Wyclef Jean has signed with J Records and is working on his fourth solo album, the follow-up to last year's Masquerade . . . Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Musiq and others have joined the lineup for the Essence Music Festival, set for July 3-5 in New Orleans . . . Celine Dion is recording a new album in French, her native tongue, with plans to release it in the fall . . . Marilyn Manson will celebrate the release of his new album, The Golden Age of Grotesque with his Grotesk Burlesk Party at the Key Club in Los Angeles Monday night . . . Faith Hill will be the subject of the television special You're Still Here: A Look Behind the Lens, airing on ABC on May 26th . . . Sinead O'connor told a Dublin newspaper that she plans to teach religion after her retirement in July . . .

The New Pornographers will begin a sixteen-date tour on June 2nd in Salt Lake City . . . Rob Zombie has signed a deal with Lion's Gate Films to write and direct a sequel to his new film, House of 1,000 Corpses. Production is expected to begin in the fall . . . Three Pickers, featuring performances by Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs and Earl Scruggs, will be released on CD and DVD on July 15th . . . The Kings of Leon, the Music, the Distillers and Cave In will perform on Lollapalooza's second stage. The tour begins July 3rd in Grand Rapids, Michigan . . . Ozzy Osbourne is leaving Sony after twenty-three years with the label . . .

More than 150 guitars owned by late Who bassist John Entwistle will be auctioned by Sotheby's starting May 13th. Clothing, posters and some of Entwistle's sketches will also go under the hammer . . . A new Pink song, "Feel Good Time," will be included on the soundtrack to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, due June 17th . . . According to a Web post by Fred Durst, Limp Bizkit's new album has been bumped until September . . . Beyonce Knowles will perform solo and with Destiny's Child at the 100th anniversary of the Ford Motor Company on June 14th. The performance will air on pay-per-view . . . Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie will begin a seventeen-date tour on June 3rd in Toronto . . .

Though he's still listed in critical condition, Luther Vandross is breathing on his own, after having had a tube inserted into his throat following his April 16th stroke . . . Poison frontman Bret Michaels will visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on May 31st to donate the guitar he played on "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" . . . Gillian Welch will release her fourth album, Soul Journey, on June 3rd on her own Acony Records. Later that month, Welch and partner David Rawlings will open for Norah Jones on a summer tour . . . Ludacris, Cam'ron, Method Man and Keith Murray will appear on MTV's MC Battle final, set for May 17th in New York . . . Lipton will continue to sponsor the Dixie Chicks' U.S. tour, but the iced tea maker has scrapped plans for a television commercial featuring the band . . .

Sean Paul, Wayne Wonder and Beenie Man will perform at the inaugural American version of the Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest on May 25th in Miami, as well as it's long-running Jamaican counterpart in late-July . . . Beth Orton has recorded a cover of Cat Stevens' "Wild World" for the soundtrack to How to Deal. The July 8th release will also include songs by the Flaming Lips, the Donnas, Liz Phair and the Music . . . Art punkers Ikara Colt will release the Basic Instructions EP on May 20th . . . Mary J. Blige and Mos Def will be honored at the sixteenth annual Essence Awards on June 6th in Hollywood . . . Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Sean Paul and Luther Vandross made guest appearances on Beyonce Knowles' solo debut, Dangerously in Love, due July 8th . . .

Christina Aguilera is auctioning concert tickets through stubhub.com to benefit the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh . . . Everlast, Soopafly and the Dilated Peoples have recorded a new protest single, "S.T.O.P. (Stop the Oppressive Politics" . . . Pearl Jam has made a DVD of its December 6th Seattle concert available through tenclub.net . . . The Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison is producing Pawn Shoppe Part for the Von Bondies, due this fall . . . A Louisiana jury decided that Juvenile did not steal "Back That Azz Up" from rapper DJ Jubilee . . . Suede are recording new songs for a greatest hits album due later this year . . .

50 Cent, Doors 21st Century, the Roots, American Hi-Fi, Gov't Mule and others will perform at the first annual Coors Light Mountain Jam on August 30th in Golden, Colorado . . . U2's "Electrical Storm," Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" and Robbie Williams' "Feel" are the nominees for Best International Hit of the Year at the Ivor Novello Songwriting Awards, set for May 22nd in London. . . William Shatner's reading of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" was selected as the worst Beatles cover of all-time in a poll conducted by TV channel Music Choice . . . Black Uhuru's reggae classic, Red, will be reissued on July 22nd . . . The Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck will release The Movement, on June 10th . . . Pete Yorn has joined the American Red Cross' Celebrity Cabinet, to promote the organization's services for one year . . .

Kiss will release The Kiss Symphony: Alive IV later this year . . . Hall and Oates will begin a thirty-date tour on June 25th in North Tonawanda, New York . . . Hanson are working on their next studio album, which will feature a song co-written by Matthew Sweet and a guest vocal by Michelle Branch . . . Saliva have joined the lineup for the July 26th Rolling Rock Town Fair in Pittsburgh . . . Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, Rhett Miller and Mark Eitzel have contributed music to The Executioner's Last Songs, a two-CD set organized by Jon Langford, with proceeds going to the National Coalition and Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty . . . N.E.R.D.'s Chad Hugo has produced New Sacred Cow by Ethiopan pop star Kenna, due June 10th . . .

R. Kelly, Ludacris and Tyrese have joined forces to record "Pick Up the Phone," a new song that will appear on the 2 Fast 2 Furious soundtrack, due May 27th . . . The Strokes have parted ways with producer Nigel Godrich and will work with Gordon Raphael, who recorded the band's debut, on their second album . . . Keanu Reeves and Sum 41 will make guest appearances in Anthrax "Safe Home" video . . . Robbie Williams and Sean Paul will perform at 100% NYC, a concert to mark the opening of the Tribeca Film Festival on May 9th in New York City . . . George Wyle, who composed the theme to Gilligan's Island and the Christmas classic "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," died of leukemia on May 2nd in Los Angeles; he was eighty-seven . . .

Dave Matthews Band violinist Boyd Tinsley will release True Reflections on June 17th . . . Norwegian punk rock band Turbonegro have enlisted Spike Jonze to direct their next video, "Scandinavian Leather," which will also feature guest appearances by the daredevils from Jackass . . . The Professor and Maryanne will release their new album, Runaway Favorite, on June 10th . . . Joe Henry will release his new album, Tiny Voices, on September 9th . . . The Roots, Ben Kweller and the North Mississippi All Stars will perform at the annual Springfest at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, set for May 16-17 . . . The Thorns, featuring Matthew Sweet, Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins, will release their self-titled debut on May 20th . . .

(May 9, 2003)