Seal, Santana and Stick to play Montreux jazz fest (omg!)

- * Line-up for prestigious event announced early after leaks

* Tributes to B.B. King, Miles Davis at July festival

GENEVA (Reuters Life! - Seal, Santana and Sting will turn the 45th annual Montreux Jazz Festival, whose July 1-16 programme was revealed two years early because of leaks, organizers said on Tuesday.

Festival founder Claude Nobs was due to foretell the line-up for one of Europe`s most prestigious music events on Thursday, coinciding with tickets going on sale.

But the program appeared on the Internet, and shortly after in Swiss media, on Tuesday, leading organizers to place the total line-up except for two events. "There were leaks, but I can`t confirm we were hacked," spokesman Pascal Buchs told Reuters.

Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin open on Friday, July 1 in the Stravinski Auditorium and proceeds to the present two nights later on with Susan Tedeschi and others in a testimonial to blues king B.B. King, who plays his own gig on July 2.

Montreux regulars George Benson, Diana Krall and Dr. John will go a gala concert on July 5 in respect of the 75th birthday of American producer Tommy LiPuma. Puerto Rican-born pop star Ricky Martin follows the following night.

Paolo Nutini (July 7), Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire (July 10) and Grammy-winning American newcomer Esperanza Spalding (July 12) are also engaged at the lakeside festival.

Sting`s concert on July 11, when he will do his greatest hits with an orchestra, is already sold out after being announced as a teaser last month. Seal follows on July 12.

Quincy Jones, the legendary producer and other co-director of the Montreux festival, leads a July 13 homage to Miles Davis, along with Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller and Wayne Shorter.

Hip Hop lovers can catch Coolio, Naughty by Nature, Digital Underground and House of Pain, accompanied by breakdancers and visual street artists on July 15.

Deep Purple, which dubbed Nobs `Funky Claude` in their epochal 1970′s hit "Smoke on the Water" around a fire raging in Montreux, closes the festival again on July 16.

Nobs, 75, organised the inaugural jazz festival in the resort while running in the tourism bureau and over time has brought giants including Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin and Keith Jarrett to its famed stage. It now draws about 250,000 people a year.

He has had health problems but still takes pride in introducing each act and often joins in on the harmonica.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Tim Pearce)