S E P T 2 0 0 2 
Aiza Seguerra was voted Best Female Recording Artist
in Awit's Award. Her song "Pagdating ng Panahon" won
for Best Pop Recording, Best Produced Record of the Year,
and also for the "Song of the Year award!
BRITNEY SPEARED: It was a strange week for Britney Spears. The pop princess got heat for flashing a universally recognized finger sign shortly after she landed at Mexico City's airport last week (she later said the finger was meant for annoying paparazzi, not fans). But even stranger, according to a report from Reuters, Spears, 20, let the fizz out of her Pepsi-sponsored world tour by cutting short her final performance at Mexico City's Foro Stadium, blaming rain showers. She was booed by the 52,000-strong crowd, given that she stopped singing midway through her fifth song, "Stronger," and then left the stage, saying only, "I'm sorry Mexico. I love you. Bye." Concert organizers said they would offer refunds.
CELINE'S SCENT: Celine Dion said this week that she is developing her own scent with Coty Inc., which also produces Jovan and Stetson fragrances. Celine's scent, which is yet to be named, is expected in stores in early 2003. (The French designer Celine already has a perfume bearing that name.) "I wanted to partner with a beauty company that would develop a product in line with my values," the Canadian pop diva, 34, said in a press release from Coty.
VIRGIN RECORDS RENEGING ON VERBAL AGREEMENT TO PAY PREPARATION AND TRANSPORTATION COSTS OF BODIES OF R & B SINGER AALIYAH AND EIGHT OTHERS AFTER PLANE CRASH
New York - Virgin Records, the former label of R & B singer Aaliyah, is reneging on a verbal agreement to pay the costs of preparation and transport of the bodies of Aaliyah and eight members of her entourage who died in a small-plane crash last August, TIME reports. Butlers' Funeral Homes and Crematorium in Nassau, the Bahamas, is out $68,000.
"Virgin has indicated to us that they will not honor the agreement," says Loretta Turner, the funeral-home director who has even appealed for help to the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, to no avail. Robert Spragg, an attorney who is representing Aaliyah's parents, Michael and Diane Haughton, in a lawsuit against Virgin and other defendants stemming from the crash, says the Haughtons were also told by Virgin executives that they would be reimbursed for their funeral expenses, but have received nothing.
The record label (a division of British music giant EMI) has been in financial straits since Aaliyah's death, and the executives who allegedly made the promises, former EMI chief executive Ken Berry and his wife, former Virgin vice-chairman Nancy Berry, have left the company, TIME reports. "We worked 24/7 to get the bodies out as expeditiously as possible. We had to bring in extra staff. People worked on their day off," Turner tells TIME. There has not been "one word of thanks to anyone," she says.
As previously reported
, Madonna has penned the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film "Die Another Day," which opens in November. The artist makes a cameo in the film as a fencing instructor, contrary to initial assertions that she would not appear on-screen.Madonna is also expected to appear in director Peter Greenaway's next film, "The Tulse Luper Suitcases," which features Blondie's Debbie Harry, Vincent Gallo, Don Johnson, and Isabella Rossellini, among others. The film is due out sometime next year.
The artist has begun work on her next Maverick studio album with assistance from producer Mirwais, who was behind the boards for 2000's "Music."
LOS ANGELES: Veteran pop diva Diana Ross had checked herself into a rehabilitation clinic to win her battle against drug and alcohol addiction, her spokesman has said.