My News Booth

Mel C surprised her fellow Spice Girls at their final reunion concert in Toronto on Tuesday. The artist also known as Sporty Spice dusted off her old back flip and tumbled for the ladies which she hadn’t done all tour long – it was just for that night. That’s not too bad for someone who’s 34 years old and is physically not as fit as when she was in her mid 20s. Mel definitely deserves the nickname Sporty. Now that the Spice Girls world tour is over, that could very well be the last time we see her do her infamous back flip – unless of course she continues on her solo career, does a tour and decides to go crazy on stage.

Rihanna and Chris Brown are taking their “friendship” up to a higher level as they shared a romantic weekend in Jamaica together. The R&B superstar couple got in the pool after a leisurely lunch at the Hilton Kingston Hotel. Someone spied the pair kissing and playfully splashing around. The 20-year old Rihanna and the 18-year old Chris also have matching star tattoos on their necks which they both got in January.
Rihanna once denied that she’s dating Chris saying she’s like her little brother. But then she went on to say that she’s not ruling out dating a younger guy. Eew! They’re incest!

Jill Scott singer from her heart and she has something to get off of her chest – literally. The Grammy Award winning singer is coming out with her own line of bras. The girls have to have the right kind of support. Jill wasn’t getting the right support for her girls so she is making her own brand to take care of it. ‘The Butterfly Collection by Jill Scott’ – a new brand of bras and lingerie for the plus-size woman is now available at Ashley Stewart stores. Part of the proceeds for the sales of her new line will go to Scott’s Blues Babe Foundation.

Avril Lavigne’s tour is so underselling that she is making desperate measures just to sell tickets. The Canadian poser has recently added the Jonas Brothers to her lineup which also includes the previously announce Boys Like Girls. With the addition of the Jonas Brothers, tickets are sure to sell. Boys Like Girls have a pretty good fan base as well so their presence would help too. But can you just imagine being the headliner and having the crowd cheer louder for your opening acts? That’s just plain humiliating. I’m willing to bet that people would start walking out just before Avril starts her set.

Britney Spears has finally hit a bright patch after many months of misery. The fallen Pop Princess got to see her two young sons on Saturday for the first time in six weeks.

Britney spent nearly three hours with Sean Preston and Jayden James at her Hollywood home. She celebrated by taking dad Jamie for dinner in Beverly Hills – wearing a very colourful, bright purple dress.

Her old man was instrumental in helping lawyers thrash out a new deal with ex Kevin Federline over access to the children. Strict conditions include the presence of Jamie and her psychiatrist. Kevin’s lawyer has also insisted on further stringent measures.

A source close to the case says: “The real hero was Jamie. He has taken charge and Britney has visitation rights again.”

The singer last saw her sons on January 3, when she was rushed to hospital for a psychological evaluation. Her visitation rights were then suspended and she was later committed to a Los Angeles medical centre. K-Fed’s lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan said of the new deal: “This wouldn’t have happened if Jamie Spears wasn’t involved but there’s much more to it than those two people being present. We have put specific terms, conditions and protections in place that go far beyond their presence.”

If Britney’s future is as bright as that shocking outfit, things must be looking up for the star.

In typical rock n roll style, Amy Winehouse prepared for the Brit Awards by causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to her hotel room. The mucky star has been living in the luxury London hotel since leaving rehab nearly two weeks ago and has refused to let in the cleaners.

Hotel management finally went into her room while Amy was performing at the Brits on Wednesday — and found at least $6,000 worth of damage in the executive suite.

Booze was spilled all over the wooden hallway and cigarette butts, countless bottles of champagne and unwashed knickers were all over the floor. The blackened bath had to be scrubbed and unclogged after she dyed and washed her famous beehive in the tub.

She had even taken a large mirror off the wall and placed it on the floor. Staff were baffled why. I’m not.

A source for the Riverbank Plaza Hotel on the Albert Embankment revealed: “It was carnage.”

The Spice Girls reunion tour is about to come to an end but that doesn’t mean that the work stops for Mel B as Scary Spice has another gig already lined up. The ‘Dancing with the Stars’ album will cover the new season of the dancing show for Access Hollywood. She will be behind the scenes, at rehearsals and delivering post-show interviews with all the Z list contestants. It’s also being reported that Scary will be working on a new solo album as well as her own fashion line. It looks like she’s about to give Posh a run for the title of hardest working Spice.

Scottish singer KT Tunstall is refusing to invite her biological mother to her forthcoming wedding, because she has had little input in the star’s life.

The Suddenly I See hitmaker was adopted at 18 days old after her mother Carol-Ann Orr gave her up in 1975.

And now the star admits she will not invite Orr to her Autumn wedding to her drummer Luke Bullen because her adoptive parents and biological family have not met.

She says, “My birth mum totally understands and she’s great about it as are my parents. But I’ve spent 32 years with my family and I’ve spent seven years very, very slowly getting to know my biological mother so obviously my family is a priority. It’s very difficult but my birth mother completely understands that.”

Fergie was spotted as she was making her way to the studio on Wednesday but she stopped to pick up some break dancing pointers from some guy on the street. No wait, that’s actually apl.de.ap, another member of the Black Eyed Peas who isn’t will.i.am.

It’s nice to see the Peas together like this. I wonder when we’ll see them all together again. I want to hear something new from them and less of the commercialized stuff they did before Fergie and will.i.am went to do solo records. By the way, where’s Taboo? I haven’t seen nor heard from him in a while.

Christina Aguilera was too terrified to give birth naturally. At least she’s honest. Not a case of “too posh to push” after all.

The ‘Dirrty’ singer – who had son Max by Caesarean section on January 12 – opted for the elective surgery after hearing some worrying tales. She said: “I’d heard horror stories about tearing. I really wanted a calm and peaceful environment. I didn’t want any surprises.”

Christina says husband Jordan Bratman wasn’t at all worried about what he would see and videoed the whole birth. She said: “Jordan wasn’t squeamish at all. He had the video camera ready to go.”

The 27-year-old blonde burst into tears when her baby boy was delivered safely into the world. She added: “The most reassuring thing for me was hearing that first beautiful cry. I just welled up with tears. Now we just can’t stop staring at him. We study him; he studies us back. It’s just an unbelievable experience, the whole journey. It’s just a beautiful time on our lives.”

It’s hard to believe that with all the ego he has, someone still doesn’t know who John Mayer is. But it seems that a couple of folks over at the Beverly Hills times aren’t too familiar with the singing douche bag. John shared the local monthly’s cover last month. That’s all good and all except for one teeny problem – his photo was captioned ‘Josh Mayer’. Mr. Mayer has had a hit or two, dated some of Hollywood’s hottest females and most recently rocked a Borat-inspired bathing thong. The guy is kind of a big deal. And I’m not joshing on that one.

There have been many guys linked to Rihanna but all of them have been shot down as rumors – except for one. It seems that the rumors about the Barbados singer and her other duet partner, Chris Brown, are making sweet music together in real life, are true. The pair said to be dating were seen “touching and whispering in each other’s ears” at the EW post-Grammy party on Sunday. Add to that, the two left together in Rihanna’s car.

Let’s hope that this is true just so the rumors about her and Jay-Z would stop. The poor girl doesn’t deserve all that criticism.

Due to some unfortunate events, Dolly Parton has had to postpone her upcoming US tour. The Country singer was hospitalized due to a serious back ailment. Dolly had released a statement on Monday saying that doctors have advised the singer, songwriter, actress and entrepreneur to take six to eight weeks off of her grueling schedule to recover properly.

The tour, in support of her ‘Backwoods Barbie’ album, was set to kick of on February 28 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dolly apologizes to her fans for the inconvenience and is hoping that her fans could wait until dates can be rescheduled for late April through May.

Madonna may be making some money to hand over to Malawi but she’s got bigger things to worry about with the country. The Queen of Pop’s adoption of little David Banda is still not finalized. The Malawian government has been accused of turning a blind eye to the law as it is technically illegal for non-residents to adopt in Malawi. The Malawian government has come to her defense saying “It will be wrong for Malawi to even dare deny this wonderful woman all the rights to be a parent of David and many more Malawian children.” Madonna is due to appear before a Malawi court in April for a final hearing on David’s adoption.

Umm, did she wake up on Sunday morning and think, “I’m going to the Grammys. I’m going to use roadkill as the inspiration for my look tonight.”

Whatever she was thinking, I bet she’s wishing she could take it back now. Fantasia showed up for the awards show with a do that would make a skunk put on a ballcap. One side was long, and she kept swinging it out of her face. It was black. The other side was shorn close to her head and was white.

The music business sure has been hard on her if she’s going gray already. Oh, that was by choice? Fantasia, honey, fire your stylist.

Wow – can you believe it’s been around for that long? The Grammys celebrate 50 years this year. As a part of that celebration, they are promising even more live performances of your favorite stars.

Many are psyched about the late addition of Kanye West. He is expected to offer a tribute to his mother, Donda West.

Other exciting celebs include Amy Winehouse, Beyonce, Fergie, and Rihanna. Looks like it’ll be a great night. And unlike other awards shows, the Writers Guild of American agreed not to picket this one!

Amy Winehouse will get to write the new James Bond theme as well as croon it – but ONLY if she stays off drugs for two months. Well there’s an incentive…

The Rehab singer, back to her best and appearing neither shaken nor stirred by her spell in an addiction clinic, has been told she must still be clean in April to make the record. A source confirmed last night: “That’s when the Bond people make a final decision on who sings the theme. If Amy is clean then, it’s hers.”

Well it’s a far cry from Shirley Bassey and “Goldfinger” but I’m sure it will be interesting at least.

John Mayer may be a douche bag but I’m not going to deny that the musician has a great sense of humor. The singer/songwriter slipped into a neon green thong when he was aboard the ‘Mayercraft’ cruise which went to the Bahamas this past weekend. I’m pretty sure that fans aboard the cruise think that they got their money’s worth.

If you don’t know where John got the idea for this, Borat AKA Sacha Baron Cohen wore the same green thong two years ago on the beach at The Cannes Film Festival. Who do you think rocked the thong better?

Rihanna continued to rock out her pixie cut at the Max Azria 2008 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2008 at The Tent at New York City’s Bryant Park on Monday. The 19-year old Barbados babe recently denied dating singer Chris Brown saying that they are just best friends.

Rihanna is also set to perform at a Grammy fashion event wherein InStyle is teaming with the Grammys for the first-ever ‘Grammy Salute to Fashion’ which will take place on February 7. The event takes a peek a the spring collections from the fashion houses of Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Diddy, Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson.

It’s been speculated, was never really confirmed nor denied, but now it’s official. McPhee has gone and gotten married. The 23-yar old American Idol alum got married to 42-year old Broadway actor/producer Nick Cokas in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

Her rep Justin Gray Stone and a few friends close to the couple shared some details of the wedding to People and Us Weekly. Katharine wore a strapless ivory Manuel Mota gown and Neil Lane jewelry while Nick wore an Armani tuxedo. And among the 305 guests present at the 45-minute late afternoon ceremony were fellow AI season 5 contestants Kellie Pickler and Mandisa.