Publication: The Denver Rocky Mountain News [US]
Date: June 23, 1998
Section: Entertainment/Weekend/Spotlight
Page Number(s): 1d
Length: 598 Words
Title: "Khan, Ex-Prince To Tour Together"
Written By: Marilyn Beck With Stacy Jenel Smith And Stephanie Dubois

Chaka Khan and the Artist Formerly Known as Prince plan to hit the States in a big way late in the fall. ''We'll start in Europe and work back this way,'' says the multi-Grammy-winning singer, who heads out on a world tour with the Artist next month. Khan's alliance with the Artist goes far beyond sharing performance dates. She has launched her own label, and his New Power Generation Records is distributing its first product - Khan's CD, Come 2 My House. Khan co-wrote most of the songs on the disc with the Artist. She says the album took only three weeks to record.

''There were not a lot of distractions and the craziness that happens when you're with a big label,'' says the legendary songstress, who is celebrating her 25th year in the business and received the first American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers' Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award this week for her lifetime achievements. ''We had complete artistic freedom, and it just flowed out naturally, without somebody saying: 'Oh, this is not radio-friendly. Oh, this won't work.' '' Khan adds that collaborating with the Artist was ''great.'' ''We meet in a very good place on that planet called Music,'' she says. ''I'd write poetry, give it to him, and the next day he'd have the music written.'' Khan notes, ''Anybody signed to my label will not be screwed like most artists are by their labels. They will own their own masters, and if they split they can have them.'' Something special: The late Alex Haley's final work is coming to the small screen as a CBS miniseries produced by Jon Avnet and Jordan Kerner. It's called Mama Flora's Family and will be published in book form in the fall. It is being prepped for airing during the November sweeps period. Mama Flora, Kerner reveals, is actually a compilation of three black women - Haley's mother and the housekeepers in the Avnet and Kerner homes - who raised white children while remaining strong matriarchal figures within their own families. The big-screen scene: Drew Carey will head to Warner Bros. soon for a walk-on bit in series cast-mate Craig Ferguson's Je M'Appelle Crawford. The very funny Scotsman sounds as if he's surprised himself that the goofy comedy he co-wrote and is co-producing came together so quickly. In fact, Ferguson says, ''It's the fastest movie I've heard of in my life. It's taking just under a year from idea to wrap. We wrote one draft of a screenplay just to make ourselves laugh. Then we read it with actors around a table, and they reacted very strongly. Before we knew it, there were studios bidding for it. Now all we have to do is make it funny.'' Ferguson stars in the movie as a gay hairdresser from Glasgow who journeys to Beverly Hills for a styling competition. Is Craig concerned about reaction to Crawford from the gay audience? ''I don't think so. This gay hairdresser is the hero of the movie.'' Working without a net: Jason Alexander, who starts directing the big-screen Cherry Pink in New York this week, didn't send in Ryan Merriman as Patti LuPone's co-star in the film until late last week. In the coming-of-age comedy, the 15-year-old Merriman will play a teen-age boy who learns about love. Merriman, who's had a recurring role as the young Jarod in The Pretender, has a career that's really heating up. He co-stars with Dennis Quaid, Mare Winningham and Harve Presnell in Everything That Rises, a TNT original film that premieres July 12. And he's featured with Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams and Whoopi Goldberg in Columbia's The Deep End of the Ocean, which hits theaters in September.