Music News

Bruce Dickinson will pilot a Boeing 747 over six continents for Iron Maiden's 2016 tour.
The rockers have announced they will travel over 55,000 miles across the globe for their 'The Book of Souls World Tour' which has promised to hit over 30 countries including the band's first visits to China and El Salvador.
Frontman Bruce said: "When the opportunity arose from my friends at Air Atlanta Icelandic to lease a 747 for The Book of Souls World Tour, of course we jumped at the chance, who wouldn't?"
However, Bruce - who was declared cancer free earlier this year after a health scare - admitted he needs to learn to fly the huge aircraft before the band can take to the skies, as although he has a pilots license, it will be the biggest plane he has ever flown.
He explained: "Even though we have worked out the logistics of taking a plane of that immense size out on tour, I still have to learn to fly it before we can go anywhere! So, I'm currently doing my training to qualify as a pilot and Captain on a Boeing 747. I'm doing this at Cardiff Aviation, my aircraft maintenance facility in Wales, where we recently took possession of a rather splendid 747 simulator which I can't wait to get practising on!"
The tour will kick off in the USA in February before moving to Central America, returning to the USA and Canada in March and April, then heading to Japan, China, New Zealand and Australia and ending the tour in Europe from May until August.
The band will release their first album in five years, 'The Book of Souls' on September 4 and will begin releasing their exact tour dates soon after.
In a statement on their website, they added: "We're all really excited at the thought of bringing our brand new tour to fans who have never seen us play live before, and of course re-visiting all our old friends again too. You can rest assured we are all working hard to put together a spectacular show for our fans."

Demi Lovato and Pharrell Williams are among stars who will perform at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The 'Neon Lights' hitmaker and 'Happy' singer will join hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, rapper A$AP Rocky and American duo Twenty One Pilots, as performers at the event at Los Angeles' Microsoft Theater on Sunday (30.08.15).
Following the announcement, Demi, 23, took to Twitter to share her excitement about the upcoming performance of her new single 'Cool For The Summer'.
She wrote: "I'M PLAYING THE #VMAs B*****s!!!!!!!! #CoolForTheSummerVMA @MTV (sic)."
Pharrell also expressed his eagerness to perform, saying he "can't wait" to take to the MTV stage.
He tweeted: "Can't wait to perform at the #VMAs this year! See you Sunday at 9/8C on @MTV (sic)."
They will join the previously announced 'Can't Feel My Face' hitmaker The Weeknd, with more performers and presenters set to be announced shortly.
Miley Cyrus will host the star-studded ceremony this weekend, which will see Kanye West receive the prestigious Video Vanguard Award, which has previously been won by Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson and U2.

Nick Jonas is working with Purity Ring.
The 'Jealous' hitmaker famously wore one of the bands as a sign of his chastity as a teenager while part of the Jonas Brothers but having ditched his ring, he has revealed he is working with an electronic music producer, Corin Roddick, who is one half of a duo of the same name.
He tweeted: "Amazing session tonight with Corin from one of my favorite groups @PURITY_RING tonight. Can't wait for you all to hear this new music. (sic)"
The 22-year-old hunk is currently working on the follow-up to his eponymous LP and recently unveiled the album's first single, 'Levels'.
Last year, the singer - who has recently been romantically linked to Kendall Jenner and Tinashe following his split from beauty queen Olivia Culpo - confirmed he no longer wears his purity ring but doesn't "regret" the jewellery.
He said: "I don't regret it. I think it was an important part of my childhood and it was that.
"I think as I grew up, I sort of figured out what was important to me and my own belief system. We all grow up and we all live life and find out what's important to us, that's what happened.
"I went on that journey myself and I'm now comfortable with who I am and what I believe in and I'm an adult in all ways.
"Am I still a virgin? No, no. As I said, I'm an adult in all ways and comfortable with who I am."

John Newman rejected the chance to work with Will Smith.
The 'Come And Get It' hitmaker was in talks to record with 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' star for his second studio record 'Revolve' but revealed he decided to bin the potential collaboration in favour of an album introduction from 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' actor Idris Elba.
He explained: "It's weird. I was actually in talks with Will Smith about doing it. And it never came through, but then the more I thought about it, I was like, I'm gonna look like Johnny big balls here, and I didn't wanna do that. I didn't wanna go to LA and make a record and turn around and go, 'I've worked with Michael Jackson's musicians in the studio and then got Will Smith on a track'. It's a bit like, just remember the music and the artist and stuff. And that's not slating Will Smith, he's just very, very famous and very successful! Whereas Idris Elba is Idris Elba."
The 25-year-old musician chose to work with Idris instead because he felt he was more suitable for the record because he is so "talented".
In an interview airing tonight (26.08.15) at 7pm on Free Radio, he said: "He's a serious man! And what I mean is, I wanted somebody that did it justice in every sort of way for this piece of work, and Idris was that guy! He's a very talented and lovely person."

Conor Maynard wants to become a YouTube vlogger.
The 22-year-old singer has been working on the follow-up to his debut studio album 'Contrast' for over a year but hinted his fans might need to wait even longer for the LP because he's so keen to branch out and become famous on the video-sharing site.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "I'm friends with a lot of great YouTubers like Caspar Lee and Joe Sugg and I'm really looking to get into the whole YouTube world, because you know obviously that's where I came from initially."
The 'Can't Say No' hitmaker originally got discovered from uploading videos of himself singing onto the site but feels like he's "neglected" his original fans on the site since signing his record deal.
He explained: "I kind of neglected it over the last few years and I kind of really want to get back into it and start being much more active on my YouTube channel so, that's kind of what I'm planning to do."
The singer/songwriter - who was speaking prior to his Island Beats show at Thorpe Park - recently appeared on Caspar Lee's channel, which has more than five million subscribers, and now feels like he wants to follow in his footsteps by making kooky videos in which he can play pranks on people.
He added: "I did a recent video with Caspar, like pranks, that kind of thing. We did a public busking prank which was really fun, I really enjoyed doing that with Caspar, so doing maybe a few more pranks with Caspar on my own channel would be really fun."
Union J will headline the final night of Thorpe Park's Island Beats on Saturday (29.08.15).

Sugababes singer Jade Ewen is bankrupt.
The 27-year-old star - who replaced Keisha Buchanan in the group in 2009 - reportedly owes thousands of pounds to the tax office and has declared the legal status because she cannot repay the debt owed.
And it is believed the star's money woes began when she "fell victim" to the natural shelf life of the band because she joined when the music had dried up.
A source told The Sun: "Jade put her all into her music but sadly things simply haven't gone well.
"She joined the Sugababes full of optimism and had high hopes given the band were very much established in the charts. But it seems she fell victim to their shelf life expiring."
In 2013 Jade revealed the band - who had five members during their 13 year run and a string of UK hits including 'Round Round' and 'Freak Like Me' - were not getting back together after "fizzling out two years ago".
She said: "I kind of was unlucky in that I came in [to Sugababes] towards the end of the cycle when things naturally came to the end."
Original member Mutya Buena also declared herself bankrupt last year after blaming an administrative error for not paying tax.
However it looks like Jade won't be poor for long and has since made the jump into movies.
She said on Twitter: "On my way to Romania to shoot my first ever action movie 'End Of A Gun' with Steven Seagal! Wish me luck.(sic)"

Justin Bieber and Skrillex are working on "timeless" music.
The 'Boyfriend' singer and the 'Bangarang' hitmaker collaborated with Diplo on the track 'Where Are U Now' and have reunited again to work on more music together.
Skrillex said: "We're writing great songs, take all the production away and just break it down to the melody and the vocal ... we're writing really great songs.
"For me, at least, I feel like 'Where Are U Now' was his first step into real songs, almost like timeless songs. No matter what you think about who he is, you can't deny that he wrote a great song and that's what we're doing, and that's what the goal is for this record."
But the 27-year-old music producer believes the 21-year-old singer took the "biggest risk" releasing the track as his first new piece of music since December 2013.
He added to MTV: "I think he already took the biggest risk releasing his first single in a long time with Diplo and myself, and it had such a great response, and now it's just very freeing because that's what we're chasing after, just making good songs.
"I think that when you hear his voice... there's something that happens. I really like the stuff that we worked on together and we'll see what the world thinks when it comes out."

Kanye West will receive the Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 MTV VMAs.
The 38-year-old rapper will be honoured with the prestigious accolade at the awards ceremony on Sunday (30.08.15), which will be presented by Miley Cyrus.
Announcing the news on Twitter MTV wrote: ".@KanyeWest will receive the Video Vanguard Award at the 2015 #VMAs this Sunday at 9/8c! (sic)"
The prize, also known as the Lifetime Achievement Award, has previously been won by acts including Michael and Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, U2 and George Michael, with it last being presented to Beyonce in 2014.
The 'All Day' rapper is familiar with the award, having given it to his friend and long-time collaborator Hype Williams in 2006 for his achievements as a "film maker".
Kanye - who has two-year-old daughter North with his wife Kim Kardashian West - previously performed at the event in 2013 when he played 'Blood on the Leaves' and although no performance has been confirmed for this weekend's ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, it has become the norm for recipients to take to the stage for an extended medley.
Back in 2013, Justin Timberlake reunited with his *N SYNC bandmates for a 15-minute set while Beyonce sang several tracks from her self-titled fifth studio album last year.
Taylor Swift leads the nominations for the MTV VMAs with 10 nods, while Ed Sheeran is up for six awards and Kendrick Lamar is in the running for four.

Christian O'Connell will host the Q Awards 2015.
Q Magazine has announced the Absolute Radio DJ will return as the host for the prestigious awards ceremony after the huge success of last year's event.
Talking about returning to the job the Winchester-born comic joked about being devastated at the news One Direction are planning on splitting up before saying how he was "looking forward" to taking up the offer to present again.
He said: "I'm in a world of pain right now with the news One Direction are breaking up in 17 years time. I cried myself to sleep last night into my 1D pillowcase.
"Looking forward to coming back to the Q awards stage again, not too often you see a knight of the realm falling over drunk and actually forgetting who they had come on stage to present an award to. More of that please".
Last year's event saw Sam Smith pick up the Best New Act award and Kasabian win the Best Act in the World accolade while there were also wins for Jamie xx, Elbow, Paolo Nutini and Ed Sheeran.
The star-studded event will take place on Monday 19 October with voting for the seven categories already open through the magazine's website.