MP3 NewsBreakers: Nelly Furtado, Keith Urban, Pink, Phil Spector, K-Fed

Canadian star to host Juno Awards; country star preps postrehab tour; singer recants Aussie wool claims; jury selection set for producer's murder trial; Federline to mock self in Super Bowl ad.

Furtado picked to host Juno Awards

Following a year that saw her reach stratospheric heights in popularity, Nelly Furtado isn't forgetting her home. The British Columbia native has been tapped to host the 36th annual Juno Awards, Canada's version of the Grammy Awards. The singer, who has garnered five Junos and 13 nominations over her career, might be up for a few more when nominations are announced February 6. Her album Loose and first single "Promiscuous" each spent considerable time in 2006 on their respective Billboard charts.

"With her continued worldwide success, [Furtado] is the perfect host for an awards broadcast that continues to gain prestige on the international stage," CTV programming president Susanne Boyce said in a statement. The event will take place April 1 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It will be broadcast live by CTV. Canadian-born singers Alanis Morissette and Shania Twain hosted the event in 2004 and 2003, respectively.

Keith Urban plans postrehab tour

Following a stint in rehab for alcohol abuse, country star Keith Urban is setting his sights on Europe. The singer said this week that he will ease back onto the stage with a short run of club shows in the UK and Germany in April. Paul Freundlich, the country singer's publicist, told Reuters that Urban had finished treatment over the weekend and will head to Germany this week for promotional appearances. Urban, 39, had checked himself into rehab in October. The shows will launch Urban's world tour in support of his latest album, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, the promotion for which was put on hold when it came out in November as Urban entered rehab. The tour dates are still being finalized, but after the club shows he will play arenas in Australia in May and in the US and Canada in June. The Aussie singer married actress Nicole Kidman in Sydney, Australia, last June. The couple then moved to Nashville, where Urban records.

Pink backtracks on Aussie wool claims

The always-outspoken Pink says she may have spoken too soon. The singer, who appeared in a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) video in December and called the process of producing Australian wool by sheep mulesing "sadistic," has recanted the claim. The singer told the Australian TV network Nine Network that Australian sheep farmers contacted her to say that they would be phasing out sheep mulesing, which involves cutting slices of flesh from lambs' rumps to prevent maggot infestation, by 2010. "I probably could have been a lot more researched on my own," she said. "My message was, in my mind, boycott animal cruelty--not an entire industry, not Australia, obviously, because it's my favorite country." The singer said she was prepared to meet farmers and wool industry representatives.

Jury selection set for Spector trial

Jury selection has been set for March in the murder trial of acclaimed rock producer Phil Spector, who's charged with killing B-movie actress Lana Clarkson in his suburban mansion in 2003. "We have to get this to trial," said Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who has granted numerous postponements in the case since Spector was arrested in February 2003. The judge said he plans to call as many as 300 prospective jurors to his courtroom March 19 to begin the process of identifying those who could serve on a trial that might last three months. Testimony is unlikely to start until three or four weeks later, he said. Spector did not attend the hearing Tuesday but was ordered to appear for jury selection. The 67-year-old producer--famed for creating the "wall of sound" recording technique that revolutionized rock music--has pleaded innocent. Clarkson, 40, was best known as the star of Roger Corman's cult film Barbarian Queen. Spector, who remains free on $1 million bail, has claimed Clarkson committed suicide.

K-Fed lines up Super Bowl ad

Looks like Kevin Federline won't be getting off the stage anytime soon. The estranged husband of Britney Spears and would-be rapper is set to appear in a TV ad that will run during the Super Bowl. The 30-second ad, for Nationwide Mutual Insurance, will be part of Nationwide's "Life Comes at You Fast" ad campaign. Previous celebrity ads in the series have featured Fabio and M.C. Hammer. In the new commercial, Federline, 28, goes from starring in a rap video surrounded by beauties and bling to working at a fast-food joint. "No one has personified 'Life Comes at You Fast' in the media better than Federline," Nationwide's Steven Schreibman told Reuters. "Our partnership with Kevin shows the world that he has a great sense of humor." Spears, 25, filed for divorce from Federline in November after two years of marriage. The couple agreed to share custody of their sons, 3-month-old Jayden James and 1-year-old Sean Preston, for this month, but after that, Federline will be allowed visits three afternoons per week. His debut rap album, Playing With Fire, sold a dismal 6,500 copies in its first week of release last fall.