Madonna won for Best Female, while her Ray of Light record was named Best Album at the 1998 MTV Europe Music Awards. Other winners were Aerosmith for Best Rock Act and Beastie Boys for Best Rap Act.

Warner Bros. has confirmed that, just in time for New Year's Eve, it will re-release Prince's 1982 hit "1999" as a promotional single available only to radio stations. Not to be outdone, Prince himself has issued a few odd messages on his official website (at www.love4oneanother.com) indicating that he will release a newly remastered version of the song on his own label, NPG Records. Site postings also hinted that he might even re-record the entire 1999 album.

The band members of Yes are currently gathering in Vancouver, Canada, for at least a month of rehearsals before going into the studio with Bruce Fairbairn, bassist Chris Squire told MTV News this past weekend. Fairbairn's most recent production job is the just-released Kiss album "Psycho Circus." Past efforts have included Bon Jovi, The Cranberries, INXS and Van Halen.

A special Sinead O'Connor remake of Abba's "Chiquitita" is one of the main highlights of a new charity album being issued for the benefit of the bombing victims in Omagh, Ireland. The previously quiet town of Omagh saw twenty-nine people die and hundreds more injured in a car bomb attack initiated by a group of Irish Republican Army dissidents last summer. British music trade publication Dot Music reports that the album, titled "Across the Bridge of Hope," will also feature tracks from other Irish bands including U2, Boyzone, The Corrs, Ash and Enya.

A blonde Eddie Vedder performed with a broken knuckle on Friday at Boston's Karma Club as the surprise guest of singer/guitarist Neil Finn, formerly of Crowded House and Split Enz. Though it is unknown as to when or how the injury occurred, Vedder seems to be doing well as he performed such songs with Finn as the Split Enz', "History Never Repeats," and "Stuff & Nonsense"; Crowded House's "Throw Your Arms Around Me," and "World Where You Live"; and Pearl Jam's "Off He Goes."

Michael Jackson has settled his libel suit against England's Mirror newspaper, following the paper's portrayal of the singer as "horribly disfigured" by extensive plastic surgery. The paper ran a front page story in June of 1992 containing a large color photo of the singer's face with the caption, "This is the real Michael Jackson." The photo, taken at a London press conference for a charity event, was accompanied by a story that inferred that the hot spotlights caused Jackson's true looks to be revealed to the camera. The text described him as a "scarred phantom" and pointed out a hole in his nose, his sagging chin and that one cheek appeared to be higher than the other. The lawyer for the Mirror had said that the photographs had "been taken honestly" and had not been altered, but that the paper now accepted that they were not representative of the singer's true looks.

Rick James was admitted to Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Surgical Intensive Care Unit on Monday after suffering from a stroke and will be operated on by doctors on Tuesday. The 50-year-old artist, who is best known for his song "Super Freak," has numbness in his right side and is unable to walk, however, both his recognition and comprehension are fine. James' condition was brought about by a broken blood vessel in the back of his neck, which occurred while he was performing at Denver's Mile High Stadium on Friday. After the show, James went to a local hospital to seek treatment for his neck pain and was released with the advice to seek further medical evaluation in the Los Angeles-area, where he resides. In lieu of flowers and cards, James asks that donations be made to the Leukemia Foundation in the name of his younger brother, William "Head" Johnson, who died from the disease last week.

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett is expected to be back in the U.S. next week, after being rushed to a London hospital over the weekend for an emergency appendectomy. According to his label, Elektra Records, Hammett was in England with his group as part of a promotional tour in support of their upcoming double-album, Garage, Inc. The guitarist is expected to make a full recovery, and the incident will not affect Metallica's previously scheduled North American club tour.

2 Live Crew and Ice-T have teamed up to shoot a no-holds-barred video for their song "The Real One," which will be featured in the Jerry Springer film " Ringmaster" and on its soundtrack. The infamous Crew were brought on board the project when Springer and the film's music supervisor first heard the song, which had been previously recorded for 2 Live Crew's current album, also titled "The Real One." The rap group also recorded two new versions of James Brown's "Living In America" for the picture.