Web posted on: Monday, August 24, 1998 5:11:23 PM

• Reports: Now, 2 Spice Girls expecting babies
• Bo Derek playing widow in new NBC series
• British woman claims she is John Lennon's half-sister
• Member of 'Cannibal and the Headhunters' in coma after hit-and-run
• Shania Twain to perform with high school students

Brown

LONDON (CNN) -- Just days after reports that Victoria Adams -- known as "Posh Spice" -- is pregnant, there are reports that a second member of the band, Mel "Scary Spice" Brown, is also expecting a baby.

"I'm not saying yes and I'm not saying no," the British tabloid the News of the World quoted Brown as saying.

There is some speculation that the band could use the pregnancies as an excuse to disband without losing face. However, the band's publicist on Monday shrugged off speculation that their demise was imminent.

The Spice Girls, who have sold about 30 million albums worldwide and topped the charts in more than 40 countries, have survived the sacking of the manager who steered them to success two years ago and are just recovering from the departure in June of Geri Halliwell, "Ginger Spice." Their latest single, "Viva Forever," went straight to the number one slot in the British charts last month -- their seventh number one hit.

Derek

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Bo Derek says it's fate that she is playing a widow in a new NBC series: She wouldn't be acting in the drama "Wind on Water," she says, if it hadn't been for the death last month of her director husband John Derek.

Derek hit it big 20 years ago in Blake Edwards' comedy classic "10." The reclusive 41-year-old actress tells TV Guide in its August 29 issue that her new work is helping take her mind off her husband's death last month from a heart ailment.

"I was never very ambitious, which used to drive John crazy," she says. "Especially after '10,' when I could have done anything. If somebody would just send money I would never work again. Now the weirdest thing is that I'm going back to work playing a widow when I had no idea I would be one."

Lennon

LONDON (CNN) -- A British woman claims she is the long-lost half-sister of John Lennon and that she wants to meet the surviving family of one of the world's most famous musicians.

Ingrid Pedersen, 53, told the British newspaper The Sun that she was given up for adoption by Lennon's mother as a baby. She said she has birth certificates and adoption papers to support her claim.

Lennon discovered in the mid-1960s that his mother had given birth to a baby girl after an affair with a soldier and that the girl had been adopted by a Norwegian sailor and his Liverpool-born wife. He spent years searching but did not find her before he was murdered in 1980.

Pedersen said she was told in 1966 that she was related to the ex-Beatle, but decided not to contact Lennon for fear of hurting her adoptive parents. She went public following the death of her adoptive mother and said she would like to meet Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Sean and Julian.

"I knew John wanted more than anything to meet me -- and more than anything I wanted to meet him. But it wasn't meant to be. I only ever saw him on a TV screen or a record cover," Pedersen told The Sun.

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Eddie Serrano, a former member of the 1960s rock group "Cannibal and the Headhunters," remained hospitalized in a coma Sunday, a week after he was badly injured in a hit-and-run accident, authorities said.

Serrano, who hospital staff say was on a bicycle or motorcycle when a car struck him August 17, underwent surgery Thursday at Los Angeles county-USC Medical Center for massive head injuries. He was in a coma and was breathing with the aid of a respirator, said hospital spokeswoman Adelaida De La Cerda.

"Cannibal and the Headhunters" was popular in Southern California in the 1960s. Their song "Land of 1,000 Dances" became a national hit for R&B star Wilson Pickett.

Twain

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio (CNN) -- The choir director at Shaker Heights High School may not recognize the name, but his students certainly do.

Nine singers from the school's choir and four drummers from its marching band have been chosen to perform with country music star Shania Twain Tuesday night at Ohio's Blossom Music Center.

Robert Schneider, choir director and chairman of the music department at the school in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, was not familiar with Twain's name when the singer's publicist called him last week.

But the kids are wild about her, said the 46-year-old Schneider. "I went out and announced it to the choir and they all went wild. All these kids love her. And I feel really old," he said.

Twain, who started performing at age 8, routinely invites high school students to join her in performances, said a tour manager, Michelle Thornbury. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, whose hits include "You're Still the One," is on her first national tour.

Reuters contributed to this report.