NEWS LITE : JOINT TWIST FELLS MANSON ON STAGE.

Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson called it a ``freak accident.''

The gaunt, cross-dressing singer was forced to cancel three concerts Monday after severely spraining his right ankle during an on-stage leap in front of thousands of fans Sunday at the Great Western Forum.

``It wasn't anything spectacular or acrobatic,'' Manson said Monday from his Los Angeles-area home. ``I jumped down from a speaker cabinet. . . . It was something I'd do a million times a show.''

Manson said he had slightly injured the ankle during a concert in Orange County the night before.

A therapist advised him to cancel his appearance at Sunday's sold-out, 14,000-seat concert, but Manson said he didn't want to disappoint his fans.

Manson, 30, said a trainer from the Los Angeles Kings hockey team wrapped the ankle and he went on with the show.

Forty-five minutes into the concert, the singer collapsed during the song ``Rock is Dead'' after hopping from the speaker and twisting the ankle once again.

This time Manson says he will follow the doctor's orders and has canceled concerts in San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Soulsters to testify for rights to names

The Drifters must be one of the hardest-working groups in show business. One night last year, the 1950s soul legends played three shows - in three different states.

The problem is that this magical feat was performed by three different groups, each called the Drifters, and none of them bearing the slightest similarity to the original group.

There also are ``clone'' Coasters, Platters and Marvelettes, perhaps about five versions of each group in the United States alone, according to Lou Spiegel, the manager for Charlie Thomas, a real Drifter.

Thomas and dozens of music stars are planning to descend on Washington today, when a bill is introduced in Congress seeking to give them the sole right to use their groups' names.

Among those expected to attend are Carl Gardner of the Coasters and Herbert Reed of the Platters. Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, Joe Terry of Danny and the Juniors and Mary Wilson of the Supremes also plan to be there to offer support.

The bill is an amendment to the Lanham Act of 1946, a federal copyright statute. Under the proposed amendment, only the artists who put the songs on vinyl would be entitled to their groups' names.

The clones would cede their rights to use the names of the original groups, and the genuine artists could seek damages for infringement.

Late musician sad to lose street tunes

In an interview before his death last week, violinist Yehudi Menuhin lamented the disappearance of music from the streets.

``All of the street musicians, the street music, has disappeared,'' he said in a March 2 interview published Monday in the Munich, Germany, newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. ``It's no longer possible to sing on the streets. It's so noisy, and the air is too bad.''

Menuhin died in Berlin on Friday at 82.

Cigar-waving Scots welcome Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky was greeted by a cheering crowd Monday as her 19-stop British book tour rolled into Scotland.

North Glasgow College students Lisa Hutchinson and Anne-Marie McGroarty were among those who lined up early to get copies of ``Monica's Story'' signed. They donned Clinton masks and waved cigars.

``I think she's really cool, and we know it's probably not very original, but we thought it would be funny to do it,'' Hutchinson said.

Hall of Famers

Springsteen, Joel, McCartney enshrined

Three singers who dominated radio in the 1970s - Bruce Springsteen, Sir Paul McCartney and Billy Joel - joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday along with Dusty Springfield, who died two weeks ago.

Elton John inducted Springfield, recalling how he joined her fan club and stuck her pictures on his bedroom wall.

``Every song she sang, she claimed as her own,'' said John.

Joel gave a long hug to fellow piano man Ray Charles, who inducted him. Joel said he learned his music from Charles, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.

``I know I've been referred to as derivative, Joel said. ``I'm damn guilty. I'm derivative as hell. If everyone who is derivative was excluded from this institution, there wouldn't be any white people here.''

During a jam session that stretched past midnight, McCartney performed the Carl Perkins classic, ``Blue Suede Shoes.'' He also sang ``Let it Be,'' backed by Joel on piano, Springsteen on guitar and Bonnie Raitt, Lauryn Hill, Melissa Etheridge and the Staple Singers as backup singers.

The ceremony at New York's elegant Waldorf Astoria Hotel featured a reunion of Springsteen and his E Street Band, even though the band wasn't being inducted.

Springsteen thanked his grinning mother sitting in the audience, and his father, who died last year and who inspired many of Springsteen's songs.

``What would I conceivably have written about with him? I miss ya, Dad,'' Springsteen said.

Bono of U2 credited Springsteen's emergence in the mid-1970s with ``saving music from the phonies, saving lyrics from the folkies, saving black leather jackets from the Fonz.''

McCartney, who didn't attend when the Beatles were inducted in 1988, appeared on stage with his daughter, Stella, and paid tribute to his wife, Linda, who died last year.

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

PHOTO (1) Stella McCartney stands with dad Paul at his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday night.

(2) Patty Scialfa, Clarence Clemons and Steve Van Zandt circle Bruce Springsteen at the ceremony in New York.

(3) Billy Joel performs his rock hit ``Only the Good Die Young.''

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

(4) Manson