Mani's tortoise, Gaga's Yoko plea, Marilyn Manson gets hitched? – your music gossip stop

Richard Ashcroft has recorded a special one-off track for a short film which aims to highlight the plight of sex trafficking.

The Verve singer also joins forces with rapper for his next solo project

The ex-Verve frontman wrote a song/shot a video for The Journey, a short film about a sex worker. The film's intense, graphic, NSFW, and depressing. The song's not bad. Proceeds go to the Helen Bamber Foundation, a UK-based human rights organization. Watch/listen.

How much you will like the video for the Verve's "Rather Be", from their latest album Forth, depends on how much you like looking at Richard Ashcroft (who also directed) wandering around the woods in a red suit, singing to the camera in slow motion. A great deal, you say? Take it away, Richard.[from Forth; out now on On Your Own/Parlophone/EMI]