Rod Stewart ordered to pay $2 million

Rod Stewart lost his Las Vegas court case on Wednesday, September 7th, and now he's got to pay up big time. Stewart backed out of a December 2000 engagement at the Rio Hotel & Casino because of throat surgery to remove two tumors from his thyroid a few months earlier, but he kept the $2 million advance the hotel paid him. He wanted to reschedule the gig once he was able to sing again, but the hotel argued that it could never earn the same kind of money that would have come in for a millennium weekend show. The jury in the case ruled that the singer shouldn't have kept the money, and they ordered him to repay the $2 million, plus interest. His lawers promised to appeal the decision, according to AP.

Rod Stewart had other legal scrapes over the past year. In November, he was ordered to return a $780,000 deposit he received for a Latin American tour in early 2002 that never happened. And a suit has been filed against him by a couple who claim he injured them when he kicked a soccer ball into the audience at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in August 2004.

The British singer will perform the 1965 Impressions hit "People Get Ready" on Friday, September 9th, on the Shelter From The Storm: A Concert For The Gulf Coast telethon, which will be broadcast on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, UPN, and the WB at 8 p.m. ET. in America

October 18th is the release date for his next Great American Songbook album, which will be the fourth in the series.

He and his fiancee Penny Lancaster have a December due date for their first baby together, with a wedding to follow next year.