AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: Toto has...

AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: Toto has been in the studio working on a new album, which promises to have a few surprises, including a new singer. The band has “amicably” parted company with Fergie Fredricksen, who served a yearlong stint with the group. The band’s new member, who’ll help out on both vocals and keyboards, is Joseph Williams, a young musician (and son of composer John Williams). One studio guest was long-time idol Miles Davis--who played on a new jazz instrumental called “Don’t Stop Me Now,” partially as a favor to Toto’s Jeff Porcaro, who gave Davis one of his new paintings. It’s still up in the air where the track (which also features David Sanborn on sax) will appear, though one tentative option is for the song to appear only on the Compact Disc version of the new album, which is expected out sometime this summer. . . . Meanwhile, Westinghouse has put the Muzak company up for sale, and guess who wants to buy it--Ted Nugent. The rock guitar demon claims he recently made a $10 million offer for the elevator-music firm. Muzak told a Nugent management representative that the price will probably be considerably higher, especially when they heard that Nugent’s intent was to “shelve” the company “for good.” As Nugent put it, “Muzak is an evil force in today’s society, causing people to lapse into uncontrollable fits of blandness.”