Music News

Sir Elton John is a Clean Bandit fan.
The 'Rather Be' hitmakers were shocked when they were recently approached by the legendary singer/songwriter at the Ivor Novello awards in London, where the 'Candle in the Wind' singer admitted he likes their music and sang their Grammy-winning single back to them.
Band member Grace Chatto told BANG Showbiz: "Elton John sang some of 'Rather Be' to me which was amazing! I wouldn't say he's an obsessive fan, but he said he really likes the music and yeah, that was really exciting."
However, the group - which also features Jack Patterson, Luke Patterson and Neil Amin-Smith - admitted not all of their celebrity encounters have led to complements for their music, as Taylor Swift failed to mention their hits when she met them earlier this year.
Grace continued: "Taylor Swift we did bump into a lot at the Grammys at various after parties but she didn't tell us she was a fan."
Meanwhile, the quartet - who released their debut album 'New Eyes' last year - said they are currently hard at work on their second LP, but are finding it tough to find time to write and record while still keeping up with their hectic touring schedule.
Speaking at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, Grace added: "We don't really know what the vibe of the album's going to be yet, we're just kind of writing loads of stuff with different people and yeah, we're not really thinking of the album as a whole at the moment. It's quite a sporadic process being in the studio because we're touring so much."
Performances from BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend Norwich 2015 are available to watch on demand on Radio 1's BBC iPlayer channel.

Union J have had a premonition in which former One Direction star Zayn Malik joined their band.
The 'Carry You' hitmakers revealed band members Josh Cuthbert and JJ Hamblett both had dreams about the 22-year-old hunk requesting to become part of the group, following his decision to leave One Direction in March.
JJ told BANG Showbiz: "I had a dream that he [Zayn] was going to join our band the other day and Josh had the same dream as well. So Zayn if you are reading, please?"
When asked what they thought of fellow One Direction member Liam Payne saying Zayn left the band to spend more time with his fiancée Little Mix's Perrie Edwards, they insisted their group will always come first and they'd never leave the band for a girl.
When questioned about the prospect, George Shelley said: "No never. We are a tight unit. He had his reasons and fair play."
The band have also teased a "big announcement" coming in the next week which is going to blow their fans' minds.
He added: "We've got a big announcement this week, which is going to be really exciting for the fans and for us and it's going to be really good."
The band - who recently supported The Vamps on their world tour and played two sold out nights at London's O2 Arena - said they are currently working on their next album and are getting prepared for more promo.
Talking about the future of the band, the 'You've Got It All' singers said: "We are in the studio writing, doing photo shoots and getting ready for the next wave. We are just in the studio working on the next album. "

Charli XCX thought it was "great" when she discovered Paris Hilton loves her music.
The 'Boom Clap' hitmaker recently performed for the 34-year-old socialite at the amfAR gala during Cannes Film Festival, and was shocked to see the blonde beauty singing along to her tracks.
She told BANG Showbiz: "When I was performing I caught Paris Hilton's eye and she was singing the words to 'Break The Rules' back at me, but in the most Paris Hilton way, and I was like, 'Oh my god Paris you're great.'"
The 22-year-old singer said the moment was especially important to her as she has always found the 'The Simple Life' star "super wonderful", pitching Paris alongside "fit" Bill Murray as her favourite celebrities.
She explained: "Paris Hilton has always captivated my brain, very much so. I think she's like the original Barbie and super wonderful. And really Bill Murray I think he's hilarious and great and fit."
And although she performed a selection of tracks at the star-studded ball, Charli admitted she got to let her hair down later in the night to meet "cool people" including Marion Cotillard, before getting "turnt up" along with pal Rita Ora.
Speaking at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, she added: "There were a few cool people there, I met Marion Cotillard and I think she's so beautiful and wonderful and such a talented actress and it's cool to meet her, she's really gorgeous and great so yeah, there were cool people there.
"The parties were good. I got pretty turnt up to say the least, so it was good."
Performances from BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend Norwich 2015 are available to watch on demand on Radio 1's BBC iPlayer channel.

Florence Welch knows she has written a hit song when it sounds like a "prayer" to her.
The Florence + the Machine singer is always confident she has created a track that will resonate with people when she can recount it like a religious offering or a "spell".
In an interview with the Evening Standard Magazine, she said: "I always know a song is working when I sing it to myself outside the studio. It keeps you company a little bit. It's like a prayer you can say to yourself, or like a spell."
When writing the band's new album 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful', the 28-year-old musician quit drinking alcohol to avoid her self-destructive tendencies and ensure she was fully focused on the LP.
Florence - who previously admitted she had "a bit of a nervous breakdown" during her year off from the band over 2012 and 2013 -revealed: "I am very prone to pressing the kamikaze button when things fall apart and drinking too much, but I had to start making this record and I thought, 'I don't want to break this as well.'
"I was writing a prep talk to myself, almost. I like to hide behind reverb and a lot of backing vocals but producer Markus (Dravs) pushed my vocals forward and was quite adamant about it. It's another layer of taking down your defences and I was scared."

Muse were once duped into playing at a festival for stunt acts.
Frontman Matt Bellamy has revealed the band's weirdest live show was at the event in Moscow, Russia, almost 15 years ago which didn't feature many bands but lots of crashes and explosions to which they provided the backing music.
In an interview on UK station BBC Radio 1, he revealed: "I remember it was probably 2000 or 2001 and I think we did like every festival even invented and we did I think 57 festivals in total one summer everywhere. We had some good experiences but we also had some pretty bad ones. But the most weird one, the craziest one was a stunt festival in Russia. It was called The Stunt Festival. And we went there thinking it was just like the name you know. Like just 'The Stunt Festival' but it was actually a stunt festival."
He added: "In other words it had guys on high wires and on the stage there trucks driving around crashing into and stock car racing all the while we were playing. It was probably the most weirdest moment realising we were just one of the attractions to the festival."
Although it was a very odd concert, the 36-year-old musician insists the band learnt a valuable lesson in Russia, which was to make Muse's concerts more theatrical.
He said: "It's why we started trashing shows, we threw around stuff and playing on amps just to give them something to look at."

The Rolling Stones were paid £2 million to play a private gig for former Hewlett-Packard chairman Ralph Whitworth.
The 'Satisfaction' hitmakers were invited to perform a secret concert on Wednesday (26.05.15) in Solana Beach, California, for the HP tycoon.
The legendary band blitzed through a 15-song set list, including a rare performance of 'Crazy Mama', which hasn't been played live by the band since 1999.
A source revealed the group - Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts - found it a "tremendous honour" to play for Ralph, 60, who once hired former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney to execute a private function, for which he donated £700,000 to his charity in exchange for performing.
The source added to The Daily Mirror newspaper:"The Stones were asked to do it by Ralph for a big party he was throwing. They just love performing so when they are asked to do it for private gigs they will do it. The boys will most likely donate their fee to charity."
The 60-year-old multi-millionaire was treated to most of their hits including, 1981's 'Start Me Up', 'Paint It Black' from 1966's 'Aftermath' LP and they ended with one of their biggest hits, 'Satisfaction'.
The next Rolling Stones concert on their US tour will be on May 30 in Columbus, Ohio.

Emily Eavis will stand by "amazing force" Kanye West headlining Glastonbury despite receiving death threats for her choice of headliner.
The festival's co-organiser has been subjected to multiple threatening messages after it was announced the rap superstar would headline the legendary music festival.
As soon as it was revealed the 'All Day' rapper would lead the line-up, many angry festival goers took to the internet in protest, with 133,000 signing a petition to stop Kanye - who is married to Kim Kardashian - from being allowed to perform.
Emily, who organises the event with her father Michael Eavis, who founded the festival - told The Times newspaper: "I had death threats and stuff. It was just horrible. It was just crazy. It was getting out of control. We had Time magazine, all the American news channels saying they were going to come down. This incredible onslaught worldwide."
Emily has found the whole backlash very troubling, and insists all she and her dad Michael want to do is book the best acts in the world to play at their festival.
She added: "It was quite upsetting because we were talking about something that was so exciting and interesting and fresh and brilliant for the festival. Kanye West is making the most exciting music at the moment. He is an amazing force as a performer. For us, getting the biggest star in the world was an amazing coup."

Bono thinks B.B. King was a "guitar genius".
The 55-year-old U2 star has paid a glowing tribute to the late blues singer-songwriter, who passed away earlier this month, and also revealed B.B. and his band-mate The Edge used to love playing poker together while on tour.
He told The Sun newspaper: "B.B. had a volcano of a voice as well as being a guitar genius. He was one hell of a singer.
"He came on the road with us for a while on the Lovetown tour in 1988-89 and he was a great gambler.
"The Edge used to play poker a lot with B.B., they would even bet on which elevator would arrive first. In my eyes B.B. was one of the three Memphis kings alongside Elvis and Martin Luther King."
Meanwhile, The Edge praised the late singer for the "inspiring" way he dealt with discrimination.
He said: "The hardships he had to endure growing up on a cotton farm.
"He had some really difficult times with discrimination and came through it all with the most unbelievable grace which was so inspiring."
B.B. died on May 14, aged 89, with authorities in the US currently investigating claims he was poisoned.

Alfie Boe was "thrilled" to be asked to re-record the classic The Who album 'Quadrophenia'.
The 41-year-old was approached by the group's guitarist Pete Townshend to reimagine the band's sixth album, originally released in 1973, and said he was "couldn't believe" it when he got the call.
He told BANG Showbiz: "I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled, I was beside myself, I couldn't believe he'd asked me to be a part of it."
The English tenor admitted he had to seek advice from both Pete and lead singer Sir Roger Daltrey when singing on the album, 'Classic Quadrophenia', because he wanted to do the original LP justice.
Speaking about Pete's advice, he explained: "He wrote the piece so I needed advice, I needed to know what he wanted from it, what sort of approach he thought I should bring to it, but the biggest advice he could give to me was to make it my own, just use my ability to sing and adapt it to the music."
And although he was excited to be part of such a collection, he confessed he is now taking a break from making albums for the foreseeable future, having released eight albums in eight years.
He said: "I'm going to hold off for a little bit I think. I'm being approached quite often about coming up with concepts for albums, but I think it's time to just sit back and just enjoy being back on stage.
"I feel like I've rushed albums out in the past, it's been one every year, so it'll be nice to slow down, sit back, and take stock of an album, and make sure the songs that are on it, whether they're covers or originals, are done in the right way and presented in the right way."
'Classic Quadrophenia' will be released on Deutsche Grammophon on 8 June 2015. The world premiere performance takes place at The Royal Albert Hall in London on 5 July 2015. For more information, visit www.classicquadrophenia.com