Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe VAN HALEN Van Halen and Warner Bros. Records have parted ways after 25 years, 11 studio albums and three lead singers. Advertisement AllStar.com Music News quotes Brad Starks, the Webmaster of Van Halen's official Web site (van-halen.com) saying the split occurred approximately a month ago but the band chose not to share the news on their site. David Lee Roth fronted the band from its signing with Warner Bros. in 1977 until 1985. The band then hired Sammy Hagar, who left in 1996 after a falling out with the rest of the group. Lead singer No.3, Gary Cherone, is also now gone. No word on whether Van Halen will hire a fourth vocalist. It's also been rumored variously that Roth, or possibly Hagar, might return to the band. NAS, MARY J. BLIGE New pressings of Nas' new album "Stillmatic" will not include the track "Braveheart Party," which features Mary J. Blige and the Bravehearts. A spokesman for the rapper said Columbia Records is obliging Blige's request to have the song removed from the album for what she calls "personal reasons," MTV News reports. Advertisement No comment from Nas The Queensbridge rapper is set to begin filming the video for his next single, "One Mic," in less than two weeks, according to his representative. MICHAEL JACKSON Michael Jackson says he's never had so much fun in his life than he's had being a parent. In an interview in the March issue of Vibe magazine, the "King of Pop" confesses: "Because I'm this big kid, and now I get to see the world through the eyes of the really young ones. I learn more from them then they learn from me." Jackson also says he careful not to include offensive lyrics in his songs. "We weren't raised to be like that. Mother and Joseph (Michael's father) wouldn't say stuff like that," he says. Jackson released his platinum-selling "Invincible," his first album in four years, last November. Recently named the American Music Awards' Artist of the Century, Jackson is slated to perform at the Grammy Awards next month. RECORDING ARTISTS COALITION The Recording Artists Coalition (RAC) has updated the list of performers scheduled to appear at its first series of all-star concerts on Feb. 26 in and around Los Angeles. Billboard magazine reports the Dixie Chicks, Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood and Dwight Yoakam will perform at the Universal Amphitheater, while Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Beck and Social Distortion's Mike Ness will headline at the Wiltern Theater. Advertisement They join the Eagles, Billy Joel, Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks, who will perform at the L.A. Forum; and No Doubt, Offspring and Weezer, who will headline at the Long Beach Arena. The RAC says other artists may be added to the line-ups, and it's hoped another venue can be employed. Observers say the four concerts may be the biggest effort ever undertaken in one market on the same night. More shows are being planned in other cities for later this year. The proceeds will fund the RAC's artists rights activities both in federal and state legislative matters and as non-partisan recording artist representatives in private-sector negotiations.
