Billboard Bits: Bonnaroo, Ozomatli, Nadine Renee

The fourth annual Bonnaroo Music Festival is set for June 10-12. The hugely successful jam band fest will return to the same 700-acre site in rural Manchester, Tenn., about 60 miles South of Nashville.

Jonathan Mayers, president of Superfly Productions, producer of the event with Ashley Capps and A.C. Entertainment, tells Billboard.biz that the lineup is being finalized and an announcement of the bill and on-sale information is tentatively set for January.

“We will continue to have our core [jam band artists], but we’re also into introducing fans to all types of music,” ” Mayers says. “We think these fans are very open to different kinds of music.”

Bonnaroo was the second-highest-grossing concert of 2004, according to Billboard Boxscore, taking in $14.5 million from a lineup that included the Dead, Dave Matthews & Friends, Trey Anastasio, Bob Dylan, and nearly 80 other acts. Mayers says ticket prices, $139 and $164 in 2004, will increase slightly in 2005, but capacity, 90,000 last year, will not.

— Ray Waddell, Nashville

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With equipment mounted on a pair of flatbed trucks, Latin groove act Ozomatli will pull off an astounding feat today (Dec. 7), performing at five Los Angeles-area high schools in an effort to benefit the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Students at Downtown Magnet and Business High School, Venice High School, Culver City High School, Los Angeles High School and Fairfax High School are being asked to donate one can of food during the band’s “School House Rock” stop at their institution.

In the midst of their mission, the members of Ozomatli will have something to celebrate as the band’s latest album, “Street Signs” (Concord) today received a Grammy nomination for best Latin rock/alternative album.

Released in July, “Street Signs” debuted at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart and No. 125 on The Billboard 200.

— Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.

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Dance artist Nadine Shamir, who recorded as Nadine Renee, died Dec. 2 at North Shore Hospital in Miami. She was 32. Though the cause of death is not yet known, Renee did experience complications following the Dec. 1 birth of her first child, Liat Nadine Shamir.

The New York-born/Miami-raised Renee, 32, is most known as the singer of Planet Soul’s 1996 crossover hit, “Set U Free” (Strictly Rhythm Records), which went top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the late-’90s, she signed with MCA, but an album recorded for the major label was shelved. The Orchard later released a reworked version titled “Oasis of Love”.

In addition to her daughter, Renee is survived by her husband, John Shamir, her mother, Joanna Pavone, a sister, Deborah Frangomihalos and a brother, Joseph Silza. Funeral services were held Dec. 5.

— Michael Paoletta, N.Y.