March 17, 1999 IT’S OFFICIAL, CHER JOINS VH1 DIVAS LIVE ‘99:

VH1 has officially announced that Cher will take part in VH1 Divas Live ’99. The legendary entertainer, who is at the top of the charts with her hit song, "Believe," will perform on the show to be broadcast live on Tuesday, April 13 at 9:00 PM (ET/PT) from New York’s Beacon Theater. Cher joins Whitney Houston and Tina Turner, both of whom were announced last month. Additional performers and presenters will be announced in the near future. Rumor is that Madonna has also been tapped to perform, but there has been no official word.

THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES:

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is continuing their investigation into whether alcohol played a role in the near-fatal car accident that landed George Jones in intensive care. Two eyewitnesses called 911 on the afternoon of March 6 to report seeing an "older gentleman," specifically George Jones according to one caller, driving erratically. The last call was made just eight minutes prior to when George’s Lexus sport utility vehicle collided with a concrete bridge. We previously reported that an open bottle of vodka was found under the passenger seat in George’s car; however officials did not think the accident was alcohol related at the time. THP officials are now waiting on hospital blood tests to reveal whether alcohol contributed to the accident.

FURTHUR NO MORE?:

The Furthur Festival is the summer tour that’s been consoling Grateful Dead fans since the 1995 death of Dead leader Jerry Garcia. 1996 and 1997’s versions featured former Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart leading their own bands, and occasionally joining each other on stage for Dead songs. But last year proved to be a huge thrill for Deadheads: Weir and Hart, along with former Dead bassist Phil Lesh and sometimes Dead member Bruce Hornsby formed a band called the Other Ones, who headlined the tour and played mostly Dead songs. Unfortunately, there will be no Furthur in 1999: due to Phil Lesh’s heath problems (he had life-saving liver surgery last year) the band had to wait quite some time to see if he would be able to tour. By the time he got a clean bill of heath, it was too late to book the tour. However, Furthur spokesperson Dennis McNally says that Furthur will be back in 2000.

ANDREA BOCELLI TO RELEASE NEW POP ALBUM:

Andrea Bocelli’s popularity has soared since he performed "The Prayer" with Celine Dion at last month’s Grammy Awards. The Italian singer will include the duet with Celine on his second pop album, Sogno (pronounced sone-yo, which is Italian for "Dream"), which will be released on March 30. Bocelli and Dion are also scheduled to perform "The Prayer" at the 71st Annual Academy Awards, where it has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category, having been used in last year’s animated film, Quest For Camelot. The Academy Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday, March 21 at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.

MADONNA AND RICKY MARTIN WORKING TOGETHER:

Madonna is planning to collaborate with Ricky Martin on a new song, and she is gathering material for a second greatest hits album, which may include several new songs. As for a tour, the material mom has put her touring plans on hold until sometime after the millennium, so she can concentrate more on her film career. In the meantime, Madonna is working on a song for Martin with Ray of Light producer William Orbit, her publicist tells Sonicnet.

STUDENTS BACK UP SHANIA TWAIN TONIGHT:

A group of lucky Canadian students will have a chance to sing back up for Shania Twain on two songs, tonight and tomorrow at a concert in Ottawa, Ontario. The twenty-six Ottawa students were selected by Twain to back her for the two nearly-sold out concerts at the Corel Centre. Students from the music programs at Gloucester, St. Patrick’s and St. Matthew high schools will form part of the choir on the Billy Holliday classic "God Bless The Child," and also play marching drums on the track "(If You’re Not in it for Love) I’m Outta Here," with which Twain traditionally closes her show.

ADVICE FROM BRIAN SETZER:

Brian Setzer knows a thing or two about getting tattoos and has some advice for anyone considering getting one – make sure it can be easily concealed. "I’ll just remember what my dad said: ‘Never get a tattoo where a judge can see it. If you’re ever before a judge and he sees a tattoo on your neck or hands, he’ll brand you a criminal,’" he tells USA Weekend. Setzer, who recently scored a hit with his swinging remake of "Jump, Jive, An’ Wail," also gives advice for aspiring musicians - do your own research and don’t trust anyone. "We were kids," he says. "What did we know? We’d say, ‘You’re a manager? You’re a lawyer? You’ve got a suit on. You look honest.’ We signed away everything. We got ripped off a lot.’"

BARENAKED LADIES COURTING BLUEGRASS SKAGGS:

According to the Nashville Tennessean, the Barenaked Ladies are trying to work out a twenty-five date tour with Bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs. The two camps met in New York when the Ladies dropped in on his show, and the band poured the admiration on Skaggs.

SUGAR RAY’S McGRATH HANGING IN THERE:

After taking a day off yesterday, Sugar Ray will be playing San Francisco’s Warfield Theater tonight – if singer Mark McGrath’s vocal chords hold up. The pin-up stripped his voice this past weekend (March 13 and 14), causing the band to cancel a Canadian television special on Saturday and a performance in British Columbia on Sunday. The band did perform Monday night (March 15) in Portland, Oregon without a hitch. Life on the road may have played a part in his voice giving out, but as McGrath tells us, the road is the road: "I don’t think toning it down is in our touring vocabulary. The tours are just inherently crazy or insane. Nothing is going right, you haven’t slept for days, whatever it is, whatever you do. Under that duress we seem to function the best." That is, until the singer’s voice is tired due to excessive partying. The tour is almost finished with dates this Friday and Saturday in Hollywood and San Bernardino, respectively. Next month Sugar Ray will go out on MTV’ Campus Invasion tour with Orgy.

Check out the Tour Dates in The Arena BOYZONE BABY:

Boyzone singer Ronan Keating has become the father of a baby boy named Jack. The entertainer’s wife Yvonne, 25, gave birth to their first son, weighing in at ten pounds four ounces, at Mount Carmel Hospital in Dublin, Ireland on Monday. Boyzone are currently at Number One in the UK with a cover version of the 1980s Billy Ocean song "When The Going Gets Tough," which was recorded for the Comic Relief charity. It is only the second record this year to stay at Number One for more than one week.

SPRINGSTEEN STILL MATTERS:

Bruce Springsteen has just been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame; he has released a book of his lyrics and his second box set, and is about to go on a tour with the E Street Band, who he fired a decade ago. But does Bruce still matter? A Billboard online poll says "Yes." More than half of the 2567 respondents said that Springsteen is either as powerful a presence as ever in music (27.9%) or that his relevance is slightly faded, but still great (24.7%). 22.7% said he is past his prime, but still OK, while 15.8% said they never liked him anyway.

MELISSA ETHERIDGE ON THE JANIS JOPLIN FILM:

As previously reported, rocker Melissa Etheridge will not be playing the role of Janis Joplin in a film about the late singer’s life. Etheridge delivered a moving speech for Joplin when she presented her at Joplin’s posthumous induction to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1995, and also performed a solo acoustic version of "Piece Of My Heart." Between her obvious love for Joplin’s music, and the passion in which she covered Joplin’s songs – along with the fact that Etheridge’s lover, Julie Cypher, is directing the film – it was thought at one point that she had a lock on the part. But earlier this week (March 15) at the Hall Of Fame Induction ceremony, she spoke to the press, confirming that she is no longer involved in the Joplin flick: "I am no longer attached to that. That was… that’s Hollywood. It’s sort of something that grew from our living room and sort of took a life of it’s own and went away. I wish them all the best of luck with that, and I hope they treat her with respect, dignity and the wildness that she was."

CYBER-BYRD:

Former Byrd Roger McGuinn has been flying high on the internet. His new song, "James Alley Blues," was recently chosen by www.AMP3.com as its "Pick Hit Of The Day." McGuinn, no stranger to the web, has been posting a song a month on the Folk Den part of his own website, http://www.mcguinn.com, since November of 1995. McGuinn decided to post his latest song on AMP3.com instead of on his own website, because AMP3.com offers artists a royalty of two cents per download. Roger recently told us that he has been on-line for quite a while: "I got into it about 1982 I got my first computer. I started with newsgroups, and put a FAQ, a Frequently Asked Questions list, about the Byrds out there. And then a friend of mine at the University of Arkansas put up a website for the Byrds, and then gradually, we built it up, and I put the Folk Den on that site. Now I’ve got my own webpage, www.mcguinn.com."

AND IN THIS CORNER, LILA "KILLER" McCANN:

Lila McCann is psyched up and ready to release her sophomore project Something In The Air next Tuesday. The seventeen year old says she sounds a bit different on this project, and with good reason: "My voice has changed a lot especially just because I have been singing a lot more. And these songs I got to work with a lot more before I put them on the record. I was singing, like, 'With You' the single, I was singing that all summer long before I even recorded it. So I kind of knew what I wanted to do with it and stuff like that. I think it helped." Vince Gill, Steve Wariner and Bryan White all chipped in to contribute to her record. Lila says that Vince actually was a surprise addition, she was just in the right place at the right time: "Actually Vince was down the hallway all week long. He was producing. So I saw him all week. And he would walk by and I would say ‘Hi’ and whatever. One day I was like, ‘You know, I think you need to come in and sing some background vocals.’ Joking! Like, yeah, he is going to come and sing on my records? You know? And he’s like, ‘Okay.’ And I was like, ‘Really?’ He’s like, ‘Sure thing!’ He called me ‘killer’ all week. ‘Sure thing killer.’ I was like, ‘All right!’"

HANK JR. - LYNYRD SKYNYRD TOUR NO GO:

The Hank Williams Jr./Lynyrd Skynyrd fifty city tour has been canceled. Apparently Skynyrd’s Johnny Van Zant has developed some throat problems which have forced the two to postpone the tour until possibly later this year. Rumor has it that Hank is now in discussions to possibly appear with Charlie Daniels’ Volunteer Jam.

POSTHUMOUS ZACHARY BREAUX ALBUM OUT IN THE FALL:

The long-anticipated posthumous album by the late guitar great Zachary Breaux will be released in the fall. The album will be titled Lasting Impressions and will include several tunes that were recorded at the time Zachary recorded his hit 1997 album Uptown Groove. Lasting Impressions will also include a number of tunes recorded during Zachary’s final live performance. Zachary died in February 1997, only a few weeks after Uptown Groove’s release. While in Miami Beach with his family, Zachary dove into the ocean to rescue a swimmer who was caught in a riptide. Although Zachary had saved a swimmer from drowning under similar circumstances some years earlier, he was caught in the current and suffered a fatal heart attack when he was pulled ashore. He was 36 years old.

BUDDY HOLLY ROYALTIES LAWSUIT:

The family of the late Buddy Holly (his widow Maria Holly, his brothers Larry and Travis and his sister Pat) are suing Holly’s record label, MCA Records. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, but is being described as a multi-million-dollar case, was filed on Monday. The suit alleges that the record company hung on to royalty payments, forged contracts and illegally produced albums without their consent. The lawsuit in essence charges that the contracts providing for royalties to Holly’s heirs are legally questionable and should be rewritten. The lawsuit also alleges that MCA duped Holly’s parents into signing a royalties agreement, even though recording officials knew that "the parents had no authority to contract for those recordings." Attorney for the Holly family said that "Basically after Buddy Holly died, the record company went through a lot of manipulations with his former manager to issue a lot of recordings. MCA agreed to pay the family additional royalties, but then wanted to add additional terms to the agreement."

GINUWINE TALKS ABOUT "WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT":

Platinum-selling R&B crooner Ginuwine (Elgin Lumpkin) released his sophomore album, 100% Ginuwine, yesterday. Executive produced by Timbaland, the set also features production by newcomers Mookie and Noontime. The first single, "What's So Different," is heating up at radio. During a recent interview, Ginuwine spoke about the new single: "‘What’s So Different’ is basically talking about a relationship that I had. I wasn’t going with the girl, I just knew her and we was going out. But then a month into it, I found out that she had a boyfriend, I was like, ‘How you gonna do that to him and be with me, I ain’t with that. That’s how a lot of people get killed.’ Then I thought, ‘If she did that to him, she might do that with me.’ It’s basically a universal song but it had to come from my perspective."

MAXWELL’S BACK AND WILL MAKE UP DATES:

Neo-soul crooner Maxwell is promising to make it up to his fans for canceling his much-anticipated tour last fall. He had canceled the tour for personal reasons, and he now plans to make it up this summer. In yesterday’s edition of SonicNet Music News, Maxwell said: "I was in a bad space last year. There are times when you forget who you are and become part of the machine. But I have cleared that stuff up and am ready to make up my absence to my fans. I am mad happy right now, and plan to do it so smooth." Maxwell is featured on the upcoming Rock Land/Interscope soundtrack to Life, with the lead track "Fortunate," which was written and produced by R. Kelly. Of the song, Maxwell said, "He writes a beautiful song and my fans know how much I enjoy singing love songs. I can't wait to see the finished film."