(03/23/2004):

Madonna will return to the road for the first time in three years in May with a tour that will take her through North America and Europe, and also include a stop in Israel.

The trek will kick off May 24 in Los Angeles. It will consist primarily of North American arena dates, as well as 12 European shows. A handful of North American dates were confirmed through early-August, along with an Aug. 18 show in London and Sept. 1 concert in Paris.

"Madonna has already started rehearsals for the re-Invention Tour and she can't wait to get back on stage to recreate her songs from the earliest days of her career up until the present," manager Caresse Henry said in a statement. "There is no doubt that this tour will be the pinnacle of her long standing and well deserved reputation as one of the most exciting live performers of our time."

Current members of Madonna's Icon fan club will have access to ticket pre-sale opportunities. There will be no supporting acts.

Madonna is touring in support of her album, "American Life." Released in May 2003, the Maverick/Warner Bros. set debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has sold a relatively disappointing 630,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In 2001, Madonna grossed $75 million from 47 sellouts.

Prince, who has released most of his music over the Internet since 1996, has struck a deal with Sony Music to put out his new album.

"Musicology" will be released by Sony's Columbia Records on April 20, according to Prince's NPG Records and Sony. The deal calls for Sony to manufacture and distribute the disc. The first single, the title track, will be released to radio on Monday.

The partnership is the latest effort by Prince to raise his profile after years of seclusion and declining popularity. In February, he kicked off the Grammys by performing with Beyonce to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking film and album "Purple Rain."

Soon afterward, he announced his first arena tour in years, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week.

"I am really an artist and musician at heart, that's what I do," the 45-year-old Prince said Tuesday. "`Musicology' has no boundaries or formats. It is long overdue to return to the art and craft of music - that's what this album is about. School's in session."

He has mainly eschewed major labels since his bitter 1996 split with Warner Bros. Records. When the relationship soured, he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and wrote the word "slave" on his cheek.

Prince released an album on his own NPG Records through a distribution deal with EMI that same year, and in 1999, signed with Arista Records for a one-album deal that resulted in "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic."

But he has primarily made his music available on his Web site through his NPG Records.

Earlier this month, he announced that fans who bought a ticket to his upcoming concerts would get the album as a bonus. The tour kicks off March 29 in Los Angeles and he will revisit some of his biggest hits, including "Little Red Corvette," "Let's Go Crazy" and "Kiss."

Old friends Annie Lennox and Sting have different recollections of when they first met. While the 52-year-old Sting recalls meeting the songstress at the BBC television network more than 20 years ago, Lennox remembers a different scenario.

"Someone approached me and said, `Sting would like to have to have his picture taken with you,'" Lennox told The Associated Press. "I felt really funny because at that time, he was the megagod that he still is, and I was like this aspiring thing."

When Lennox tried to prod his memory, Sting mumbled, "I don't remember."

"You see, how nothing I was!" Lennox, 49, laughed.

The pair will have plenty of time to reminisce as they tour together for the first time this summer. The "Sacred Love" tour, which kicks off June 27 in Philadelphia, will end in Canada on Oct. 12.

In an exclusive joint phone interview with the AP on Friday, Lennox and Sting said they hadn't decided on how the tour will develop, or whether they'll sing together - but said they're happy to be performing on the same show.

"I actually think that camaraderie and friendship is actually essential and it has to run from the bottom to the top," Lennox said.

For me, it's creating one show out of what would normally be two shows, Sting said. It's our stage, and I want people to go away thinking, That was the best show that I ever saw.

The pair sang each other's praises, recalled old times and talked as if they hadn't seen each other in some time, when they'd actually been at the same event last month, as competitors at the Academy Awards.

Both were nominated for the best song Oscar - Lennox for co-writing "Into the West" from "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and Sting for writing "You Will Be My Ain True Love" from "Cold Mountain."

Lennox won the Oscar, one of 11 awards "The Return of the King" won that night, including best picture.

"It was like popping champagne bottles every five seconds," Lennox said of the evening.

"I was having the opposite reaction," Sting jokingly groused.

When Oasis released their most recent album, Heathen Chemistry, in 2002, it seemed that Noel Gallagher was loosening the reigns on his band. For the first time in Oasis history Noel hadn't written the overwhelming majority of the songs, brother Liam got three writing credits and both guitarist Gem Archer and bass player Andy Bell each contributed a song. Does this mean that Noel will take less of a hands-on approach on the upcoming Oasis album? Not likely.

In addition to playing guitar and doing the odd bit of singing, Noel may possibly be playing drums on the forthcoming Oasis album. Noel played the part of timekeeper on the demos for the album in place of longtime drummer Alan White, who was recently sacked from the band.

The following appears on the official Oasis website: "Alan White has been asked to leave Oasis by the other band members. There are no plans to replace Alan. The band's scheduled recording sessions remain unaffected."

Other than the Gallagher brothers themselves, White was the longest standing member of Oasis, having replaced original drummer Tony McCarroll shortly before the band recorded their second album, 1995's What's The Story (Morning Glory). While no reason was given for White's departure, it's certainly not the first time the Gallaghers have suddenly lost a band member, both bassist Paul McGuigan and guitarist Bonehead left before the turn of the millennia, leaving Noel and Liam as the only original members.

Oasis' new album is expected to be released in the fall.

George Michael has signed a new record deal with the company he once tried to 'divorce' in a bitter legal battle.

According to reports, the worldwide deal with Sony Music will incorporate the release of Michael's next long-player and includes sales of his back catalogue.

In 1993, Michael embarked on a lengthy legal battle, taking Sony to court in order to be freed from his old deal.

He claimed to have been unhappy with his long-standing contract but was unsuccessful in his legal bid. He was eventually bought out of the deal by Virgin and Dreamworks in 1995.

Sony Music UK confirmed their new deal with Michael last night (November 17). Financial details were not revealed.

Rob Stringer, Sony Music UK's chairman and chief executive, said: "We are delighted to be working again with one of the greatest recording artists this country has ever produced, who has produced another classic album.

"In a career spanning more than 20 years, George has been responsible for nearly 75 million record sales."

Michael expects to release his long-awaited new studio album - 'Patience' - in early 2004.

Starsailor are getting some unintentional attention with the release of their sophomore album, Silence Is Easy.

The disc, which follows their million-selling 2002 debut, Love Is Here, has two tracks produced by studio legend Phil Spector, now facing murder charges in California.

"It was about a month later," said Starsailor frontman James Walsh about the time that passed between working with the Wall of Sound producer in England and news of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson's shooting death in Spector's mansion outside of L.A last February.

"(We were) just completely numbed by it. It seems that in these Hollywood murders, people forget that there's a victim. It just becomes this big Hollywood story and it's all centred on Phil Spector."

Starsailor, who haven't spoken with Spector since he was charged, met the producer wizard after his daughter Nicole came to their first L.A. gig and said her famous father was a fan of Lullaby from Love Is Here. On their next visit they got an invite to Spector's home.

"It was just sort of nervous excitement really," says Walsh, on the phone before the band's gig tomorrow night at The Guvernment. "This guy had links to a lot of our favourite artists, like John Lennon and Dion and the Ronettes, a link to musical history."

Spector, who had been in retirement for two decades, immediately let the band know he wanted to make a record with them at London's Abbey Road Studios.

"(We were in ) just complete shock, really," Walsh says. "It was unusual for someone just to turn around and say, 'Right, I'm doing it.' But also very inspiring that he obviously wasn't very concerned about the fee or any sort of business aspect to it." Walsh says their first impression of Spector had to do with superficial things like his hair and clothes.

"He had this huge, black, curly wig. Sort of long and flowing curly locks. I think it's some kind of condition of a lot of bald men -- to overcompensate. And he always wore suits with a monogram on -- with a P.S. on the lapel -- so he could always remind himself and everyone else of who he was." While excited about the prospect of working with a legend, Starsailor were apprehensive about Spector having no experience with a modern rock band in a modern studio.

The group decided to try out the producer on a couple of tracks before committing to an entire album. "The trial week we did was incredible," says Walsh. "It was at a different studio in London called Metropolis. He just kept bounding around the studio and saying, 'We are making history!' Silence Is Easy was a national anthem, and his enthusiasm was infectious; it sort of spurred us on to do great performances."

But when Spector returned for the follow-up sessions he was a changed man. "He came back a more subdued, introverted person," Walsh says. "It became increasingly difficult to work with him because we didn't know where he was going. And the songs that he recorded with us began to get repetitive. The classic Phil Spector drum beat was obviously an incredible moment when we heard it for the first time on one of our songs. That pounding, Instant Karma, Be My Baby, drum beat. And then we got tired of it after hearing it on five or six tracks. I don't think he sensed any tension or anything 'cause he was quite heavily medicated and constantly on his phone."

Starsailor will tour North America for the next month, where they enjoyed only "modest success" last time out. But Walsh thinks the more positive and upbeat new album will be more accessible to those who might have found Love Is Here too introspective and melancholy.