Paul McCartney, 60, and his new wife, Heather Mills, 35, are expecting their first child later this year. Married in June of last year, the couple says, "We are delighted with this happy news." This week, McCartney wraps up his "Back In The World" tour with a homecoming show in Liverpool, England on June 1.
The debut single by the newly crowned "American Idol" Ruben Studdard will be released this week. J Records plans to issue Studdard's Flying Without Wings, which he sang during the televised talent search competition. His first album will be out in September.
Heartland rocker John Mellencamp has a new album in record stores on June 3. Trouble No More features his rendition of songs by Woody Guthrie, Hoagy Carmichael, Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, and others. One original track will be included Mellencamp's anti-war song, To Washington.
New York radio station Z100 is holding its annual "Zootopia" concert on June 1 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Britney Spears will co-host the event. This year's headliners include Mariah Carey, Ashanti, Ja Rule, Jewel, newcomers Daniel Bedingfield and Kelly Clarkson, 'N Sync's JC Chasez and the two remaining members of TLC, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas. It will mark Watkins and Thomas' first public performance since the death of their bandmate Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, who died in a car accident in April of last year.
NEW ALBUM RELEASES / JUNE 3:
MUSICAL EVENTS/FESTIVALS/BENEFITS:
B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Charles and Willie Nelson will headline the June 2 "Blowin' The Blues Away" benefit concert at New York's Apollo Theater. The event will help celebrate the ongoing Year of the Blues. Proceeds will go to Jazz at Lincoln Center's performance and educational programs.
The 2003 International Country Music Fan Fair will take place June 5-8 in Nashville. This year's event will feature hundreds of performers and more than 40 hours of concerts at venues located in downtown Nashville. In addition, fans will have the opportunity to meet and be photographed with their favorite Country stars, whose fan clubs set up autograph booths at the city's Convention Center. On Fan Fair's opening day, June 5, some of the artists, including Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Jamie O'Neal and Sara Evans will play in the 12th annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge. The game takes place at Greer Stadium and raises money for the City of Hope National Medical Center and the Beckman Research Institute, located just outside Los Angeles.
100,000 music fans are expected to attend the Country Stampede Festival, which takes place June 6-8 at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. Scheduled to appear at the three-day event are Diamond Rio, Lonestar, Travis Tritt, Brad Paisley, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Phil Vassar, Sawyer Brown and many others.
LOOK WHO'S GOING ON TOUR!
Singer-songwriter Chris Isaak will begin a U.S. summer tour on June 1 in support of his latest CD, Always Got Tonight. The set includes the recent hit Let Me Down Easy. Isaak will launch his 49-date tour in Chula Vista, California. Lisa Marie Presley is scheduled to open twelve of Isaak's shows beginning July 11 in Boston, Massachusetts.
June 4, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera will kick off their co-headlining "Justified and Stripped" tour in Phoenix, Arizona. U.S. dates run through August 24. Timberlake will be promoting his solo debut Justified and Aguilera will support her latest album Stripped. After taking a month off, Christina will head out on a solo European outing that begins on September 22 in Hamburg, Germany and wraps up on November 11 in Manchester, England. Timberlake also has some European concerts planned for later in the year. He'll reunite with his 'N Sync bandmates in September to begin work on their next album.
Aretha Franklin will begin a U.S. tour on June 5 in Vienna, Virginia. The "Queen of Soul" says this will be the last "full scale" tour of her career. Her next album is due out in early September, around the same time the tour is scheduled to end. It will mark her first album of all new material since 1998's A Rose Is Still A Rose.
June 6, multi-Grammy winner Norah Jones kicks off a 53-date North American tour in Fort Myers, Florida. She'll be out behind her Verve Records debut, Come Away With Me, which has sold six million copies in the U.S.