POP/ROCKSinging Women: Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Annie...

POP/ROCK

Singing Women: Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Annie Lennox, Carly Simon, Melissa Etheridge and Amy Grant are among the artists who will be featured on “Women for Women,” a CD and cassette benefiting the National Alliance for Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO). The album will be available starting in October (National Breast Cancer Awareness Month) on Polygram’s Hammer & Lace Records through (800) 877-SONG, then from record stores in February as a Mercury Records release. A compilation of prerecorded songs, the recording also features Oleta Adams, Lisa Stansfield, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Dayne, Kathy Mattea, Cathy Dennis, Julia Fordham and Vanessa Williams.

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Slam Dunk Singing: Basketball players including newly-signed L.A. Laker Cedric Ceballos, L.A. Clipper Malik Sealy, Dallas Maverick Jason Kidd, Minnesota Timberwolf J.R. Rider and Orlando Magic team members Brian Shaw and Shaquille O’Neal will link up with rappers including Warren G and Grand Puba for “The Best Kept Secret,” an 11-cut compilation album merging the worlds of basketball and hip-hop. The album will be released Nov. 22 on Immortal Records.

TELEVISION

Leno’s First Ratings Prize: Jay Leno’s weeklong road trip to Las Vegas last week earned “The Tonight Show” its first-ever metered-market ratings win over “Late Show With David Letterman,” with Leno drawing an average 16% share of the available viewing audience while Letterman averaged 15% of that audience. “The Tonight Show” out-rated “Late Show” for the week in 16 of the top markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, and Miami.

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Roseanne Bio Date Set: Fox will be first out of the gate with its Roseanne TV film. “Roseanne: An Unauthorized Biography,” starring Denny Dillon (“Dream On”), is set to air on Fox Oct. 11. NBC previously announced that its Roseanne movie, “Roseanne & Tom: A Hollywood Marriage,” will air Halloween night.

MOVIES

Educational Space Ride: Filmmaker Douglas Trumbull will team with award-winning science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, space illustrator Robert McCall and Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin to create “City in the Stars,” billed as the world’s first simulator ride developed specifically for educational uses. Produced by IMAX films as part of its new modular 18-passenger motion simulator system, “City in the Stars” will use state-of-the-art computer graphics technology to take viewers on an informative, participatory voyage into space where they will experience a future colonization of the universe. Production on the new ride begins early next year.

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International Honors: Anthony Hopkins, John Mills, Anthony Quinn and Ginger Rogers will be honored for their “Distinguished Achievements in Film” at the first International Achievement in Arts Awards, set for Dec. 18 at London’s Dominion Theatre. Planned as an annual event under the patronage of Britain’s Princess Diana, the awards will benefit a London children’s hospital. Other awardees include Diana Rigg (Distinguished Achievement on Stage and Television), Peter Hall (Distinguished Achievement in the World of British Theatre), and Petula Clark and the Four Tops (Distinguished Achievement in Music).

QUICK TAKES

The Los Angeles chapter of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation will examine the portrayals of lesbians and gay men on TV talk shows during its general meeting, tonight at 7 at Pico Boulevard’s Temple Beth Chayim Chadashim. . . . Fox’s “Cops” travels with the Los Angeles Police Department in a new episode airing Oct. 8. . . . Art Rascon, who has been an anchor and general assignment reporter for KABC Channel 7 in Los Angeles since 1989, will join CBS News as a correspondent based in Miami. . . . Cheryl (Salt) James, part of the female rap group Salt-N-Pepa, will guest star on tonight’s episode of NBC’s “The John Larroquette Show” at 9:30 p.m.