People news 9/26/03

Stamps designed by Lennon sold at auction

LONDON -- Stamps that John Lennon designed to support a postal workers' strike sold for $2,000, double the pre-sale estimate, auctioneers at Sotheby's said.

The stamps, which depict a clenched fist, were part of a sale of rock 'n' roll and film memorabilia auctioned Wednesday at London's Olympia exhibition hall. The buyer and seller weren't identified.

A 1960s table from Lennon's former home at Weybridge, south of London, went for $3,800, and a signed copy of "Revolver," one of the band's most celebrated albums, sold for $34,000. But a collection of photographs of the Beatles in Adelaide, Australia, which had been expected to fetch $24,000, failed to sell.

Aretha Franklin cited for property violation

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Township officials have fined Aretha Franklin for not removing a tennis court at the site of her Detroit-area home, which burned down.

The $225 fine issued Wednesday is the latest in a battle between the singer and township officials over clean-up responsibilities following the Oct. 25, 2002, fire at her 10,000-square-foot Oakland County home.

Franklin had received three prior citations from township officials for failing to promptly clean up the debris outside the nearly gutted mansion. Along with demolishing the tennis courts, officials also want her to remove other debris from the lot.

The 61-year-old singer's attorney, David Bennett, said the case "should be over, as far as I'm concerned."

Lisa MariePresley says she was ill during tour

MILWAUKEE -- Lisa Marie Presley says she was suffering physically when she went on her first tour, opening for Chris Isaak.

"I was having a lot of stomach problems and acid reflux and this and that," she said in a telephone interview published Thursday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"I had to fly home at one point and get an endoscopy on one of my days off. ... I flew back and I was on stage the next night."

A number of subsequent reviews were negative.

"It was like a crucifixion to some degree," she said of the reviews. "I was on the frying pan. Every reviewer was there every night. That's not going to happen with the normal opening act. So I'm trying to be upfront about it. I wasn't trying to be dramatic about it, but I was having a really hard time."

Streisand admits she's tired of singing her songs

NEW YORK -- Barbra Streisand says one reason she gave up performing in public is that listening to her own songs is boring.

"I never listen to my records for maybe 10 years. Then I can appreciate it, but really, I just get sick of it. That's why I gave up concerts -- in addition to having stage fright and the exertion of singing 30 songs a night," the 61-year-old singer tells Reader's Digest in its October issue.

"It's boring to sing your own songs," she said.

Her latest release, "The Movie Album," is scheduled to come out Oct. 14.

Julio Iglesias Jr. may drop famous last name

NEW YORK -- Julio Iglesias Jr. says he's proud of his family's musical heritage, but he'd rather just go by his first name.

"It's not like I dropped the name, I love being called Julio. All my family calls me Julio. My cousins call me Julio. My good friends call me Julio. They all call me Julio. I just love being Julio," he recently told Associated Press Television News.

"It doesn't mean I'm not proud of being an Iglesias, I really am, and I love the whole Iglesias music. I just like to be called Julio. It's shorter. It's straight to the point. Julio. Say it -- Julio."

Iglesias -- er, Julio -- is the son of singer Julio Iglesias and the older brother of singer Enrique Iglesias.

-- From wire reports