Music News

Noel Gallagher is considering retirement from playing live.
The 47-year-old rocker admits touring has become harder as he's aged, but insists his passion for making music remains strong.
The Manchester-born star told the April issue of Loaded magazine: "Maybe I'll retire from playing live, it depends how long you can be a***d. Ten years from now I don't think I'll be getting on a bus - it's undignified. But I don't think I'll ever stop writing - as long as my brain and bones last out.
"I'll just have to tailor the touring. It's not fun being on a bus for six weeks in America. It's fine when you're young, but I'm almost 50."
Noel also confessed that he increasingly struggles to cope with the party lifestyle of a musician.
He shared: "The worst thing for me about getting older is the hangovers. Hangovers last for three or four days.
"I haven't got the stamina for three days at Glastonbury any more, although I did that last year and it was f***ing horrific. On the third day I get a bad back and all the rest of it, but on the whole, I think I'm doing all right."
You can read the full Noel interview in the April issue of Loaded, which is out on March 26.

Laura Marling felt her time away from the music industry was "undignified".
The singer/songwriter - who has just released her fifth studio album 'Short Movie', her first in nearly two years - has insisted she had "little choice" in delaying her album release.
She said: "I had little choice in the matter. It didn't seem to want to happen. It was undignified - that's exactly what it felt like.
"My music and my ability and my confidence in my ability were a huge part of my persona. Because that's such a grounding thing to be confidently doing what you are lucky enough to be good at. And I didn't have that - for the first time ever. It was horrible."
With it being her first release in over 15 months, the 25-year-old folk musician wanted to take control of the whole album and opted to co-produce it alongside her drummer Matt.
She added to news.com.au: "I felt like it was a little bit fragile and that I needed to protect it. When I thought about producing it myself, it wasn't that I thought 'I'm going to do all of this' it was more that I knew if I produced it myself I would work with these particular people no questions asked.
"The string players are three of my oldest friends, the engineer was a lovely friend of mine in a tiny studio that I love and my drummer Matt basically co-produced with me. They were all just gentle, ego-less people. It's hard to get all of those people in a room if there is someone else running the show."

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini thinks men "don't understand" women.
The 'Only Human' hitmaker has, up until recently, always had a team of women around her because she finds them "empowering".
She said: "Up until recently, every single person on my team was female. I was surrounded by females and I found it very empowering.
"It's only us who know how each other feels. Men don't understand it."
But despite her girl power stance, the 31-year-old singer had no problems gushing about her marriage to Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, who she wed in a secret ceremony last July.
She said: "I'm not an 18-year-old, I'm a 31-year-old woman and I know what I'm doing. He makes me happy, but he's not the reason. I was happy beforehand - and if I hadn't been happy, I wouldn't have been open to the relationship."
Talking about her privacy, she added to the Daily Star on Sunday's TV Extra magazine: "I don't usually discuss my private life... My privacy is very intentional. There was no escape - I was stuck in that glare, in that bubble. It's not healthy for anybody. I had no life. I was kept under surveillance. It was aggressive, it was dangerous and it was inhumane."

Liam Gallagher thinks his brother Noel is "a bit nice".
The former Oasis rocker sees a lot of similarities between himself and "twisted" John Lennon, whereas he thinks his older sibling and ex-bandmate is more like Beatles bassist Sir Paul McCartney.
He told NME: "I'd say both Lennon and McCartney were very different, but both great.
"I like Lennon's stuff more because it's a bit more beautiful and a bit more mad. McCartney's was like Noel, he's a bit nice. Lennon was more twisted and I like that s**t."
Liam and Noel have rarely spoken since the guitarist sparked the demise of Oasis by quitting the band following a fight before a Paris gig in 2009 but they appear to have finally patched up their relationship after the ex-Beady Eye frontman went to see his sibling play with his new band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds on tour.
The 42-year-old frontman took to his Twitter account at the weekend to post a picture of his Access All Areas backstage pass to the concert.
He captioned the photo: "Keeping it in the family...LG x"
Liam also took to his Twitter account throughout the week to wish his older sibling luck ahead of his shows in Manchester and London.
One cryptic post read: "Hometown Gig Monday night, Keeping it Dangerous LG x (sic)"
Noel, 47, recently revealed he and his younger brother - who fronted the band Beady Eye until they split last year - were on speaking terms again and spoke at soccer matches when they both go to support their favourite team Manchester City.
He said: "I see him at the football and we talk."
In another interview, he said: "He sends me cheeky texts from time to time. He texted me the other night asking when my duet with Robbie Williams was coming out. He's all right."

Timbaland wants to make music that will "break through the garbage".
The 43-year-old record producer is working with a number of young up-and-coming artists both on their own records and his own upcoming album 'Opera Noir'.
He said: "What I'm trying to find are these young people who have the same hunger and passion I once had and still have, and pass it on to the future. I feel I can be a mentor and help make new music that will break through some of the garbage.
"When music starts to fall off the path, with dumbness and flashiness, well, it's my job to set a tone, a foundation. If you want quality music, come up on the Timbaland side of the street."
The 'Carry Out' hitmaker - who has worked with stars including Justin Timberlake, Kanye West and Jay Z throughout his successful career - has also hinted at the influences of some of the new artists he's working with.
He explained to Vanity Fair magazine: "I've got a label partnership now with L.A. Reid. I'm producing a 19-year-old girl named Tink, who's going to change things back to the days of Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott - girls who gave you substance the way Biggie Smalls and Tupac did.
"And a singer named V. Bozeman - and while I don't like comparing people to other people, she's going to give you that feeling that Whitney Houston gave you."

Westlife don't see each other anymore.
The 'Flying Without Wings' hitmakers went their separate ways in 2012 and Kian Egan says it was important for himself and bandmates Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan to give each other space.
Asked if he still meets up with the rest of the group, Kian said: "Not really. I saw Mark briefly just after Christmas.
"I'm sure the time will come when we'll sit down for a beer together, but right now we need to go off and live our own lives."
It had been speculated that the group will reunite next year, but Kian is "baffled" as to what sparked the rumour because it isn't true.
He told Britain's OK! magazine: "It's completely untrue. It baffles me as to why people make these things up.
"If Westlife ever reunite, we'll tell people, but it's not on the cards."
Despite Kian's comments, his ex-bandmate Brian McFadden - who quit the band in 2004 - has suggested a reunion involving himself could be on the cards.
Asked about rejoining the band in a separate interview with the same publication, he said: "Never say never, but right now it's just a rumour. Rumours like that will be around for a long time."

Chic's new single was inspired by the death of co-founding member Bernard Edwards.
Iconic guitarist Nile Rodgers has revealed the band's brand new single 'I'll Be There' - which is their first new track in 23 years - came from the comments he said to the singer-songwriter's dead body in April 1996.
Speaking on stage at the Roundhouse in London during the first night of the group's 'I'll Be There Tour' on Friday (20.03.15), he said: "When I did my last show with my former partner Bernard Edwards it was the last night of his life basically and then he didn't wake up for the call the next morning.
"I could tell he was dead straight away and the rigor mortis had set in.
"I said, 'Now I'll be there for you in death in the way you were for me in life.'"
The track - which was premiered alongside the official video featuring Victoria's Secret model Karlie Kloss - also came about through the 62-year-old star's beating of cancer, which made him realise he needed to live life to the full.
Speaking at the concert, he explained: "Today is a very special day. Today we released the very first Chic single in twenty something years.
"About four years ago I was stricken with very aggressive cancer.
"My doctor told me I had to make very special decisions.
"I said the most important decision I can make is to make as much music as possible in the time that I have left."
Chic + Nile Rodgers - whose new single is available to download now - will continue their UK tour during the rest of March.

Nile Rodgers felt like he was listening to ghosts when he heard old tapes of him and his Chic bandmates.
The 'Le Freak' hitmaker has revealed he was inspired to make Chic's first album for 23 years after he was sent old recordings of him working in the studio with original band members such as Bernard Edwards, who passed away in 1996, and Tony Thompson, who died in 2003.
He said: "The thing that motivated me was listening to the banter in-between the tracks, and there's nothing that sounds like that because we're talking through a talkback mic which was in the centre of the studio.
"So I felt like I was listening to ghosts because all of the guys in my band have passed away. It was amazing, and it was scary, because there's nothing that sounds like that with the talkback mic in the middle of the studio. It was like a time capsule."
The 62-year-old star - who returned to the spotlight in 2013 after collaborating with Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams on hit single 'Get Lucky' - went on to admit that hearing the tapes made him want to release more material before it was too late.
Speaking on 'The Chris Evans Breakfast Show' on BBC Radio 2, he explained: "I realised that I didn't have much time on this earth, especially after listening to the tapes and hearing all my mates had died.
"So I just thought I would play as much music and do as much as I can, and do as many concerts as I could, and then I went on this four year tour which was absurd. That's when I co-wrote 'Get Lucky' with Daft Punk and Pharrell and those guys, and then [worked with] Avicii."

Jennifer Lopez would "absolutely" duet with Rihanna.
The 45-year-old singer has revealed she would love to sing with the 'We Found Love' hitmaker, having recently starred in the animated movie 'Home' with her.
When asked if she would work with her co-star, she said: "Absolutely! Who wouldn't?!"
The chart-topping mother-of-two went on to explain she is such a fan of the Bajan beauty because she is both edgy and feminine.
She told E! News: "I'm a huge Rihanna fan ... and I feel like she's such a girl's girl, which I love, because I'm a girl's girl and she seems very sweet.
"And I love the edginess about her and I think she did a really great job in this film."
The comments come just days after 27-year-old star also expressed her wish to work with the 'Booty' singer, but confessed she would have to add padding to her derriere if they shot a video together so she could compete with Jennifer's round butt.
She said: "I would need some butt pads for that video though."
Continuing to praise the star - who released her debut single 'If You Had My Love' in 1999 - she gushed over how successful she continues to be, despite being older than most pop stars.
She added: "I mean, really? She's shutting down 20-year-olds at forty-something. It's unheard of."