Sting Invites 200 For Live Album Taping

LOS ANGELES (Top 40 Charts) - Sting has invited 200 lucky friends, family members, and contest winners to a private villa in Tuscany, Italy, for a Sept. 11 concert that will be taped for a live album and filmed for release on DVD. Among the guests will be two winners of a contest sponsored by VH1.com, running through Aug. 24. Interscope/A&M plans to release the album and DVD in late November.

VH1.com says the show will likely feature special guests, as well as new arrangements of material from Sting's tenure with the Police and his solo career. The as-yet-untitled set will be Sting's second proper live album as a solo artist, following the 1986 release "Bring on the Night." That album won a Grammy in 1988 for best male pop vocal performance, while its accompanying documentary won the best long form video Grammy a year earlier.

According to Sting's official Web site, the artist will perform with jazz artists the Labeque Sisters at concerts in Pompei, Italy, and Barcelona next month.

Sting's 1999 album "Brand New Day" spent 90 weeks on The Billboard 200, only dropping off the chart in late June. The set is certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for U.S. shipments of 3 million copies.