Sting, Disney Kiss and Make Up

Why was Disney nervous about telling Sting that seven of the songs he'd written for The Emperor's New Groove weren't going to make it in the movie? "It was tough for them because they know I'm a bastard," Sting tells TV Guide Online, adding, "I was bitterly disappointed and deeply offended... I'd been working [on them] for over two years."

Dropping Sting's tunes had nothing to do with quality control, however. The animated characters for which the songs were written were cut out of the script when the studio changed the film from Kingdom of the Sun, a serious drama about the Incas, to The Emperor's New Groove, a schticky gag-fest featuring David Spade and John Goodman.

Ever the trouper, Sting eventually came back to write some new material. "I was kind of flattered that Disney wanted to keep us, but I was doing a new album and starting to tour and I told them I didn't think I'd have the time," he recalls. "[But] we compromised on new songs for the beginning and end of the movie. Actually, I'm glad we did it, because none of my team are quitters and I'm told that the new movie is really hilarious."

Sting — who recently was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to comedian Don Rickles — is happy to report that several of his "lost" Emperor tracks will, in fact, live on: They can found on the film's soundtrack album. "I'm pleased about that," he says, "because they were damn good songs."