In Brief: Foxy, Nelly

New Def Jam CEO Jay-Z has brought FOXY BROWN back to the label. The female rapper is at work on a new album tentatively titled Black Roses, featuring guest spots by DIDO and LUTHER VANDROSS . . . NELLY, AVRIL LAVIGNE, ALICIA KEYS, ASHANTI, HOOBASTANK and LUDACRIS have recorded thirty-second spots for a national radio campaign aimed at quashing satellite and online radio competition . . . Former REPLACEMENTS and current GUNS N' ROSES member TOMMY STINSON kicks off a tour on January 21st in Fargo, North Dakota, wrapping February 11th in Cedar Springs, Indiana . . . KINGS OF LEON will release Aha Shake Heartbreak on February 22nd . . . BIG HEAD TODD AND THE MONSTERS, BOB SCHNEIDER and JACKOPIERCE will play the "Black Tie and Boots" ball, in honor of the presidential inauguration, on January 18th . . .

PAUL and HEATHER MCCARTNEY are donating 1 million pounds (approximately $1.9 million) to the International Rescue Committee U.K. as part of a British aid effort for victims of the tsunami . . . USHER, PRINCE and LISA MARIE PRESLEY are on the list of presenters for the Golden Globes Awards, to air live Sunday on NBC . . . The recording of the charity single "We Are the Future" by producer JERMAINE DUPRI, the sequel to 1980s hit "We Are the World," has been postponed indefinitely . . . Rapper TALIB KWELI will be the voice of Trane, the lead character in Atari's upcoming ode-to-graffiti video game "Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure" . . .

Inspired by the death of BARRY WHITE, fellow soul legend ISAAC HAYES has contributed recipes to Kidney Friendly Comfort Foods: Low Phosphorous Cookbook, a new cookbook for people with chronic kidney disease . . . The DECEMBERISTS will release their new album Picaresque March 22nd . . . PAUL SIMON's Graceland, FLEETWOOD MAC's Rumours, the BAND's The Band, and the GRATEFUL DEAD's Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty are the next subjects of Eagle Rock Entertainment's Classic Albums series DVDs. The new batch is due February 22nd . . .

BECK will perform at the Music for Relief tsunami aid benefit on January 17th at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre, joining a lineup the includes DAVE GROHL, PEARL JAM's EDDIE VEDDER, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's JOSH HOMME and TENACIOUS D . . . ALICIA KEYS is set to play the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on March 4th at Houston's Reliant Stadium. Other artists include MAROON 5, HILARY DUFF, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, ALAN JACKSON, KENNY CHESNEY, GRETCHEN WILSON, and the STEVE MILLER BAND . . . DUFF is also scheduled to play at President Bush's inauguration on January 20th, along with JOJO . . . COURTNEY LOVE showed up a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday to face assault charges stemming from last April. Her pretrial hearing was postponed to February 10th . . . Montreal indie rockers the UNICORNS have called it quits after two years of touring in support of their album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone . . .

DAFT PUNK's Human After All will hit stores on March 22nd . . . CAM'RON will remain with Def Jam Records due to contractual obligation, despite his statement last year that he had been released . . . COLLECTIVE SOUL will launch a U.S. tour in support of Youth on January 15th in Steamboat Springs, Colorado . . . CROOKED FINGERS' fourth album, Dignity and Shame, hits stores January 22nd . . . ADRIAN BELEW will release Side One on January 25th, featuring PRIMUS' LES CLAYPOOL and TOOL drummer DANNY CAREY . . . The ISLEY BROTHERS' RON ISLEY pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of failing to report performance and loyalty income. Isley goes to trial on March 8th and could serve up to twenty-six years if convicted . . .

PIXIES' frontman FRANK BLACK's first child, Jack Errol Thompson, was born on January 7th in Springfield, Oregon . . . Rapper NAS and R&B singer KELIS were married in a small ceremony on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia . . . In other nuptial news, MOTLEY CRUE frontman VINCE NEIL married girlfriend Lia Gerardini on Sunday in Las Vegas. Rapper HAMMER officiated the ceremony . . . KISS bassist GENE SIMMONS is being sued for slander by ex-girlfriend Georgeann Ward, who claims the rocker portrayed her as a "nymphomaniac" in a KISS VH-1 rock documentary . . . RICKY MARTIN, whose People for Children project was set up to fight the child-sex trade, will visit children in tsunami-affected areas, arriving in Thailand on Wednesday . . . NEW ORDER will release a new album, Waiting for the Sirens Call, this spring, minus keyboardist GILLIAN GILBERT . . . ALISON KRAUSS AND UNION STATION's nearly 100-date tour in support of Lonely Runs Both Ways kicks off January 12th in Chattanooga, Tennessee, wrapping up . . . OASIS will release their as-yet-untitled sixth studio album in the U.K. on May 16th . . .

DIXIE CHICKS singer NATALIE MAINES made a surprise appearance on Sunday's WILLIE NELSON-headlined tsunami relief concert at the Austin Music Hall . . . On January 28th, BUDDY GUY will perform at the Legends of the Blues concert at New York's Avery Fisher Hall, along with Lifetime Grammy winner PINETOP PERKINS . . . Japan's SHONEN KNIFE will reissue four early records with live bonus tracks on February 22nd, to be followed by a U.S. spring tour . . . The ALARM will reissue their Greatest Hits Live on January 11th . . . On March 1st, BLACK 47 will release their new album, Elvis Murphy's Green Suede Shoes, in conjunction with frontman LARRY KIRWAN's new memoir. They launch a tour on January 22nd in New York, wrapping up July 29th in Glastonbury, Connecticut . . . The Fourth Annual Ponderosa Stomp Roots Romp scheduled for April 26-27 at New Orleans' Rock'n'Bowl Mid-City will feature LINK WRAY, ARCHIE BELL, NOKIE EDWARDS (the VENTURES) and BETTY HARRIS . . .