Brown, Fatone co-hosts of ‘The Singing Office’

Long Beach, Calif. – Melanie Brown and Joey Fatone have a new role to add to their scarily similar resumes: TLC host.

The duo will co-host “The Singing Office,” a tongue-in-cheek singing competition that pits different groups of employees against each other.

Both Brown and Fatone were members of chart-topping pop quintets; both finished in second place on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars”; and both have starred in “Rent” on Broadway.

“It’s not like ‘American Idol’ or ‘Dancing With the Stars,”‘ Brown told The Associated Press while filming at the Long Beach Airport. “It’s not a serious competition. It gives people a break from their everyday lives to have some fun with their co-workers.”

In each episode, Brown, 32, and Fatone, 31, surprise employees at two separate workplaces with impromptu vocal auditions.

They then pick the five best singers. The makeshift groups are trained by pros to perform a song-and-dance routine and compete in front of a studio audience.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better pair to do this,” said executive producer Scott Sternberg. “Both of them did really well on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ so I think America really knows them and is rooting for them now.”

City wants 2nd chance to honor Madonna

Bay City, Mich. – A city that more than two decades ago declined to honor Madonna with a key to the city wants the singer to give it a second chance.

Mayor Charles M. Brunner has written a letter inviting Madonna, who grew up in Bay City and the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, to accept a key to the city, The Bay City Times reported.

“We have always been proud of your accomplishments but recently your induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame reminded us that we need to honor you with the highest honor that Bay City can offer,” the letter says.

The Associated Press sent an e-mail Saturday seeking comment from a publicist for the 49-year-old singer.

Madonna was considered for the honor in 1985, but some thought she was too risque, the newspaper said.

It also said the city in the late 1980s refused to accept a sculpture of Madonna from an Italian artist, citing a belief that her popularity would fade in time.

Now, Guy Greve, president of the Bay Arts Council, wants to commission an artist to sculpt a statue of Madonna.

“The local arts council would like to pay homage for her artistic contributions,” he said. “I could see a sculpture of her in Bay City. One of Madonna’s famous poses could be made into a sculpture.”

Pavarotti lip-synched his last performance

Rome – Luciano Pavarotti, in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis, lip-synched his last performance, according to the maestro who conducted the aria at the opening ceremony of the Turin Olympics.

The late tenor’s manager said Monday the bitter cold made a live performance impossible at the 2006 Winter Games.

The conductor, Leone Magiera, reveals in a book that the rousing rendition of “Nessun Dorma” (“Let No One Sleep”) was prerecorded because “it would have been too dangerous for him to give a live performance in that physical condition.”

Magiera, who worked with Pavarotti for years, said the tenor was suffering from sharp pains months before being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was using a wheelchair. Pavarotti died in September 2007. He was 71.

“The orchestra pretended to play for the public there, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing,” Magiera writes in “Pavarotti Visto Da Vicino” (“Pavarotti Seen From Close Up”), which was published last month.

“It came off beautifully, no one was aware of the technical tricks.”

Steve Irwin hid pain with persona, dad says

Brisbane, Australia – Late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin concealed pain and suffering behind his enthusiastic public persona, his father said in an interview broadcast Monday.

In the Australian Broadcasting Corp. interview, Bob Irwin, 68, said audiences failed to realize how much pain his khaki-clad son masked during his public performances.

He gave no details of the reasons for his son’s private suffering.

“People don’t realize just how much he gave of himself,” his father said. “He was always very good in front of the media, and a lot of the pain and the suffering didn’t show through.”

Last month, Bob Irwin left Australia Zoo, which he founded 36 years ago in Australia’s northeastern Queensland state, amid rumors that he had fallen out with his son’s American widow, Terri.

He did little to squash those rumors, saying that he was leaving the family-run zoo because he had become a “disruptive influence.”

He said “the problem I had was that the management and I didn’t agree on certain aspects of Australia Zoo after Steve’s passing.”

Zoo director Wes Mannion, a close friend of Steve Irwin, said “it’s not a rift.”

“Bob has decided to go his different way,” Mannion told the ABC.

Steve Irwin is buried at a secret location on the property.