Dancing With The Stars champ Shawn Johnson is gearing up for her annual holiday tradition.
“I have a Fourth of July play that we always go to, and I hang out with my family,” Shawn, 17, tells me. “It’s good.”
The gymnast looks forward to noshing on carmel ice cream, sitting by the pool and swimming this weekend. She says “I love massages. They’re relaxing.” She keeps her skin routine “normal and natural” for summer, and “likes comfy clothes from the Victoria’s Secret Pink Collection. The sweats and stuff.”
On the other side of the coin is Margaret Cho, whose Lifetime show Drop Dead Diva premieres July 12. “Oh I don’t really have a tradition,” the actress, 40, tells me. “I never go in the sun because I have a lot of tattoos, so that means Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day – I am not included.”
She calls her favorite tattoo “a little gun.”
“It’s a little pearl-handled pistol stuffed into a garter belt or a little garter around my left thigh, so that I’m always armed,” she says. “I don’t believe in guns, but I just think it’s a cool little gun.”
Jason Aldean will be performing in Canada, but he says his family typically heads to the beach. “I like down in the Destin, Florida, area,” the country singer, 32, whose kids are Keeley, 6, and Kendyl, 22 months, with wife Jessica, tells me. “The Panhandle. I grew up not far from there, and that’s where we always went when I was in school. Now that I’ve got my family, it’s a good family spot down there, and it’s probably the closest beach, too, which narrows it down. That’s where we always go. We go there every year, and have for years.” Jessica Harp enjoys the annual Fourth of July blowout.
“I love, love, love fireworks, but unfortunately in places in Tennessee, they’re illegal,” the country singer, 27, tells me. “I’m from Missouri originally and my parents have six acres. It was a tradition every year where all of our family and friends, we would go buy the big, big professional fireworks, and we would sit there for hours and shoot off fireworks. That’s one of my favorites.”
Taylor Dayne poses with Michael Jackson. (Taylor's personal photo)
Taylor Dayne witnessed Michael Jackson at the height of his fame.
“I opened for him during his Bad tour in Europe,” the singer, 47, whose hits include I’ll Always Love You, With Every Beat of My Heart and Love Will Lead You Back, tells me. “It was 1988. I just had the #1 single throughout Europe -- Tell It To My Heart -- and Prove Your Love was climbing the charts in Europe and just breaking in the States. I played a month of dates at stadiums from Nice to Barcelona to Wertzberg, Germany. This was at the absolute height of Michael Mania.”
She says, “Michael was gracious to me. And extraordinary to watch as an entertainer, the mesmerizing effect his show and aura had on people. From his huge entourage and entire crew, his band who on backup was Sheryl Crow, to the dancers and production ... it was a traveling circus and fun. I was the new sensation and [Michael’s manager] Frank DiLeo two years later began managing my career from meeting during that tour.” SEE TAYLOR’S ‘I’LL BE THERE’ TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL JACKSON:
Beyond music, Taylor followed in Michael’s footsteps in at least three ways: She performed for President Bush (him, H.W.; her W.) , delivered her children through a surrogate and has copped to cosmetic enhancements.
Despite all her success, she calls the birth of her twins Astaria and Levi, 7, her proudest moment.
“They’re pretty divine,” she says. “They’re young. They’re blessings. I went for it, and I did it as a single mom. They’re precocious, alive, fantastic, thoughtful and every day they’re bringing home something new and different. I’m very proud of this achievement, and I’m very proud they chose me and I’m their mom.”
She stays true to her 80s roots by remaining friends with Paula Abdul, and holds onto her mementos.
“I have a couple of costumes,” she says. “I have that skirt from the Tell It To My Heart video, which is still a closet piece from living on Eighth Street and Second Avenue, Love Spit Love and all that stuff. God, you look around and you see your gold records and your platinums. Those are always prized possessions. Those are reminders.” SEE MORE PHOTOS OF MICHAEL JACKSON: Michael lives on through his music and remarkable legacy.
Taylor Dayne’s latest album, Satisfied, featuring the hit Beautiful is in stores now, and she’s in the studio rerecording her greatest hits for release in 2010.
“We did a show in NYC for Z100, and it was us [98 Degrees] and Beyonce, and they came back in the green room and said ‘rumor has it, Michael Jackson’s gonna be there, and they want you guys to sing a cover of Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,’” Jeff, 36, whose vocal group hit it big with hits including The Hardest Thing, Because Of You, I Do (Cherish You) and True To Your Heart, tells me.
“We all got up onstage and sang it, and then he came out and introduced himself to the crowd, and obviously the place erupted. The energy that came in with him when he stepped on the stage was unbelievable.”
What was Michael really like?
“He was a very nice guy, and polite,” Jeff says. “He was not a bit weird, like we had heard and seen him depicted as on television. He was just a nice guy. He was just really quiet.”
He also performed for Michael during VH1’s Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special, The Solo Years filmed at NYC’s Madison Square Garden on September 10, 2001 – the last time 98 Degrees performed together.
WATCH 98 DEGREES, USHER AND LUTHER VANDROSS PERFORM ‘MAN IN THE MIRROR’ FOR THE KING OF POP:
“It was an honor,” Jeff says. “We met him briefly, and he thanked us for being part of the event. I was hoping for my next project, I’d have the opportunity to work with him, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen.” SEE MORE PHOTOS OF MICHAEL JACKSON:
Jeff’s solo album, Emotional High, will be released in October.
The onetime teen queen, 38, opens up about her experience with the King of Pop days after his tragic death at age 50.
“I met Michael and he told me he had just watched a Disney special I did,” Deborah, who topped the charts with Lost In Your Eyes, Foolish Beat, Shake Your Love, Out of The Blue and Only In My Dreams, tells me. “I was blown away by the thought of the Michael Jackson sitting there watching me on TV. He then invited me to be in his Liberian Girl video. I actually was one of the few who got to sing a little snippet live over his vocal. To say it was an honor is an understatement.”
Before the Long Island sensation caused a fashion craze of her own with her signature black hat in the late 1980s, she remembers emulating the musical genius.
“At 14, I had the red jacket and glove,” Deborah shares. “I was a huge fan. He was a sweet person and lived up to everything you wanted him to be when you met him. He had a receiving line an hour long before his concert at the Forum. To personally meet so many people and then put into his show the energy he put in was astounding.”
Her heart goes out to the Jackson family.
She says, “I don't think it's about the time someone is on earth but the impact they leave. He did more for humanity and for music in 50 years than anyone could. It's a shock and I'm most saddened by the fact that a) I believe there was more music in him and b) he leaves behind three young children. Everyone feels this immeasurable loss. He was an American treasure.”
SEE MORE PHOTOS OF MICHAEL JACKSON:
Deborah Gibson is making superstar dreams come true for today’s young artists with her summer camp, Deborah Gibson's Electric Youth, which runs July 6-17.
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