GEORGE MICHAEL has signed a book publishing deal for what has already been described as a 'no-holds-barred' autobiography which he will write himself. No publication date has been announced but the publishers, Harper Collins, have described the deal as 'one of the biggest ever concluded in UK publishing'. DURAN DURAN are among artists who have designed t-shirts for Playboy's 'Rock The Rabbit' campaign in support of Rock The Vote. The original shirts will be auctioned off and limited print runs of the designs will be available to buy online and at US Bloomingdale stores. OMD will have their 'Dazzle Ships' album reissued on March 3rd in a special remastered package with six bonus tracks. See NEWS on the website for the full album tracklisting. THE THOMPSON TWINS are to release expanded version of their best known albums 'Into The Gap' and 'Quick Step & Side Kick' on March 3rd. Each album will be released as a deluxe 2 CD package containing the original album plus all the remixes from the original cassette edition of the album as well as the extended 12” mixes and the non-album b-sides, most of which will appear on CD for the first time. See NEWS on the website for the full tracklisting for both CDs. MICHAEL JACKSON is rumoured to be planning a London residency at the O2 Arena this summer. Newspaper reports claim the singer is lining up a thirty show residency for which he will earn £1 million pounds per show... TEARS FOR FEARS, DURAN DURAN, SPANDAU BALLET, ABC, and FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD are among 35 artists on a forthcoming 3CD compilation of extended mixes of some of the 80s greatest love songs entitled 12"/80s/LOVE which will be released on February 11th... see NEWS on the website for the full tracklisting. LEVEL 42 have announced a twenty-date UK tour for October. See GIGS for all the dates. A-HA's MAGNE FURUHOLMEN is taking advance orders for a very special 10" vinyl picture disc edition of his new album 'A Dot Of Black In The Blue Of Your Bliss' via his website. The release is restricted to just 300 physical copies which will be packaged in hand-painted original sleeves, all 300 of them part of a larger work which Magne will create in Oslo next week. The artwork will be dismantled into 300 parts and each cover will be autographed. The album will be accompanied by a CD containing all the songs, a poster of the full painting and a documentary charting the creation of the artwork. THE BEAT have lined up a massive UK tour with THE SPECIALS' NEVILLE STAPLE as support. The dates start at the end of February and run through to April. See GIGS for all the dates. DEBBIE GIBSON has announced a three-week residency at Harrahs Casino in Atlantic City starting on May 4th and finishing on May 24th. KYLIE MINOGUE has been nominated for two honours at the forthcoming Brits Awards which which take place on February 20th. The singer is up for Best International Female and Best International Album and will also perform at the show. Additionally PAUL McCARTNEY is to receive the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Music Award SOFT CELL's classic 'Non Stop Erotic Cabaret' album will be reissued on February 18th in a double CD deluxe edition with the second CD featuring the 'Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing' release and a number of remixes and rare material. The duo's 'This Last Night Of Sodom' and 'The Art Of Falling Apart' are also scheduled to be issued in similar packages later this year while the much anticipated Soft Cell remix collection 'Heat : The Remixes' will be released in March, now expanded into a double CD package the tracklisting for which will be announced shortly. REM will be previewing their new album 'Accelerate' - scheduled for release at the end of March - at this year's South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas... MORRISSEY is looking for pictures to use in the adverts for his forthcoming greatest hits collection, any fans who have pictures of Morrissey graffiti, tatoos are asked to email them to his management. The album will be released on February 11th and limited quantities will feature a bonus disc featuring live tracks recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in June last year. See NEWS on the website for the tracklisting of the newly announced bonus disc. THE B-52s will play a special DJ set at London club Easy Lover at Punk TONIGHT (January 18th) with the band promising a night of 'electronica, funk, rock and everything in between'. The new B-52s album 'Funplex' will be released in the UK on March 24th. JASON DONOVAN - back on UK TV in the new TV show 'Echo Beach' - is hoping to get back into the recording studio this year and has announced UK dates for November and December. See GIGS for a list of all the shows THE CULT have extended their upcoming UK tour which now sees the reunited act play three shows in London as well as gigs in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. The band have also lined up more shows in the US and Canada for March and April. See GIGS for all the dates. PAULA ABDUL is rumoured to be among the artists performing at this year's Super Bowl event on February 3rd... THE GRID will release a new album 'Doppelganger' in March preceded by a single 'Put Your Hands Together'. The duo have also scheduled live shows in Manchester and London in March, see GIGS for details. BELINDA CARLISLE, NICK HEYWARD, TOYAH and ALTERED IMAGES will all appear at a summer outdoor show at the RHS gardens in Wisley, Surrey on June 13. THE CURE are to headline a free outdoor show in Spain this winter, the show is being organised in Valencia by MTV and more details are expected shortly. KYLIE MINOGUE and SOUL II SOUL frontman JAZZIE B have received honours in the QUeen's New Year Honours list. Both artists have been awarded OBE's in recognition of their serices to music.
Thanks to??www.remembertheeighties.com for this weeks news! | 
