Music News

Duran Duran hope Sam Smith made his James Bond song 'Writing's on the Wall' his own.
The 'Rio' hitmakers famously penned the theme for 1985's 007 adventure 'A View to a Kill' and were pleased when they discovered Sam had been chosen to provide the title track for 'SPECTRE' starring Daniel Craig as the suave spy for a fourth time.
The band think the 'Stay With Me' hitmaker is a "fantastic singer" and have urged him to just "enjoy" the experience of working with one of the biggest movie franchises in history.
Asked what advice they would give the 23-year-old pop star in an interview on 'Loose Women', frontman Simon Le Bon said: "Sam Smith is a fantastic singer. You make it yours that's what I would say because that is how we approached doing it. We didn't try and write one that sounded like Eartha Kitt or Tom Jones. We wanted to make a Duran Duran Bond theme and make sure it sounded like that. That's what you've got to do, enjoy the journey. The James Bond franchise is massive and you get on the train and take it all in."
Duran Duran have just released their new LP 'Paper Gods', which they worked on with previous collaborators Nile Rodgers and Mark Ronson.
They insist the album is "classic Duran Duran" but their sound has been updated for this generation.
Le Bon explained: "It's classic Duran Duran and I think one of the reasons it took us two years make the album, was on the one hand we were trying to write 12 great songs, which sounds simple enough, but we are also re-designing the sound of the band for 2015."

The Vamps are making a comeback. The British band have today confirmed they are to release their brand new single 'Wake Up' this October and will follow it up with their second LP of the same name on November 27. The 'Can We Dance' hitmakers sophomo...

Ant & Dec have confirmed they are hosting next year's BRIT Awards.
The duo took on presenting duties in February, 14 years after they first hosted the ceremony in 2001, and after initially being reluctant to return they are "thrilled" to be coming back for 2016.
They said: "In all honesty we only intended to do it for one year but had such a good time we are thrilled to be doing it again. Both of us are looking forward to what will be an incredible night, and we can't wait to celebrate the achievements of British music once again."
The 'Saturday Night Takeaway' funnymen proved contributed to a rise in viewing figures by 1.2 million and a record breaking 7.8 million tweets were posted on the night about the event, which featured performances and appearances from Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Royal Blood and Paloma Faith as well as Madonna's infamous 'cape fall'.
BRIT Awards Chairman Max Lousada has praised the boys' contribution to the ceremony, saying: "We're delighted to welcome Ant and Dec back to host the BRITs next year. They played a huge role in the success of this year's event and we're all looking forward to another great show in 2016."
The annual music awards will return to The O2 in London on Wednesday February 24.

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson could "never be a typical rock star".
Throughout his time in the heavy metal band over the last four decades, Bruce has never felt the need to conform to the hellraising stereotypes that come with being the frontman of one of the biggest-selling groups of all time, and was always more interested in his second career as a commercial pilot.
The 57-year-old singer - who has just overcome tongue cancer - said: "I never could be a typical rock star. In my case you don't get the stereotype. Rock stars should be tall, skinny and blond, concave-chested and wasted - I'm short, brown-haired and English. I'm a bit of an anorak, sadly."
The 'Run to the Hill's' hitmaker decided in the early stages of his career that he'd avoid taking drugs after seeing how "messed up" the people around him got from taking illegal substances and he introduced his children - Austin, 25, Griffin, 23, and Kia, 21 - to the first hand effects of drugs to put them off experimenting.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "What was great for my kids was when they were growing up and we took them out on the road. I got some cracking questions from five-year-olds, 'Daddy, why is that man doing that?'."
"The best possible antidote for people not to take drugs is to go and see a bunch of people who are completely messed up, out of their brains. They got a good education in drugs and made good decisions."
Iron Maiden are currently flying high on the success of their 16th studio LP 'The Book of Souls', which is currently number one in the UK, and Bruce is getting ready to fly his bandmates - Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Nicko McBrain and Janick Gers - around the world on their 60-date 'The Book of Souls' tour in 35 countries on a Boeing 747.
He added: "One of advantage of being a pilot is you've only had couple of bottles of water and everyone else gets off with a terrible hangover."

Amy Winehouse's best friend wants people to remember the singer for her talent rather than her death.
The 'Rehab' singer died four years ago at the age of just 27 from alcohol poisoning, after battling drink and drug addiction for years, and Juliette Ashby - who has known Amy since they were both four years old - hopes people won't forget her talent.
When asked what she thinks of people who say Amy was just a junkie, Juliette told E! News: "That's not the truth. She does not deserve to be known like that. It's not fair. I want people to celebrate my best friend the same way that I do in my own head.
"Everyone looks at her and thinks of the horrible things that happened to her. I want people to focus on the fact she had a wonderful life. At the end she had clarity. She was just like you and me, she had a great life with great friends and she had a lot of fun but when it all got too big, it went wrong. That's the truth. She loved life and she was very happy and she was no different from anyone else."
Juliette also revealed that Amy never wanted to be famous but just wanted to make good music.
She said: "When we were young teenagers she wanted to be a roller waitress, a writer or a comedian. Fame wasn't an incentive for her. Music was. It was just part of who she was, and that's what I am like too. That's why we were best friends, we both completely understood one other.
"She had a short attention span and if you mix that sort of personality type with life situations and then you add fame and money and influences, people who don't say no to you or [who] have other intentions for their own benefit, then it's a recipe for destruction.
"It's like putting someone on a train to destroy themselves."

The Libertines' Gary Powell believes Pete Doherty's group of 'friends' are to blame for his disappearance last week.
The 45-year-old drummer has claimed Pete's pals outside of the band are a bad influence on him and are probably the reason the group was forced to cancel two gigs when the troubled singer failed to turn up in time for the set.
Gary told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "A lot of people are blowing smoke up his a** for no reason whatsoever."
He added: "Peter was shoved in the spotlight. He didn't really want it, let alone warrant it.
"It was that difficult for him to digest as it was for me to read about the fact that one of my closet friends - who still is one of my closet friends - was being pushed around in circumstances that were beyond his control."
The British star - who is the eldest in the rock foursome - sees it as his responsibility to look after his fellow bandmates Pete, 36, Carl Barat, 37, and John Hassall, 34.
He explained: "I've always felt like an elderly brother towards them. For a while I ignored everything Peter was doing musically because he was so shoved into the spotlight."
The band were forced to apologise to fans last week after they left them waiting inside The Electric Ballroom in Camden Town, London while they frantically searched for the missing lead co-frontman, before calling off the concert.
Their gig the following night at the Ritz in Manchester was also cancelled, despite Pete later being found safe and well.
Rumours quickly began to surface online suggesting the recovering drug addict had had locked himself in a Wetherspoon's pub toilet.
The gigs were part of The Libertines intimate gig tour to promote their third album 'Anthems For Doomed Youth.'

Nick Jonas got his brothers' approval about his new sound.
The 'Chains' hitmaker has revealed he played his new music to older siblings Joe and Kevin Jonas, who he says were incredibly "supportive", before its release.
He said: "I played the record for them about a month before it came out, wanted to kind of get their opinions on what they thought should be singles and overall what their vibe was on it.
"Their opinion meant a lot to me and they both were really supportive ... I think I really needed that support going in to feel comfortable to really take that step forward."
Because of their support, the 22-year-old singer felt he could push himself with his chosen genre, despite finding it all "a little frightening".
He added to stltoday.com: "I think anytime you try to push yourself and push your sound and evolve is a little frightening. Just being bold and taking those steps. But I saw really quickly that the fans connected with it ...
"It's a kind of bizarre thing to think that now I've got two songs that people have connected to, and I just want to continue to build on that. I feel like in a lot of ways what I'm doing is just the beginning of what I hope is a really long journey, and it's all about staying hungry and (being) willing to dig in and work hard."

Leona Lewis has "learned to deal" with negativity.
The 'Footprints in the Sand' hitmaker has admitted she suffered from some terrible lows in the past but says she has since realised to put less emphasis on the bad things people say.
She said: "Well, before, if someone used to say something negative, I'd take it to heart, but now I've realised they don't know me personally so I've learned to deal with it differently.
"I don't stress as much and I don't place my value on what other people think."
And the 30-year-old star - who penned an open letter last year where she admitted to not coping well with negative public perception, has insisted she has never suffered from depression.
She told OK! magazine: "A lot of people said: 'Oh, you have depression,' or asked me if I did, but I never have.
"What I do have is times like everyone else where I'm up and down. I felt like people had only seen the happy side of me and that's not all there is."
Leona also revealed that her new album, 'I Am', is inspired by a feeling of empowerment rather than a "vulnerability" like her previous LPs.

Craig David is in "that place of loving music again".
The '7 Days' hitmaker is heading back to the studio after his recent guest appearance with Kurupt FM on BBC Radio 1Xtra reignited his passion for music.
He said: "I didn't expect it to turn into what it turned into. It was too much energy in there. Big Narstie was doing his thing with Stormzy coming through and Shola Ama sounded amazing. When I did the Fill Me In combo it was just something I thought would sound cool on the drop but then people went nuts for it.
"The comments have been so beautiful. I'm in that place of loving music again and not taking things too serious. To do something like this which is very off the cuff and to have such amazing love coming back - I haven't seen so much love like this since the day I was dropping Rewind."
However, the 34-year-old singer/songwriter has no immediate plans to release any records but insists he doesn't feel any pressure.
He shared to Newsbeat: "My thing is I just want to get it right. I've set such a benchmark. When you come out the box and you sell seven million records and you have songs like Fill Me In and 7 Days and Walking Away - that's what people expect.
"There was a moment where I bought into statistics. I bought into the charts and the records I was selling. I remember the first album doing so well and selling seven million. My next album did 3.5 million and I was looking at it like it was a disappointment. There are now albums selling 20,000 and getting number one."