PETER GABRIEL - GABRIEL TO DIRECT WORLD CUP MUSIC

British singer PETER GABRIEL has promised to "make some noise" after being named as musical director of next year's (06) soccer World Cup in Germany.

The excited musician will oversee the tournament's Berlin opening ceremony on 7 June (06), performing alongside pop act BLACK EYED PEAS, soprano JESSYE NORMAN and world music star CHEB KHALED.

The two-hour extravaganza will be staged two days before the competition's first match and will feature past World Cup heroes including Argentina's DIEGO MARADONA and Brazil's PELE.

Gabriel jokes that he signed up for the project for identical reason as the players: "It's the same attraction for a musician as for a footballer - money, sex and drugs."