SUCCESS OF JANET JACKSON'S 'NUMBER ONES TOUR' PROMPTS EXTENSION OF U.S. AND EUROPEAN LEGS UNTIL FALL

LOS ANGELES, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of massive sellouts for performances in Asia and North America, the JANET JACKSON 'Number Ones: Up Close & Personal Tour' is being expanded.  JANET's largest ever world tour will now be vastly extended to even more global cities in addition to the currently scheduled performances in London, Paris and Monte Carlo.   The North American leg of the tour, which is currently underway, will be continued in the fall after a scheduled spring and summer in Europe.

Originally slated as a world tour of 35 cities to match the 35 number one singles from her double-disc album, NUMBER ONES, JANET will now greatly exceed her planned dates. The high demand from key venues on several continents will bring JANET around the world and back again.  Several of the concerts on the initial schedule were sold-out in the first ten minutes of availability.

The star, addressing the new scope of her concert commitment, observed, "When creating music or a tour, I draw from what is going on in my life and hope that the fans relate to it. I am excited to know that the fans are having a great time at my shows and are asking for more. Thanks for all the love and your input on where I should take the show next. I'll see you soon!" said JANET.

Critics have been as enthusiastic about her concert performances as have her fans.  Here is a sampling of the media praise for her nightly performance of songs selected from her thirty-five number one singles:

"More than a week has passed since I saw JANET JACKSON at Radio City Music Hall, and I'm still smiling…" --New York Times, Rob Hoerburger

"This is one tour not to miss, a tour on which you can see a pop icon who has done it all, giving you her all." --BET, Clay Cane

"This was a concert displaying her growth as an artist and the tracks released during the journey." --Entertainment Weekly, Brad Wete

"The best Janet Jackson performance I've covered in 20-plus years." -- Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot

"Often imitated, never duplicated, Janet Jackson's outbursts of meticulous choreography, sassy exclamations and smoldering gazes into the audience kept them on their feet for the entire two-hour set ." -- MTV, Vaughn Schoonmaker

"The crowd, standing since Ms. Jackson hit the stage, was in full dance mode and remained so throughout the evening." – The Republican, Donnie Moorehouse (CT)

"Friday's concert was unusually self-knowing, as if she'd returned from a long silence and felt ready to give the truly boiled-down version of her career." --NY Times, Ben Ratliff

"She did say it was going to be one that's up close and personal. And boy, did Janet Jackson live up to that promise."-- Zaki Jufri I-S Magazine (Singapore)

"It was an evening to remember: her first Boston show since she came to town in 2001 for the 'All for You' tour." – Boston Globe, James Reed

"A tightly choreographed greatest hits show, and that's exactly what Jackson delivered Monday in the first of three sold-out concerts at the Chicago Theatre."-- Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot

"Janet Jackson's show at the sold-out Wang Theatre last night didn't really feel like a run-of-the-mill concert.  It was more like reconnecting with the best friend you haven't seen in years."-- Boston Herald, Lauren Carter

"She continues to be Miss Jackson - if you're nasty - to paraphrase one of her biggest hits." – Press of Atlantic City, by Robert DiGiacomo for At The Shore

The extension, by popular demand, reflects the icon's great success earlier this year when her first book, "True You," shot to the number one position on The New York Times best-seller list in the first week of its publication.   "True You," published by Karen Hunter Publishing, an imprint of Gallery Books at Simon & Schuster, chronicles JANET's lifelong struggles with weight and self-esteem. The book is a self-help guide where JANET used anecdotes from her life to illustrate the power of self-esteem and her struggles to achieve it.

Shortly after topping the best-seller list as she has long done on the record-sales charts, JANET signed a deal with Lionsgate to produce a schedule of films for the famed Hollywood studio.  JANET recently starred in Tyler Perry's critically acclaimed motion picture "For Colored Girls."  JANET starred in as well as co-wrote and produced the song "Nothing" for the film "Why Did I Get Married Too?" JANET's performance as Patricia in the film earned her an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Best Actress. JANET's performance of "Nothing" achieved number one status on iTunes.  Each of those films was distributed by Lionsgate.

SOURCE Universal Music Enterprises