A star-studded tribute concert honouring late superstar Michael Jackson has been thrown into jeopardy after representatives for Whitney Houston and Madonna denied the singers have signed up to headline the show.
Plans to honour the late King Of Pop with a gig in Vienna, Austria next month were confirmed by Jermaine Jackson earlier this week. Jackson is co-ordinating the event with talk show host Larry King's wife Shawn.
Usher, Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston were all confirmed as performers at the memorial show, in the grounds of the city's former imperial Schoenbrunn Palace, by Shawn King's spokesman Howard Rubenstein.
Producer Georg Kindel from World Awards Media, the company behind the event, also hinted that Queen Of Pop Madonna was set to pay tribute to her friend Jackson.
But spokespersons for Houston and the Holiday hitmaker have hit back at reports of the stars' participation in the extravaganza, according to New York gossip column PageSix.
Madonna's rep Liz Rosenberg says, "It's not true. She's still on tour," while Houston's spokeswoman Jill Fritzo adds, "(No). Not that I am aware of."
The concert will be broadcast live on TV and over 85,000 fans will be given the chance to attend. Ticket sales for The Tribute go on sale on 20 August.
Plans to honour the late King Of Pop with a gig in Vienna, Austria next month were confirmed by Jermaine Jackson earlier this week. Jackson is co-ordinating the event with talk show host Larry King's wife Shawn.
Usher, Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston were all confirmed as performers at the memorial show, in the grounds of the city's former imperial Schoenbrunn Palace, by Shawn King's spokesman Howard Rubenstein.
Producer Georg Kindel from World Awards Media, the company behind the event, also hinted that Queen Of Pop Madonna was set to pay tribute to her friend Jackson.
But spokespersons for Houston and the Holiday hitmaker have hit back at reports of the stars' participation in the extravaganza, according to New York gossip column PageSix.
Madonna's rep Liz Rosenberg says, "It's not true. She's still on tour," while Houston's spokeswoman Jill Fritzo adds, "(No). Not that I am aware of."
The concert will be broadcast live on TV and over 85,000 fans will be given the chance to attend. Ticket sales for The Tribute go on sale on 20 August.
A gaunt-looking Madonna was seen leaving the Kabbalah Centre in New York on Saturday.Wearing shades and a baseball cap it seemed the marriage break-up was taking its toll on the 50-year-old mega-star.But the pop queen's obsession with maintaining a perfect body has been cited as one of the factors behind her split with Guy Ritchie.
Her insistence on sticking to a gruelling four-hour exercise routine has been blamed for destroying the pair's seven-and-a-half year marriage.The strict regime reportedly meant the couple went for 18 months without making love.When they did find time to make love, it was like 'cuddling up to a piece of gristle', Ritchie is said to have told friends.MadonnaA close friend told the News of the World: 'When the cracks began to show in their marriage, Madonna wouldn't budge.'Guy was pleading with her to spend more time with him but she wouldn't have it. She'd insist she did her four-hour workout and that would be half the day gone.''They've been apart so much in the last two years the times when they could have made love have been pretty limited.'And they've been in separate bedrooms a lot after rows so there has been no making-up. They might as well be brother and sister.''All the soft feminine tones have been replaced by the build of an athlete.'Another fighting point in their marriage was Madonna's devotion to the mystic religion Kabbalah.Ritchie, 40, is said to have walked out of a marriage counselling meeting with rabbis after they suggested he should always be subordinate to his wife's wishes.The source said: 'Guy thinks it is just mumbo jumbo. He was appalled she wanted the religion to intervene.'He is said to have become disillusioned with the religion which he had originally embraced to please Madonna.Film producer Ritchie is said to be resigned to the fact that Madonna will begin openly dating New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.Sources say the pop star is preparing to go public about her friendship with baseball player A-Rod when her world tour ends in December.Kabbalah leaders are said to have given their blessing to the friendship after Rodriguez threw himself into the religion.
Madonna also recently sneaked the multi-millionaire into a front row seat at her gig which had previously been reserved for her husband.An insider told the Sunday Mirror: 'Alex is bewitched by her. She is a very intoxicating woman and it seems she has offered him a pathway to happiness and enlightenment through Kabbalah.'He thinks she is phenomenal, but his friends aren't sure they have much in common.'Rodriguez's wife Cynthia filed for divorce in July this year, citing Madonna as one of his many infidelities.She is said to have found a letter to Madonna in which Rodriguez' called her his 'soulmate'.Madonna, worth around £300million, has agreed Ritchie will have full access to their sons, eight-year-old Rocco and adopted David Banda, three.The singer also has a daughter Lourdes, 12, by fitness trainer Carlos Leon.Ritchie's £10 million divorce settlement will see him own Ashcombe House, their 1,200 acre £10million estate in Wiltshire, while Madonna will keep the couple's £7million townhouse in Marylebone in central London.
Madonna and Alex Rodriguez were spotted enjoying dinner together earlier this week.The singer and the baseball player - who were rumoured to be having an affair earlier this year - sat in "an alcove-like table" at the back of New York eatery Dos Caminos Third Avenue on Tuesday (30.09.08).A source told Usmagazine.com: "They seemed very close."While Madonna was initially blamed for Alex's divorce from wife Cynthia, the 50-year-old star has always denied the claims - insisting she is happy in her seven-year marriage with husband Guy Ritchie.She said in a statement earlier this year: "My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce. I know Alex Rodriguez through Guy Oseary, who manages both of us. I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez. I have nothing to do with the state of his marriage."I have learned over the years not to take accusations and the many false reports about me very seriously. I also appreciate how fiction and fact seem to be perceived as one and the same by people who read both newspapers and the internet."
Madonna stayed for just an hour at husband Guy's 40th birthday yesterday night and here's why - she needed all her energy for tonight's incredible performance at Wembley Stadium.The 50-year-old queen of pop showed off her honed and muscular body as she cavorted around the stage in a white silk top hat, high cut leotard, fishnets and leather stiletto boots.Her energetic routine would have put to shame artists half her age, and proved those hours in her private gym have paid off.
The mother-of-three is touring the world with her Sticky and Sweet tour which is flying to 37 venues for the roadshow in just under four months, transporting a team of 250.Amongst the thousands of fans were her A-list friends Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson, whose mouths dropped open in amazement at Madonna's athletic exploits.The audience also included Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Fergie from the Black Eyed peas.The decadent two-hour show, which involved £1million of jewellery, saw Madonna perform many of her greatest hits, as well as indulging in eight costume changes.The pop superstar arrived onstage dressed in a Givenchy outfit in a vintage white American car for the first section of the four-part show.Labelled 'Pimp', the opening sequence was recently described by the Material Girl's publicist as a homage to '1920s deco and modern day gangsta pimp'.
Madonna followed up that segment of the concert with Old School, a tribute to the her roots in the urban dance music of early 1980s New York.The remaining two sections, Gypsy and Rave, continued the high-energy performance.
For years Madonna's youthful complexion has been the source of speculation, with many observers wondering if she's gone under the knife.Now the debate has reached its peak of intensity after the 49-year-old was named the ultimate face by a respected American magazine.The magazine has hailed Madonna's facial features for her 'Mount Rushmore cheekbones, the angular jawline, the smoothed forehead, the plumped skin and the heart-like shape of the face.'
While her spokesperson will neither confirm or deny rumours the star has been cosmetically enhanced, her estranged brother Christopher Ciccone is adamant her dewy complexion is not natural.Appearing on U.S. chat show Chelsea Lately last month, Ciccone was blunt about his opinion of his sister's famous features.When told by host Chelsea Handler that Madonna would disapprove of her photo on the front of his book Life With My Sister Madonna, Ciccone said: 'Well they probably shouldn't have pulled it quite so tight...'
After being thanked by Handler for putting the 'face lift rumours out there,' Ciccone replied: 'Come on, it's there, nobody will say it. I will.'Writer Jonathan Van Meter interviews Madonna's long-term publicist Liz Rosenberg, who also represents Cher, Michael Buble and Josh Groban, for her views on surgery.Rosenberg insists she doesn't know whether or not Madonna has undergone surgery, but declares the singer looks 'amazing'.She said: 'Whatever Madonna has had done - and I really don't know - she looks truly amazing.'I have never represented anyone who has spoken to me about plastic surgery. Nor have I asked them. I don't want to know.'But Anyone who has had it done, I'm all for it. These people, they are commodities, and improving on your product is the business they're in.'Getting any artist besides Joan Rivers and Kathy Griffin to go on record about the subject is not easy. Of course one of the great quotes came from my gal Cher, who said in an interview, "If I want to put my tits on my back it's my business."'Madonna is described as the embodiment of the 'New New Face', for having facial features highly sought after by cosmetic surgery customers.According to claims in the New York feature, other celebrities lucky enough to have the sought-after 'New New Face' include Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, Elizabeth Hurley, Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.New York magazine sells the article as 'Madonna has it, Demi has it, even the Olsens have it. And it could be yours for about $30,000'.Leading cosmetic surgeon Dr David Rosenberg (no relation to Liz Rosenberg) compliments Madonna's facial features in the article, saying: ' You see the architecture of the jawline, you see the architecture of the cheekbones.'The demand for the 'New New Face' is eclipsing the formerly popular 'Old New Face', features that inspired plastic surgery in the 1980s and 1990s.Hailing Meg Ryan as an example of the 'Old New Face', Dr Rosenberg said: 'Meg may think she looks beautiful, but what we are picking up on is a sense that maybe there is an over-inflation of the lips, there’s an over-abundance of fillers in her face.'What I see with Demi is more of an operation. Let me say it this way: I see preservation of definition, a preservation of facial architecture. Angularity. Very pretty.'
Madonna and Guy Ritchie are reported to be discussing a split as their seven-year marriage hits rock bottom.The relationship between the pop star and her film-maker husband has apparently been strained for months and the pair are believed to be living separate lives in their £6million mansion in London.A close friend of the couple claimed in the Daily Mirror newspaper that a split was virtually inevitable.The source said: 'They're obviously sad but they're dealing with it like grown-ups. Things have just run their natural course.'The paper reports that the couple will formally announce the split when Madonna's world tour ends on November 29.The 49-year-old singer is now said to be setting her sights on a fresh start and plans to spend time moving between her plush properties in London, New York and Los Angeles.Meanwhile, Ritchie, 39, is currently working on a new, updated film version of Sherlock Holmes.'They live like brother and sister rather than husband and wife and thought it best to call it a day', a source told the newspaper.They have just grown apart. They've decided they're better off as friends. It's sad but they're determined to keep it amicable.'Guy was pictured a fortnight ago on a night out with male friends and sources said he and his wife were planning to spend most of the summer apart.The couple got together after they met at a party thrown by the singer Sting in 1998. They married in a castle in Scotland two years later.Rather than hide their marital problems, Madonna told a documentary for MTV in 2005 that she 'wanted to end everything'.'My husband didn't turn out to be everything I imagined him to be', the star said.Problems first surfaced when Ritchie allegedly disagreed with the decision to adopt baby David Banda from Malawi.And relations clearly didn't improve, with the singer recently telling an interview: 'Guy can be intolerant of my behaviour.'But he has certain personality traits which need to change as well.'
Madonna has shown no sign of slowing down - despite turning 50 later this year.The popstar accused society of being "ageist and sexist" in an interview with Hello magazine, insisting she has never been one to conform and will continue to juggle motherhood with her career.
Madonna said: "Not only does society suffer from racism and sexism, it also suffers from ageism."Once you reach a certain age you're not allowed to be adventurous, you're not allowed to be sexual.""I mean, is there a rule? Are you supposed to just die? I've never been a conformist."The Material Girl also admitted to being a control freak prone to explosive tantrums but claimed her temper has improved over recent years as she has given way to her emotional side, revealing she often likes a good cry."What artist isn't a control freak?"I used to go to the recording studio and explode. I don't explode in that way now but I have a dynamic personality."I'm a big cry baby - I actually cry all the time."
For years she has been a racy style icon but with her 50th birthday fast approaching it seems Madonna is opting for a more matronly look away from the cameras.The singer looks to be taking tips from the Victorians as she sports what appear to be a pair of bloomers after her daily gym session.Pale, gaunt and a little frumpy the picture is a million miles from the slick image portrayed in her latest video for new song Give It To Me.She is seen cavorting around thigh high boots and skimpy underwear with music producer Pharrell Williams, who is almost 15 years her junior.The act follows her collaboration with 27-year-old Timberlake, which saw a similarly suggestive performance in the clip for their track Four Minutes.Madonna, who is 50 in August, has a gruelling fitness regime in bid to stay in shape ahead of her birthday and forthcoming world tour.It is understood that she has hired a second personal trainer and now trains six days a week for as much as three and half hours.The married mother of three recently confessed that despite her super-toned physique she still worried about her fat thighs.She is shown in footage shot during recording sessions for latest album Hard Candy telling producers: "Don't show my big fat thighs, whatever you do."When asked about the film in an recent interview on US television she said: "My big Italian thighs. I am very proud of them."But she also added that her new workout schedule was having an effect on the problem.Her Sticky and Sweet Tour starts in the summer and will take her across Europe and America.It will take her to nine European cities, beginning in Cardiff, Wales, before she plays 18 dates in the United States and Canada.Her recent album, Hard Candy, has debuted at number one at 27 countries so far including the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Australia, according to her record company.
The '4 Minutes' singer was delighted when a court in two-year-old David's native Malawi ruled she and husband Guy Ritchie could legally be his parents yesterday (28.05.08).A lawyer for the 49-year-old star said: "We are very happy with what the judge has ruled. It is a positive and beautiful judgment that will have an impact on Malawi's adoption laws."David's biological father Yohane Banda revealed he is delighted for Madonna and Guy and wished them luck in the future.He said: "I am glad this is over now. I am happy for David."I gave Madonna 100 per cent rights for my son. He is her son. It's because of her benevolent nature that she assured me she will not cut ties with me."We wish David and his mother, new dad, sister and brother would join us. We are now family."Madonna caused great controversy when she first began the process of adopting David in October 2006.Critics claimed the Malawi government had given the singer special treatment by ignoring laws banning non-residents from adopting children in the country.It was also revealed that while David's mother had died, his father was still alive and had been visiting him in his orphanage.Madonna - who has two other children, Lourdes, 11, and seven-year-old Rocco - recently said the adoption process was like "natural childbirth".She said: "It was painful and a big struggle and I didn't understand it. In the end, I rationalised that when a woman goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount. I went through my own kind of birthing pains."
Madonna has been denied the chance to see five of her LPs in the U.K. album chart at the same time, after the country's Official Chart Company (OCC) deemed details surrounding their sales unfair.The Material Girl star was set to score a chart quintuple last week (ends10May08) after British supermarket giant Tesco offered consumers a free copy of one of four previous Madonna albums when they purchased her latest release Hard Candy.The offer allowed fans to buy the LP for $18 (#9), and claim a copy of either The Immaculate Collection, Ray Of Light, Music or Confessions On A Dancefloor for free.And the promotion gave the star's earlier albums a significant boost in the British mid-week charts; The Immaculate Collection shot to number 28, Confessions On A Dancefloor sat at 48, Music at 95, and Ray Of Light at 110.But the U.K. chart's governing body, the OCC, have excluded the albums from being counted in last week's rundown, insisting the offer didn't comply with its stance on chart rules.The move meant only Hard Candy's sales were counted, which gave the singer her 10th number one album in the U.K. and U.S. charts earlier this month (May08).OCC managing director Martin Talbot explains the decision: "It is quite a core chart rule that we only count sales, and the marketing of this particular initiative is clear - if you buy Hard Candy through Tesco you can have one of these albums free of charge."He adds, "We will be monitoring these kinds of offers to assess whether current rules cover what is becoming an increasingly common occurrence. We need to ensure it doesn't undermine the authority of the charts, which are there to measure sales."
While she was shocking the world with her provocative track Like a Virgin back in the mid 1980s, he was barely out of nappies.But last night during a promotional performance Madonna spent almost every second of her No. 1 track Four Minutes bumping and grinding against Justin Timberlake, despite being well and truly old enough to be his mother.
At one point, the ageing pop star, who turns 50 in August, pinned her 27-year-old partner in song up against the wall. If Justin was feeling the least bit awkward, he did well to hide it.The mother-of-three appears to have gone to exceptional lengths to keep herself relevant in the youth obsessed pop world, and last night's exhibition was no exception.She performed six songs for around 2,000 people at New York City's Roseland Ballroom, at one point stopping to guzzle champagne from the bottle in between cavourting around in knee-high black boots, black satin sweatpants with glittery side stripes and a corset.
The performance was to promote the release of her new record Hard Candy, her 11th studio album.
She told the crowd: "Even though I have made what seems like 100 records, every time I put one out it's like the first time and the best time."
She went on to say: "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have been able to make a record with him, Timbaland, Pharrell, Kanye."
Despite rumours of plastic surgery and a constant, punishing fitness regime, Madonna insists she's comfortable with ringing in 50.She says: "I just see it as another excuse to have a birthday party."She certainly has no immediate plans to retire - last year she signed a 10-year deal, including a three-album commitment, with concert touring company Live Nation believed to be worth $US120 million.
A grief-stricken Cameron Diaz has received some much-needed support from ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake at a memorial service for her father.The actress is said to be devastated following the sudden death of Emilio, 58, from pneumonia last Tuesday. The oil company foreman had been diagnosed with flu several weeks earlier.
The informal service, which was held in Seal Beach, California, on Sunday, saw the Hollywood star comforted by Timberlake and another former boyfriend, singer-songwriter John Mayer, who dated Diaz earlier this year.The pair arrived at the memorial separately and stayed until around 4pm, by which time most of the other guests had departed.Diaz - keen to ensure the service would be a celebration of her father's life - asked friends and family to wear colourful clothing and to not bring flowers.Instead, she asked guests to make donations to two ocean protection charities.One guest said: 'Most people started arriving at 1.30 and hardly anyone wore black.'Lots of people were wearing Hawaiian shirts. It looked more like a party.'In a statement released last week, Diaz, who was very close to her father, said: 'My dad was loved by so many people. His humour and spirit will always live on in our hearts.'He is survived by his wife Billie and Diaz's older sister Chimene.Diaz and Timberlake split last January. The actress has since been single. Timberlake has been working with Madonna on her new album.
Madonna accepted her place in the books of rock'n'roll history last night with a foul mouthed shot at the audience and a drugs confession.The singer addressed the audience as 'mother f*****s' before recalling on memories of a drug taking past.She first spoke of a time when she met her long time publicist Liz Rosenberg, confessing she was 'smoking a joint'.She then revealed she split an ecstasy pill with a music executive who she gave her first demo tape to. Earlier, the global Queen of Pop spoke of being possessed by magic as she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."I felt like I had been possessed by some magic and luckily for me I have been miraculously and continuously possessed by some kind of magic," Madonna said at the annual Hall of Fame ceremony in New York."I have gone on to do so many things in my life, from writing children's books, to designing clothes, to directing a film. But for me it always does, and it always will, come back to the music.'Madonna, 49, was inducted by pop star Justin Timberlake, who has co-written and co-produced half the songs on her new album "Hard Candy," which is released next month."Nobody has gotten into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame looking this damn fine," he said. "You're no old museum piece."Madonna made her debut in 1982 and her first album "Madonna", including hits such as "Holiday," "Borderline" and "Lucky Star", helped her become one of the best-selling pop artists, with more then 200 million albums sold worldwide.Other artists inducted into the Hall of Fame included Leonard Cohen, rocker John Mellencamp, British pop band The Dave Clark Five and instrumental group The Ventures.Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first single or album and are represented in an exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio.While The Dave Clark Five and Mellencamp had been nominated before, this was the first year Madonna was eligible. Iggy & The Stooges performed rock versions of her pop hits "Burning Up" and "Ray of Light" after her induction.Cohen, a gravel-voiced Canadian whose songs tell of love and sex, faith and betrayal, is among the most literary of songwriters.He published four books of poetry and two novels before trying music, partly to escape being a starving artist."This is a very unlikely occasion for me. It is not a distinction that I coveted or even dared dream about," he said before reciting the lyrics to "Tower of Song" from his 1988 album "I'm Your Man." He was inducted by Lou Reed.
