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Jacko song 'a work in progress'
15/09/2005 10:30 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Michael Jackson's publicist says eight performers so far have agreed to join a song to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims.
Raymone K Bain said artists who will appear on Jackson's song, tentatively titled From the Bottom of My Heart, include James Brown, Jay-Z, Mary J Blige, Missy Elliott, Lenny Kravitz, R Kelly, Snoop Dogg and Ciara.
But representatives for some of the artists said it was premature to say their clients were committed to the charity single, which hopes to duplicate the 1984 worldwide hit We Are the World, which Jackson co-wrote to benefit African starvation victims.
Representatives for Snoop Dogg said he would take part. But Jay-Z's publicist, Jana Fleishman, said the rapper had "been approached, but Jay told me directly he is not yet confirmed to be on that song". Several other publicists said their clients were in talks and had yet to confirm.
Bain, however, insisted during a telephone interview on Wednesday that Jackson had personally contacted all the artists himself.
She said Jackson would record the tune on 2 Seas Records, the label owned by Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, son of the king of Bahrain.
Jackson, who was acquitted after a gruelling child molestation trial four months ago, has been a guest of Sheik Abdulla for the past several weeks.
To confirm her account, Bain handed the phone to Sheik Abdulla, who said that he and Jackson had had talked to each artist personally. "He made every single call himself," the sheik said.
Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Jackson tried unsuccessfully to put together a benefit song called What More Can I Give.
For now, Bain said, the Katrina relief song is "a work in progress", with a time, date and place of recording yet to be scheduled.
- AP
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South Africa
