Music News

David Bowie turned down the chance to collaborate with Coldplay.
In a video tribute to the 67-year-old icon at the BBC Music Awards, Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin said that Bowie had not been impressed by the track they proposed for him.
Chris, 37, said: "One time I sent [Bowie] a song to ask him to sing on it... he called me and said, 'It's not one of your best'.
"He's got very high standards and I appreciate that. It inspires the rest of us to keep our standards high."
What's more, Chris revealed himself to be a huge fan of Bowie's latest album 'The Next Day', which includes the single 'Where Are We Now?'.
He shared: "When that came out I was staggered, and also annoyed... like, 'Come on, it's not fair'. He's already got all these amazing songs and then this instant classic."
Earlier this month, Coldplay revealed they are working on their "final" album.
The band - made up of Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion - confirmed they are currently recording their seventh studio album, 'A Head Full of Dreams', and they likened the upcoming record to the final 'Harry Potter' movie in the film franchise.
Chris shared: "We haven't told anyone this, but we're making an album called 'A Head Full of Dreams'. We're right in the middle of it.
"It's our seventh thing and we look at it as the last 'Harry Potter' book or something like that.
"Not to say that there won't be another thing one day, but this is the completion of something. It was great to go from 'Ghost Stories' right back in the studio."

Michael Stipe insists R.E.M. will never reunite.
The 'Losing My Religion' hitmakers - comprising Michael, Peter Buck and Mike Mills - went their separate ways in 2011 after over three decades together and the frontman insists they won't perform together again because there's "no point" and he "despises" nostalgia.
Asked if they will get back together during an interview on 'CBS This Morning', Michael said: "No. That will never happen... There's no point. I love those guys very much and I respect them hugely as musicians and as songwriters and everything but I just don't want to do that thing that people do...I despise nostalgia. I'm not good at looking back."
Despite his feelings about a reunion, the 'Nightswimming' singer hasn't completely ruled out performing again himself in the future.
He said:"That's maybe an exclusive, but I think I will sing again. Not soon, maybe...I don't know.
"I love my voice and I think it's still... I think it actually got better as I got older.
"I sing in the shower. And I'm not bad. You would be surprised at my play list."
The 54-year-old musician most misses performing when he watches other people's gigs.
He said: "I just needed to step away for a while. [But] when I go to see bands perform live, that's when it's hard for me. I look up on the stage and I think: 'I wish I was there.'

Stevie Wonder will feature on Mark Ronson's new album.
The 'Uptown Funk' hitmaker has teamed up with a string of guests for 'Uptown Special', including the soul legend - who appears on the first and last tracks on the record - Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford, and Bruno Mars.
Mark teamed up with award-winning author Michael Chabon for many of the lyrics on the album, which is his fourth studio release.
He said: "I wanted lyrics to push farther than most of what's going on in R&B and pop today.
"I wrote Michael to ask if he'd be interested in writing lyrics for the album."
Other acts on the album include Keyone Star, the winner of an audition Mark held at the Jackson State University in Mississippi, and Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow.
Meanwhile, Stevie has been praised by Sir Elton John as one of the greatest singers and musicians of all time.
The 'Rocket Man' hitmaker told GQ magazine:"He's so multitalented that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes him one of the greatest ever. Along with Ray Charles, he's the greatest R&B singer who ever lived. Nobody can sing like he does. As a keyboard player he never ceases to amaze me. I like to think I'm a pretty good musician, but he's in a whole other league.
"When people discuss the history of music, they will talk about Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder - and they will still be the greatest."

Sam Smith has started working on a new album.
The 'Money On My Mind' hitmaker released his debut record, 'In the Lonely Hour', earlier this year, but is already well on the way to completing his second album having already settled on the name and cover art, as well as some of the tracks.
He revealed: "I've already come up with the title, the concept, the artwork, everything.
"I'm already recording really rough demos on the road."
The 22-year-old crooner recently received six Grammy Award nominations for his first record, but insists he hasn't been able to rest because he is always writing songs to express his emotions.
He continued: "I believe if you're a creative person you won't be able to stop creating. I can't stop writing."
However, fans of his first album may be disappointed as he has confirmed his sophomore record will follow a different theme from that of unrequited love, after releasing his demons in a new song.
He explained: "The reason I'm happy is because something clicked about four weeks ago.
"I wrote a song. It's about my family and something that happened in my life as a kid which has really scarred me as a person.
"It was the most honest record I've written in my whole life. It's all just clicked."
The star added he is also hopeful about working with his pal Ed Sheeran on his new music, after recently striking up a friendship with the 'Thinking Out Loud' singer.
He told The Sun newspaper: "He's one person, when we're talking about celebrities in the industry, who I'd actually count as a friend. Him and Jessie Ware.
"Ed's an amazing man. He helps me and gives me advice. I would love to work with him."

Madonna is planning a world tour in 2015.
The 'Hung Up' hitmaker wants to mark 30 years since her groundbreaking 'Like a Virgin' concert series from 1985 with a string of shows across the globe in support of a planned new album.
A source said: "This is going to be one very special tour. Madonna wants to pull out all the stops, especially because it is 30 years since the 'Virgin' tour.
"Like her 2012 'MDNA' tour, where she played 88 dates in places including Europe, South America and Asia, Madge will be ­travelling the world. Once the new record is finished she can concentrate on the concerts."
Despite already having nine huge tours under her belt, the 56-year-old singer wants to "push boundaries" and offer something new with her 2015 gigs.
The source added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Madonna knows that in order to stay relevant she has to keep reinventing herself and push boundaries.
"The new tour will show a side of her that no one has seen before."
OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder recently revealed he had been working with Madonna on "her best stuff in more than a decade".
He added: "The tracks I've done with her are really hard to explain."

Noel Gallagher would have "eaten Bastille alive".
The 47-year-old star has hit out at the state of the music industry, accusing bands like Bastille of failing to inspire and saying working-class people are no longer represented.
He said: "Well you only have to look at the charts, what happened at the end of the '90s, all those bands used to be in the Top Ten, like us, Manic, Pulp, The Verve, Suede and Blur, and I think bands like that have been marginalised and sidelined.
"There's X Factor and all that kind of thing, can you name me the last great band that came out of this country? There's not really been any great bands in the last 10 years."
Speaking on BBC Radio Four's 'Mastertapes', Noel took aim at Bastille.
He observed: "Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, that's 10 years ago now and shame on those two bands for a start because they didn't inspire anybody else. The working classes have not got a voice anymore, there doesn't seem to be a noise coming from the council estates, you know what I mean?
"Music is very middle class, I'd have eaten Bastille alive in an afternoon in the '90s, one interview, destroyed, gone, never to be heard of again. Easy, had 'em for breakfast. My bass player summed it up, we're constantly saying, 'Where is the next band coming from?' and he rightly says, 'Never mind the band, where are the people?'
"When I first started I wanted to get in the charts and wreck it, like stamp Phil Collins out and Wet Wet Wet, they've got to go, and all that '80s gear, we don't need that anymore. I don't see anything from the working class, I just don't see it."

Azealia Banks says her former record label weren't "cool enough" to "understand" her music.
The '212' rapper parted ways with Universal Music Group earlier this year after expressing her dissatisfaction with the label on Twitter and she's now revealed she found it "crippling" to work with them.
She said: "I guess they were more excited by the idea of me than my actual music. They were excited by the idea of this cool girl who was going to make all this cool music, but they weren't cool enough to understand it."
The 23-year-old star claims that while she enjoyed the expensive facilities to begin with, she grew tired of having to please her corporate bosses.
She explained: "I was working on whatever I wanted in all best studios, all hours of the day and night whenever I wanted it, in whatever city I wanted. It was nice."
Referring to her Twitter messages begging to be released from her contract, she added: "I was hurting. It was crippling."
However, Azealia has gone on to release her debut album 'Broke With Expensive Taste' and is looking forward to remaining unpredictable.
She added to The Sunday Telegraph newspaper: "Just get bigger and better. That's all I want to do now."

Albert Hammond Jr lent Kyle Falconer his underwear.
The View frontman has confessed he shared more than just a laugh with The Strokes rocker - who is producing the band's new album - after borrowing a pair of boxer shorts from the 34-year-old musician.
He told NME magazine: "We share the same banter and toilet humour. He's just one of the gang now - he gave me a lend of his boxer shorts the other day. He's bringing his Strokes secrets to The View.
"If you walked into the studio on the first day, you would have thought we'd been friends for years."
Kyle added that the group - also made up of Kieren Webster, Steven Morrison, Pete Reilly - have embraced Albert's hands-on approach to producing their new album and already feel like he's become part of the group.
He said: "He's playing and coming up with parts - it's almost like he's a member of the band. We're doing pre-production during the day and laying down the tracks at night. We were stand-offish to the idea at first, thinking 'Nobody can rearrange our songs'. But Everybody's really embraced the idea. It keeps you on your toes."

Redfoo is envious of saxophones.
The 39-year-old singer has admitted to feeling jealous of the brass instrument after it stole the show on his new single 'New Thang'.
When asked how it felt to share his music video with a sax player, Redfoo - real name Stefan Kendal Gordy - shared: "The sax was trumping me as the artist. I did a duet with a saxophone. That's why in the video we've got the Sax Man. He represents that line. And always I'm like 'Hey?!'
"My part's pretty cool ... but that saxophone."
And the 'Sexy and I Know It' singer noted how the saxophone has its positives because ladies love it.
He told BANG Showbiz: "I was coming up with the beat and I realised that the saxophone line, girls would always hear the sax and be like, 'I like that!'"
The LMFAO rapper - who split from his girlfriend Victoria Azarenka in June - said rebounds and romance were the main inspiration for his new tune.
He shared: "I wanted to write a song about when you're maybe on the rebound or ... everybody likes something new.
"A new somebody, a new something. I wanted to make a club song that was fun and cheeky, so you could point your finger and be like, 'You could be my new thang.'
"I always like to make songs that have a narrative or you can step into it first person and act it out."
Redfoo's new single 'New Thang' is out on December 15th.