NEW YORK (AP) – Tony Bennett has recruited more than a dozen music heavyweights, including Bono, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand, to sing on his new album, “Tony Bennett: Duets/An American Classic.”

The album of 18 songs, to be released Sept. 26, also features duets with Stevie Wonder, the Dixie Chicks, Elvis Costello, Billy Joel, Elton John, Diana Krall, Sting, George Michael, k.d. lang, James Taylor, Tim McGraw, John Legend, Juanes and Michael Buble.

Bennett, who will be 80 on Aug. 3, croons standards including “I Wanna Be Around” with Bono and personal favorites including “Smile” with Streisand and “The Very Thought of You” with McCartney.

“Each duet artist brought their own soul and sensibility to their song performance and it was a wonderful gift for my birthday to be able to record with these talented musicians,” Bennett said in a statement.

He also performs a solo version of his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” accompanied by pianist Bill Charlap.

In a statement Tuesday, Columbia Records Chairman Steve Barnett said, “It’s an honor and a privilege to wish Tony a very happy 80th birthday and to thank him for giving us the gift of so much magic and so much music over the years.”

MUNICH, Germany (AP) – Placido Domingo has canceled planned performances of Richard Wagner’s “Parsifal” in April and July 2007, the Bavarian State Opera said.

The 65-year-old Spanish tenor made the decision “due to his taking out the title role from his repertoire for the foreseeable future,” the Munich opera house said in a statement posted on its Web site.

It followed his withdrawal from performances in Hamburg and Berlin.

The Munich opera house said Nikolai Schukoff would sing Parsifal in performances scheduled for April 1, 5 and 8.

A planned July 8, 2007, performance will be replaced by a Wagner gala concert featuring Domingo, Waltraud Meier, Rene Pape and Martin Gantner. Kent Nagano will conduct the concert.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) – Gary Glitter was to go before a court to appeal his conviction and three-year prison sentence for child molestation.

The 62-year-old former British glam rocker was found guilty March 3 for committing obscene acts with girls ages 10 and 11 at his rented seaside villa in southern Vietnam.

The People’s Supreme Court of Appeals was to hear the appeal in a closed hearing Thursday. The ruling by the three-judge panel was expected to be announced later that day.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was accused of kissing, fondling and “engaging in other physical acts” with the girls at his rented villa in the seaside city of Vung Tau, about 78 miles southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.

He has been in police custody in Vung Tau since Nov. 19, when he was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City trying to board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand.

Glitter, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted in Britain in 1999 for possessing child pornography. He served half of a four-month jail term.

“Every time I meet with him, he says he’s innocent,” his attorney, Le Thanh Kinh, told The Associated Press. Kinh has met with Glitter a few times per month since March. Their last meeting was Tuesday.

Kinh said Wednesday that Glitter is “feeling good,” has been exercising regularly while in detention and reading The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, which Kinh has brought to him.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – John Singleton, director of “Boyz n the Hood,” “Higher Learning” and “2 Fast 2 Furious,” will produce portions of a new movie in this U.S. territory.

Singleton will spend three days in the island producing “Illegal Tender,” said Franc Reyes, the movie’s writer and director.

Filming began in New York last month. The crew will be in Puerto Rico June 24-27.

Singleton, known for bringing the gritty lives of black inner-city residents to the screen, said “Illegal Tender” tells a dynamic story about Latinos.

“Although Latinos make up a major portion of moviegoers, no studio is making cool, commercial films for this large audience,” he said. “In this case, we have a great director telling a great story with a hot cast, romance, adventure, action, cars and music.”

“Illegal Tender” is about a Latino university student and his mother who leave the United States to flee assassins that killed the young man’s father. After several years on the run, he goes to Puerto Rico to learn about his family’s dark past.

Reyes directed 2002’s “Empire,” starring John Leguizamo and Peter Sarsgaard.