Jackson sends video to awards

Jackson and Spears will be at the AMA

Michael Jackson has submitted a video of himself to be shown at Wednesday night's American Music Awards in the hope he will not be barred from playing at the prestigious Grammys.

An ongoing dispute between the two music awards has led to legal action being taken by American Music Awards (AMA) producer Dick Clark, who accuses the Grammys of blacklisting artists who appear at his ceremony.

Grammy boss Michael Greene claims the ban on stars performing at both awards is fair because the public will not want to see them twice in such a short space of time.

Shaggy is set to perform at the awards

So as a compromise Jackson has offered the AMA a recording of a recent performance of his 1988 song Man in the Mirror for the Wednesday night ceremony.

He will also attend the event at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to collect the Artist of the Century award, after initially refusing to go.

Grammys organisers have yet to decide whether to extend an invitation to Jackson, who received one nomination.

Harrison tribute

Britney Spears, Shaggy and Cher have all opted to take part in the AMA ceremony.

The event will feature also feature a special performance by Luther Vandross of the late George Harrison's best know song My Sweet Lord.

Singer and songwriter James Taylor will take part in a tribute to country superstar Garth Brooks, this year's Award of Merit winner.

Rapper P Diddy and actress Jenny McCarthy will host the three-hour show which will be broadcast live on ABC.

P Diddy will co-host the show with Jenny McCarthy

The dispute has been raging for several years since the AMAs were moved to a month before the prestigious Grammys, leading to a battle to sign big names.

'Unfair practice'

The Grammys began a policy of refusing to allow artists to perform at both ceremonies, saying viewers would be turned off by seeing the same acts twice.

The ban has seen the likes of P Diddy and Toni Braxton excluded from the Grammys for performing at the AMAs.

Mr Clark has filed a $10m (£6.9m) lawsuit against the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which is behind the Grammys, for unfair business practices.

But Mr Greene's response was: "We have 980 nominees and only 14 performance slots. So who in their right mind would want to regurgitate something that was on just a few weeks earlier?"