Dave Stewart writing latest musical based on Bar Italia

Dave Stewart is keeping himself busy....VERY busy. Next March, he will be releasing a new album that includes numerous collaborations with artists like Stevie Nicks and Martina McBride called the Blackbird Diaries. He's also doing a special performance in Nashville on December 9 at the Belcourt Theatre to premier many of the tracks. That, however, is just the start.

Next June, a musical based on the film Ghost will be premiering at London's Piccadilly Theatre. Stewart wrote the music for the show with Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, Michael Jackson, Wilson Phillips) and book by Bruce Joel Rubin who wrote the film's screenplay. Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy have already been cast as the shows two leads. The show starts previews on June 22 with a July 19 opening. It will also be in previews in Manchester from March 28 to May 14.

His latest project is a musical based around the family who ran (and still run) the Bar Italia, a Soho coffee shop that first opened in London in 1949.

Stewart told the BBC "It's about la famiglia - about an Italian family out of place in the middle of Soho, where there are strip joints and everything, and they're a little Catholic family opening a coffee shop."

The shop has been a favorite of everyone from big celebrities to Soho gangs and the mafia, giving Stewart a lot of history to use for the story. It was also used for the video shoot on Sade's Smooth Operator and was part of David Bowie's film Absolute Beginners.

Finally, for those who are interested in how Dave Stewart thinks and what news stories are of importance to him, you can check out his Dave Stewart Daily. Stewart gathers stories from numerous news sources and formats the paper into news, entertainment, technology, business and other sections. To see his latest paper, go to paper.li/DaveStewart.