RAYE has reportedly been offered “a big slot” at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.
After headline talks with Stevie Wonder, 73, allegedly ended, co-organiser Emily Eavis is said to be keen to get the record-breaking BRIT Award-winning star, 26 – who scooped six prizes at this month’s bash – to play the biggest slot “possible” when the iconic music event returns June 26 to June 30.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “Emily is a huge fan of Raye.
“She loves her story of grafting for years and taking on the music industry and record labels and winning.
“It was a no-brainer to have her back at the farm but after her six BRITs last month Emily now wants to give her as big a slot as possible.”
Before ‘Superstition’ hitmaker Stevie – who headlined in 2010 – was rumoured to be in talks, Madonna, 65, Coldplay and Dua Lipa, 28, were the names attached to headlining this year’s festival, but talks with the ‘Material Girl’ hitmaker allegedly broke down after organisers Michael and Emily Eavis refused to pay the huge fee to bring her ‘Celebration’ live show to Glasto.
A source previously told the Mail on Sunday: “To be honest it’s been a real blow not being able to nail down a deal with Madonna.
“Emily was so keen to have her play the legend slot. After she saw Madonna’s tour in London in October she raved about her on Instagram, something she rarely does without Glastonbury in mind.
“But everyone knows that after last year, and the criticism over the gender balance, we’ve got to have big name females heading the line-up. Dua Lipa is a real catch. Now we need another.
“There is still some hope it an be resurrected but it’s pretty unlikely. There are money issues at the root of this, it’s a real shame.”
Coldplay have previously headlined the festival in 2002, 2005, 2011, and 2016, while it would be Dua’s first appearance as a headline act.
Emily previously hinted Madonna could be set to top the bill.
Speaking to Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw on their podcast ‘Sidetracked with Annie and Nick’, she shared: “I thought it was kind of taking shape, and then last week I just got a call, and this is what happens if you wait a little longer, because quite often we’ll be booked up from July. But this year we’re holding out for a little bit longer.
“And then last week I got a call from [a representative of] a really big American artist saying, ‘This person’s around next year’, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is incredible. Thank God we held the slot.'”
The timing of the call coincided with Emily seeing Madonna at The O2 in London, but she insisted people shouldn’t read too much into her posting online about the gig.
She said: “It was incredible. I just was blown away by it to be honest.
“I walked away and I was like, ‘I’ve got to post about this’. I’ve posted about going to lots of gigs before, but I didn’t expect it to be quite such big news.
“Everybody knows that I’ve always wanted Madonna to play Glastonbury.
“It’s not a big news story.”