Award show honor to focus in on Lynn’s musical vision

Nashville, Tenn. — Loretta Lynn will receive the CMT Johnny Cash Visionary Award next month, just a few days before her 70th birthday.

The award recognizes an artist’s musical vision, innovative music videos and pioneering initiatives in entertainment. It was known as the Video Visionary Award but was renamed in honor of Cash last year.

Lynn will be honored April 11 during the live broadcast of Country Music Television’s 2005 Music Awards, hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, from the Gaylord Entertainment Center. She turns 70 on April 14.

She won two Grammy Awards last month for her album, “Van Lear Rose,” produced by Jack White of the White Stripes.

The Dixie Chicks won the first Video Visionary Award in 2002. Cash won the award in 2003 and Reba McEntire was honored last year.

‘American Idol’ to perform at Caribbean jazz festival

Castries, St. Lucia — “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino will be among the performers at St. Lucia’s annual jazz festival held throughout the Caribbean island, with the main stage in Castries.

Barrino, winner of the 2004 “American Idol” singing contest, will join the Isley Brothers and saxophonist-composer Dave Koz for a May 7 performance in the capital, the tourist board announced Wednesday.

Other artists scheduled for the 11th annual festival, planned for April 29-May 8, include Earl Klugh, Chris Botti and UB40.

Former ‘Baywatch’ actor reaches plea agreement

Beverly Hills, Calif. — Michael Bergin, who claimed in a book that he had an affair with John F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife shortly after she was married, pleaded no contest to a felony drunken driving charge.

The charge stemmed from a July 2004 accident in West Hollywood that injured a woman who was inline skating.

Bergin was sentenced Thursday by Superior Court Judge Richard A. Stone to 30 days in jail and three years’ probation, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. Bergin also was ordered to participate in a Mothers Against Drunk Driving program, Robison said.

Under the plea agreement, a second drunken driving charge was dismissed.

Bergin, a former “Baywatch” actor, wrote “The Other Man: A Love Story,” published last year, about his relationship with Carolyn Bessette.

Book to be released on 10th anniversary of Diana’s death

New York — Tina Brown, the former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor, is writing a book about the legacy of Princess Diana, set for publication by Doubleday in 2007, the 10th anniversary of Diana’s fatal car crash.

“The celebrity of Diana hit the House of Windsor like a meteor,” Brown said in a recent statement. “In a sense the institution of royalty is still coping with its aftereffects.”

The book is not yet titled.

Brown, a native of England, met Diana in 1980 and the following year covered her wedding to Prince Charles for NBC’s “Today” show. Next month, she will serve as a commentator for “Today” when Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles.

Birthdays

Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 59. Former astronaut Wally Schirra is 82. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 57. Actor Jon Provost (“Lassie”) is 55. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 48.