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Pop superstars DESTINY’S CHILD reunited on Tuesday (11Feb09) to celebrate singer KELLY ROWLAND’s birthday at a surprise party.
Former bandmates Beyonce Knowles and Michelle Williams were among the guests at Hollywood club Opera on the eve of the Dilemma star’s 28th birthday.
It is the first time Knowles and the birthday girl have been pictured out together since Rowland announced she was parting ways with her manager and Beyonce’s father, Mathew Knowles, at the end of January (09).

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R&B singer MARIO has spoken out about reports he has recorded an ironic new song with RIHANNA, called EMERGENCY ROOM, explaining the track was just a demo he sent to the UMBRELLA star.
Comments Mario made during a TV interview following Rihanna’s Sunday morning (08Feb09) fight with boyfriend Chris Brown have been misconstrued - making it look as if his upcoming vengeance song is the singer’s next duet.
Ironically, Rihanna was in the emergency room seeking medical attention after her fight, but Mario insists reports she’s recording Emergency Room with him are wrong.
The song has been leaked online - and appears to feature Rihanna, but Mario insists it’s not her.
He tells Vibe magazine, "This was a rough cut that I was working on and wanted to present it to Rihanna and her record label.
"Those arenâ��t Rihannaâ��s vocals on the song at all. The record was far from done. Iâ��m still proud of the record and want to make sure the truth is out there." Rihanna has returned to her native Barbados following Sunday’s drama. She has cancelled two upcoming performances in Indonesia and Malaysia.

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JANET JACKSON has become the latest superstar to sign a record deal with concert giant Live Nation, according to new reports.
The Nasty hitmaker parted ways with Island Records in September (08) after disappointing sales of her last album Discipline and has been label-less ever since.
But the singer has allegedly followed in Jay-Z, Shakira and U2’s footsteps and signed a new contract with promoters Live Nation. The deal will encompass her album and concert plans.
And Jackson is already hard at work recording a follow-up to the 2008 album flop - she has reunited with her mentor, producer Jimmy Jam, to take charge of her next project, and she hopes to release it this spring (09).

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BRITNEY SPEARS’ ex-boyfriend ADNAN GHALIB is in trouble with the law after allegedly assaulting a man who tried to serve him with court appearance papers.
The pop superstar won a temporary court order to keep paparazzo Ghalib and her former manager Sam Lutfi away from her in January (09), and the restraining order is due to be reviewed in a Los Angeles court later this month (23Feb09).
According to TMZ.com, a process server was sent to Ghalib’s Encino, California apartment on Wednesday (11Feb09) to hand over the documents, which demanded he appear at the hearing.
But the meeting ended with a call to police after Ghalib allegedly rammed his car into the unnamed man, before fleeing the scene.
The server reportedly suffered cuts and scratches after landing on the roof of the car.
The website claims Ghalib is now being investigated for felony assault with a deadly weapon.

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Legendary Las Vegas showmen SIEGFRIED & ROY are planning a shocking return to Las Vegas for one final show - five years after an onstage tiger attack closed their show.
Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn appeared in more than 5,000 shows together before Horn was attacked by one of the duo’s famous white tigers in 2003.
Horn suffered a stroke and partial paralysis as a result of the incident, but he has slowly fought his way back to health - and the pair is determined to bid their followers a final farewell with a comeback performance on 28 February (09).
Horn tells U.S. tabloid the National Enquirer, "We never got to say a proper goodbye. This will be our final bow, and it will never be repeated." Siegfried adds, "It has given Roy a whole new lease on life. We are both incredibly excited about doing this one last time."

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TORI SPELLING blames Hollywood for her well-publicised gaunt appearance, insisting she feels under constant pressure to stay skinny.
The former teen star shocked fans by stepping out in Los Angeles this month (Feb09) sporting a new super-skinny, waif-like physique.
And Spelling admits she was driven to diet obsessively by Tinseltown’s trend to be slim.
She tells Usmagazine.com, "They scrutinise you so much. You try to be the person who says, ‘Oh, I don’t care,’ but I feel the pressure." "You’re out there; you’re picture is in every magazine. They’re looking at you from every angle, no matter what you do.
"You have to be careful getting out of cars now because they shoot up your skirt. Everything has to look good, and, of course, there’s pressure to do so. I definitely feel it."

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Former child star-turned burlesque dancer SHIRLEY JEAN RICKERT has died after a long illness. She was 82.
The Seattle, Washington native moved to Hollywood when she was four, after winning a home state baby beauty contest, and became a member of movie mogul Hal Roach’s Our Gang troupe.
She starred in five Our Gang comedies before joining Mickey Rooney in five Mickey McGuire movies, in which she played Tomboy Taylor, and also teamed up with John Wayne in 1934 western ‘Neath the Arizona Skies.
But her onscreen success was limited to largely small roles, and she quit to become a burlesque dancer after a series of uncredited dancing parts in movie musicals like Singin� in the Rain.
Her stage name became Gilda and Her Crowning Glory and she enjoyed cult status in clubs throughout the 1950s.
She quit showbusiness altogether in 1959, apart from a stint as a sales director for a regional theatre in Massachusetts, and became a successful travelling saleswoman.
Rickert died in a New York nursing home last Friday (06Feb09).

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Oscar nominee ANNE HATHAWAY is set to cross-dress this summer (Jun09) in a bid to fool royalty in an open-air production of SHAKESPEARE’s TWELTH NIGHT.
The actress has signed on to play Viola, who spends most of the play disguised as a man, in the month-long production at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater in New York.
Hathaway will make her Central Park acting debut on 9 June (09).
But it’s not the first time the actress has performed on the New York stage - in 2002 she starred in a concert production of the musical Carnival!.
Ironically, William Shakespeare’s own wife was also named Anne Hathaway.

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Boozing masked TARA REID’s shyness when the actress first found success in Hollywood.
The actress recently spent 60 days in rehab in a bid to kick her alcohol problems, which she claims started when she tried to be the life and soul of the party.
The American Pie star tells In Touch Weekly magazine, "I felt like everyone was judging me and watching me. I think I drank because it gave me a kind of confidence.
"When I went out, everyone always wanted to have a drink with me - because I was known as this fun, party girl. I became that person." Reid, 33, also found that heavy drinking helped her with insomnia.
She adds, "I have sleeping problems so I would drink to pass out and sleep. I was more of a night drinker… It was a difficult time in my life."

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AMERICAN IDOL hopeful JOANNA PACITTI has been kicked off the U.S. talent show after producers discovered she’s a professional.
The singer, who was among the season eight finalists on the show, has been disqualified due to her past history in the music business.
Idol bosses have declared that Pacitti is "ineligible to continue in the competition".
Pacitti had a record deal with A&M/Geffen, which released her debut album, This Crazy Life, in 2006, and she also toured as support to Nick Lachey.
Her songs have appeared on movie soundtracks and have been covered by artists like Britney Spears.
It’s another major let down for Pacitti, who missed out on the lead role in a national tour of Annie, as a child, when she contracted bronchitis.

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Rock duo the WHITE STRIPES will perform together for the first time in two years as part of U.S. TV host CONAN O’ BRIEN’s final LATE NIGHT show on 20 February.
The group is a favourite of funnyman O’Brien and performed nightly on a week of shows in 2003.
After leaving Late Night With Conan O�Brien, the comic will replace Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show.
Former Saturday Night Live comedian Jimmy Fallon will replace O’Brien.

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Rockers VELVET REVOLVER are close to finding a frontman to replace former singer SCOTT WEILAND.
The supergroup, featuring former Guns N’ Roses stars Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, sacked Weiland after a series of public band rows in April (08) and have been looking for a new singer ever since.
The search stalled late last year (08) after Liv Tyler’s ex-husband, British rocker Royston Langdon, auditioned for the group - but McKagan insists there’s new hope.
He tells ThePulseofRadio.com, "In the last, I would say, about eight weeks, we got three guys in that were all really good - like, far and above, more fitting than the rest… We’re headed in a very positive direction, and you might be hearing something soon."

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KENNY CHESNEY has finally explained why his ex-wife, RENEE ZELLWEGER, cited "fraud" when she filed for divorce in 2005 - it was the only way the couple could get the marriage officially annulled.
The country singer has spent the past four years dismissing suggestions Zellweger discovered he was gay - hence the "fraud".
And now he reveals the former pair had little choice but to end the marriage with a bit of confusion.
He tells Playboy magazine, "I talked to my attorney and her attorney. In order for us to get an annulment, the legal papers could claim either physical abuse, which wasn’t true, or mental abuse, which wasn’t true.
"The best thing we could put in there was fraud. So I said, ‘All right, do it. Whatever.’" But Chesney had no idea one word would cause him so much grief as the media speculated about what caused the break-up, four months after the couple wed.
He adds, "That is the most unbelievable thing in the world - ‘Because Renee cited fraud, Kenny’s got to be gay.’ What guy who loves girls wouldn’t be angry about that s**t? I didn’t sign up for that.
"I’ve got a long line of girls who could testify that I am not gay." And, in a bid to make his point, Chesney admits he was quite the ladies man at college, and had bedded "over 100" girls by 2001 - and has continued to have "a good time" ever since.

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Hollywood superstars TOM CRUISE and DENZEL WASHINGTON are joining forces to star in a new thriller - written by the brains behind the BOURNE trilogy.
The pair will play rival spies who team up to take on an evil organisation in The Matarese Circle, which is based on author Robert Ludlum’s book of the same name.
David Cronenberg will direct.
MGM studio bosses are eyeing the movie as a potential franchise for Cruise and Washington, and have already bought the rights to Ludlum’s follow up novel The Matarese Countdown.
Ludlum is most famous for writing the books behind Matt Damon-starring movies The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.

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British singer LEONA LEWIS has distanced herself from the CHRIS BROWN/RIHANNA fight scandal after she was accused of flirting with the R&B star before he allegedly lashed out at his girlfriend.
The Bleeding Love singer reportedly upset Rihanna at a pre-Grammy Awards party in Los Angeles on Saturday night (07Feb09) by making moves on her man.
The couple left the star-studded bash and minutes later they were part of a police investigation following a hysterical emergency call suggesting Brown had beaten an unnamed female.
Reports later suggested the woman involved was his girlfriend, Rihanna, who was allegedly hospitalised after the fight.
Brown later handed himself into police and was charged with making criminal threats.
Speculation about the cause of the bust-up has been rampant in the days following the news, but Lewis insists her name should never even have been mentioned in connection with the incident.
In a statement, a spokesman for the singer says, "Leona was at the pre-Grammy party with her family and boyfriend and had nothing whatsoever to do with any argument that may have ensued between Chris and Rihanna. Any allegations that the pair had flirted are completely false." Singer/actress Keisha Chante has also distanced herself from the controversy after it was claimed she sent Brown a text message, which upset Rihanna.
Reports suggest Chante and Brown have been secretly dating, and Rihanna allegedly flew into a rage when she thought her love rival was texting the singer.
But Chante’s manager, Mona Scott, tells Us Weekly magazine, "This is another unsubstantiated, untrue report; she was nowhere near the incident in any way.
"She’s not even dating Chris! I think they met a few years back, probably three or four years ago in Canada… but that’s it. It’s crazy. Thereâ��s been a continuous kind of reporting of them linked together, and this has been the worst of it all."

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JESSICA ALBA was originally going to be named after blonde TV actress FARRAH FAWCETT - but her parents changed their minds when she was born with dark hair.
Alba, 27, admits her blonde mother, Catherine, was convinced her daughter would inherit her fair looks and planned to give her the unusual moniker in tribute to the Charlie’s Angels star.
But they were forced to change their plans after Alba was born with a full head of dark hair.
Alba tells Elle magazine, "It�s weird; your name can really shape who you are. When I was born, my name was supposed to be Farrah Dawn. My mother looked like Farrah Fawcett, so she thought her daughter would, too.
"When I came out dark, my father had to scratch it off the birth certificate.�

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Pop star LILY ALLEN is taking singing lessons for the first time in a decade - following criticism of her recent comeback performance.
The British singer was blasted by several reviewers who claim she sang out of tune during her first London gig for two years last month (Jan09).
And the Smile hitmaker appears to have taken the comments to heart - admitting on her Twitter.com blog on Wednesday (11Feb09) that she is having vocal training while in New York.
She writes, "I had a singing lesson this afternoon, first one for 10 years. Watch this space…"

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BABYSHAMBLES rocker PETE DOHERTY was forced to scrap a planned duet with AMY WINEHOUSE after he was warned against collaborating with the singer by his producer.
The pair teamed up for a string of jam sessions last summer (08) with a view to recording a song together for his upcoming solo album Grace/Wastelands.
Doherty rehearsed the track 1939 Returning with the star - who has been battling drug addiction - and even made a primary recording of her vocals for the tune.
But the collaboration was eventually shelved, and the song will appear on the album without troubled Winehouse’s contribution.
And Doherty blames his producer, Stephen Street, for dropping the duet.
He tells NME magazine, "There is a version with Amy Winehouse dueting on this. She sounds amazing on it. She’s got a really weird way of moulding melodies.
"But Stephen Street didn’t want to go ahead with it, which is a shame. But he said that it would have made it a completely different song.
"I have the recording on a phone somewhere and she was up for (re-recording) it, but yeah, (I) probably couldn’t afford it anyway."

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