Cole, Buffett, Sinatra Top '92 List at Greek Theatre : * Pop music: Open-air theater in Griffith Park is set to offer acts ranging from reggae to Latino during the new season.

Cole, Buffett, Sinatra Top ’92 List at Greek Theatre : * Pop music: Open-air theater in Griffith Park is set to offer acts ranging from reggae to Latino during the new season.

By STEVE HOCHMAN

March 19, 1992 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Natalie Cole, the 1992 Grammy queen, tops the list of 47 headliners set for the Greek Theatre’s 1992 season, with tickets available on a custom series subscription basis beginning today.

Along with Cole, whose Greek dates are yet to be announced, the roster boasts performers ranging from Frank Sinatra to Jimmy Buffett to Tracy Chapman. Buffett, whose loyal following of “Parrot Heads” made him a strong concert draw during 1991’s recession-battered concert business, is scheduled for two nights at the open-air theater in Griffith Park, Sept. 1-2.

Sinatra will share a bill with Shirley MacLaine Sept. 17-18, while Chapman returns for her first Los Angeles concert in more than two years on a date to be announced.

Series subscribers are also being offered chances to buy tickets to engagements at the Pantages Theatre by Bob Dylan (May 13, 14, 16 and 17) and the Fiesta Mexicana starring Linda Ronstadt (Sept. 16-20).

Officials for the Nederlander Organization, which operates the Greek, predict that this season will be better than last year, when the recession and the Gulf War cut into the number of major acts on the road, as well as consumer spending on tickets.

“This year more artists are booked early, which is a good sign,” said Susan Rosenbluth, manager of the Greek and the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa. “I think the war in the Mideast affected everyone last year.”

She noted, though, that most pop and rock acts still tend not to book their tours this early in the year. Among those already lined up for the Greek are James Brown (June 5), Richard Marx (a June date to be announced), Peter Murphy (July 3), Los Lobos (Aug. 7), Santana (Aug. 13-14) and the Indigo Girls (Aug. 26).

Among the other highlights are country artists George Strait (Aug. 9) and K. T. Oslin (Sept. 19), instrumental performers Larry Carlton, Stanley Jordan and George Howard (Aug. 6) and David Benoit (Sept. 26), and Latin stars Luis Enrique (June 27) and Jose Jose (Aug. 21).

The 1992 season will also see the return of the annual Reggae Sunsplash package, this year starring Aswad and Lucky Dube (May 23-24). Also scheduled is a package headed by Asleep at the Wheel honoring the 66th anniversary of Route 66 (May 17) and two nights from the latest edition of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band, this time featuring Dave Edmunds, Todd Rundgren, Joe Walsh and others (Aug. 10-11).

Subscribers are offered two options: the Premiere Club, in which they may pick any six shows and will receive top priority tickets, and the new Premiere Club Limited, in which they pick any four shows and get the next priority seats. Both plans are available beginning today through TicketMaster. Tickets for individual shows will go on sale about six weeks prior to each event.

The rest of the Greek Theatre’s announced 1992 season:

* May 9: Vikki Carr.

* May 15: Stylistics, Dramatics and Chi-Lites.

* May 16: Jose Carreras.

* May 29: Andrew Dice Clay.

* June 19-20: Smokey Robinson.

* July 4-5: Disney Symphonic Fantasy.

* July 11: Engelbert Humperdinck.

* July 18: Latino Soul All-Stars.

* July 20: Misha Dichter.

* July 21: The Allman Brothers Band.

* July 23-24: Chicago.