NEWS NOTES:

Huey Lewis & the News, a fixture at Chrysalis Records for nearly a decade, shifts to EMI Records for its next album. The group’s 1984 collection, “Sports,” sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone, but its most recent for the label, “Small World,” sold just over 1 million.

The Commodores have no plans to replace keyboardist Milan Williams, who was expelled from the group on July 14, three weeks after refusing to participate in a scheduled tour of South Africa. Said Williams of the tour plans--which were subsequently canceled--”I could not, with a clear conscience, climb on the back of my brothers to make a buck.” A Commodores spokeswoman said that Williams was fired for going public with his disenchantment rather than attempting to solve the group’s problems internally.

Steve Winwood will play the Hawker and Patti LaBelle will appear as the Acid Queen when the Who’s all-star production of “Tommy” is staged at the Universal Amphitheatre on Aug. 24. Winwood is stepping in for the previously announced Robert Plant, who said he will be unable to appear; LaBelle is filling in for Tina Turner who declined an offer to reprise the role she played in the 1975 Ken Russell movie. The rest of the cast remains intact: Elton John, Phil Collins and Billy Idol. . . . Every news outlet, it seems, is running some kind of piece commemorating the 20th anniversary of Woodstock, but the “Today” show’s promises to be special: Rona Elliot, who produced the hour segment set to air Aug. 15, directed local press and community relations at the 1969 festival.