| |
 |
Janet Jackson honored as MTV icon
|
HER brother may have appointed himself King of Pop, but Janet Jackson earned her crown as Queen of Radio this week.
On Tuesday US MTV honoured her with “mtvICON”, the first in a series of annual tributes to musicians.
The title track from the R&B superstar's upcoming seventh album, All for You, made radio and chart history when it was added to every pop, rhythmic and urban radio station that reports to the national trade magazine Radio & Records.
No other song has conquered all reporting stations in its first week at radio, let alone mastered three formats in one week, R&R's Kevin McCabe said.
“All for You” also debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at #14, the highest debut ever for a single that wasn't commercially available.
Jackson's seventh album is due on April 24. Co-producer Jimmy Jam said last month that the dance number is indicative of the upbeat, carefree vibe of the disc, which follows up 1997's The Velvet Rope.
“I can't wait to see how it's put together and how the performances turn out,” Jackson said at the show's taping last Saturday.
Among those taking the stage to perform versions of Jackson's music are Destiny's Child, Macy Gray, OutKast and Buckcherry. There's also a special dance tribute by Pink, Usher and Mya.
“Then I have to get up there and perform after everyone else,” Jackson said. “That's the part I'm going to be stressing about because you always have your performance in the back of your head. Normally, when you're honoured you get up, give a speech and that's it. But I still have to perform.”
The singer's friends and family also took part in the show's live taping.
“We're excited for her. She really deserves it. She's worked hard for this,” said brother Jermaine Jackson, who attended with his brothers Tito, Marlon and Jackie. Michael Jackson appeared in a taped segment.
Janet Jackson is putting her life back together, two years after splitting up with her husband.
Jackson and her co-writer, Rene Elizondo Jr., divorced in February 1999. The singer says Elizondo was the one who told the media they'd married secretly in 1991, and that they'd broken up.
“I think a lot of my friends were worried that this would get the best of me, knowing how in love I was with him,” she says in the March 10 issue of TV Guide, on newsstands on Monday. “I love really hard, and I am so blinded. But the way I see it is, everything is in God's hands.”
Jackson says she has no plans to remarry.
“I have so much kid in me. I don't really think I act like a 34-year-old,” she says. “(And since) I never did that dating thing that teen-agers do, I'm starting to do that now.”
|
|
|
|
