K's Choice has been forced to cancel plans for the last leg of its 1998 tour because of an illness contracted by lead guitarist Gert Bettens.

According to a spokesman for the Belgian-based group, Bettens is suffering from a cerebral virus that has given him a temporary case of vertigo, and that while the guitarist was expected to make a full recovery, doctors suggested that the band abandon its U.S. tour, originally slated to run from November through December.

K's Choice has been on the road in the States on and off since playing this summer's Lilith Fair, and it is believed that Bettens caught the virus during one of those previous U.S. stints.

The group has also been forced to cancel a string of European dates because of Bettens' condition, although K's Choice hopes to return to the road in full strength in early 1999.

• K's Choice

Belgium's K's Choice went global for a performance of its new single, "Everything For Free," as part of last weekend's festivities celebrating the opening of the 1998 World Cup at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris.

A TV audience for the international soccer tournament tuned in to K's Choice via Canal Entertainment, the largest TV network outside the U.S., and a press release immodestly estimated that some 30 billion watched the band.

K's Choice will play to considerably smaller audiences during a promotional tour of Canada in support of its new album, "Cocoon Crash," which is in stores now. The band will then headline Lilith Fair's second stage for the first two weeks of the tour, which launches in Portland, Oregon, on June 19 (see "K's Choice Wraps Album, Prepares For Lilith").

• K's Choice

Some faces from this summer's Lilith Fair, including Missy Elliott, Kay Hanley of Letters To Cleo, Sarah Bettens of K's Choice, and founder Sarah McLachlan turn up in an ad for Levis Jeans in the new issue of "Vogue" magazine.

The ladies are joined by one solitary man, Gert Bettens, the brother half of the sibling duo that makes up K's Choice. The whole project was a bit heady for the Bettenses, as they recently told our friends in the MTV Radio Network.

"It's funny. We flew to New York for like 30 hours just for the 'Vogue' shoot," Sarah said of the ad. "Then we flew back to Belgium. That's so exciting. It's like something I could tell my mom, you know, like 'I'm going to be in the next Vogue issue.'" [180k Audio]

K's Choice will be on board the Lilith Fair from June 19 through June 27 (for a complete Lilith itinerary, see ).

• K's Choice
• Sarah McLachlan

The Belgian brother-sister duo known as K's Choice will try to follow up the success of their breakthrough album, 1995's "Paradise In Me," with a new album and a run on this summer's Lilith fair tour.

The band, which found a home on rock radio with their hit "Not An Addict," returns to U.S. record racks on May 12 with "Cocoon Crash," an album which sees the group team with producer Gil Norton (known for his work with the Foo Fighters and the Pixies among others). According to vocalist/rhythm guitarist Sarah Bettens, who with her guitarist brother Gert forms the core of K's Choice, Norton helped the band re-think its material.

"I don't think that we're a different band than we were two months ago," Bettens said. "I just think that everything sounds so much better than before, and that's exactly what Gil came in to do. He changed some of the songs around and suggested a million things, some of the things we liked, some of the things we didn't."

The band will try out its new material on a tour that includes two weeks on this summer's Lilith Fair tour.

Here's a list of the songs you'll find when "Cocoon Crash" arrives in May:

• Believe
• In Your Room
• Everything For Free
• Now Is Mine
• Butterflies Instead
• If You're Not Scared
• 20,000 Seconds
• Too Many Happy Faces
• Cocoon Crash
• Hide
• Freestyle
• Quiet Little Place
• God In My Bed
• Winners

• K's Choice