Music News

Van Morrison will collaborate with Michael Buble and Joss Stone on his new album.
The 69-year-old singer will release 'Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue' in the UK on March 16, which will feature 16 tracks with high profile acts including Simply Red's Mick Hucknall and singer-songwriter Bobby Womack, who passed away last June at the age of 70.
The album - which is the musician's 35th studio record - will feature new versions of lesser-known tracks which he has sung during his extensive career, which have all been re-recorded in London and Belfast in the past year.
Produced by Van along with Don Was and Bob Rock, the LP - which comes three years after 2012's 'Born to Sing: No Plan B' - will also feature the singer's daughter Shana Morrison, as well as Mark Knopfler, George Benson, Gregory Porter and Natalie Cole.
The first single to be taken from the record will be a new version of 1990 single 'Real Real Gone' featuring Michael Buble, which will be proceeded by 'Some Peace of Mind' with Bobby Womack which is scheduled to be released on March 3.
The full tracklisting for the album is below:
'Some Peace of Mind' with Bobby Womack
'Lord, If I Ever Needed Someone' with Mavis Staples
'Higher Than the World' with George Benson
'Wild Honey' with Joss Stone
'Whatever Happened to PJ Proby' with PJ Proby
'Carrying a Torch' with Clare Teal
'The Eternal Kansas City' with Gregory Porter
'Streets of Arklow' with Mick Hucknall
'These Are the Days' with Natalie Cole
'Get on with the Snow' with Georgie Fame
'Rough God Goes Riding' with Shana Morrison
'Fire in the Belly' with Steve Winwood
'Born to Sing' with Chris Farlowe
'Irish Heartbeat' with Mark Knopfler
'Real Real Gone' with Michael Bublé
'How Can a Poor Boy' with Taj Mahal

The Libertines will headline Ibiza Rocks.
The 'Can't Stand Me Now' hitmakers will perform on the poolside Rocks stage for the series' 10th birthday party, as part of the 14-week event, which will also host performances from Fatboy Slim and Grammy Award winners Clean Bandit.
The Libertines' Carl Barat said: "Ibiza Rocks is one of the greatest gigs there is. The strange and debauched energy of the place never fails to provide the perfect backdrop for bacchanalian reverie of the highest order. Everyone there is gonna be 'mad for it', I can't wait. One of those nights actually worth the b*****d hangover. Bring it."
The band - which also features Pete Doherty, John Hassall and Gary Powell - will make their debut performance at the event on July 22, with Pete and Carl having previously performed separately with Babyshambles in 2005 and Dirty Pretty Things in 2006, which inspired subsequent editions of the Rocks series.
Founder and CEO of the Ibiza Rocks Group, Andy McKay, explained: "The ultimate defining moment of Rocks was when we discovered that our future lay outdoors and that was the night Babyshambles played Bar M. It was the moment we found our time slot before midnight and the moment we discovered the energy created by a live band playing under the stars in Ibiza."
As well as the recently reformed rockers - who are currently working on their third album - BBC Sound of 2015 poll winners Years & Years, drum and bass duo Sigma, and Mercury Prize nominees Jungle will also perform along with Shura and The Courteeners.
For those who cannot make the event, MTV have also revealed they will be broadcasting from the event for the third year running, providing exclusive artist interviews, live performances and highlights from the series of shows, with the content hosted by Laura Whitmore.

The Ibiza Rocks 2015 line up so far:
17/06 - Opening party with Years & Years
24/06 - Sigma (Live)
01/07 - Jungle and Shura
22/07 - 10th birthday party with The Libertines
05/08 - Clean Bandit
02/09 - Fatboy Slim
16/09 - Closing party with The Courteeners

Jimmy Page will receive NME's Rock'n'Roll Soul Award.
The 71-year-old Led Zeppelin rocker will be presented with the one-off prize at the NME Awards 2015 with Austin, Texas on Wednesday (18.02.15), which will take place at Brixton's O2 Academy in London.
The magazine's editor Mike Williams said: "This special, one-off award has been created to reflect one of the most important and iconic figures to have ever picked up an instrument. There is nobody in popular culture quite like Jimmy Page, and we are honoured to be giving him the Rock'n'Roll Soul Award at this year's ceremony."
The accolade will be presented alongside 22 other publicly voted awards at the ceremony, with Kasabian leading the nominations with eight, while Royal Blood and Jamie T each have seven.
During the evening - which will be hosted by BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens - guests will also be treated to performances from Charli XCX and Royal Blood, while Suede will pick up the Godlike Genius Award.
The annual ceremony runs in conjunction with the NME Awards Tour, which will see Palma Violets, Fat White Family, The Amazing Snakeheads and Slaves head out on tour around the UK.
Public tickets for the NME Awards 2015 and the NME Awards Tour with Austin, Texas are still available to buy at NME.com/tickets.

Pharrell Williams is to release four children's books.
The 'Gust of Wind' singer has inked a deal with Putnam Books for Young Readers which will see the 41-year-old musician pen four picture books, with the first title being based on his chart-topping 2013 single, 'Happy'.
Announcing the deal, the publishing house revealed an initial run of 250,000 copies of 'Happy' will be made available from September 22 and will feature numerous photographs of children around the world "celebrating what it means to be happy."
The music mogul - who released his second solo studio album 'G I R L' last year - originally wrote the song for the soundtrack of 'Despicable Me 2', and has won two Grammy Awards for the track.
The acclaimed musician - who has six-year-old son Rocket with his wife Helen Lasichanh - has had other forays out of the music industry in the past, having designed a series of clothing lines and founded multi-media creative collective and record label i am OTHER.
In June, the 'Blurred Lines' producer became involved in the literary world when he contributed to a book titled 'We Are Friends With You' which also featured contributions between Alejandro Jodorowsky and Peter Doroshenko.

Little Mix are passionate about "girl power".
The 'Salute' hitmakers have spoken out about the lack of equality in the film and music industries claiming there's no reason why women should be paid less than men.
Perrie Edwards said: "I just don't understand it. Why should we be paid less because we have boobs and a vajayjay?"
The girl group - who shot to fame after winning 'The X Factor' in 2011 - went on to admit they're following in the footsteps of the Spice Girls by promoting girl power.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock added: "Girl power is what we're about. It's what we stand for as a group."
Meanwhile, Jesy Nelson has revealed she, Leigh-Anne, Perrie and Jade Thirlwall are proud of the message they're putting out with their music as they've had mothers thank them for helping their daughters beat bullying.
Speaking in the Wonderland Magazine Spring Fashion issue - for which the band were shot by Bella Howard - Jesy said: "They say that since listening to Little Mix their daughters have been happier and more confident.
"If a girl is bullied, or heartbroken, or feeling like utter s**t, if our music can make them feel better, we're doing our jobs."

Kelly Clarkson feels like she has "the plague" after being rejected by "several" musicians.
The 32-year-old singer claims to have approached several other stars during her career with the hope of recording some exciting collaborations but has been left disappointed every time as they always say no.
She revealed: "I honestly would collaborate with a lot of people, but everyone usually says no. I'm not kidding you. I have legitimately asked several people who I'm not going to call out. And that's cool, but I don't know."
The 'Heartbeat Song' hitmaker - who has an eight-month-old daughter with talent manager husband Narvel Blackstock - did manage to recruit 'All of You' singer John Legend for the track 'Run Run Run' on her forthcoming album 'Piece By Piece', but said she generally feels like she has a contagious illness because no other artists will work with her.
She continued: "I got John Legend to say yes, so that's cool. I ask good people, I don't want to sing with crap people, so I ask people who are great vocalists, but I'm not going to point out anyone. I have asked several people, but sometimes I feel like I have the plague, or leprosy, they're like, if I get too close ... I don't know."
However, the four-time Grammy Award winner did enlist Sia's songwriting talents for the record, eventually using two of her songs on the album after begging her for tracks, and will release one of them as her next single.
Speaking about the 'Elastic Heart' singer, she told BBC Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw: "I love her. She writes such rangey songs, and that's how I love singing. We have tweeted back and forth and I was like, 'Write me something girl! You're so good!' but that was years ago. But we worked with the same producers so we kind of have mutual friends and the next single was the last one recorded for this album, and they had just written it and they were like 'We think you could nail this.'"

Nathan Sykes and Sam Smith are set to collaborate.
The former The Wanted singer has revealed it is "quite likely" the pair will team up on a song later this year after holding discussions about the music they could make together, and the 21-year-old star admits it will be "insane" to work with the 'Stay With Me' hitmaker.
He said: "We've spoken about going into the studio before and I think it's quite likely going to happen over the next year.
"It'll be insane. I think it'll be such a great opportunity to create something really cool."
Nathan was delighted to see Sam, 22, scoop four accolades at the Grammy Awards earlier this month, Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year for his hit 'Stay with Me' and Best Pop Vocal Album for 'In the Lonely Hour', but the Gloucester-born star admits being "biased" in wanting success for his fellow Brits.
He said: "Sam Smith at the Grammys was just insane. I've listening to a lot of Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and I'm living in hope for this Adele album. So, yes, I am quite biased toward the Brits."
The star confirmed one of the songs on his debut solo album is about his split from fellow singer Ariana Grande but insists he will never make big revelations about his private life in his tunes.
He added to E!: "It's a very nice breakup song. I think if people are expecting me to throw shade ... that's not going to happen. I'm not that type of person. I'd like be known to be a very kindhearted person."

Gavin DeGraw wants to record with Billy Joel.
The 38-year-old musician is a self-proclaimed super fan of the singer-songwriter and said working with the 65-year-old 'Piano Man' hitmaker is his ultimate wish.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "It's no secret that I'm a huge Billy Joel fan, so that [collaboration] would be a dream come true."
However, Gavin - whose single 'I Don't Want to Be' became world famous when it was chosen as the theme tune for long-running TV drama 'One Tree Hill' - explained it's tough to choose just one person because there are so many people he dreams of collaborating with.
He said: "[I'd like to work with] So many people from the past and present. Also there are guys like Ed Sheeran who I respect so much as an artist and just a great guy, that would be cool too."
The two-time Grammy Award nominee recently released 'Finest Hour: The Best of Gavin DeGraw' which features a selection of the star's greatest hits as well as two new songs including 'Fire', which has been produced by acclaimed hitmaker Max Martin.
Speaking about the track, he added: "I was very excited about the song "Fire" when it was done, and was looking for a way to release it as quickly as possible. We thought it would be a good idea to put together a collection of my songs, past and present, and include this one as a way to release it."

Conor Maynard will release his new album this summer.
The 'Can't Say No' singer released his debut album 'Contrast' in 2012 and is hoping to follow up the record in "June or July," despite the fact he cannot decide on a name for the collection.
Speaking at Raymond Weil's annual pre-BRITs gala, hosted by Labrinth, he told BANG Showbiz: "It will be out definitely in the middle of the year, around June or July, but I'm not sure what to name it yet."
Although his first LP topped the charts in the UK, the 22-year-old musician took a different approach to his forthcoming record as he wanted the tracks to express how he has felt in the last few years.
He explained: "The first album was collaboration heavy, Wiley, Ne-Yo, Frank Ocean, all these collaborations shaped the album, so with this album I wanted to take it back and make it more personal. There aren't any proper collaborations on the album, there are just producers who have stepped in."
Although Conor has cut down on the amount of other musicians he sings with, the 'Vegas Girl' hitmaker admitted he was thrilled when 33-year-old R&B star Craig David reached out to him for his next single, which is set to be released in the coming weeks.
Explaining how the track came about, he said: "I did a tour where I was supporting Jason Derulo around the UK and I kept covering 'Fill Me In' during my set and I think someone showed a video of me covering it to Craig David. He just tweeted me saying he really liked it so I fangirled for a second and it was pretty amazing. I think connections were made through that and we decided it would be quite cool to work together."