Pop star Britney Spears was booed by a crowd in Texas after a concert had to be abandoned because of a power failure.

The singer was just two songs into her performance when the back-up power needed for the hi-tech show failed.

It is thought the pyrotechnic effects used in the opening numbers Oops...I Did It Again and Crazy may have triggered a shortage.

A member of Spears' management appeared on stage with the star in an attempt to explain to the thousands of disappointed US fans what the problem was.

But the singer walked off stage pleading with the crowd to understand, saying "please don't boo".

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Stellar trio enter hall of fame

Barry Manilow, Sting and Michael Jackson have been inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Manilow, who did not write many of his hits, said his induction was one of the highlights of his four-decade career.

Sting, the former Police frontman, was honoured for a career that has included hits like Every Breath You Take, Fields of Gold and If You Love Somebody Set Them Free.

Jackson, who wrote hits such as Billie Jean and is one of the best-selling artists ever, did not attend the 33rd annual black-tie awards ceremony that drew artists like Neil Diamond, Linda Eder and Brian McKnight.

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Queen's poetry medal awarded

Peter Porter has received the Queen's 2002 Gold Medal for Poetry.

Born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1929, he has been writing poetry since he left school.

In 1983, he won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize for his first book of collected poems and in 1988 he won the Whitbread Poetry Award for the Automatic Oracle.

The Gold Medal for Poetry was instituted by King George V in 1933 - previous winners include W H Auden, Siegfried Sassoon, John Betjeman, Philip Larkin, Robert Graves, Ted Hughes and last year's recipient, Michael Longley.

Abstract composer dies

Composer Ralph Shapey, who described his award-winning abstract compositions as the "marriage of the conscious and the unconscious", died on Thursday in Chicago at the age of 81.

Shapey died from kidney failure and congestive heart failure, according to the University of Chicago, where he taught for 27 years until retiring in 1991.

He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science in 1994, and won dozens of other honours and awards, including a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant in 1982.

Shapey was denied the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for composition when the Pulitzer committee's choice was rejected by the board because it said Shapey's piece had not been commercially recorded.

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Love Hewitt to release album

Jennifer Love Hewitt, star of I Know What You Did Last Summer, is to release her new album Barenaked on 24 September.

The album will feature her own songwriting in collaboration with producer Meredith Brooks.

The title track has been sent to US radio stations and will be heard from 1 July, with a video following on MTV on 15 July.

The songs are being released by Jive Records, part of the Zomba Music Group, which this week was be sold to BMG for an estimated $3bn (�2bn).

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'Fergie' signs TV deal

The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson has signed an agreement with Universal Television to produce a syndicated talk show for the US.

The first edition of "Fergie", as she is known in British tabloid newspapers, is set to go out in September 2003.

The show's executive producer, Amy Rosenblum, said the hour-long programme would offer "variety with a heart."

The duchess, who previously had a talk show on Britain's Sky One TV channel called Sarah, Surviving Life, said: "I'm not talent, I'm not a celebrity, I'm not an actress, I am just me."

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Hugh Grant and Mike Leigh honoured

Actor Hugh Grant and director Mike Leigh are to receive the Taormina Arte Diamond Award for their work and contribution to cinema.

The honours will be presented during the 48th Taormina FilmFest in the Italian resort town, during the week of 6 to 13 July.

Actress Isabelle Huppert and composer Ennio Morricone will also receive the awards at a tribute which will include screenings of work by all four.

As part of the Taormina festival's retrospective devoted to director Sergio Leone, Morricone will also conduct a 200-piece orchestra and choir in a concert of his best-known film scores for spaghetti Westerns.