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17. 11. 09. - 16:00

'Posh Spice' to sing at Vienna autograph session

By Thomas Hochwarter

Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham is to sing in Vienna during an autograph session at a shopping centre, it has emerged.

Veteran Viennese playboy Richard Lugner revealed today (Tues): "She will definitely sing three or four songs. Maybe one of them will be a Christmas song."

Asked whether rumours that the mother of three will bank 70,000 Euros for her one-day stay in the Austrian capital on 10 December were true, Lugner said: "I don’t speak about money. Women are not purchasable."

Days before the autograph signing, Beckham – who is expected to book into Vienna’s Hotel Imperial during her stay in the capital – will be in Austria to promote the "Rich Prosecco" wine launched by Austrian businessman Günther Aloys.

Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton has in the past promoted the canned drink, but Aloys has denied that 35-year-old Posh Spice is taking over from Hilton and said she will instead promote the new bottled product.

"We don’t plan to split with Hilton. Instead, Beckham will support our team," he told newspaper Österreich.

Aloys said Beckham would sing some Spice Girls numbers at the At VIP Tyrolean ski resort Ischgl’s "Pacha" club. But it is unlikely she will brave the resort’s slopes.

Lugner – who revealed the Vienna autograph session was a sixteenth birthday present for his daughter – also commented on rumours he tried to invite Posh’s football star husband David, laughing: "That would have cost me twice as much!"

Meanwhile, speculation is growing that Viennese businessman Lugner – who has invited stars to attend the Vienna Opera Ball with him since 1991 – is planning to bring singer Lady Gaga to next year’s event, regarded as Austria’s society highlight of the year, after claiming his 2010 Opera Ball guest will be "someone very fancy".

The 77-year-old is yet to announce his star guest’s name, but Austrian media have already started to speculate he could have chosen Lady Gaga as the singer was full of praise for the city when she performed in Vienna earlier this year.

"I have never been inspired by a city as much as this one," she said after her Vienna gig, adding she wrote poems and drew stage sets during her stay.

Lugner – who has been married four times – has previously been accompanied to the ball by the likes of "Desperate Housewives" star Nicolette Sheridan, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, actress Sofia Loren and burlesque artiste Dita von Teese.

Austrian Times

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