By Mike Collett-White 19 minutes ago

BERLIN (Reuters) - Martin Scorsese brings the magic of the Rolling Stones to the big screen with "Shine a Light," a two-hour film of the veteran British rockers strutting their stuff at a packed New York venue.

The documentary, filmed with 17 cameras at two concerts at the intimate Beacon Theater in 2006, opens the annual Berlin Film Festival on Thursday, a fitting beginning to an 11-day cinematic marathon that is rich in rock'n'roll.

Madonna is expected in Berlin for her directorial debut, while movies about singer Patti Smith, British indie band Gorillaz and a heavy metal group from Baghdad also feature.

Journalists at a preview screening ahead of the evening red carpet premiere watched the four 60-something band members shot from almost every conceivable angle for the film named after a song on their 1972 album "Exile on Main St."

Jagger, now 64, defies his years, gyrating and pouting his way through a string of hits including "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up," while guitarist Keith Richards grins mischievously throughout.

Scorsese has used Rolling Stones music from the start of his career, prompting Jagger to joke that "Shine a Light" was the only film of his not to feature the song "Gimme Shelter."

"For me the music was certainly part of my life throughout the 60s," Scorsese told reporters at a press conference.

"For me the sound of the movie, the chords, the vocals, the entire feel of the music inspired me greatly," added the director, flanked by the four band members.

"It became the basis for most of the work I've done in my movies going from 'Mean Streets' on to 'Raging Bull' all the way over to 'Casino' and 'The Departed'."

ARCHIVE, NEW ANGLES

Scorsese adds short clips of black-and-white archive footage between songs showing a young Jagger or Richards fielding often inane and repetitive questions from reporters around the world.

Just two years after the band formed, Jagger was asked how long the band could keep going.

"I don't know," he replied. "I think we're pretty well set up for at least another year."

In another interview he is asked: "Can you picture yourself at the age of 60 doing what you're doing now?"

Jagger replies: "Yeh, easily. Yeh."

Before the concert starts, Scorsese is shown desperately trying to find out the track list ahead of the concert.

Richards and Ronnie Wood are filmed playing pool before a gig and Jagger pours over lists of songs categorized as "well known," "medium known" and "unknown."

The band, looking slightly perplexed, is introduced to former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his friends before a show. After they leave, Richards jokes: "Hey Clinty, We're Bushed!"

Scorsese's cameras are located in the crowd and behind the stage, giving a 360 degree view of the performance from both the fans' and the band's point of view.

"We were able to go out there and just do a Stones show," Richards told reporters. "There are many cameras but we didn't even see them, we didn't even know they were there. That was very important."

Jagger performs on stage with Jack White of The White Stripes, Christina Aguilera and a mesmerizing Buddy Guy.

Least comfortable of all before the camera is drummer Charlie Watts, the oldest member of the band at 66.

"I hate it, but it's very beautifully filmed," he said, when asked how he found the experience of making the movie. "I hate doing it, like sitting up here for example."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog "Fan Fare" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/ )

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS - Madonna, Chris Rock and dozens of other celebrities raised $3.7 million Wednesday night at a star-studded benefit at the United Nations to help poor and sick children around the world.

The $2,500-a-plate dinner and live auction hosted by Rock was an unusual blend of charity and commercial promotion for the U.N. and made some of its officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, uneasy.

Gucci, which paid the costs, pegged the event to the Friday opening of its Manhattan flagship store on Fifth Avenue and put its logo and UNICEF’s behind the walkway where celebrities were photographed.

The United Nations Children’s Fund relies on $1 billion in private sector donations for its $3.5 billion global budget, but the U.N. had never before granted permission to a company to erect tents on the north lawn of the U.N. for such a lavish event with a commercial tie-in.

The red-carpet reception drew stars such as Drew Barrymore, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Amy Adams, Brooke Shields, Salma Hayek, Djimon Hounsou, Dita Von Teese and UNICEF Ambassadors Tea Leoni and Lucy Liu, followed by a cocktail party with the likes of Donald Trump and media mogul Barry Diller.

Celebrities paid $2,500 to $10,000 each to dine on grappa-cured salmon, wild striped bass, tart of goat cheese, foraged mushrooms, truffled mashed potatoes and sticky toffee pudding with creme fraiche. Madonna played videos of Malawi and introduced children from the southern African country. Rihanna, Timbaland and Alicia Keys played music afterward.

Ban, in an unusual move for a U.N. chief who has recently sought the help of celebrities to focus attention on world problems, left New York for Chicago hours before the event got underway even though his appointment there wasn’t until Thursday and his schedule for Wednesday night was open.

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Ban’s undersecretary general for administration and management, said her office “should have investigated more fully” before it approved UNICEF’S request to hold the event. Bárcena Ibarra said she did not believe it was correct for Gucci to publicize the event in conjunction with the opening of a new store “and I think we have to look into that.”

Ban nonetheless told reporters Tuesday he was confident there would be no problems.

“I understand that the main purpose of this event will raise funds for a humanitarian purpose, and I am sure that the proceeds will go to the purpose of this event,” he said.

Tom Cruise bid $100,000 for a sports package that included the privilege of hanging out at Yankee Stadium with Alex Rodriguez and a private hour playing soccer with David Beckham, but lost out to a bidder who ponied up $350,000.

“It was an extraordinary evening. The whole evening was quite moving,” Cruise told The Associated Press, accompanied by his wife, Katie Holmes, who agreed. Cruise called the United Nations “an absolute necessity” because of the staff who dedicate their lives to building peace.

A trip to Paris with a tour of a vineyard and lunch with Francois-Henri Pinault and Hayek went for $120,000. The priciest auction item was a $600,000 winning bid to tour with Madonna and take a dance class with her and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Organizers said the proceeds would be collected by the Gucci Foundation, a registered charity, and split among Raising Malawi, an advocacy group that operates under The Kabbalah Centre International, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, which supports the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Security was tight and few reporters were allowed inside the dinner.

Though it is a U.N. agency, UNICEF’s operations are overseen by an independent board that doesn’t answer to the secretary-general. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF said Wednesday there is “no formal relationship between Raising Malawi and UNICEF.”

Madonna has tried to help Malawi orphans since she and her husband, Guy Ritchie began raising a Malawian boy they want to adopt. Rights groups questioned her actions since she took him from an orphanage in 2006 at the age of 1. According to UNICEF, HIV/AIDS affects almost 1 million people in Malawi, including 83,000 children, and half of the country’s 1 million orphans have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

“I’ve earned a reputation for many things: pushing the envelope, for being a provocateur, for never taking no for an answer. For endlessly reinventing myself, for being a cult member, a kidnapper. For being ambitious, outrageous and irreverent. And for never settling for second best,” Madonna told the dinner.

“But I don’t just want you to write me a check. I’m more interested in your heart. I want to take you on that journey with me tonight. I want you to feel as inspired as I do right now,” she said. “Yes, I want to raise Malawi. But if I can do that — if we can do that — then the sky’s the limit.”

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer 48 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The title of Ledisi’s breakthrough album “Lost & Found” is also an apt description for her career path.

Just before recording the disc — which has earned her a nomination for best new artist as well as best R&B album — the singer felt as if she was floundering. Although Ledisi had released two critically acclaimed albums independently and worked on Broadway, she remained an underground buzz act, unable to garner much mainstream attention.

With her chocolate skin, full figure and dreadlocked hair, she recalls being told consistently that she didn’t have the “look” necessary to be a star. In addition, while her music could be classified as R&B, she also sang with jazz inflections that left some confused about how to categorize her, or to market her.

Fed up, Ledisi — who declines to give her age — was about to quit the business until she met a friend and producer who encouraged her to give her recording career one more try. So she took a leap of faith — and was rewarded.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Ledisi talked about how her new success, reconnecting with her long-lost father and finally finding herself.

___

AP: How have your Grammy nominations changed your career?

Ledisi: For me, I can get into doors a little easier (laughs). I’ve seen people change a lot, which has really amazed me. … I haven’t changed. I think I feel more confident. You know how you have your nose up a little bit? I think I feel (sighs) “OK, I am doing good work, it’s OK to be me, like totally settled in.” I was settling in but now really like, “It’s OK to be Ledisi.”

AP: You’ve said you were ready to give up recording. When was that?

Ledisi: Right before starting on the (new) record. I felt like I was going around in a circles over and over again, and not sure if this was really my purpose … I’m thinking I should be a teacher and just sit back and teach someone else the things that I learned, because I don’t look the industry look. I didn’t know where I fit in, I didn’t see a lot of people who looked like me. At that time, you had Beyonce, full out, and I don’t look anything like her — love her to death, but I didn’t know where I fit in to that style of music. I just like a certain traditional of R&B music, and I love jazz, so everyone I love they’re not around anymore, so I didn’t know where I fit in.

AP: What made you stick to it?

Ledisi: When I started to say I belong is when I wrote “Lost & Found,” because it made sense. It was my call, calling out to say, “I’m here, notice me, notice me and every way.” Personally I was going through drama, breaking up with a boyfriend. And then going through different spiritual things, trying to figure out where I belong spiritually, just musically. All of it was going on at the same time. And then I found my father. It was a lot of things going on, and when I got into alignment with my faith, knowing that I belonged, everything just started making sense. Then the record companies started calling.

AP: You said you didn’t have the Beyonce look. What made you think you needed that?

Ledisi: I was told you need to lose a certain amount of pounds, you need to straighten your hair, you don’t have a look. From my first record on to the middle of finishing the second one, and toward the end of the second one I was just beat up (laughs).

AP: Some people are so desperate to be famous that they would have gone on a diet. Why did you stick to your guns?

Ledisi: It took forever. I was always the darkest one, real skinny with big eyes. I’ve heard it all my life, that I don’t fit in, or I’m not pretty enough like everyone else with the long hair — even my sisters look totally different from me, so I’ve always been the oddball. And that’s OK, and I was always comfortable with myself until I got into the industry. … (But) my reaction is to rebel and stay me. If I’m not true to myself, there’s no point in doing the music. That’s why just wanted to leave gracefully, and continue to hold to what’s real, what’s me, and that’s what people like about me. I’m honest, I’m real.

AP: You reconnected with your father, who left when you were very young, as you made your record. What made you want to reach out to him?

Ledisi: I don’t care what anyone says, you need your parents. Bad or good, love them as they are, forgive them completely, and I embraced them all the way. We had our little arguments about it but he’s here now, so I’m going to enjoy him now, and that’s just how I look at it. Everything about him is me, I’m looking at a male version of myself. I need my bookends. I need my dad as a woman. … I feel complete.

AP: You have a small role in George Clooney’s upcoming movie “Leatherheads.” What was that experience like?

Ledisi: My first time being on a movie set, doing a movie period, and it’s a George Clooney film! He was the sweetest guy, incredible actor, incredible director. (He) made me beautiful on camera. That’s really when I began to see myself.

____

On the Net:

http://www.ledisi.com

By BETH HARRIS, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Jerry Lee Lewis and John Fogerty warmed up for their upcoming collaboration on the Grammy Awards by tearing it up in celebration of music’s influence on social change over the last 50 years.

Lewis didn’t make it halfway down the red carpet at Wednesday night’s “Sounds of Change,” this year’s Grammy Foundation Music Preservation Project.

“My back’s hurting. I’m going to go sit down,” the 72-year-old musician said.

But Lewis came back strong.

He sounded energetic enough to make the Wilshire Ebell Theatre audience believe it was 1957 again with a searing rendition of “Great Balls of Fire.” He thumped the electric piano’s keys, backed by Fogerty’s band that included drummer Kenny Aronoff and guitarist Billy Burnette.

“I’m only doing this by request,” he said before launching into his signature hit.

The crowd responded with a standing ovation and shouts of “Killer,” Lewis’ nickname.

“He’s a force of nature and I’m just going to stand back and enjoy it,” Fogerty said before the show.

In between performances by Grammy nominees Natasha Bedingfield, Chrisette Michele, Ryan Shaw and Musiq Soulchild, the event featured black-and-white newsreel footage of key cultural moments from the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and the present decade.

Images of Lewis in his younger days flashed on the screen, along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, the civil-rights marches, the segregated South and the Vietnam War.

Fogerty, the former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman, noted music’s influence on the political unrest of the ’60s.

“I’ve long said if any one person stopped the Vietnam War, then it was Bob Dylan,” he said. “Millions of kids sitting around listening to his records, talking about what the words meant and feeling inspired about that. That really gave voice to a whole generation. Bob was so noticed for his lyrics and his stance and attitude. I really believe music can change the world.”

Fogerty rocked out on several war protest songs: the old CCR hit “Fortunate Son” and “I Can’t Take It No More” from his new album.

Shaw opened the show with Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” A choir backed Michele on “We Shall Overcome,” Bedingfield did a breathy version of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Musiq Soulchild sang Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” The foursome closed with Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”

“We’re in an amazing time in America right now and I think it’s reminiscent of a lot of things that happened during the time of civil rights,” said Michele, a 25-year-old R&B singer who has recorded with Jay-Z and Nas.

“It’s an honor to be a young person and still looked at as someone who understands where they’re coming from.”

Lewis, Fogerty and Little Richard will form a supergroup at Sunday’s Grammys. The musical pioneers will headline a “Cornerstone of Rock” segment during the CBS telecast from the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Fogerty’s new album, “Revival,” is nominated for rock album, a category he won in 1997.

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CBS is a division of CBS Corp.

___

On the Net:

CBS:

http://www.cbs.com/

Grammy Awards:

http://www.grammy-com/GRAMMY-Awards/

27 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - As Linkin Park prepares for its upcoming North American tour, frontman Chester Bennington is predicting a much shorter turnaround for the group's follow-up to 2007's "Minutes to Midnight."

"We sparked a new kind of life into what we do during the writing of ('Midnight')," Bennington told Billboard.com. "We want to keep that going. I think we're in the mode, and I have a good feeling we're going to put another record out really quickly."

Bennington said Linkin Park will bring recording gear on the road to capture ideas that come up while they're on tour. In addition to the North American jaunt with Coheed & Cambria and Chiodos that kicks off February 12 in Omaha, Neb., the group plans to host another edition of its Projekt Revolution tour this summer; bands and dates are expected to be announced within the next couple of months.

"There was a long period of time between the release of 2003's 'Meteora' and 'Minutes to Midnight'," Bennington said. "Even though we did tour (for 'Meteora') for two years, we didn't start working on writing ('Midnight') until seven months after we stopped touring. So it seemed like a really, really long time to our fans and it seemed like a really, really long time to us. I don't see that happening again."

Bennington didn't want to hazard a guess as to what Linkin Park's fourth studio album will sound like, however. "I never anticipate what we're gonna do," he explained. "I find that overplanning a creative project usually means you're gonna screw it up, so I really don't focus on what we're gonna do. When a song comes, I'll write it. When a song comes to (vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist) Mike (Shinoda), he'll put an idea down. We just kind of roll with it spontaneously."

Reuters/Billboard

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer 25 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - In the long history of political campaign theme songs, there has never been one quite like “Yes We Can,” starring Barack Obama and a host of A-list celebrities.

For one thing, it’s more than a song — it’s a viral video hit with almost 1.9 million views on YouTube since being posted last Friday.

There’s also the fact that the Obama campaign did not commission the song — the rapper, songwriter and producer will.i.am, frontman for the Black Eyed Peas, says he was inspired to create it while watching Obama’s speech after his second-place finish to Sen. Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.

“It was as if he was talking to me,” will.i.am told The Associated Press on Tuesday night as Obama and Clinton contended for the Democratic presidential nomination. “It was as if he was talking to and defending everything that made me who I am. I took that speech, and I wanted everyone else to be inspired by that speech as I was.”

He recorded the song and video in two days last week and hasn’t heard from the campaign since — which is fine by him.

“They have more important things than to be contacting me to say thank you,” he said. “If they had time to call me, I’d be panicking.”

The song features Obama’s voice set to will.i.am’s music and melody, plus vocalizations of the speech from the likes of Scarlet Johansson, John Legend, Kate Walsh, Common, Nicole Scherzinger, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Herbie Hancock and other celebrity supporters. The chorus is one of Obama’s campaign slogans: “Yes We Can.”

Obama is a fan of the video and recommended it to reporters on his campaign plane after he saw it Saturday. The campaign posted it on its Web site with a form so people can share it, and aides played it to warm up the crowd at an event headlined by Oprah Winfrey in Los Angeles on Sunday.

“After nearly a year on the campaign trail, I’ve seen a lot of things that have touched me deeply, but I had to share this with you,” the candidate’s wife, Michelle Obama, said in an e-mail to supporters Monday. “Sharing this video, which was created by supporters, is one more way to help start a conversation with your friends, family, co-workers, and anyone else who will be voting soon about the issues important to them in this election.”

While will.i.am is hoping for an Obama presidency, he says the point of the song was not just to stir up votes for the Illinois senator, but to “remind people how powerful they are. The idea of ‘Yes We Can’ doesn’t stop because he doesn’t win.”

Theme songs have long been an essential, even defining part of political campaigns. In 1932, when Franklin Roosevelt first ran for president, Democrats adopted Jack Yellen and Milton Ager’s “Happy Days Are Here Again” — a tune written for the movie musical “Chasing Rainbows” — which captured Roosevelt’s promise of relief from the Depression. It remained the party’s unofficial anthem for decades.

Optimism is a must. When John F. Kennedy ran for president, in 1960, Frank Sinatra sang a revised version of “High Hopes.” The Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen song from the movie “A Hole in the Head” included the refrain, “Everyone wants to back, Jack/ Jack is on the right track/ ‘Cause he’s got High Hopes!/ He’s got High Hopes!”

In 1988, Republicans embraced Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” while Democrats in 1992 used Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop” as the backdrop for Bill Clinton’s promise of change.

Some candidates have endorsed songs even without the musician’s approval. McFerrin told Republicans to stop using “Don’t Worry”; Bruce Springsteen objected to Ronald Reagan citing him in a 1984 speech.

With the recent transformation in the way music is consumed and shared, perhaps the Obama song marks a new era for the campaign song. (Will.i.am’s creation is more than a few steps ahead of the racy, half-serious “Obama Girl” video that drew millions of views last summer.)

“The Internet and technology empowers people,” will.i.am said, “and the ‘Yes We Can’ song is proof that they don’t need a big record company or a big movie company … to go out and captivate people’s attention.”

___

Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler and National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

http://www.yeswecansong.com

19 minutes ago

LONDON (Reuters) - Soul singer Amy Winehouse has been questioned by police over an allegation of drug possession, further raising doubt over her planned appearance at the U.S. Grammy Awards where she is among the most-nominated artists.

A police source said on Wednesday that the 24-year-old, who entered a clinic last month to treat her well-publicized drug addiction, was interviewed but not arrested.

British media reports said the allegation stems from video stills published in a newspaper last month that appeared to show her smoking crack cocaine.

One report in the Sun newspaper said officers questioned Winehouse for two hours at a north London clinic after seizing the footage. It said the video was shot hours before Winehouse went to a court hearing to support her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who is fighting charges related to a pub brawl.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "Police inquiries into the matter are continuing."

Winehouse is one of Britain's top-selling singers, winning critical and commercial success with her album "Back to Black." She is nominated for six Grammys, the U.S. record industry's top awards, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.

The album's hit single "Rehab," with the line, "They tried to make me go to rehab. I said 'no, no, no,"' has been called the anthem of celebrity trash culture.

The 2006 album has sold nearly 5 million copies worldwide, including 1.3 million in the United States.

The Grammys take place on Sunday in Los Angeles, but Winehouse's involvement has been in doubt because of her October 2007 arrest for possession of marijuana in Norway. Suspicion of further drug use might dampen prospects for her putting in a Grammy appearance.

She visited the U.S. Embassy in London this week to discuss obtaining a visa so she could travel to the United States.

Earlier this week, a spokeswoman for the Recording Academy, which sponsors the Grammys, said it was unclear whether she would make it. Winehouse's record label, Universal Music, has declined to comment.

One person close to the artist said the label was hoping she would attend and perform.

"It's a moving target, but a decision will be made before Friday," the source said, noting that in addition to obtaining the proper travel authorization, the performer would also have to get a doctor's blessing.

The source said label executives planned to speak with Winehouse on Thursday morning and hoped to hear back from the U.S. Embassy in London.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths in London and Susan Zeidler in Los Angeles; editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Xavier Briand)

51 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Jennifer Lopez is expecting twins, her father says.

“They are twins, yes,” David Lopez said on Telefutura’s “Escandalo TV” program. He said his sister had twins.

“To be a mother is something Jennifer has wanted for many years,” Lopez said. “I feel superproud.”

The 39-year-old singer, who is married to Marc Anthony, confirmed her pregnancy during a concert in November. “Marc and I are expecting,” she told the crowd in Miami.

Lopez and Anthony, 38, were married in 2004.

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On the Net:

Jennifer Lopez:

http://www.jenniferlopez.com

30 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Alicia Keys returns to the top of the Billboard 200 with "As I Am," making this her fourth non-consecutive week at No. 1.

The J Records effort had a 3 percent sales bump to 61,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It displaces the Rhino soundtrack to "Juno," which drops to No. 2 with 55,000, a 15 percent slip.

Moving 54,000 copies, the Mars Volta earns its best charting week ever with "The Bedlam in Goliath," arriving at No. 3. The rock band has put two previous albums into the top 10, with better sales results: 2005's "Frances the Mute" bowed at No. 4 with 123,000 while 2006's "Amputechture" debuted at No. 9 with 59,000.

Bullet For My Valentine has a big charting and sales week, as "Scream Aim Fire" starts at No. 4 with 53,000. It easily trumps the band's previous best, the group's 2006 album, "The Poison," climbed only to No. 128; that set, however, has gone on to sell 375,000.

The "2008 Grammy Nominees" multi-artist compilation album bows at No. 5 with 50,000 units. As one would expect, the Grammy Recordings/Hip-O/UMe set boasts tracks from this year's biggest awards nominees, including Feist, Amy Winehouse, Maroon 5, Kanye West and Herbie Hancock. The 2007 edition started at No. 4 with 77,000 but rebounded two weeks later to a series-high chart peak and sales week at No. 3 with 131,000.

Mary J. Blige's Matriarch/Geffen album "Growing Pains" falls from No. 4 to No. 6 with 47,000, a 4 percent sales increase.

Featuring dance remixes of the original "Hannah Montana 2" Disney movie soundtrack, the "Hannah Montana 2: Non-Stop Dance Party" album begins at No. 7 with 40,000. It comes on the heels of a weekend when Miley Cyrus' "Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" film debuted atop the North American box office with a powerful $31 million.

Keyshia Cole's "Just Like You" (Confidential/Imani/Geffen) holds tight at No. 8 for a second week with a 17 percent sales increase to 36,000 while Taylor Swift's Big Machine self-titled debut slips from No. 6 to No. 9 with a 4 percent increase to 36,000. Miley Cyrus' double-disc "Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus" clings to the No. 10 slot for a third week with 35,000 (a 19 percent gain).

Three other efforts bow inside the top 50 on the Billboard 200 this week. Sarah Brightman scores her highest charting spot as "Symphony" (Manhattan) debuts at No. 13 with 31,000 (her previous chart high was 2000's "La Luna," which peaked at No. 17). XL signees Vampire Weekend's much-hyped self-titled debut climbs on board at No. 17, moving 28,000 copies. Opera star Andrea Bocelli's CD/DVD package "Vivere: Live in Tuscany" (Decca) bows at No. 22, with sales of 22,000.

Sales this week are up 4 percent from last week at 7.6 million units and down 18.9 percent from the same week of 2007. At 38.2 million units, this year's sales total is down 12 percent from the comparable year-earlier sum.

Reuters/Billboard

1 hour, 19 minutes ago

LONDON (Reuters) - The Spice Girls said sorry to disappointed fans on Wednesday for cutting short their reunion tour and denied it was hit by bitter in-fighting.

They have cancelled concerts in China, South Africa, Australia and Argentina. The tour that reunited the British "Girl Power" group in a blaze of publicity is now to end in Toronto on February 26.

Emma, Geri, Mel B, Melanie C and Victoria blamed "family and personal commitments" for the abrupt change of plan after completing a series of money-spinning concerts in Britain and the United States.

On Wednesday they put on their official Web site a one-minute "apology video" to angry fans.

Victoria, married to soccer star David Beckham, said "Our kids need to go back to school and we always said our families are our priorities. Sorry we haven't got to see everybody."

Mel C said: "There has been a lot of rubbish in the media over the last few days so we wanted you to hear it from the horse's mouth. We're very sorry not to be able to get to all the places we wanted to."

In the video, the quintet pretended to fight each other before Mel B screamed: "We hate each other? Are you kidding? We love each other!"

The Spice Girls were one of the biggest pop acts of the 1990s, selling 35 million albums worldwide with such catchy hits as "Wannabe" and "Say You'll Be There."

(Reporting by Paul Majendie; editing by Sami Aboudi)