Music News

Sir Paul McCartney is to receive the Songwriter's Songwriter NME award.
The 71-year-old singer has been honoured the one-off accolade after being recognised by his fellow musicians for his outstanding contribution to pop music and his lasting impact on the industry.
NME editor Mike Williams said: "We've spoken to the biggest and best musicians around, and they've told us, 'Paul McCartney is the world's ultimate songwriter'. Paul's enduring and stunning talent is worth celebrating, and I'm incredibly honoured that NME are giving him the special, one-of-its-kind Songwriter's Songwriter award to recognise that."
The Beatles legend will pick up his award at the NME awards on February 26, 2014, at the O2 Academy in Brixton, London.
McCartney is the third winner to be announced so far, as Damon Albarn is to pick up the new Innovation award, while Blondie has been named this year's Godlike Genius.
Fans have been casting votes across 20 categories for this year's awards, and the Arctic Monkeys currently stand in the lead with eight nominations, Haim follow closely with six, while Queens of The Stone Age, Lily Allen and Arcade Fire all have three nods.
Blondie have been confirmed to perform at the ceremony and other artists will be announced shortly.
The event is being sponsored by the city of Austin in Texas.

John Legend predicted his song 'All of Me' would be the biggest of his career so far.
The singer, who performed the romantic ballad at The Grammy Awards last month, said the show was a "game-changer" and it helped to make it a hit.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "The song was doing pretty well, it was making its way up the chart, but it went up dramatically after The Grammys.
"It went from number 49 on the iTunes chart to number three. I always told the record label that this was going to be the biggest song from this album and I thought it would probably be the biggest song of my career to this point.
"And as of now it just reached that point on the US chart and several international charts."
John was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for his record 'Love in the Future' but missed out to Alicia Keys for her album 'Girl on Fire'.
However, he insists he's not bitter, having won nine awards at the ceremony in the past.
He said: "We were all in a good mood after The Grammys, just from the success of the night.
"All the response from my performance had been so good and it was just pretty euphoric knowing that in such a high profile way we did something that resonated with people."
The 35-year-old star is heading out on the road next month for an acoustic tour in the US, stopping at venues including including Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.
He said: "I'm touring again in March and I'm preparing for that right now. It's a special tour, it's different to anything I've done before. It's an unplugged tour.
"Just me on piano and a string quartet. It'll be the first time I've done a full tour like that. I'm curious of how it's going to work and excited."
John's album 'Love in the Future' and his single 'All of Me' are out now on G.O.O.D/Columbia.

David Bowie's producer claims there are "astounding" tracks left over from recording sessions for the singer's 2013 album, 'The Next Day'.
Tony Visconti spoke at the Music Producers Guild Awards on Friday (14.02.14), where he collected Bowie's innovation honour on the artist's behalf, and said "two or three" unreleased tracks could be released.
According to the BBC, he said he and Bowie were "very excited" by the reaction to the comeback album, which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
He said: "We were very excited with the reaction. Honestly I was in a daze for the first week, because keeping a secret for two years took quite a lot of lying. I almost started believing my own stories!
"No one believed that David Bowie was going to make another album and so the timing was perfect, because everyone kind of gave up on him."
When rumours began circulating that the 67-year-old star was in bad health and planning to retire, Tony says he was "laughing" because he was fine.
He added: I'm in the studio with a very healthy man who has no problem writing songs, he wrote easily 30 songs for that album."
David Bowie is nominated for two BRIT Awards this weekend for Best Album for 'The Next Day' and Best Male Solo Artist, but he will reportedly not be attending the event on Wednesday (19.02.14) at London's O2 Arena.

George Michael doesn't "understand" why he has had to edit his new single.
The 50-year-old singer has digitally-removed the audience noises from his latest track 'Let Her Down Easy' - which was recorded during his 'Symphonica' world tour of 2011-12 - because of rules that would have prevented it from being played on radio, but he is unsure why the move was necessary.
He tweeted: "Good Morning campers! Just out of intrest, Let her down easy is indeed a live vocal, but radio these days wont any live or live sounding...
"sorry i meant radio wont PLAY any live or live sounding tracks on the radio on their playlists anyore, so we had to go in and ...
"get rid of all audience sounds off the track..I know i dont understand it either (sic)"
George previously went to number one with two live duets, in 1991 with Sir Elton John on 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me' and two years later with Queen on 'Somebody To Love', and he is grateful the rules didn't apply when he released those songs as they would never have been so successful.
He added: "all i can thank god for is that it's a recent development because id have lost on two number one's, with Elton and queen! Anyway, just thought you'd like to have that cleared up (sic)"
George's latest record, also named 'Symphonica', will be released on March 17.

Laura Mvula is an honest songwriter.
The 'Green Garden' singer led a BRIT Master Class at the British Music Experience at London's The O2 last Thursday (13.02.14) where she advised local music students, members of the BRIT School, youth groups and music enthusiasts to always be as true to themselves when composing tracks.
She said: "I think the main ingredient of good songwriting is honesty."
The star - who is nominated for both Best Female and British Breakthrough Act at this year's BRIT Awards - talked about her beginnings in the music industry, and how scary it was when she finished studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire with a degree in composition and had to get a job as a supply teacher.
She said: "I was privileged to have the experience of simply focusing on music when I was at The Conservatoire. When I left I was really scared. I had been in this amazing music bubble. Everyone loved each other, but at the same time were competing with each other - so it was this amazingly creative environment. When I left I was faced with the challenge of finding 'a real job.'
"It was a difficult year - I didn't even know what a manager or a producer did!"
Laura, 27, wrote songs on her computer before releasing her first EP 'She' in November 2012 and her debut album 'Sing to the Moon' last year, which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize 2013.
Previous stars to share their knowledge at BRITs music masterclasses include Emeli Sandé, Rudimental, Imogen Heap, Bashy and Kate Nash.
The BRIT Awards 2014 will be held at The O2 on February 19 and will be broadcast live on ITV.

The Black Eyed Peas could soon reform for a world tour.
The 'I Gotta Feeling' hitmakers - will.i.am, Fergie, apl.de.ap and Taboo - are set to record their first studio album since 2010 before heading out on the road.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "The Black Eyed Peas are all in agreement that they should put a new tour on for the fans - it's not like they properly split when they parted for a hiatus in 2012.
"This time around they're going to head back into the studio and lay down a new album quickly and then hit the road once again."
Will.i.am, 38, is said to have been "instrumental" in persuading members to get back together, but he's finding it tough to get Fergie on board because she is demanding more for the reunion.
The 38-year-old singer has been spending time with her husband Josh Duhamel and their six-month-old son, Axl, and isn't as keen to tour again.
The source said: "Fergie's been stalling and wants to hold out for as much money as she can guarantee.
"She's got a baby now and needs it to be a very worthy amount to make her take her baby on the road.
"Will knows without Fergie there isn't really a BEP tour so they're willing to pay her more to keep her happy if that's what it takes.
"He just wants to celebrate the career they had and show people they still have what it takes to top the charts with the new music."

Amy Winehouse's earnings have quadrupled since the singer's death.
The 'Black to Black' hitmaker, who died aged 27 of alcohol poisoning at her home in north London in July 2011, has made more cash since her death than she did when she was alive.
New accounts show her Cherry Westfield company, which is managed by her parents Mitch Winehouse and Janis Seaton, made profits of £1.06 million for the 16 months to April 2013, according to The Sun newspaper.
It was a rise from £257,353 recorded from November 2010 until November 2011.
More than 1.7 million copies of 'Back to Black' - the star's critically-acclaimed second album - have been sold since Amy died. It follows similar situations after the deaths of legends Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.
The latest figures show the star's company had to pay out nearly £1.4 million but has assets of £2.4 million - including £2.1 million in cash.
Meanwhile, Amy's dad recently said he has forgiven her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who gave the late star her first hit of heroin.
Mitch, 61, is urging him to help others by speaking out about their addiction as he continues to dedicate his time to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
He said: "Blake is the kind of person who we send into schools to talk to kids about the dangers of drugs. He has a story to tell and he could help many hundreds of young people through his story."

Madonna wants to collaborate with Drake.
The 55-year-old singer has confirmed she's started working on her new album, the follow-up to her 2012 'MDNA' soundtrack, and she'd love to have the rapper collaborate with her on one of the songs.
When asked if she's planning a new album, she said: "Yes, plans are in the works already. Don't ask me with who - it's a secret. Top secret."
When asked if she has plans to work with Drake, she told the Canadian Press: "If he'll have me!"
Meanwhile, the 'Hung Up' hitmaker previously said she wanted to get in touch with Daft Punk because she wanted the electronic duo to help produce some of her tracks.
She said last year: "I would love to work with Daft Punk. Just waiting for them to return my call."
However, it appears Daft Punk told Pharrell Williams - who has worked with Madonna in the past - two years ago that they were also interested in collaborating with the energetic star.
Pharrell said: "We were at a party for Madonna's last album and I was like [to Daft Punk], 'You guys should have produced this! Why did that not happen? Madonna and the robots would have been unbelievable!' They were like, 'We're working on something'."

Laura Mvula doesn't think she's a good pop star.
The 27-year-old singer-songwriter narrowly missed out on winning a Mercury prize last year after James Blake claimed the honour and she's now in the running to receive a best British Breakthrough Act prize at the upcoming BRIT Awards, but she admits she's not very confident when it comes to her talent.
She told the Independent on Sunday's The New Review: "I'm still very shy, and very private. Being a pop star is something I don't think I'm very good at. I'm worried it's making me too paranoid, because all of a sudden, life has become this constant assessment.
"When you put something out there and people get to hear it, then those people react to it, socially, culturally."
The 'Green Garden' hitmaker - who only eighteen months ago was still working as a receptionist at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - has also found it hard to adjust to her fame and doesn't like being the focus of people's attention.
She explained: "Nowadays, whenever I sit down with someone, or I see someone I haven't seen for a long time, or even if I'm in the toilet in a restaurant, people want to stop and talk about me.
"They tell me either that they love my stuff, or quite possibly - and this has happened, at least once - that they don't. They want to know about my hairstyle, or what I'm wearing, who I'm wearing."