Music News

Rod Stewart, James Bay and The Shires have been added to the line-up for the 2015 BBC Music Awards.
The trio join previously announced acts One Direction, Little Mix, Ellie Goulding, Jess Glynne and Hozier who will perform at the annual event hosted by BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans and former Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton at Birmingham's The Genting Arena on Thursday December 10.
Rod Stewart said in a statement: "I'm really looking forward to performing at the BBC Music Awards. Birmingham is a terrific city and what a perfect way to round off the year with my loyal UK fans!"
So far, 2015 has been a standout year for Rod, 70, who reunited with his Faces bandmates for a one-off charity show, was sampled by rapper A$AP Rocky, released his 29th studio album 'Another Country' and performed to 50,000 people at BBC Radio 2's Festival in a Day event.
And 'Hold Back The River' hitmaker James Bay has been riding on the success of his number one debut LP 'Chaos and the Calm' and his performance at Glastonbury.

Nathan Sykes wants to collaborate with Disclosure.
The former Wanted star - who recently released his second solo single 'Over and Over Again' - likes to keep his fans guessing about his musical direction and he would love to "surprise" them by working with the chart-topping dance duo, brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence.
He said: "I like to surprise people, I think I'd really like to do a collab with a dance producer like a Disclosure ... I think it would be a really cool departure."
The 21-year-old singer also admitted that 'Over and Over Again' was his way of telling former beau Ariana Grande - who he dated for four months in 2013 - how he felt after their split.
He told Fiasco magazine: "I wrote 'Over and Over Again' to tell someone how I really feel about them, because I'm really bad at doing it in person" he laughs. "I'm really quite shy most of the time, maybe 80 per cent of the time I lack confidence talking to 'some' people."
The pop star previously admitted that the song and much of his record is about the 'Love Me Harder' singer.
He confessed: "The time we broke up was really tough. The Wanted decided to take a break and I lost my granddad. I was not in the best place. She was my first grown-up relationship. But sometimes you have to go into a place like that to be able to find the best music out of it. The most emotional song is about me telling myself not to be angry at the break-up because sometimes things just don't work out. That's life."
Go to www.fiascoplus.com/2015/11/music-nathan-sykes-let-the-boy-eat-cake to see the full interview from Fiasco magazine.

James are releasing a new album next year.
The British indie band will release 'Girl at the End of the World' on March 18 and frontman Tim Booth has admitted their 14th studio album has been the most "difficult" and "stressful" to record.
In statement, Tim commented: "Bands talk about that difficult second album but it's the trickster 14th one that's the real mother f***er.
"As always with James it's a collaborative process allowing ample room for improvisation, intuition, skill and dumb luck. From the outside our process looks like chaos but chaos is our friend and we have a history that gives us confidence that something magical will eventually appear.
"Most of my best lyrics are unconscious typos so don¹t ask me what it's about; your projection is as good as mine. This was perhaps the most difficult and stressful album we have ever made. I hope you find it as rewarding as we do. OYSTER-GRIT-PEARL. (sic)"
James have numerous hits over the years including 'Sit Down', 'Come Home' and 'She's A Star'.
The Manchester rock group - comprised of Tim, Jim Glennie, Larry Gott, David Baynton-Power, Saul Davies, Mark Hunter and Andy Diagram - first formed in 1982 and were signed to the legendary Factory Records.
After years together and various line-up changes they parted ways in 2006 for Tim to work on separate projects but soon reformed in early 2007.
A new album 'Hey Ma' was released in April 2008, and peaked at number 10 on the UK album charts.
'Girl At The End Of The World' - their first studio release since 2014's 'La Petite Mort' - sees the band work with producer Max Dingel, known for his work with The Killers and Muse.
James have also revealed they will be touring in 2016, and among the confirmed UK dates are a hometown show at Manchester Arena and three concerts in London.
Bassist Jim Glennie said: "The essence of James is live. The pleasure never diminishes. I can't wait for us to get our hands on these songs in front of the best audience a band can have."
The album will be available to pre order from Wednesday, November 18.

'Girl at the End of the World' tracklisting:

1. Bitch
2. To My Surprise
3. Nothing But Love
4. Attention
5. Dear John
6. Feet Of Clay
7. Surfer's Song
8. Catapult
9. Move Down South
10. Alvin
11. Waking
12. Girl At The End Of The World

The Killers are planning to release a new album next year.
The American rock band - consisting of Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci - have revealed they're in the "early stages" of penning tracks for the follow-up to their 2012 hit LP 'Battle Born.'
Speaking to NME Magazine, frontman Brandon said: "We're writing - we're in the early stages. Fans will be able to hear new music at the end of 2016 maybe.
"If The Killers want to take a year or two off then there's no reason for me not to make a solo record but if the fires are burning in the band then there will be a Killers record."
And the 34-year-old singer - who released his solo album 'The Desired Effect' six months ago - believes fans will be in for a treat as his approach to song writing has changed.
He explained: "When you get older you get more accustomed to doing it and it gets harder in a way.
"It's easier to write a song and finish a song now than when we used to really slave over it and the songs would be too long or we don't know exactly what we're doing.
"Now it's more second nature [but] it's harder to sift through what's terrible and what's great, because it's so easy to complete a song. So I think that's where you get a lot of bands being complacent and just going through the motions. You get a lot of bands that don't do great things later on, and so hopefully because I'm aware of that we can really do something better and something great this time."

Katy Perry is set to release a Christmas song called 'Every Day Is A Holiday'.
The 'Roar' singer has joined forces with high street fashion retailer H&M to release the track for their festive ad campaign, however, Katy says she won't be performing the track live because she's taking the rest of the year off to spend time with her family.
She said: "No singing. I'm off for the rest of the year. My family and I don't really exchange presents any more, we have little ones now that are sprouting up and they have their own Christmas.
"But we just go on vacation. We have a chef. We just eat, drink and pass out."
The Yuletide song is written by Katy, produced by British DJ Duke Dumont and is expected to start airing on TV from November 23.
Although, the brunette beauty will be too busy enjoying time with her family to promote the song over the festive period.
She said: "We are all grown up and there's something really nostalgic about all the kids getting under the same roof, so it's like we are teenagers again in a way. That's the best feeling."
And while the song isn't expected to be heard with the TV ad until next week, lucky H&M shoppers can hear the song in store now.

Prince has cancelled his entire European tour following the terrorist attacks in Paris.
The 'Purple Rain' star has announced he will not be embarking on the European leg of his 'Prince Spotlight: Piano and a Microphone' tour later this year as scheduled following the deaths of over one hundred innocent people in France at the weekend.
A statement posted on his Twitter account reads: "Due to the tragic events in Paris, the tour promoter has decided to postpone the upcoming European tour until further notice."
The 57-year-old star had been due to kick off the tour in Vienna, Austria at the end of the month with concerts scheduled to take place in countries including Italy, Spain and Holland as well as two performances at the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris in December.
He was also set to travel to the UK for tour dates in London, Glasgow and Birmingham but had last week postponed ticket sales after touts allegedly increased the price.
The decision to postpone the tour comes after a number of other bands including U2 and the Foo Fighters cancelled their European tours or dates following the devastating attacks.
The majority of the victims who died were killed after gunmen opened fire at an Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan theatre.

Sir Paul McCartney has explained how The Beatles hit 'Help' was really a "cry for help" from John Lennon.
The Fab Four legend admits his late bandmate - who was shot dead outside the Dakota apartment building in New York City in December 1980 - was "always" looking for help throughout his life and the upbeat track had a deeper lyrical meaning for Lennon.
Lennon gave a famous quote in a Playboy magazine interview about his state of mind when he wrote the song in 1965 - a year in which the pressure of touring took its toll and he began experimenting with drugs - in which he said: "When 'Help' came out in 65, I was actually crying out for help ... I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for help."
Explaining Lennon's state of mind, McCartney told Billboard: "(In the song) he didn't say, 'I'm now fat and I'm feeling miserable.' He said, 'When I was younger, so much younger than today.' In other words, he blustered his way through.
"We all felt the same way. But looking back on it, John was always looking for help. He had (a paranoia) that people died when he was around. His father left home when John was three, the uncle he lived with died later, then his mother died. I think John's whole life was a cry for help."
The 'Band On The Run' hitmaker remembers making the 1965 track with bandmates - the late George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John - and how quickly it came together.
He recalled: "I turned up at John's house for a writing session and saw the opportunity to add a descant (a melody in the second verse). We finished it quite quickly; we went downstairs and sang it to John's wife at the time, Cynthia, and a journalist he was friendly with called Maureen Cleave. We were very pleased with ourselves."

Ellie Goulding writes "honest songs" and worries about the consequences afterwards.
The 28-year-old singer would rather pen tracks packed with emotion and deal with the repercussions at a later date than create meaningless content that doesn't reach out to her fans and fails to connect with them on a personal level.
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, she said: "It can be quite daunting writing songs that are so personal, but I don't even think about it. I don't think about the consequences until after. That's what I do: I write very honest songs and deal with the consequences afterwards."
The blonde beauty's track 'Two Years Ago' - taken from her third album 'Delirium' - was inspired by her boyfriend Dougie Poynter, but she has admitted the McFly bassist isn't bothered about her writing songs about him because he's so proud of her and her music.
She explained: "Weirdly, my boyfriend is so incredibly understanding. He won't even think about the lyrics - he'll just be like, 'This is a great song.' This album, I'm writing about past people and past situations.
"Some guys might get strange with that - maybe I would - but it's in the past, and he's very good about being in the present. I wrote this song 'The Greatest,' and it says, 'Don't let the past dictate the way you play it now.' "

Justin Bieber has released music videos for all 13 songs on his chart-topping LP 'Purpose'. The 'What Do You Mean?' hitmaker uploaded each video online, on the hour, over 13 hours on Saturday (14.11.15) and has garnered positive responses from his fa...