Showbiz: Eminem outstays Florida welcome

* Bad boy rapper Eminem is not wanted back in Daytona Beach, Florida, after offending the local mayor with his profanity during a concert filmed at the annual Black College Reunion for Black Entertainment Television.

"He would definitely not be welcome back to perform," said Mayor Bud Asher. "Evidently this guy is a renegade and he does whatever he wants."

Eminem was part of a lineup of rappers and r&b musicians performing at the beach town.

Concert organisers said that after they asked Eminem to tone down his language he agreed to perform one of his songs a second time without obscenities.

* Hear'Say made pop history yesterday, becoming the first British band to top the single and album charts simultaneously with debut releases.

The group - created on TV in the style of New Zealand's TrueBliss - have sold 306,631 copies of their album Popstars.

The quintet's single Pure & Simple has been at No 1 for three weeks.

* The man who discovered child star Charlotte Church is outraged that there is no mention of him in her autobiography, Voice of an Angel.

Impresario Jonathan Shalit managed the millionaire teenager for nearly two years.

He said: "To delete all references to the man who discovered Charlotte, secured her first recording contract, took her to America and managed her to two platinum discs smacks of Stalinism."

A spokesman for Church's record company, Sony, said: "We are not interested in giving him publicity. We have no comment to make."

* The first merchandise of new-look children's favourites Bill & Ben was launched by the BBC yesterday as the flowerpots prepare to storm the world.

As well as producing storybooks, videos and cassettes, the BBC showcased the potstars at the MIP international television market in Cannes. TV companies in Australia and Singapore have already bought the series.

Bill & Ben returned to British screens in January after a three-decade absence.