Music News

Pharrell Williams and Ed Sheeran won big at the first BBC Music Awards last night (11.12.14).
The 'Happy' hitmaker - who accepted his two awards for Song of the Year and International Artist of the Year via live satellite link from Los Angeles - praised the UK for lifting him to "unimaginable heights".
Accepting his award he said: "The UK has always been amazing to me and so many other artists who just want to do different things ... Those things happen in the UK because you love music, first and foremost.
"It's just been an amazing experience and a great journey. I just want to say thank you to BBC, Radio 1, Radio 2, 1Xtra and the countless amazing English fans that have just lifted my life to unimaginable heights. Thank you so much."
The 41-year-old music producer dedicated his Song of the Year award for 'Happy' to his British fans.
He said: "I often say in interviews: the YouTube views that we get or the purchases that are made on our songs. The decision to stream the songs is not ours, as writers and producers, we are beholding to what the audience thinks and what you guys want to do.
"So when you say 'Song of the Year', it's not really my award, it's your award. As I said before, the folks in the UK have just been so incredibly generous ... Again, I wanna say thank you to everyone and their great nation."
Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran picked up the gong for British Artist of the Year.
Speaking to accept his award, the 'Thinking Out Loud' hitmaker said: "I just wanna say a massive thank you to everyone whose bought a record, bought a ticket, streamed on YouTube, streamed on Spotify ... I don't know if anyone here has, but thank you so much.
"Radio 1 and 1Xtra were the first people to ever play [my music] and that broke everything through for me. BBC have been such big supporters so I wanna say a massive thank you to them."
The show also saw performances from some of the world's biggest artists including Coldplay, One Direction and Ellie Goulding as well as the BBC Introducing Award winner's Catfish and the Bottlemen
The show was ended by Tom Jones and Paloma Faith who sang a rendition of 'God Only Knows', accompanied by a 200 strong choir.

Noel Gallagher has "albums worth" of unheard Oasis tracks.
The 47-year-old musician revealed he is always writing music, so has a growing stockpile of material since 1993.
He revealed: "Instead of writing 15 or 16 songs for a cycle of where [Oasis] were at, we were using five, but I was still writing 15, 20 songs, so there's loads of stuff left over from those days. Albums and albums worth of material."
The guitarist-and-songwriter - who quit the band in 2009 - explained he has built up a huge collection of unheard tracks since the band's debut album 'Definitely Maybe', as he writes a minimum of 30 songs before entering the recording studio.
He said: "I've had a stockpile of songs since 1993.
"I've never written for a specific project, I've never been in the studio with less than 30 songs. I've just recorded an album, but I've still got another 30 songs."
This year there has been growing rumours about the band reforming, but the 'Don't Look Back In Anger' songwriter recently shut down reports of a reunion, saying he "doesn't see the appeal" of reconnecting with his brother and former bandmate Liam Gallagher.
However, the star did tease lots of the band's demos have been "left behind" during the making of their seven records.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's 'Mastertapes', he added: "Because you move so fast as a writer, and you can only really do ten songs on an album at a time, lots get left behind."

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett have recorded a Christmas song together.
The two singers - who collaborated on hit album 'Cheek To Cheek' - have duetted on a cover version of festive classic 'Winter Wonderland' and the track is available to download now from iTunes.
Unveiling the song on her Twitter account, Gaga revealed: "Surprise Everyone! Tony & Me recorded the Holiday Classic Winter Wonderland ... Happy Holidays from Tony and Gaga! #TonyGagaWinterWonderlandOnItunes (sic)"
Gaga and Bennett performed 'Winter Wonderland' - originally written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith - when they switched on the Christmas lights at the Rockefeller Center in New York City last week.
Gaga has already started her Christmas vacation after wrapping up her 'ArtRave: The Artpop Ball' world tour in Paris, France, on November 24.
The 28-year-old pop star has been busy decorating her Christmas tree and cooking at home and she has also been doing yoga to stay in shape over the festive season.
She tweeted: "Another Holiday day off! I slept and got my hair washed and manicured. now time for some hot yoga while listening to death metal. (sic)"

Dr. Dre has been named the highest-paid musician of 2014 by Forbes magazine.
The music mogul topped the financial bible's annual list after picking up a staggering $620 million in the last year, largely due to the sale of his Beat Electronics company to Apple.
His huge fortune makes second-placed Beyonce's $115 million seem tiny in comparison, though she was one of only two other stars to earn over $100 million, with third placed The Eagles taking home exactly that sum, largely thanks to a world tour.
In fourth place were Bon Jovi, who earned $82 million and attributed their fortune to being "efficient" and keeping entourage costs to a minimum.
Frontman Jon Bon Jovi said: "I think it's just wise to be efficient. I know big bands where each of them have personal assistants on the road, each of them has a security guard. We don't have a security guard. Take your own friggin' bags!"
Rounding out the top five was veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen, just $1 million behind Bon Jovi with $81 million.
The top 10 was completed by 'Believe' singer Justin Bieber, boy band One Direction, Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney, DJ Calvin Harris and country star Toby Keith.
Forbes spoke to industry experts and compiled income from touring, recorded music, publishing, merchandise sales, endorsements and other ventures from the period June 2013 to June 2014 to produce the rankings.


Forbes' highest-paid musicians of 2014:

1. Dr Dre - $620m
2. Beyoncé - $115m
3. The Eagles - $100m
4. Bon Jovi - $82m
5. Bruce Springsteen - $81m
6. Justin Bieber - $80m
7. One Direction - $75m
8. Sir Paul McCartney - $71m
9. Calvin Harris - $66m
10. Toby Keith - $65m
11. Taylor Swift - $64m
12= Jay Z - $60m
12= Diddy - $60m
12= Bruno Mars - $60m
15. Justin Timberlake - $57m
16. Pink - $52m
17. Michael Buble - $51m
18. Rihanna - $48m
19. Rolling Stones - $47m
20. Roger Waters - $46m

Jack White has unveiled a virtual reality app.
The White Stripes and Raconteurs star's 'Jack White: Third-D' Google Cardboard virtual reality video programme promises fans a 360 degree chance to experience his live shows via their Android phones.
The app boasts "immersive 360 degree, stereoscopic 3D" and sound mixed in Dolby's Atmos surround sound.
So far, Jack's performances of 'Freedom at 21' and 'Ball and Biscuit' at The Bleacher Theater at Fenway Park in Boston and 'Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground' at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado are available to view via the software.
To use the service users need a 5" or 6" Android phone and a Google Cardboard virtual reality viewer.
Fans without the virtual reality viewer are able to watch the videos in 2D or Jack's website provides a link to ways to make their own headsets using everyday household items such as pizza boxes.
To celebrate his new innovation, Jack's Third Man Records store in Nashville, Tennessee began giving away limited-edition Third Man Google Cardboard headsets to the first 75 Android users who purchase the ultra version of the singer's 'Lazaretto' LP yesterday (10.12.14).

Sam Smith hates Christmas songs.
The 22-year-old singer has admitted he isn't a fan of festive tunes despite recording his own version of a traditional holiday tune.
Sounding not too dissimilar to the Grinch - the Dr. Seuss character who is infamous for his loathing of the winter season - Sam said: "I hate Christmas songs. It's true."
However, he defended putting his own soulful twist on the classic song 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' as he insisted it is more like a "jazz" song.
Chatting with Boston radio station Mix 104.1 he said: "'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' is the only song I would ever attempt to sing, because of Judy Garland singing it, and Frank Sinatra singing it.
"To me, it sounds more like a classic jazz standard."
Sam - who has been nominated for six Grammy Awards including Best Album for his record 'In the Lonely Hour' - revealed how "excited" he was to attend the 2015 event because people finally know who he is.
He shared: "I'm just excited to go there because last year I was there and I sat in the very back and no one knew who I was!"

Kasabian think "whirlwind" success would have "f**ked" them up.
The 'Eez-Eh' rockers - made up of Tom Meighan, Serge Pizzorno, Christopher Karloff and Chris Edwards - believe their careers would have ended in "disaster" if they had shot to worldwide fame too quickly after releasing their eponymous debut album in 2004.
Serge said: "If the ambition was just to sell millions of records, then we'd have made it a lot easier for ourselves. We wouldn't have pulled so many moves along the way. We'd have played the game but we never wanted to do that.
"It's happened this way for a reason. It could have easily ended up in a graveyard. And if it had been a whirlwind, it would've been a disaster. We wouldn't have known what to do with it."
A decade later, the group have had a triumphant year which saw them headline the famous Glastonbury festival and play a homecoming gig in Leicester to 60,000 fans, although they are still looking to bigger things and would love to take their music to London's Wembley stadium.
Serge told NME magazine: "In a stadium half the people aren't really in the mix because they're sitting down. I suppose there's some weird Britpop hangover ingrained in my soul that strives to make outsider music and take it to Wembley, it would be great to say you've done it and it would be a huge achievement."

Bjorn Ulvaeus says ABBA will never return to the stage.
The 69-year-old singer-songwriter was a member of the hit band - along with Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad - until their hiatus in 1982, and has repeated previous remarks confirming they will never reform.
He said: "We took a break in `82, and it was meant to be a break. It's still a break and will remain so,
"You'll never see us onstage again."
The 'Dancing Queen' hitmaker continued to say the group has no reason to reform because they are not strapped for cash, unlike other acts who decide to tour because they have been reckless with their money.
He continued: "We don't need the money, for one thing,
"Usually the reason bands have reunions is that one of them is destitute and the others want to help. Fortunately that has not happened to us."
The 'Mamma Mia' creator was speaking about the band following the release of 'ABBA: The Official Photo Book' which chronicles the Swedish group's decade-long career with more than 600 photographs, and admitted he enjoyed taking a look back through their history, despite not wanting to regroup.
He told Billboard magazine: "I'm not a nostalgic person, but looking at these pictures really took me back."

Hozier has been named as Spotify's Spotlight Breakout Star of 2014.
The 24-year-old performer piqued the interest of the streaming service in 2013 when he was featured in their list of Spotlight on 2014 artists, and has now been picked as their favourite emerging talent of the past 12 months.
On hearing the news, the singer said: "Spotify have shown their support for my music from very early on in my career.
"It's been a big part of the success of my music this past year and I'm very grateful to them for that support.''
Hozier was recently exposed to a worldwide audience when he performed his hit 'Take Me To Church' at London's Victoria's Secret Show alongside Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran, with the track since topping Spotify's global chart.
Alongside the announcement about the singer-songwriter, Spotify have revealed the acts they are tipping for success in the next year in their Spotlight on 2015 list.
Compiled by the service's in-house music experts using data from Spotify's Viral Charts, 'The Voice' alumnus Becky Hill and Brits' Critics Choice 2015 award winner James Bay are among musicians on the shortlist.
The remaining 10 promising acts include Juce, Coasts, Ibeyi, SOAK, All We Are, Raury, Laura Doggett, Nothing But Thieves, Lapsley and Seinabo Sey.
Previous Spotlight artists include Mercury Prize nominees Jungle and FKA Twigs as well as Banks and 'Riptide' hitmaker, Vance Joy.