White Bread crooner Pat Boone is returning to his roots with an upcoming album of R&B duets with artists such as Smokey Robinson, Sister Sledge, the Temptations and the Four Tops.|

R&B legend James Brown has already completed work on a rendition of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," the 1965 hit that Brown called "the beginning of funk" and a must-have for Boone's album.

Boone's star-studded project marks a departure from the singer's recent foray into tattoos and chains with the 1997 album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy. That tongue-in-cheek project cost the Sunday-school Boone a number of fans, who failed to find the humor in a 63 year old headbanging in a dog collar and fake tattoos.

After a leather-clad Boone caused a twitter at last year's American Music Awards, the Trinity Broadcasting Network dropped his weekly show, "Gospel Hour."

Now the wholesome king of middle America is back with a safer, more soothing flashback to the 1950s, when Boone covered songs by Fats Domino, Little Richard and the El Dorados among others. (Anni Layne)