MICHAEL's HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF SONG

[sunsetdriver]

Jackson relief song on track

By TARIQ KHONJI

FINISHING touches are now being put to the final production of Michael Jackson's Hurricane Katrina relief song - which is being released on Bahraini label 2 Seas Records, according to a statement released by his publicist Raymone Bain yesterday.

The label belongs to Southern Governor Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is reportedly spearheading the project.

Recording artists Keisha Cole, Ciara, Snoop Dogg, Babyface and R Kelly are among singer taking part in the song, I Have This Dream.

It was written by Mr Jackson in response to Hurricane Katrina, which happened at the end of last August and was the most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the US.

"This project is in response to the widespread devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina," said Shaikh Abdulla in the statement.

"It is my hope that the proceeds from this recording will make a tremendous difference to all individuals affected by this tragedy in the US."

No release date for the song has been announced, but a spokesman said it is due out "very soon".

He also said more than 10 additional artistes participating in the production would be named.

Most of the participants recorded their parts in Los Angeles, while Mr Jackson himself recorded in London.

Mr Jackson became friends with Shaikh Abdulla as a result of the latter's friendship with his brother Jermaine, who has long-standing links with Bahrain and converted to Islam following a visit here in 1989.

It was revealed that Bahrain is currently the pop star's legal home after he was summoned for jury duty in the US.

His lawyers told California court officials that he would not be able to serve because he was no longer living at his Neverland Valley Ranch fulltime and that Bahrain was his new home.

Mr Jackson first came here on June 29 as a guest of Shaikh Abdulla.

He has been spotted around town several times, including in Bahrain Mall and Seef Mall.

He is also reportedly in discussion with Bahrain-based AJJ Holdings to act as a consultant for possible entertainment projects in the Gulf, including theme parks and music academies.

source: www.gulf-daily-news.com

Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

Keisha Cole confirmed to be part of the song


Keisha Cole right now on BET 106 & Park(Friday's show). First question asked of her was she on a charity single. Keisha talked about Michael's people contacting her people about singing on this charity record. Also talked about singing her part and talking to Michael directly and Michael directing her over the phone how to sing her part on his record. She doesn't remember the title of the song just that she did 4 bars, all in all exciting news! The crowd cheered and she joked that she wanted to sing the whole record with Michael.



Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

Jackson Katrina single imminent

18/01/2006 - 09:19:02 Michael Jackson is on the verge of releasing his Hurricane Katrina relief song I Have This Dream.

Michael Jackson is on the verge of releasing his Hurricane Katrina relief song I Have This Dream.

The Bad singer, 47, has enlisted superstar talent including Snoop Dogg, R Kelly, Keisha Cole, Ciara and Babyface for the track.

And Jackson, who has been living in Bahrain since he was acquitted of child molestation in June, is planning to release the song on Bahraini label 2 Seas Records.

Proceeds from the all-star song will be aid victims of the Hurricane, which ravished America's Gulf Coast region in August.

source: breakingnews.iol.ie

Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

MJ Charity Song Burns Contest Winner
Thursday, January 19, 2006

By Roger Friedman

'Dream' Song Nightmare | 'Entourage' Star Hoofs It | Aniston at Sundance

'Dream' Song Is Nightmare for Writer

Michael Jackson's long-awaited charity single wasn't written by him. In fact, the lyrics were commissioned for a contest that was won by a songwriter who was subsequently kicked to the curb rather than rewarded for his work.

Ric Kipp, who describes himself as being in his mid-40s, is a veteran Nashville musician who works in a local wine store for $9 an hour. In 2002, he entered a songwriting competition sponsored by AOL on behalf of writers-producers David Foster and Carole Bayer-Sager for their now defunct music company, Tonos (their other partner was Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds.)

The contest promised the winner that Jackson would record their song and possibly place it on an album. The song would be used for charitable purposes. Jackson was advertised as the composer of the instrumental part of the song.

But now the song, called "I Have This Dream," could be part of an interesting authorship dispute. Kipp won the contest with his lyrics. Kipp tells me that when he was brought to a Los Angeles studio for the prize recording, Foster told him he was excited about the lyrics and wanted to use his work. But the award-winning Bayer-Sager, Kipp says, was intent on using her own lyrics.

Unfortunately, this would completely contradict the press release Tonos, Jackson and AOL released on May 10, 2002. The release included this wordage:

"The contest gives AOL members the opportunity to co-write a song with the BMI-affiliated "King of Pop," as well as with Foster and Bayer-Sager. The winning submission will be recorded by Jackson himself and may be released as part of an upcoming album. All proceeds from the song will be donated to children's charities around the world."

Kipp tells me that after he won the contest he was brought out to Los Angeles. Tonos and AOL gave him $1,500 for expenses, did not put him up at a hotel and kept him waiting in the studio for Jackson for several days before giving up the ghost.

Jackson was simply not coming. He never did show for the promised recording session.

Kipp says he not only wrote the lyrics but composed a musical "bridge" for Foster, who recorded the finished product with one of Faith Hill's female back-up singers.

Kipp says that Foster's son-in-law, Simon Gillies, even videotaped the writing sessions for a possible documentary about the contest. In the end, Kipp says he went home and "I never heard from any of these people again."

Gillies, who ran the A&R department for Tonos, confirmed for me that he did tape the writing sessions. He also revealed that that Foster, his father-in-law and not Michael Jackson, wrote the music for the song with one of his associates.

"Jackson had nothing to do with it," he said.

Cut to the other day, when a friend told Kipp he'd read about Jackson's new charity single called "I Have This Dream." If it's ever released, the single is intended to help the people of the Gulf Coast, even though the hurricane is now almost five months in the past and other artists have already put out their own singles.

Ironies abound here: Kipp told me when I spoke to him that he's from New Orleans originally, and that his family home was wiped out by Katrina, so his relatives might benefit from any money raised by charity singles.

Unfortunately for Kipp, the "dream" in the title has become a nightmare. At first he thought winning the contest would be a breakthrough for him in the music industry.

Back in 2002, when he won the contest, he thought he'd made it at last. Instead, the roller coaster ride that ensued more or less undid him.

"Rich people don't realize what something like this does to you," he told me. "It was like the boy who cried wolf. We thought everything was going to come from this."

Alas, things turned out quite differently. "We were promised everything and got nothing," he said.

Now, of course, there's a problem. Jackson's publicist Raymone K. Bain told me: "Kipp won the contest but his lyrics weren't deemed worthy of a song sung by Michael Jackson. Carole told me she rewrote them."

Bayer-Sager says that Kipp's lyrics were simply not good enough, and that in the end she, Foster and Jackson rewrote them.

"It was always understood that Michael wouldn't record the song if it wasn't up to our standards," she said.

That this philosophy undermines the whole reason for having a contest and selecting a winner was a subject she didn't broach.

What does seem to have happened, from reading over lyric sheets that Kipp sent me, is that he won with one set of lyrics, then Foster and Bayer-Sager began massaging them. Eventually, a finished song was produced, with a combination of lyrics. But in the intervening time, Kipp's contribution was cut to nil, and now nearly nothing remains of his work.

Bayer-Sager, Foster and AOL are all part of the Time Warner family. Bayer-Sager has had a long association with the company; she is the wife of former longtime Warner Bros. co-chairman Robert Daly.

Foster has produced and recorded exclusively for the Warner Music Group since long before it was sold to a group of investors. And AOL was famously merged into Time Warner several years ago.

source: foxnews.com[/i[

Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

UK FORTHCOMING SINGLES - 13th FEBRUARY 2006

Ashanti - Still On It
Beulah - Stay
Boy Kill Boy - Back Again
Daniel Powter - Jimmy Gets High
David Ford - I Don’t Care What You Call Me
Dilated Peoples - Back Again
Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
Emmanuel - Flirtin’
Envelopes - Freejazz
Fallout Trust - Washout
Four Day Hombre - First Word Is The Hardest
Four Story - Hand On My Heart
Friday Hill - One More Night Alone
Goldfrapp - Ride A White Horse
Helen Boulding - I Don’t Know What I Want
Hush - If You Go Breaking My Heart
Humanzi - Long Time Coming
Jewel - Again And Again
Joseph Arthur - Devil’s Broom
Levy - On The Dancefloor
Liberty X - Then There Was You
Liz McClarnon - Woman In Love
The Magic Numbers - I See You, You See Me
Marcos Hernandez - If You Were Mine
[red]Michael Jackson & Friends - I Have This Dream[/red]
[red]Michael Jackson & Friends - I Have This Dream[/red]
[red]Michael Jackson & Friends - I Have This Dream[/red]
[red]Michael Jackson & Friends - I Have This Dream[/red]
[red]Michael Jackson & Friends - I Have This Dream[/red]
[red]Michael Jackson & Friends - I Have This Dream[/red]
Missy Elliott - We Run This
The Modern - Industry
Nickelback - Far Away
Oceanlab - Sirens Of The Sea
Open Air Ft Gram’ma Funk - Hi Roller
Paul Weller - Blink And You’ll Miss It
Reel People - In The Sun
Rhymefest - Brand New
Saucy Monky - I Touch Myself
Sparks - Perfume
Stellastarr* - Sweet Troubled Soul
Stevie Wonder - From The Bottom Of My Heart
Ultrabeat Vs Scott Brown - Elysium

source: radio1.gr

Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

The song is not going to be released on 13th Feb.

----------------------
In my last conversations, there were two artists whose schedules would not allow them to participate, who were going to record. This pushed back the final production for two weeks."

Best.
Raymone K. Bain
----------------------

source: Gail Felix/michaelmania.com

Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

Michael Jackson's Katrina Song Said Ready

By LINDA DEUTSCH
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES —

Eight days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Michael Jackson announced he would release an all-star charity single within two weeks.

Nearly six months later, after questions about exactly who would be participating, the prince who has been hosting Jackson during his self-imposed exile in Bahrain says the song will come out by the end of this month.

In a telephone interview from Dubai last week, Sheik Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the son of Bahrain's king, told The Associated Press, "The record is coming along great. We've been taking our time to perfect it and mix it."

The song is currently titled "I Have This Dream," and it includes Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly, Ciara, Keyisha Cole, James Ingram, Jackson's brother Jermaine, Shanice, the Rev. Shirley Caesar and the O'Jays, the prince said.

Missing are James Brown, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott and Lenny Kravitz, who Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Bain said in September had agreed to participate.

At the height of his fame, in 1985, Jackson and producer Quincy Jones brought dozens of superstars together to fight famine with his "We Are the World" anthem.

But while there are some platinum-selling stars on this record _ Ciara, R. Kelly and Snoop Dogg _ it's a far cry from the luminaries and legends who made 'We Are The World" a classic. The release of the song also had been repeatedly delayed.

"We were wondering whether or not it was ever coming out," Andy Gibson, co-manager of the O'Jays, told the AP this week. "They recorded their part of it two or three months ago."

The prince said the release has been delayed because additional artists wanted to contribute. But he declined to name those artists _ "I'd like to keep that as a surprise" _ or to name the company he claimed to have secured to sell the song via CDs and the Internet.

Prince Abdullah, 30, plans to release the song on his own 2 Seas label. "Michael did a wonderful track," he said. "His voice was phenomenal."

He said the song, which Jackson wrote, "is a message of peace and help and caring. It's a song of total oneness."

Jackson has been living in Bahrain since his acquittal in a harrowing molestation trial last year, and now has a house there, the prince said. He didn't know if Jackson plans to settle in the country permanently.

Several of the participating artists recorded their portions of the song Nov. 1, gathering at a Los Angeles studio, Bain said.

"James Ingram, Ciara, Snoop Dogg and Shirley Caesar were all there," said Eddie Levert, lead singer for The O'Jays. "Michael produced it on the phone from Bahrain. He talked to Shirley Caesar, he talked to James Ingram. He talked to everyone except me."

"Overall, it came out very well," Levert said. "It had a strong gospel feel. I think it's really a great song. If radio plays it, it could do very well."

"To work with him on this project was such a privilege and a blessing," Caesar said. "Michael is a true humanitarian."

Asked if the song's release was a harbinger of a new Jackson album, Prince Abdullah laughed and said, "I will just say we've been very busy."

"This is a raindrop before the thunderstorm,' he said. "He's getting ready to come out with a lot of bells and whistles. He's so energized. It's explosive."

source: www.normantranscript.com

Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

All-star Jackson single to hit the market in 2 weeks
Made in Bahrain project to raise funds for Katrina victims

By Meera Ravi
Staff Correspondent

Michael Jackson’s much-awaited all-star charity single that will help raise funds for Hurricane Katrina victims will be ready to hit the distribution houses in two weeks.

The music single titled “I Have This Dream” is currently being perfected in the final mixing by Bahrain’s Shaikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa’s Two Seas Records. In a telephone interview last week, Shaikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, told The AP, “The record is coming along great. We’ve been taking our time to perfect it and mix it.”

Stars who have contributed their talent to the effort include Snoopy Dogg, R. Kelly, Ciara, Keyishia Cole, James Ingram, Jackson’s brother Jermaine, Shanice, the Rev. Shirley Caesar and the O’Jays, the prince said.

The record is set for a global release to maximise its fund-raising potential.

Michael Jackson announced that he would pull together a glittering array of music stars to create a music chart-buster for charity barely eight days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

“The time taken reflects the enormous logistics involved in putting together the tracks with the participation of some of the busiest stars in the international music scene as well as the legal fine-tuning involved in tying up with distribution companies,” a source close to Shaikh Abdullah told the Bahrain Tribune, “There are so many legal aspects involved that it often takes close to a year to clear all the issues and begin distributing the music. Luckily, we have been working very hard and our experts have nearly completed formalities in record time so we expect that we shall be ready to announce distribution tie-ups very soon.”

The music single, in aid of Hurricane Katrina victims, will see all proceeds being channeled to the needy through reputed NGOs instead of through government or international agencies.
“We believe that NGOs, with their low overheads and well-defined areas of expertise will serve our purposes best,” the source said.

source: www.bahraintribune.com (local news)



Enrico

[sunsetdriver]

Kanye Records Charity Song with Michael Jackson
Monday, February 27, 2006
By: Kenny Rodriguez

Roc-A-Fella artist Kanye West is reportedly recording a song with the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, to raise money for the Hurricane Katrina relief fund.

The two are said to be working on the charity song “I Have This Dream” in an undisclosed studio in London, said Island/Def Jam chairman Antonio “L.A.” Reid. The single -- which features appearances by Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly, Ciara, Keyisha Cole, and the O’Jays -- is set to be released in the middle of March.

In related news, Kanye publicly refuted claims that he is a ‘sex addict,’ as reported by Playboy magazine. In a recent issue West told the magazine about his adult film and website fetish, saying that it is so severe that he has to have porn on him “at all times.”

On Monday, Feb. 20, West told fans on his UK tour that the reporter inflated his comments. “You sit down with these f**king journalists and the second you say what you think, they use it against you,” he told the crowd at his London concert.

source: nobodysmiling.com

Enrico