successful. Thumbs up for Duran Duran trying to get back!

Sir Paul McCartney will spend his 65th birthday with estranged wife Heather Mills.
The Beatles’ legend has invited Heather to the intimate celebrations at his Peasmarsh estate next Monday (18.06.07).
A source told Britain’s Sunday Mirror newspaper: ”We are talking about a total and very quick transformation from a state of complete vitriol between the two of them to something much more amicable. Before she went to America, they wouldn’t speak on the phone, now they can have a civil conversation. It’s as though Paul has chosen saturation point with all the bitterness and Heather – aware of the battering her public image has taken – has decided to genuinely try to bury the hatchet. Paul has had enough of all the spite. The divorce has effectively been placed on hold.”
Heather – who has been embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with Paul since they split in May 2006 – is set to present Paul with a vegan birthday cake at the party.
Two weeks ago, Heather, 39, and Paul were seen meeting in a North London restaurant, sparking rumors they had decided to end their feud for the sake of their three-year-old daughter Beatrice.
Relations between them have improved so much friends claim they have been meeting regularly and that Paul even sends Heather “little notes and flowers”.
Last week, Paul wowed a select group of fans at a secret London concert.
The star, who performed for just 1,000 people, debuted tracks from his eagerly anticipated new album, “Memory Almost Full” and delighted the crowd with a series of Beatles classics, including “Hey Jude”, “Get Back” and “Back In The USSR”.

These are moving words that could well brings tears in the eyes of people who have followed and read about the life of Beatles singer and activist John Lennon. His wife has told the world of the last night that the two spent together before he was shot dead. Ono said, John Lennon wanted to go home and see his son on the night he was killed outside his NY flat. “We were returning from the studio, and I said: ‘should we go and have dinner before we go home?’ and he said, ‘No let’s go home because I want to see Sean before he goes asleep. And it was like he wasn’t sure if we would get home before Sean went to sleep and he was concerned about that.’ She said Lennon uttered to dying words when he was at by a deranged fan Mark Chapman on December 8, 1980. It really make me think that why in this insane world would anyone try to kill a person who was thinking meeting his son. I know that the killer wasn’t aware of the same, but look at the irony with which life presents itself. A person would like to see his son and he was denied the same by misfortune.