By Renee Michelle

Did you know that……Terrence Howard really wanted to be a singer and not an actor?

NEW YORK (AP) — Terrence Howard is having a dream season for an actor, starring in one of the summer’s biggest movies with the superhero flick “Iron Man” and collecting critical acclaim for his Broadway role in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

It would all be very exciting for Howard … if acting were his true passion.

What he really wants to concentrate on is singing.

Yes, singing. At 39, Howard plans to make his musical debut this fall with a mix of soft, pop-rock tunes he wrote or co-wrote. They draw upon his musical influences such as Simon & Garfunkel, Jim Croce and the easy-listening sounds of the Carpenters. This has been my dream forever. I just want to go on the road with it,” Howard said, sifting through CDs during a trip to the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, a few hours before curtain time for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Howard says he could have had a record deal sooner, had he been willing to compromise: After initially getting resistance from record labels — “They told me, ‘You do not look like Justin Timberlake, and this ain’t happening’ ” — his convincing portrayal of D-Jay, the pimp and aspiring rapper in “Hustle & Flow,” changed people’s minds.

Look out for Terrance’s CD –Fall 2008 (it won’t be anything like “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp”)

Next up…

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon make their first public appearance together as a newly married couple at Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on Thursday.

Mariah performed at the event, which celebrated the most influential people on the planet, as selected by the the mag. Afterwards, Mariah and Nick posed alongside songwriter/music producer L.A. Reid, CEO of Time Warner Richard Parsons and editor-at-large for O Magazine Gayle King.

Rhianna and Chris Breezy

Rhianna and Chris Brown shared a passionate kiss at a KFC in Miami, Florida on Wednesday.  Awww so cute!

 Quickie:

Star Jones blasts Barbara!

– Nearly two years after Star Jones left “The View” on rocky terms, the 46-year-old TV personality has criticized former boss Barbara Walters for writing about her. “It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character,” Jones told Us Weekly magazine.

LOL @ the comment “Sunset of her life” I wonder if Star is basically saying Barbara has one foot in the grave!