Universal City, Calif. -- British pop star Elton John has joined the roster for U.S. TV's "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly" program, NBC announced Monday.

John's performance of his iconic hit "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" at his "Elton John's New Year's Eve Party" show at the 02 arena in London will air via satellite on the "Carson Daly" special.

"I can't wait to spend New Year's Eve with my biggest fans in America and the United Kingdom. This will be a fantastic night. I can't think of a better way to see in 2009," John said in a statement.

Also part of the musical lineup for Daly's program are Katy Perry, Ludacris, The Ting Tings and T.I., the network said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

Los Angeles -- Gene Autry, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Four Tops and Dean Martin are to be honored with lifetime achievement awards at a Grammys ceremony in Los Angeles.

Also slated to receive the accolades are Hank Jones, Brenda Lee and Tom Paxton, the Recording Academy announced Monday.

George Avakian, Elliott Carter and Allen Toussaint are to be honored with the Trustees Award, and Clarence "Leo" Fender and Universal Audio have been named recipients of the Technical Grammy Award, the Academy said.

The special invitation-only ceremony is to take place Feb. 7 during Grammy Week. A formal acknowledgment is to be made during the 51st annual Grammy Awards telecast, which will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles Feb. 8 and broadcast live on the CBS Television Network.

Bronx, N.Y. -- Actor Lillo Brancato has been acquitted in the murder of a New York police officer, though he was convicted of attempted burglary, New York One said.

A Bronx, N.Y., jury returned the verdict Monday after three days of deliberations.

Brancato, best known for his roles in the film "A Bronx Tale" and on TV's "The Sopranos," is scheduled to be sentenced on the burglary charge Jan. 16, New York One said.

The admitted drug addict was accused of attempting to break into a Bronx home, catching the attention of an off-duty police officer next door who came out of his home to investigate and was shot by Brancato's friend, who is now serving life in prison without the chance of parole.

Brancato testified during his own trial that he was high the night of the 2005 shooting and merely trying to let himself into his drug dealer's house as he had done in the past. He insists he was not attempting to burglarize the home, as prosecutors contended.

New York -- VH1 Classic plans to kick off the new year with its "2,009 for 2009 Music Video Marathon," the U.S. music television network said Monday.

Mark Goodman will be the host of the event, during which a marathon of VH1 Classic's 2,009 favorite videos are to air.

Goodman is to ring in 2009 at midnight ET Jan. 1, with the first video on the countdown, "1-2-3" by Gloria Estefan. He will close the marathon seven days later with David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust."

Videos by Van Halen, Madonna, Guns N' Roses, Duran Duran and Cyndi Lauper are expected to be part of the lineup, VH1 said in a news release.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

Los Angeles -- British celebrity disc jockey Samantha Ronson is back home following a visit to a Los Angeles hospital during the weekend, People.com said.

Ronson's girlfriend, U.S. actress Lindsay Lohan, reportedly was with Ronson when she went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Sunday.

"Thanks for all your messages," Ronson wrote on her MySpace blog later that day. "I'm home and all good. Was just pretty exhausted from traveling and working too much to buy Hanukkah gifts and my Jewish mother was worried about me. ... I had good company and a Jerry's Deli delivery of chicken soup and potato pancakes and am feeling much better. (I) am back to watching all my favorite Jerry Bruckheimer shows."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.

Manchester, England -- Model and former "Face of Asia" winner Sahar Daftary fell to her death from the 12th floor of an apartment building in England, police say.

"Witnesses have said there was no shouting or ranting -- just a single scream. It is being looked at as either suicide or a horrible accident," a police source told The Daily Mail.

The 24-year-old model died during the weekend after falling 150 feet at the building where she had gone to pick up her belongings from an apartment she shared with her ex-boyfriend, a property developer who hasn't been named to the media, the newspaper reported.

The model's former beau reportedly was arrested and interviewed by police, then released on bail.

"We are all shocked and devastated. Sahar was very beautiful -- she loved life and she was always the center of the party," Daftary's friend, Afrah Sami, told The Daily Mail. "She met (the boyfriend) in Manchester and they were very happy. Then she won the 'Face of Asia' competition and got several big contracts. She seemed to have the world at her feet. But she discovered that he was married and became very unhappy. The stress changed her and she had stopped eating properly. When she came up on Saturday she was very distracted and preoccupied with collecting her things from the apartment, but he didn't want to see her."

New York -- Tom Cruise says his latest movie "Valkyrie" is a World War II thriller about an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler, not a Holocaust drama as some may think.

The picture follows the real-life German military officers who tried to assassinate the Fuhrer and reorganize the government in 1943 and 1944.

Asked recently if he thinks "Valkyrie" is an important movie because it tells a true story of German heroism many people outside of Germany don't know, Cruise told reporters in New York: "It's an important story because I didn't know it. But I also felt that I want to entertain audiences."

Cruise said he and director Bryan Singer said a key point of the story is that not all Germans adhered to Hitler's fascism.

"So that, to me, was surprising. I grew up wanting to kill Nazis, wanting to kill Hitler. You know, as a child, you're looking at it and think, 'Why didn't someone just shoot him?'"

London, December 22: Guy Ritchie seems to have found a new gal, as reports of split with ex-wife Madonna ripen. The director and ex-Mr. Madge, 40, had been recently spotted partying with millionaire heiress Jemima Khan earlier this month.

Fairfax, Va -- U.S. fitness guru Richard Simmons is set to release his first new "Sweatin'" exercise video in 15 years, Time Life announced.

In the late 1980s through early 1990s, Simmons developed the "Sweatin' to the Oldies" series, one of the best-selling fitness videos of all times, the company said.

Simmons' new, 50-minute-long video, "Supersweatin': Party Off the Pounds," is slated to go on sale Dec. 30.

The new aerobic workout shows "real people dancing to real music and having real fun" and features hit songs like "I Wanna Dance with Somebody," "Let's Hear it for the Boy," "True Colors," "Like a Virgin," "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," "Shake it Up," "If I Could Turn Back Time," "Mickey," "New Attitude" and "Lean on Me," Time Life said.

Los Angeles, United States, December 22: Michael Jackson is battling a potentially fatal lung disease and it might require a transplant to save his life. The singer reportedly suffers from the deficiency of Alpha-1 antitrypsin enzyme, which has led to emphysema and gastrointestinal bleeding. The cause is genetic in nature.