Music News

S Club 7's Hannah Spearritt wants the band to release new music.
The 34-year-old singer - who reunited with her former band mates Rachel Stevens, Jo O'Meara, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh and Paul Cattermole for the opening night of their 'Bring It All Back' tour in Birmingham last night (07.05.15) - has admitted she's loved being back with her pals and hopes they will get the opportunity to make a new track together.
She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "My dream after the tour - I think it would be pretty epic to release another song, as a band."
And fellow S Club star Paul Cattermole insisted he is also up for doing more with the group now they are back together, and is eager to make a movie as he had left the band by the time they released their feature-length film 'Seeing Double' in 2003.
He said: "I missed out last time when they did a movie, I missed out on that. I would really, really like it if we could do something like that again."
Meanwhile, the seven-piece group wowed with their set, which lasted for more than 90 minutes and featured their greatest hits and a cover of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' chart-topping single 'Uptown Funk'.
The much-anticipated performance also featured high-energy dance routines and several costume changes, much to the delight of the audience who haven't had the chance to see the group live since they split up in 2003.
As well as their tracks as a group, Rachel revisited her solo career by singing her hits 'Some Girls' and 'Sweet Dreams My LA Ex', while Paul opted to reinvent the group's classic single 'Reach' with a toned down acoustic performance.
Concluding their spectacular set, all seven members returned to the stage for an encore featuring their number one singles 'Never Had a Dream Come True' and 'Don't Stop Movin'.
S Club 7 will continue their tour of UK arenas throughout May before ending in Sheffield on 21 May.

S Club 7's 'Bring It All Back' tour set list is as follows:
'Bring the House Down'
'S Club Party'
'You're My Number One'
'Love Ain't Gonna Wait for You'
'Two in a Million'
'Alive'
'Stronger'
'Reach' (Acoustic)
'Straight Up'
'Hello Friend'
'Natural'
'Have You Ever'
'You'
'Some Girls'
'Sweet Dreams My LA Ex'
'Viva La Fiesta'
'Bring It All Back'
'Uptown Funk'
'Say Goodbye'
'Reach'
'Never Had a Dream Come True'
'Don't Stop Movin'

Ben E.King received has been laid to rest.
A memorial service for the 'Stand By Me' singer - who died of natural causes aged 76 last Thursday (30.04.15) - was held on Thursday (07.05.15) at Englewood's Community Baptist Church in New Jersey with over 600 mourners in attendance.
Many former colleagues, friends and family members grieved for King and paid tribute to him as a man and to his incredible music career.
'I Need Your Lovin' vocalist Don Gardner spoke on the day about his friend, saying: "He was a sweetheart. He was a star, but he wasn't a star. Some stars are ****, but he wasn't one of them."
Famous names who went to the church to pay their respects included former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, Darlene Love, Paul Shaffer, Gary Bonds, The Drifters star Charlie Thomas and Mike Stoller - the surviving half of the songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller who co-wrote 'Stand by Me' and many other tracks for King.
After his passing, King's publicist released a statement that said: "As amazing an artist as he was, multiply that by a million and that's how nice a guy he was."

Pete Townshend doesn't find The Who concerts "fulfilling".
The 'My Generation' hitmaker finds performing shows with the iconic band "too easy" and claims he doesn't get much satisfaction out of playing live any more.
Townshend - who will headline Glastonbury and the Barclaycard British Summer Time Hyde Park festival this summer - said: "The shows? I don't like them ... I don't find them fulfilling. But I'm brilliant at it. I find it incredibly easy. I drift through it."
Townshend compared the experience of playing live with The Who - which is fronted by Roger Daltrey - to making a pair of shoes.
He told Uncut magazine: "It's like being able to make a pair of shoes and knowing that you've got to a point that whenever you make a pair of shoes for somebody they're going to last them for life. I don't get particularly excited about it, but I do find it easy."
Even getting praise from fans and gig goers is not enough to make the 'Pinball Wizard' player get exciting about performing.
He revealed: "I get out the other end and the next day, somebody comes up to me and says, 'You were f***ing amazing yesterday!"
This week The Who were confirmed as the final headline act for Glastonbury. They join Foo Fighters and Kanye West on the bill at Michael Eavis' world famous event in Somerset, South West England.

Marcus Mumford finds it "funny" when people tell him they hate his music.
The Mumford & Sons frontman has confessed he isn't bothered by critics and is often left amused when people slam the band's tracks to his face.
He said: "There was one weird kid who came up to me in a guitar shop in New York. He was very strange and knocking stuff over.
"He stood in the doorway and shouted, 'Mumford and Sons f***ing suck'. Then he turned away and ran. Weird.
"Then another time. I was at a gig when a guy came up to me and said: 'I just want you to know that I f***ing hate your music. It's repulsive'. So I said, 'OK cool, thank you for your opinion'.
"He then added, 'You seem like a nice guy but your music, it just disgusts me.'
"I don't think people are brave enough to say it to our faces most of the time. When people do, I find it very funny."
The band - made up of Marcus, bassist Ted Dwane, 30, keyboardist Ben Lovett, 28 and guitar player Winston Marshall, 27 - recently banned the use of mobile phones at their concerts as they travel the globe previewing their new material in a series small gigs.
While upholding the ban proved somewhat difficult, Marcus claims it has greatly improved the atmosphere of their shows.
He told The Sun newspaper: "That's why we've banned phones from the gig. We didn't want new songs on YouTube before the album is out.
"We've worked so hard on them and by banning phones, we've noticed the energy in the venues was totally different because people were actually looking at each other and communicating.
"Everyone was sharing experience. The small shows have really worked."

Paul Weller is a Skrillex fan.
The 56-year-old rocker revealed his 26-year-old son Natt introduced him to the dance music producer's tracks, unexpectedly admitting he thought they were "great" and "wicked".
He confessed: "My son played me a couple of tracks of Skrillex, as well, which I really liked. The couple of tracks I heard, I thought were great - the sound was great. I like that track called 'Bangarang', I thought that was wicked. And another one he did with Damian Marley."
The former The Jam star - who is set to rock Glastonbury Festival next month - also explained although he is a self-confessed technophobe, he loves checking out new music online.
He said: "I can't work the internet, but I watch YouTube on Apple TV. That is one of the great sides of the technological revolution. It's great for that - all of these amazing clips that I've never even heard before."
And although he isn't skilled at using the latest gadgets, Paul has started to use new technology because he knows it will make his music even better.
Speaking about the impact revolutions in production equipment and software have had on his forthcoming album 'Saturns Pattern', he told Shortlist magazine: "I have trouble working my f***ing mobile. But there's stuff we're doing on this that you could just never have done on tape. But it's just happened that digital recording has got so much better in the last five years - it's the same with digital photography I guess - so I've learnt to embrace technology."

Meat Loaf is believed to have cancelled his 2015 summer tour due to health issues.
The 'Bat Out Of Hell' hitmaker has removed all the scheduled dates from his website (meatloaf.net) and several venues he was due to be performing at have been informed the concerts are off, including
the Illinois State Fair in Springfield and the RiverEdge Park in Aurora.
Jim Jarvis, speaking for RiverEdge Park, told the Chicago Tribune newspaper: "We're obviously disappointed. Meat Loaf is a great entertainer and he's played an important part in rock history over the past 30 years. One of these days, we hope to get him to RiverEdge Park."
There has been no official statement on the status of the tour from Meat Loaf or his representatives yet.
The 64-year-old singer has endured numerous medical problems over the last several years including asthma and Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a rare disorder which affects the electrical system of the heart.
Meat Loaf has been known to faint on stage, throw up after gigs and has also undergone knee replacement surgery.
Previously speaking about his stage black outs, Meat Loaf revealed he suffers from "equilibrium" issues caused by multiple concussions.
He said: "I've had 18 concussions and for the last three or four years they've been flaring up. After 18 concussions I knew something had to come around, sometime. My equilibrium is off. The last few years I kind of get on stage, I will wobble a bit and stumble, and you see them (the audience) right out there (saying), 'He was drunk up there!' No, I wasn't. They just assume because they've heard (of) so many rock stars are drunk on stage so I was (sic)."
The iconic rocker is set to release new album 'Braver Than We Are' this autumn.

Kevin Jonas has admitted he suffered from depression when the Jonas Brothers split up.
The 27-year-old musician said he went through a "mourning process" when his band, made up of brothers Nick Jonas, 22, Joe Jonas, 25, and himself, split in October 2013.
He told New York radio station Z100: "Notice how when [the Jonas Brothers] went dark, we went dark. We didn't do a single interview, we didn't talk to anybody, we just went dark. I just got really depressed for a while. There's a mourning process."
The former 'Camp Rock' star - who wed Danielle Deleasa in 2009 - also addressed the rumour he is envious of his brother Nick Jonas, who coincidentally has recently returned to the charts with a hit single titled 'Jealous'.
Kevin ranted: "I don't know how many times I literally hear this. It's the worst pun in the world from some idiotic frat guy. It's like, 'You must be 'Jealous' of Nick!' ... Constantly! It's like, why? He's doing his thing. I'm doing mine!" he said. "He's happy. I'm happy."
He does however, miss having a career in music and added "there's nothing like" performing in front of adoring fans.
He told People magazine: "I miss touring. I miss seeing people on the road. I miss that adrenaline rush, there's nothing like it."

Lorde says making her new album is "exciting and scary".
The 18-year-old star has teased details of her highly-anticipated second record - following on from 2013's 'Pure Heroine' - explaining she took some time off from making music but is now hard at work on her next collection.
Writing on her Tumblr blog, she said: "i took a few months off at the beginning of this year, which was so great - i did a bunch of swimming and driving around and being salty - and now i'm just getting into making the next body of work, which is very exciting and scary but SO VALIDATING (sic)."
The 'Royals' singer went on to say she has been inspired by Swedish pop star Robyn while making the record, as she believes her track 'Dancing On My Own' would be the one song she would choose to "send into space, to live on forever".
She said: "this song, to me, is perfect. it's happy and sad, fiery and independent but vulnerable and small, joyous even when a heart is breaking. (sic)"
And the chart-topping star said after listening to the 2010 single, she realised she will never stop making music.
She continued: "i realized i'm going to be in love with music for the rest of my life. it's going to be the most important friendship i'll ever have. i'll never, ever leave it alone, because you can't leave alone something like that (sic)."
Adding further details about the record, Lorde - whose real name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor - said she feels much "calmer" in the studio this time around, and is in no rush to finish the LP.
She wrote: "i feel much calmer, more comfortable in my love of doing this, and its apparent love of me, this time around. so there's that.
"know that i'm taking my time to make the new stuff as good as i can. know that music is still making my heart skip every day. (sic)"

Sam Smith is set to undergo surgery on his vocal chords, leaving him unable to sing for six to eight weeks.
The 'Stay With Me' hitmaker - who had to cancel a string of Australian shows last month due to a haemorrhage on his vocal chords - has taken to his social media accounts to tell his fans he is "upset" that he won't be able to sing for a while.
Alongside a picture on Instagram, he wrote: "Bad news. I have my operation booked for next week, so getting really nervous. But by doing this in 8 weeks time I'm gonna be able to sing like never before so it's worth it. I am so sorry to all. Dreading the next month thou, I can't speak for THREE WEEKS after the op. (sic)"
His Twitter post, which was in the form of a picture read: "Dear all: I am very upset to announce I have been battling to get my vocal chords better the last 10 days but unfortunately they haven't recovered and I am going to need surgery. I am so gutted to be missing all of the shows and events I was meant to be playing at. The doctors say I will be back in 6 to 8 weeks and I can't wait to sing to you all soon. (sic)"
The news comes as the multiple Grammy award-winning artist confirmed he was to fly to America for surgery.
The 23-year-old singer is yet to comment on whether he will be well enough to perform forthcoming scheduled shows, which include sets at Wild Life Festival in June and T in the Park in August.