HOLLYWOOD - The Boss has a new title: Humanitarian.
Rocker Bruce Springsteen has received the Humanitarian Community Service Award from the National Associated for the Advancement of Colored People, Reuters reports.
The 51-year-old New Jersey native was honored with the award for the song he wrote last year in response to the West African immigrant who died in a hail of police gunfire in New York. He was criticized by officers when he performed last summer the song about the death of Amadou Diallo .
Springsteen has sold millions of records, often focusing on social issues such as AIDS, homelessness and racism.
``Humanitarian is too big a word for what I do,'' the rocker said Sunday as he accepted the award.
RAPPER DMX, AUTHOR: Rapper DMX now a scribe? The hip-hop star has sold the story of his troubled life, "A Dogz Life," to HarperCollins, Reuters reports. The book will have an inspirational slant to steer young fans away from his rocky past, which included several arrests.
Most recently, DMX's career has taken a tour through Hollywood. He'll next appear in the fourth installment of "The Crow" and star opposite Steven Seagal in "Exit Wounds."
``A Dogz Life'' is expected to be on shelves in late 2001. DMX's last record, ``...Then There Was X,'' sold more than 3 million copies.
TITO PUENTE HONORED: The late timbale player/composer and "Mambo King" Tito Puente will be honored posthumously for his charity work by the New York Chapter of the Recording Academy, The Associated Press reports.
Puente died in April at age 77 after a music career that spanned more than five decades. Phil Ramone, B.B. King, Diana Ross and singer-actress Bernadette Peters.