This is a pic of Janet on 29th Sept 2003 receiving the Angel award from APCH. She attended with long time friend and collaborator Jimmy Jam. Other people at the ceremony were Janet’s sister LaToya, her brother Jermaine and her mother Katherine. Mark Wahlberg was also present.
La Toya Jackson:
LaToya, Jermaine and Katherine Jackson
After our last episode a couple of years ago, we still receive regular emails as to when the next episode of Janet Love TV would be released. Well it’s now time! We’ve put togethere EPISODE 4 and you can download it now at Janet Love TV. It features some great behind the scenes footage plus a lot more!
Janet Love has learnt that the Lena Horne Biographical film that Janet will be starring in is set to air on ABC in May 2004.
From Variety.com:
Stormy weather and the small screen are in the forecast for pop diva Janet Jackson.
Storyline Entertainment’s Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, along with ABC and Sony Pictures Television, have signed the Grammy-winning crooner-thesp to star in a two-hour musical biopic about another singer-actress: Lena Horne. Roy Campanella Jr. will direct and is also attached as an exec producer.
Rather than lip synch to Horne’s songs — as usually happens in musical biopics — Jackson will record new takes on the singer’s classic tunes, choosing from a discography which includes such standards as “Stormy Weather” and “Just One of those Things.”
Jackson also will serve as exec producer of the untitled project, which is being written by Shirley Pierce. Horne’s autobiography “Lena,” written with Richard Schickel, will serve as the basis for the script.
Pic will delve into Horne’s oft-turbulent career, which involved breaking numerous race boundaries and a brush with the anti-communist blacklist, as well as a successful feature career.
Storyline senior VP of TV Dave Mace will serve as a producer on the pic, while Sony Pictures TV exec VP of movies and minis Helen Verno will oversee the project for the studio.
“I can’t think of more ideal casting,” ABC longform topper Quinn Taylor told Daily Variety. “Janet Jackson and Lena Horne — it’s like peanut butter and jelly.”
Jackson said she was “very excited” about playing Horne.
“She is someone I’ve admired my whole life,” Jackson said, adding that she was glad “to be collaborating and producing the movie” with Storyline.
Zadan and Meron first met with Jackson after the success of “Chicago,” which the duo produced. Jackson — whose feature credits include “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” and “Poetic Justice” — was a fan of the tuner and wanted to meet with the Storyline toppers.
That meeting led to a discussion of Jackson’s desire to bring the story of Horne to life. As it happened, ABC had already optioned a Horne biopic from Campanella.
Zadan and Meron knew about the ABC project and immediately called Taylor to see if he was interested. It didn’t take long for a marriage to happen.
Name recognition
“When they said her name… it wasn’t a question of can we do the deal, it was we have to make this happen,” Taylor said, noting that the addition of Zadan and Meron made the project all the more appealing.
“Craig and Neil’s talent relations are virtually unrivaled,” he said. “And all these teams coming together makes the star-power of this project somewhat mind-boggling.”
Zadan — who with Meron produced ABC’s Emmy-winning Judy Garland mini — said the Horne pic will “let Jackson shine” as a thesp.
“She’s an actress that will excite people and surprise them in every conceivable way with her emotion and depth,” he said. “The idea is even more thrilling to us because Janet will recreate the Lena Horne sound and do all of her own singing.”
Educational opportunity
Verno said that in addition to being a star vehicle for Jackson, the Horne pic will also serve as a way to educate younger viewers about the race struggles of the last century.
“This is an opportunity for a new generation to be exposed not only to Ms. Horne’s music, but to understand her struggle to overcome the racial prejudices she faced as a black performer in America,” Verno said.
Taylor said the script for the Horne pic is “a very honest portrayal of her story. She was a very complicated but straightforward woman who was a mother trying to achieve her career goals and keep her family together. She understood brilliantly that the ends justified the means.”
Exec said Jackson’s own experiences as a singer will “add a soulfulness to the project that only a performer could bring to it.
“She understands what it means to stand on stage and throw your heart out to an audience,” Taylor added.
There’s no anticipated airdate for the pic yet, though a May 2004 premiere wouldn’t be impossible. Taylor, however, said he’s willing to wait as long as necessary to ensure the project is “perfect.”
TV experience
Jackson is no stranger to TV, though most of her roles came before her success as a solo singer. This will be her first starring role in a dramatic TV project.
She first gained attention as an actress by playing abused girl Penny on “Good Times”; her first appearance on the laffer was showcased this summer as part of the Museum of TV & Radio’s ongoing festival of Gen X programming.
She latter appeared as a recurring character on “Diff’rent Strokes” and had a regular role on NBC’s “Fame.”
Deal for Jackson was brokered by Eric Kranzler of Management 360 and Roger Davies.
Storyline is currently prepping “The Reagans” for CBS and has its first sitcom, “It’s All Relative,” bowing Oct. 1 on ABC.
From the New York Daily Times: For Janet, That’s The Way Love Goes: Has Janet Jackson lost at love again?
Word is she’s split from her boyfriend, music producer Jermaine Dupri. And, we hear, she dumped him telephonically.
The whispers began when Dupri turned up solo last week for a round of parties here. Then Janet pulled a no-show as Dupri’s co-host at a Pop Burger fete last Wednesday that was attended by Venus and Serena Williams, Nelly and Usher.
A source close to the couple says that Jackson gave him the heave-ho in a phone call to him last week.
“Janet loves Jermaine,” the spy tells us. “She respects his talent and enjoys his friendship, but the romantic fireworks died for her. Jermaine was there for her during a really rough time in her life, when she was divorcing Rene [Elizondo].
“But now she’s ready to move on.”
Reps for both declined to comment – especially the Jackson camp, which was called repeatedly over several days. One flack said: “We don’t know anything about that.”
Dupri’s agency, CAA, referred calls to his record company, So So Def, which didn’t answer.
But our source says “incompatibility issues” dogged them from the start.
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A new recent photo of Janet has emerged. It was taken recently at a restaurant and Janet can be seen accompanied by her boyfriend Jermaine Dupri.
Dupri recently said in a radio interview that he had heard Janet’s new material and that it’s sounding good.
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There’s a new photo and short interview with Janet in the latest edition of In Style magazine. Janet talks about her love of candles and more – to see the picture in large, click the thumbnail on the left!
Plus, if you want to download this as wallpaper for your desktop, visit our DOWNLOADS section.
Eminem and 50 Cent seem to be dragging Ashanti into their rows with Ja Rule now. 50 Cent said at one of his shows: “Is it me, or is Ashanti’s new video Janet Jackson’s old video?”
Janet Love has, by chance, come across a track by an artist called BILLY LAWRENCE which features the same sample that Janet used in her hit ALL FOR YOU. The track, called UP & DOWN, features Change’s The Glow of Love.
You can download it by clicking here.
From POPDIRT.com: US Weekly reports that hip hop mogul Jermaine Dupri was Janet Jackson’s date for her father Joe’s 75th birthday party at brother Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch at the end of July. Rumors have surfaced that Janet is pregnant, but a source close to the couple denied the claim. Dupri, a father already, remarked, “I’d definitely like to have more kids.”