The Beatie Boys and Leonard Cohen are among the acts on the ballot for next year’s Rock + Roll Hall Of Fame induction.

The two will join Glad All Over hitmakers The Dave Clark Five, Afrika Bambaataa, John Mellencamp, The Ventures and Donna Summer, among others, after they were announced last week.

Five acts will be inducted into the Rock + Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Legendary rockers Van Halen kicked off their reunion tour with original singer David Lee Roth to an ecstatic reception from more than 18,000 fans in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday.

Roth, who hasn’t performed with the band since 1985, and fellow original members Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen took the Bobcats Arena stage alongside Eddie’s 16-year-old son Wolfgang, who completes the line-up on bass.

Golden globe nominated actress Evan Rachel Wood is planning to launch a singing career, confessing she prefers music to movies.

The 19-year-old - currently dating Marilyn Manson - admits she’s scared she’ll be criticised and any success unfairly attributed to her boyfriend.

I’m probably even more passionate about music than acting, but I don’t want to do it half-assed,” she says. “And when I do, I get to deal with the rumours flying around that my boyfriend wrote all my songs and that I’m just using him for a singing career!”

Singer George Michael  has offered a message of support to fellow Jewish singer Amy Winehouse, dubbing her the “best female vocalist” he’s ever heard.

The Careless Whisper star praised Winehouse during an appearance on BBC radio show Desert Island Discs.

He urged the press and public to support her, telling presenter Kirsty Young: “This is the best female vocalist I’ve heard in my entire career and one of the best writers. She’s a fantastic talent and we should support her.”

Funnyman Ben Stiller struggles to make movie sex scenes convincing - because his seduction technique is terrible in real life.

The Hollywood star, who plays an ill-fated newlywed in new movie The Heartbreak Kid, insists he is a disaster in the bedroom - both on-screen and off.

He tells New York gossip column PageSix: “I didn’t have to worry about making it look right, because that I can’t even do in real life.”

Director and influential political activist Rob Reiner has endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in the run-up to 2008’s U.S. presidential election.

The Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally filmmaker, who campaigned extensively for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000, will host a fundraising party for Clinton’s 60th birthday at his home in Brentwood, California on 21 October.

Actress-comedienne Sandra Bernhard has revealed that her alleged love affair with pop queen Madonna was all made up.

The pair became friends in the late 1980s and their increasing closeness sparked media rumours of something more.

But despite being purely platonic, the 52-year-old who ‘came out’ as a lesbian several years ago - enjoyed every minute of the speculation.

Hundreds of fans have taken to the streets of Paris to mourn the death of Marcel Marceau at his funeral in France on Wednesday.

The legendary mime artist - who died on Saturday night, aged 84 - was buried at the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where his coffin was draped in a French flag.

Rocker Lenny Kravitz is refusing to confirm or deny he’s the man who was secretly engaged to Nicole Kidman between her marriages to Tom Cruise and Keith Urban.

The Aussie actress recently stunned fans when she revealed she had briefly accepted a marriage proposal before she wed Urban last year in Vanity Fair magazine - but she refused to name names.

Comedienne Sarah Silverman has defended her joke about Britney Spears’ kids - insisting she doesn’t know what the fuss is all about.

Acid tongued Silverman hosted the MTV Video Music Awards recently - and her withering put downs were centred on troubled singer Britney Spears.

Her most controversial remark was calling the pop star’s kids Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, one, the “most adorable mistakes you will ever see”.

Police are investigating what caused one of London’s largest kosher restaurants to be severely damaged by fire.

Solly’s in Golders Green, north west London, was hit by a blaze on Monday which lasted into the early evening and saw 30 firefighters tackling the fire.

Solly’s, which has been a favourite kosher haunt for nearly 20 years, among the public as well as celebrities, suffered damage to its first floor and roof. No one was injured by the blaze which also saw nearby shops close while firefighters were bringing the fire under control.

Bob Dylan returned to his Jewish roots at the weekend when he attended services for Yom Kippur in Atlanta, Georgia.

The folk rocker was a special guest at Chabad-Lubavitch of Georgia, where he was called up by his Hebrew name Zushe ben Avraham.

Rolling Stone magazine reports: “Dylan stayed for the duration of the morning services.”

S Club 7 could become the latest British band to reunite after the success of reformed pop acts Take That and Spice Girls.

Former bandmember Rachel Stevens, whose solo career failed to make an impact, is envious of the success of Take That since they reformed last year and the Spice Girls, whose forthcoming reunion tour has generated massive media coverage.

And she is convinced the Bring It All Back hitmakers can follow in their footsteps.

Veteran actress Jane Seymour agreed to appear on US reality TV show Dancing With The Stars to please her elderly mother, who recently suffered a stroke.

The 56-year-old British beauty admits she felt inspired when her ailing mum uttered her first words since the stroke - when the actress told her of her dancing plans.

Israeli tourist chiefs are hoping to gain permission from pop group Duran Duran to use an obscure song recorded by them to use as the background music for an advertising campaign to promote Tel Aviv.

Instrumental tune Tel Aviv, recorded by Duran in 1981 and released as part of the group’s debut album, is being considered as a potential song that tourist bosses would like to see used to help promote Israel’s club capital.

Music manager Jonathan Shalit is to further expand his Shalit Global agency into managing additional TV stars.

Shalit, who famously discovered singer Charlotte Church, already represents former Hear’Say star Myleene Klass’s growing career as a TV and radio presenter as well as Konnie Hug from Blue Peter.