Music News

Michael Stipe has made a surprise return to live performing.
The former R.E.M. frontman was an unannounced support act for his friend Patti Smith's gig at New York's Webster Hall on Monday (29.12.14) and treated fans to a short six-song set.
In his first concert since his group split three years ago, the 54-year-old singer was backed by two musicians and played keyboards as he sang four covers - ate singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt's 'Lucinda Williams'; Patti Smith's 1996 song 'Wing'; Frank Sinatra's classic 'New York, New York' and Perfume Genius' 2012 single 'Hood' - and two rarely-heard R.E.M. tracks, 'New Test Leper' from 1996 album 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi' and 'Saturn Return', which appears on 2001 LP 'Reveal'.
Michael's shock performance came just a few weeks after he admitted he was planning to return to music - though he said it wouldn't be in the near 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 'Losing My Religion' singer also admitted he 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.' "

The 1975 feel more inspired by US artists than British acts.
The 'Sex' hitmakers weren't surprised by their success in America and insist they haven't found it difficult to break the notoriously tough market.
Frontman Matt Healy said: "It's been great, two months [in America] then we flew straight to Ibiza from there.
"We've got a massive fan base out there [in America], we've been really embraced there. We get to play huge shows.
"It hasn't been difficult for us in the US."
The band - also made up of Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann and George Daniel - had always "dreamt" about making it in America and feel they've been accepted because of their sound.
George said: "We always felt our band suited American people because we're more inspired by American artists than we are British bands and it's as simple as that really."
Matt added to BANG Showbiz: "Talking Heads, all those kind of bands from the 80s that were really pushing pop music. Don't get George wrong, he'll admit there are loads of British bands that we're massive fans of, but when it comes to the electronic music and the hip hop and the things that are really obvious in our music it's [American artists who inspire us]."

Professor Green wants to release his autobiography.
The 'Read All About It' rapper - whose real name is Stephen Manderson - has been sending 900-word teasers to publishers he hopes would want to take on the rights to his life story and is confident his "inspirational" tale would be a best-seller.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "Stephen's story isn't the same as most celebrities -- he had a tough childhood. It could be really inspirational."
Despite being just 31 years old, the rapper - who is married to former 'Made In Chelsea' beauty Millie Mackintosh - will have a lot of ups and downs to share with fans in his autobiography.
His mother was just 16 when he was born and he was raised by his grandmother Patricia and had a turbulent relationship with his father, who he last saw on his 18th birthday, five years before his dad committed suicide.
He had a brush with death in 2009 when he was stabbed in the neck with a bottle outside a nightclub but made a full recovery.
He shot to fame after The Streets star Mike Skinner spotted him freestyling and signed him to his record label and released his first album, 'Alive Till I'm Dead' in 2010.

Giorgio Moroder insists Madonna will be very "big again" if she releases the right album.
The legendary producer-and-DJ is excited to hear the 56-year-old singer's next LP - which leaked earlier this month but is due for release next year - and is very pleased she is has been recording dance tracks with Avicii because he believes that is the best genre for her.
He told BANG Showbiz: "Madonna is still relevant, people still love her and she's still good. She's getting older of course but she still has a great voice. I think if she makes the right dance album I think she could become quite big again. I know she's working with very young people and I think she could do well with the right record."
Madonna is an admirer of Moroder and her track 'Future Lovers' - which featured on her 2005 album 'Confessions on a Dance Floor' - has a bass line inspired by Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love', which Moroder produced and she opened her 2006 'Confessions Tour' with a medley of 'Future Lovers' and 'I Feel Love'.
Moroder is releasing his own new album in 2015, his first studio LP for more than 30 years, and the record features collaborations with Britney Spears, Sia, Charli XCX, Kylie Minogue, Mikky Ekko and Foxes, among others.
As well as his album, the 74-year-old musician still DJs all over the world and admits he was pleased when the EDM movement took off because he started to earn more money.
Moroder - who was a pioneer of dance music in the 70s and 80s - quipped: "I love EDM because there's a lot of money around and I'm a DJ too so I'm making nice money! It is the pop music of the world now, the music that is considered dance."

Dolly Parton wants to help people go to heaven.
The '9 to 5' singer doesn't want to be regarded as an "idol" and prays before every show that people can see the "light of God" in her.
She said: "I pray every day and certainly every night before I go on stage. I pray that God will let me shine with his light. And to let me be a blessing and not have people idolise me because I do not like the idol stuff.
"If they see a light in me, I want them to think it's the light of God. And even if I don't get to heaven, if I can help somebody else head in a better direction, that makes me happy."
The country music legend always tries to look for the "light of God" in people, even if she doesn't like them.
She said: "Of course I don't like everyone. But I know we're all God's children. I try to go right to that God light in everybody even if I don't think it's there.
"If a person don't look right. Or they're not acting right. I know there's that little spark in there. Sometimes I just say, 'Gee doesn't he have nice eyes?' and be done with it."

Noel Gallagher wants his brother Liam to make a solo album.
The 47-year-old musician - who was previously in Oasis with his younger sibling - thinks it is time the former Beady Eye frontman released a record of his own material now the band has split up.
He said: "I'm amazed Liam has chucked it in, but he won't stay out of the limelight for long. I think Liam should make a solo record - put his balls on the line, put his name up in lights and go for it."
The brothers famously fell out in 2009 leading to Noel quitting Oasis and the band breaking up, and although the pair have had little contact since the argument, the father-of-three admitted he was disappointed to hear Liam's project with former members of the band, Beady Eye, had also disbanded.
He confessed: "I'm very f**king sad about Beady Eye, because I know they really wanted to make it work."
Noel - who will release his second solo album under the alias Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds in March - continued to reveal he had spoken to former member of Beady Eye, Gem Archer, who expressed his sadness about Liam's decision for the band to part ways.
He told Q magazine: "I wanted it to work for them. I was out with Gem Archer the other night. The vibe I'm getting is that it was a shock, although not completely surprising."

Fatboy Slim dreams in Portuguese.
The 50-year-old DJ - whose real name is Norman Cook - spent so much time working on his Brazilian-influenced compilation album 'Fatboy Slim Presents Bem Brasil', it began affecting his subconscious - even though he can't actually speak the language.
He said: "Having spent all the time doing this, I've started dreaming in Portuguese, which is terrible because I don't speak Portuguese. It's dreadful. I understand it better but trying to get your lips round the words ... I'll say something to a Brazilian in my best Brazilian accent and they'll look at me like, 'Huh?' Portuguese is like Spanish spoken by a drunk Russian."
The DJ regularly plays huge shows in South America and admits performing in front of crowds of over 300,000 people still makes him nervous.
He said: "The Brazilians took us to their hearts and the 'Big Beach Boutique' DVD sold more there than the rest of the world and they asked us to do one out there. That was 2004 ... It blows your mind and turns your knees to jelly."
And the 'Rockafeller Skank' hitmaker is particularly astonished by his success when he thinks back to his early shows.
He added: "You look at the shows we put on now with the audio visual element and [back then] it was just me, with a table and two record players. It was a big moment, the only time I'd done it before was my home time of Brighton, where at least I felt among friends."

Rihanna wants to help launch her brother's music career.
The 26-year-old performer has been spending time with her family at their home in Barbados over the festive period, and has been working with her younger brother Rorrey Fenty to try and make him a successful rapper, urging him to focus on his music and not get sucked in by the party lifestyle.
A source revealed: "She knows he has talent, but he loves to party and she wants him to achieve something musically first."
The musician - who performs under the moniker Gallest - released a 15-track mixtape titled 'Intolerable Cruelty' earlier this year, but the 'Diamonds' singer is hoping to propel his career into the commercial realm and believes recording a track with the 23-year-old musician is the perfect way to kickstart his career.
The source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "She knows anything she guests on will help with his commercial success."
Meanwhile, the singing sensation is set to return to music in 2015 following a break from the industry. The 'We Found Love' hitmaker had released four albums in consecutive years up until 2012's 'Unapologetic', and will return in the new year with a record - believed to be titled '#R8' - which is rumoured to feature production from OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder.

Kerry Katona wants to collaborate with her ex-husband Brian McFadden's band Westlife.
The Atomic Kitten singer is keen to team up with the 'You Raise Me Up' hitmakers - who are said to be planning a comeback in 2016 after splitting three years ago - for a song which would see her sing alongside Brian, who she divorced in December 2006 after four years of marriage.
She said: "We could do a collaboration. That would be a sight to see, wouldn't it?"
But Kerry's fellow Kittens Liz McClarnon and Natasha Hamilton are not quite as keen for the girl group - who reunited in 2012 - to duet with the Irish band.
Natasha said: "That would be weird."
But she seems a lot keener for the trio to team up with her boyfriend Ritchie Neville's group Five for a collaboration but joked the two bands wouldn't be taking it too seriously if something did materialise.
The 32-year-old singer - who gave birth to her and Ritchie's daughter Ella in September - added to The Sun newspaper: "It would have to be tongue-in-cheek."
An Atomic Kitten and Westlife duet also looks unlikely as Brian has been less than complimentary about the girl group in the past, poking fun at the "middle-aged" trio for talking about their kids rather than going out partying nowadays.
He previously said: "They used to be wild and now they are three middle-aged ladies who talk about their families."
Kerry quit Atomic Kitten in 2001 after falling pregnant with her and Brian's first child, Molly, who is now 13.
The 34-year-old blonde also has 11-year-old daughter Lilly-Sue with Brian - who married Irish DJ Vogue Williams in September 2012 - as well as Heidi, seven, and six-year-old Maxwell with ex-husband Mark Croft and eight-month-old daughter Dylan Jorge with current husband George Kay, who she married in September.