Music News

Allen Toussaint has died aged 77.
The legendary New Orleans R&B songwriter and producer - known for hit songs such as 'Working In The Coalmine' and 'Southern Nights' - suffered a heart attack shortly after performing on stage at Madrid's Teatro Lara on Monday night (09.11.15), according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
Toussaint was discovered in his hotel room and resuscitated
but suffered a second heart attack while being taken to the Jimenez Diaz Foundation Hospital in Madrid where he was pronounced dead on arrival, a spokesperson has confirmed.
The musician was due to play at London's Jazz Festival on Sunday (15.11.15) among other concert dates.
During his varied career, Toussaint worked with some of the greats of popular music, including Sir Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones and Joe Cocker, while his songs have been covered by a variety of artists such as The Neville Brothers, Robert Palmer and Otis Reading over the past 40 years.
Since news of his passing broke, several stars have paid tribute to the iconic musician.
The Rolling Stones posted a short message on their Twitter account alongside a video of the song 'Fortune Teller', which Toussaint wrote for the band.
They simply wrote: "RIP Allen Toussaint (sic)"
'The Simpsons' voice actor Harry Shearer shared lyrics to one of Allen's songs on the micro-blogging site as a tribute.
He wrote: "If you didn't know before, now you do (sic)"
While actor-and-musician Hugh Laurie tweeted: "Allen Toussaint. Poor old world, lucky old heaven."
The American musician got his first lucky break stepping in for Huey Smith at the age 17 performing with Earl King's band in Prichard, Alabama.
Toussaint swiftly made a name for himself penning many superb songs, which have become R&B staples and have been covered by numerous artists.
The Rolling Stones were among his biggest admirers, and not long before his death Toussaint admitted he was particularly glad the band decided to record his song 'Fortune Teller' because it earned him a good pay day.
He quipped: "I was so glad when The Stones recorded my song - I knew they would know how to roll it all the way to the bank!"
He is survived by his two children, son Clarence and daughter Alison, who both acted as his managers.

Kirk Hammett says Metallica will play live until they are "into their 70s".
The band's guitarist has promised fans the metal group will perform for as long as they are standing just like their musical peers The Rolling Stones as they still have the drive to get up on stage.
Speaking on 103.3 The Edge Radio, he said: "James, Lars and Rob still have things they want to do.
"We're all getting up there, but we still have drive, we still have energy, we're still inspired, we still have things that we wanna do. Mentally, emotionally - I think that we're not done yet.
"And if people like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger can do it into their 70s, why can't we? That's my attitude."
The 52-year-old rocker says he will keep performing and making music until he physically is unable to.
He continued: "And on a personal level, I'm a musician. I wanna continue to play and perform and do what I do, which is make music. I don't wanna stop doing this. I don't wanna stop making music. I will always be a working musician, until I can't be any more."
The 'Enter Sandman' hitmakers - also comprised of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Rob Trujillo - are currently working on the follow up to 2008's 'Death Magnetic' LP.
Kirk admits their new music may not be out until 2017 but he hopes it will be sooner.
He explained: "We're hoping that the album will be released next year. I don't wanna say that we're a third into it, or two-thirds into it, or an eighth into it, because anything could happen that'll just change that number.
"But, eventually, you will see a new Metallica album, and it will most likely be in 2016, and at the very worst, at the beginning of 2017. It's pretty much more along the same lines as 'Death Magnetic' - kind of like that direction."

Busted have already started working on new music and hope to release it after their May 2016 comeback tour.
The rock/pop group - who parted ways in 2005 when frontman Charlie Simpson quit the band - today (10.11.15) announced they had reunited after 10 years apart and it was their excitement about recording fresh songs that brought them back together although the process has been very gradual over the last few years.
Speaking at a press conference at The Soho Hotel in London about how the reunion happened, Charlie said: "This has been an incredibly gradual process. About three years ago Matt and James came round to my house. It was the first time we'd spent time together in eight years.
"It was a surreal moment because we had drifted apart. They came round and we were hanging out in my garden. They wanted to tell me about the idea of doing Busted again and they wanted to run the idea past me."
Charlie - released albums with Fightstar and two solo LPs while away from the group - originally turned them down, but cites that day three years ago as being the "catalyst" for their reformation as he realised he and James were on the same page musically.
He added: "I told them at the time it wasn't something I wanted to pursue. But the amazing thing about that afternoon, which honestly was a catalyst for us being here right now. But we played new music to each other. I had a Spotify playlist on and I was pretty astounded to find out James had been listening to a lot of the music I had been listening to. And when I left the band in 2005 we'd become worlds away creatively. It was an amazing moment, quite a poignant moment that we landed 10 years later and there was some common ground there."
The trio initially got together in April 2015, when Charlie agreed to jam with his old bandmates - who have been a part of super-group McBusted in 2013 and 2014 - and everything fell into place.
Charlie explained: "James came round to mine April of this year and said I want to play you these two songs to see what you think of them. He played them to me and I was like dude that is f***ing awesome.
"He basically said, 'What do you think of us going to the studio for a few days and hanging out as the three of us being creative and see what happens?'
"He had a friend called Eric who owned a studio in Philadelphia and so we got on a plane and went there and we spent all week in the studio."
Busted will tour the UK and Ireland in May 2016 and have promised new music will follow, if not before.
Bassist Matt said: "We are definitely going to be releasing new music ... there might be new music before that who knows."

Naughty Boy is back in the studio with Emeli Sandé making changes to her next album.
The producer has been busy this week working with the 'Next To Me' hitmaker on tracks for her second studio LP - the follow-up to 2012's smash hit 'Our Version of Events' - and has hinted the pair will be spending the next few months perfecting the record.
In a Twitter post, he revealed: "Back in the lab.. cookin that... w/ @emelisande #summersgone #meetmywinter 🙂 (sic)"
Naughty Boy masterminded nearly all of the tracks on Emeli's debut and began collaborating with her from the outset of her music career and has been the main producer on her next offering of tracks.
Emeli's LP was due out at the end of 2015 but a decision was made to delay its release so it wouldn't clash with Adele's long-awaited third album, which is out on November 20.
The postponement has given the pair the chance to make some changes to the album to ensure it is perfect.
Previously revealing why the decision was made to delay the LP, Naughty Boy said: "They (Adele and Emeli) can't go against each other. Nobody wants to. Adele's album is coming and labels have cleared their schedules because they know it's going to wipe the floor with everything. Emeli's album is coming out next year now."

The Manic Street Preachers are playing a massive open air show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album 'Everything Must Go'.
The rock trio will perform at Swansea City soccer team's Liberty Stadium on Saturday, May 28, 2016, in their native Wales to mark the release of their acclaimed 1996 LP - which was the band's first ever major commercial success and featured the hit singles 'A Design For Life' and 'Kevin Carter' among others.
The band will perform two sets; fourth studio LP 'Everything Must Go' in full and a second set which will feature rarities, a handful of new songs and greatest hits.
Frontman James Dean Bradfield has revealed the idea for the concert came from bassist Nicky Wire following the success of their anniversary shows marking the release of 'The Holy Bible' in December 2014.
Speaking to Wales Online, he said: "It was Nicky's idea. There was no indecision in doing something like this because we know that musically, stepping out on stage and playing the songs, it's a much easier task for us.
"We enjoyed the experience of playing 'The Holy Bible' anniversary shows but purely in terms of just playing the songs that was much harder and much more problematic 20 years on because it's such a vitriolic experience to play that music physically.
"But the difference with 'Everything Must Go' is that it breathes so easily. It has a flow to it and more warmth and humanity to it."
The Manic Street Preachers will be joined on the bill by guests Super Furry Animals and Public Service Broadcasting.
The band - which also includes drummer Sean Moore - are currently working with BAFTA Award-winning director Kieran Evans, who they worked with on videos for their last two albums, to create a new visual backdrop for the concert based around the artwork from 'Everything Must Go'.
Recalling his memories of the album's release at the height of Britpop, Bradfield admits it was a fantastic time but also "bittersweet" because guitarist Richey Edwards had gone missing in February 1995 never to be found.
He said: "We were a much more inclusive band around the time of 'Everything Must Go', which was such a gigantic achievement because, let's face it, 'The Holy Bible' wasn't such an inclusive experience.
"The memories of the album are of this strange sensation of being a popular cult band, to suddenly going overground and having 20,000 people singing songs back to me for the very first time. It was a shock. A completely new experience. It was a bittersweet experience, of course because there was the three of us, instead of four but it was affirmation that we could still rely on each other to be a different version of the Manics."
Tickets for The Liberty Stadium show go on sale this Friday, visit www.manicstreetpreachers.com for more information.

Idris Elba will open Madonna's concert in Berlin tonight (10.11.15).
The hunky British actor - who is also a DJ, rapper and producer - has been announced as the opening act for the Queen of Pop during her 'Rebel Heart' gig at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Germany.
Idris, 43, will warm up the crowd with his DJ skills and is the latest famous face to join Madonna's tour, with Jessica Chastain making a surprise appearance on stage in Prague over the weekend.
The 38-year-old actress joined the 'Frozen' singer during a performance of 'Unapologetic Bitch'.
The two women walked down the stage holding hands before the 'Zero Dark Thirty' actress showed off her impressive dance moves and spanking the singer as she crawled on the floor underneath her.
After the song was over, Madonna, 57, told her special guest: "You were a very good bitch."
Jessica was thrilled to make a brief appearance on stage alongside the "queen".
She wrote on Facebook: "I gave Madonna a spanking & Ive a video to prove it (sic)"
And alongside a picture of her on stage, she added: "The moment right before @madonna handed me a banana. The fkn QUEEN.(sic)"
Comic Amy Schumer and singer Katy Perry have also joined Madonna on the tour.
Madonna's tour launched its European leg last week and will take in 11 countries before returning to North America and going to Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2016.

Tommy Lee has learnt drinking beer doesn't make him a "kick ass" drummer.
The Mötley Crüe rocker has finally realised going on stage "blasted" has hindered his performances in the past and so he only has the odd beer before going on stage now.
He told Drummer Magazine: "Now, I do like a beer, maybe two before I go on stage so that I am nice and loose and relaxed. I have done the opposite of that plenty of times in the past and had far too much, and this is not cool at all. The thing is, you go out there totally blasted, and you are thinking to yourself, 'Man, I am kicking ass tonight!' And then you watch a piece of video the next day and you think, 'Dude, you were absolutely not kicking ass, or anywhere near it!' "
Tommy - who is currently on the road on the 'Girls Girl Girls' hitmakers' final ever tour - also admitted he feels "underrated" as a musician and being a part of the "mothership" that is Mötley Crüe doesn't change that.
The musician - who is joined in the group by Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Vince Neil - added: "Do I feel underrated as a musician? Yeah, I do. Years ago I used to get really frustrated over that, but when you start to get a little older, you realise that it's not really that important. I mean, Mick, our guitar player, is a really great guitar player, but he is never going to be thought of in that way first and foremost because he is Mötley Crüe's guitar player.
"A lot of the time the antics that go on kinda take on a life of their own, and the mothership that is this band has its own engine and its own atmosphere because it is just this huge thing to be a part of."

Paul Stanley "doesn't care" if people think he's gay.
The KISS frontman has addressed rumours that he is homosexual and said it's "totally irrelevant" and even if he were gay he'd be "proud" of it.
He told New Zealand radio station The Breeze: "If I were (gay), I'd be proud to be whatever I am.
"As long as you're a good person, sexual orientation and stuff like that is totally irrelevant."
The 'Crazy Nights' rocker - who has a son with former wife Pamela Bowen and three children with current spouse Erin Sutton - also said he finds it "interesting" people misread his "comfort" regarding sexual orientation as something it's "not".
He added: "That being said, besides having four children, honestly, I never saw a guy where I said, 'Gee, that's a close second to a woman.' Honestly, I never looked and said, 'You know, if I can't have that girl over there, I'm taking the bloke,' you know what I mean? So that's always been really interesting - that some people can't find a way to take my comfort with sexuality to misreading it as something it's not.
"I more scratch my head at that. So that's always been something that was, and is, persistent. And I just kind of go, 'Well, the boys may not understand, but the women always did'. They got it in more ways than one!"

Sir Tom Jones and Sir Van Morrison duetted together at the Prudential BluesFest at The O2 in London on Sunday night (08.11.15).
The Welsh music legend and Irish crooner - who hails from Belfast - gave fans a rare treat by closing the three day festival side by side.
The two icons performed several songs together across each other's sets, with the highlight being a cover of Howlin' Wolf's 'I've Been Abused'.
Van, now 70, also took the 10,000-strong crowd on a trip down memory lane, revealing that he and Tom became good friends as young singers performing at the Starlight Rooms in Boston, Lincolnshire, because their English counterparts were "stuck up" and wouldn't talk to them when they played on the same bill.
Addressing Tom, he began: "I don't why they called it the Starlight Rooms, it was a dingy basement.
"They (English musicians) were too stuck up. It was a tough apprenticeship but we loved it. We didn't make any money, we played for drinks and we were good drinkers in those days."
Tom, 75, replied: "We still drink now, but we spill most of it, because we're old."
To which Van added: "I don't drink any more, just soft drinks."
For their solo sets, Van had his moment alone in the spotlight first and offered the crowd a beautiful rendition of 'Born In The Game' and a cover of Ray Charles hit 'I Can't Stop Loving You'.
He was joined by Tom for a handful of tracks, including 'I'm Not Feeling It Anymore', which was written by Van but recorded separately by both men in 1991.
Tom's set was blues-heavy, comprised mainly of tracks from his recent albums, but he did perform re-workings of his classic hits 'Sex Bomb' and 'It's Not Unusual' to keep the fans happy.