BETTE MIDLER - MIDLER TO RETIRE AFTER LAS VEGAS RESIDENCY

Veteran singer/actress BETTE MIDLER is planning to retire from showbusiness once her two-and-a-half-year run of shows in Las Vegas is over. The 62-year-old is taking over from Celine Dion at the Colosseum venue next month (Feb08), where she'll perform The Showgirl Must Go On for 30 months. But Midler admits she is then likely to stop working. Asked by American magazine Parade whether she will retire after the show, she says, "I think so. I must say, my high kick is just as high as it ever was, thanks to tai chi. But everything is a bit slower. The mind - things don't stick the way they used to. "I feel like I'm going out with a bang. It's something my husband and I have talked about. I certainly don't want to die in harness. I'm not one of those people."