Sir Elton John plans to adopt 14-month-old Ukranian boy

London, September 13 (ANI): Sir Elton John is planning to adopt a child from Ukraine with partner David Furnish.

The singer revealed that a 14-month-old boy called Lev has apparently “stolen his heart.”

The child had performed at an orphanage in Ukraine while the ‘Candle In The Wind’ hitmaker was on a visit.

The 62-year-old confessed that he had always avoided adopting someone because of his age and continuous tours.

“David and I have always talked about adoption, David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said ‘no’ because I am 62 and I think because of the travelling I do and the life I have, maybe it wouldn’t be fair for the child,” the BBC News quoted him as saying.

“But having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him. I don’t know how we do that but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David’s heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home. I’ve changed my mind today,” he added.

The death of Elton’s long-term keyboardist, Guy Babylon, has influenced him too.

He said: “Last week I lost one of my best friends; my keyboard player died of a heart attack at 52.

“It broke my heart because he was such a genius and so young and has two wonderful children.

“What better opportunity to replace someone I lost than to replace him with someone I can give a future to.” (ANI)

Pet Shop Boys to compose ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen story

London, Feb 21 (ANI): The Pet Shop Boys are working on a ballet based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, Neil Tennant has revealed.

The singer said that the work, which will be staged at Sadler’s Wells, will feature “electronics and strings.”

Tennant told Radio 2 presenter Stuart Maconie that the piece could open at the London theatre in 2011.

He and keyboardist Chris Lowe were composing an original score, he said.

Winning an outstanding contribution at Wednesday night’s Brit Awards had given the duo “a warm feeling”, he added.

The 54-year-old star who told Maconie he liked “Shostakovich a lot” and that Prokofiev was “brilliant”, said the ballet was “a very exciting project”.

“It’s quite a big project. There’s a lot of music to write but we’ve written half an hour of it and we’ve done a bit of a workshop with them. It’s got a story, it’s like a Tchaikovsky ballet in that it’s based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen but we’ve got the choreographer sorted out now,” The BBC quoted him, as saying.

He added: “We’re going to be working on that across the year but we’re touring so we probably won’t get it really finished until the end of next year.”

The duo will release their 10th studio album, Yes, next month and will play live dates in June at Manchester Apollo and London’s O2 arena.

Christian Andersen was a Danish author and poet, most famous for his fairy tales. Among his best-known stories are “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Snow Queen”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Thumbelina”, “The Little Match Girl”, “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Red Shoes”. (ANI)