Lopez demands 10 dressing rooms at BBC

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What does it take to perform a popular song? In the case of the American pop star Jennifer Lopez the answer is 10 dressing rooms and an entourage of 100.

Lopez's demands for her forthcoming appearance on BBC's Top of the Pops are unheard of in the history of the long-running show. No band in the programme's 37-year history has needed more than a handful of dressing rooms. And Lopez is a solo artist.

She does not travel lightly. Designers have already been working for a month on outfits for the 31-year-old star and her 10 backing musicians, at a cost of £50,000. She will fly by private jet from Barcelona for the performance at the BBC studios in Manchester.

Lopez's stipulations may be extensive, but for eccentricity she is beaten hands down by classical music's big names. When Pavarotti gave a concert at Hyde Park this year he demanded a hydraulic jack to lift him and his car from street level to the stage, as well as a dressing room with a deep-pile carpet, cleaned but "not freshly painted" walls, a full-length mirror, and a television and video recorder with five "classic Italian-language films".

The violinist Nigel Kennedy could teach Lopez a thing or two. He has been known to demand a two-bedroom suite in a five-star hotel, the bedrooms to be separated by a lounge. The suite had to have humidifiers and satellite or cable television in every room. And as he was a light sleeper, it had to be furnished with thick curtains.

Lopez's demands may pale by comparison. But then she is only making a three-minute appearance.

A TOTP source said: "When she gets to Manchester, we'll take her along the Union Canal ... with rose petals sprinkled in it, of course."