Johnny Clegg song reworked for charity single (Reuters)

8 minutes ago

JOHANNESBURG (Billboard) - An all-star cast of South African acts has reworked a song by local musician Johnny Clegg as a fund-raiser for a children's AIDS charity.

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The song, "Great Heart," originally appeared on the 1987 Johnny Clegg & Savuka album "Third World Child." The new version was recorded for "Spirit of the Great Hearts," a benefit album for Starfish Greathearts Foundation, which works with children affected by the country's HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is now a radio-only single.

Clegg, who toured Europe extensively last summer, is among 17 acts featured on the recording . The others include Arno Carstens, Chris Chameleon, Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse and Kahn Morbee from indie-pop act the Parlotones. Each of the artists featured on the single donated a track to the album.

Reuters/Billboard

Hilary Doffs Lip-Synching Reports (E! Online)

Natalie Finn Mon Jan 14, 12:44 PM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Hilary Duff's Dignity is intact, her camp says.

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The Most Wanted singer is adamantly denying rumors she wasn't all there during a stop on her 2008 Dignity tour in Monterrey, Mexico, this weekend, after footage of the concert, in which she appears to be mouthing words into a microphone, made the Internet rounds.

"She was not lip-synching," Duff's rep said in a statement confirmed by E! News. "It was faulty equipment. There was no sound coming out, but she was singing."

They were relying on locally provided equipment during Saturday's show, the rep said. The mike was accidentally set on mute for a few seconds, after which the problem was solved and Duff's voice carried the day.

The Cinderella Story star does her own singing in concert, her publicist said.

So, spare the comparisons to Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears and the various popsters who have in the past needed a little electronic enhancement onstage.

Duff has three more stops in Mexico this week, including a show Monday night in Puebla, before moving on to Brazil and Australia.

The 20-year-old former Disney Channel star is slated to return to the big screen this year in the coming-of-age drama Greta, costarring Ellen Burstyn and Evan Ross, in which she plays a headstrong waitress whose family doesn't condone her interracial romance.

Duff has also lent her voice to the self-explanatory animated tale Foodfight!, also due in theaters this year.

Spice Girls attend Cavalli show in Milan (AP)

By DANIELA PETROFF, AP Fashion Writer 14 minutes ago

MILAN, Italy - The Spice Girls pepped up the Milan fashion scene Monday when they turned up at Roberto Cavalli’s menswear show to thank him for designing their tour wardrobe.

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The tour, which began in December, brings all the Spice Girls together for the first time in nearly 10 years.

“His clothes make you feel sexy,” said Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell, 35, speaking for the pop stars as they sat backstage chatting with reporters before the show began.

Their glam Cavalli-designed tour outfits are in bright Swarovski-beaded silk and remain true to the playful styles the Spice Girls favored the first time around: miniskirts, cropped tops and body-clinging jumpsuits.

Talking like a gaggle of schoolgirls, they sang the praises of Italian men as “very passionate” and “more stylish” than their British counterparts.

“Italians are stallions,” said 32-year-old Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown, summing it up, and quickly adding, “or so I’ve heard.”

The Spice Girls, who also include Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham, Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton and Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm, said they were enjoying the tour.

“We appreciate everything much more this time around,” Halliwell said.

Another Milan favorite, Giorgio Armani, captured “Spice Girls” husband David Beckham for his underwear campaign. Asked what she thought of her husband’s supertoned body being displayed in Armani briefs on billboards throughout Milan, 33-year-old Victoria Beckham said: “If I looked like that I’d walk down the street in my panties, too.”

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On the Net:

Spice Girls:

http://www.thespicegirls.com

http://www.thespicegirlsgreatesthits.com/

Roberto Cavalli:

http://www.robertocavalli.com/en/home.do

Giorgio Armani:

http://www.giorgioarmani.com/ga_menu/EN/home.html