SEPT. 28, 8:07 P.M. ET With a little help from its friends, No Doubt [ tickets ]’s new album "Rocksteady," due out on Dec. 18, is nearing completion. According to its management, the band teamed with Prince [ tickets ] on the track "Waiting Room," and a hodge-podge of producers--including Dr. Dre [ tickets ], Ric Ocasek, the Neptunes, Timbaland and William Orbit [ tickets ]--logged time behind the boards.

Currently in London mixing the album, guitarist Tom Dumont described the sound of the new LP in a posting on the band’s official website:

Many of these songs were written and the demos were recorded in my home studio earlier this year back in Los Angeles. Tony and myself took much musical inspiration from contemporary Jamaican dancehall music. On most of the song demos, Tony, myself, and Gwen came up with and played most of the keyboard parts. The great thing is that most of those demo recordings ended up on the actual album tracks.

Keeping busy before the album’s release, No Doubt [ tickets ] have signed on as openers for eight dates of the U2 tour, starting with an Oct. 25 show at Madison Square Garden in New York and wrapping up three weeks later in Los Angeles.

Singer Gwen Stefani is one of a coterie of stars who lent their voices to a cover of Marvin Gaye’s "What’s Going On," with proceeds earmarked to benefit AIDS research and the United Way’s September 11th Fund.