CHARLOTTE CHURCH AND STATE , NAZI POPES, CLUELESS BUSHES, BARED BREASTS... OH WHAT A WEEKEND!

When I was still working at Warner Bros, one of the superstar A&R guys signed a young kid with a huge voice and he wanted to put out a classical record. The A&R guy was David Foster and he has a track record that only a fool would question. And the artist was Josh Groban, who has since gone multi-platinum over and over and over in nearly every country in the world. At the time, though, I was scratching my head wondering how our pop and rock-oriented company was going to break David's new artist. The TV people told me they had it under control. They did. And then there was another secret weapon, Charlotte Church.

I wasn't familiar with the Welsh teen singer at the time, but millions and millions of people were-- and Foster got her to do a duet with Josh, "The Prayer," which became a huge hit. Since then Charlotte has re-launched herself as a pop diva and has pretty much stopped doing classical and religious songs. The British tabloid love her and her personal life is always good fodder for the gossip columnists. Last summer she recounted an audience she had with George Bush who she says is "clueless," something most people know but few are willing to say publicly. "George Bush hasn't got a clue what he's doing. He asked me what state Wales was in. I said, 'It's its own country next to England, Mr. Bush.' I thought, 'You twat.' When I've met President Clinton and Tony Blair and other world leaders, as you do, they've all made me feel like they wanted to have a chat. He was like a sulking child, he looked like he couldn't be bothered. If he doesn't know the rest of the countries in Europe, he could at least know what's in his own country. I'm really worried about it. He's a right weirdo."

She's now the hostess of The All New Charlotte Church Show on Britain's Channel 4 TV. She recently filmed the first episode in front of a live audience and she's already being banned by the religionist crowd. I guess it was one thing to remind the world that the Emperor has no clothes in regard to Bush, but quite another to remind people that Pope Benny is was a Nazi before he manipulated his way into the papacy.

Ignatius Press in the U.S. was so outraged that they've pulled all her CDs and DVDs from their catalogue. An Ignatius flack told the press "We can't stand by a woman who uses her stature in the media to mock the Eucharist, slander the Holy Father and denigrate the vows of religious women. Please join us in praying for this troubled young woman." Do you think they're praying for her? Or praying something awful happens to her?

Anyway, she was raised Catholic and sang for Pope John Paul II when she was 12 but she got turned off to Pope Benny when he denounced Harry Potter. Like all old Nazis, Pope Benny claims he was forced to join the Hitler Youth. No one has ever met an elderly Nazi who admitted he joined because he liked what it stood for. They were all, including Pope Benny, forced into it.

In any case, British TV pushes a lot more buttons than U.S. television is allowed to and this show was pretty wild, no doubt looking for some splashy press to help get some hot ratings when it debuts in a couple of weeks. And the U.K. press is suitably horrified by Charlotte's irreligious antics. She's dressed like a nun and smashes an idol of Virgin Mary, etc. And she reminds people that Pope Benny is a Nazi.

Now about the picture. This woman is as wealthy as anyone needs to be and eager to change her image. She's dating a hot football star. She poses for photos like this. Do you think she'll give a crap that Ignatius Press won't sell her old CDs from when she was 16?

A little reminder of the good old days: