BIGThe star will be paid £100,000 in damages from the Associated Newspapers Ltd, who publishes The Daily Mail. Another tabloid, The Sunday Times, was also ordered by the court to pay an undisclosed sum to the singer.
Last June 24, The Daily Mail reported that Elton John had been rude and distant to his guests at an annual charity function. The story was proven to be false.
New York’s Rockefeller Center will host the event, where the singer hopes to raise funds and awareness to fight AIDs. Foundation Elton-John will auction more than 10,000 articles of clothing belonging to the star, and his partner, David Furnish.
Among the articles for auction will be items from Dior, Versace, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci.
The two will perform together at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, with much of the proceeds going to help their cause. They are hoping to raise $2.1 million that will be used to help victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which took place last August and September.
John enthuses, "I’ve played in Biloxi (Mississippi) many times. I’m just glad we can do a little something for those people’s lives that will never be the same again for many, many years. God bless them."
The Sunday Times was found guilty of defamation of character in an article published last June. In the article, the paper stated that John had acted rude at one of his charity concerts to raise money for the AIDs cause.
The newspaper will write a retraction and apology article and made a monetary settlement with the singer.
The manufacturer has announced that the new line will be called the Elton John Limited Edition Signature Series Red Piano.
Directly inspired from the red piano that the singer used at his concerts at Las Vegas’ Ceasars Palace, the pianos will be on sale later this year. Only 50 of the pianos will be made, and will be programmed to play several songs from the successful singer.
According to the newspaper the Mirror, the star plans to marry his partner David Furnish soon after civil marriages between same-sex partners becomes legal in England on December 5.
He said: "We definitely want to do it about the middle of December, probably in Windsor. But there will be no honeymoon. I’m on tour."
He added: "Meeting David has been the greatest thing to happen to me. Yes, we spend a lot of time apart. It’s hard, but we make it work."
The singer has again teamed with his partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin, creating a stage adaptation of two Anne Rice novels, Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat.
Entitled Lestat, the new musical will be presented for the first time in San Francisco, California at the Curran Theater. The show will make it’s Broadway debut in the spring of 2006.
In other news, Elton John’s most recent stage production, Billy Elliott is opening in London this year.