Oscar-bid Annie rings £1.3m pay rise

POP star Annie Lennox enjoyed a bumper pay rise last year. The former Eurythmics singer pocketed about £1.8 million, up from £500,000, but she is likely to fare even better this year.

Lennox will be at the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood on February 29, when she will sing Into The West from The Return Of The King, the third Lord Of The Rings film.

It has been nominated for the best song award.

Accounts filed this month for DNA, the company jointly owned by Lennox and her musical partner from the Eurythmics, Dave Stewart, show that in the year to March 2003, the company paid out about £1.8 million to its highest paid director, understood to be Lennox.

The company's accounts for the current year, as well as including earnings from The Lord Of The Rings, are likely to be boosted by income from Lennox's album, Bare.

The album, her first in eight years, was released last summer.