Music News

Sam Smith has become the only artist to sell a million albums in the UK and US in 2014.
The 22-year-old singer released his debut record 'In the Lonely Hour' earlier this year and it has now passed the huge milestone in both countries to become the biggest selling album of the year; an achievement which makes him "completely speechless".
Confirming the news on Twitter, he wrote: "1 million albums sold in UK and 1 million sold in America - completely speechless (sic)"
The album passed the figure on both sides of the Atlantic within 24 hours of each other, and by midnight on December 17 had sold 1.007 million copies in the UK, according to data from the Official Charts Company.
The 'Stay With Me' singer's LP is one of just three albums to have sold over the one million mark in the US - according to Nielsen Music - alongside Taylor Swift's fifth record '1989' and the soundtrack to animated Disney film 'Frozen' which features the hit track 'Let It Go' performed by Idina Menzel.
In the UK, Ed Sheeran is the only other act to have hit the million sales mark this year with his second album 'x', meaning 2014 is the first year since 2011 to see more than one album surpass a million sales.

Taylor Swift claims to have been inundated with "thank you" messages after pulling her music from Spotify.
The 'Shake it Off' hitmaker stopped her work being shared on the streaming service earlier this year and admits she wasn't expecting such a strong response to her decision.
She said: "I didn't think that it would be shocking to anyone.
"With as many ways as artists are personalising their musical distribution, it didn't occur to me that this would be anything that anyone would talk about.
"But I could never have expected so many text messages, emails and phone calls from other artists, writers and producers saying thank you."
Taylor made a break from country music to release her first pop album, '1989', this year and admits it was a "challenge" to convince her record label and management that it was a good idea - and they are now glad they agreed with her.
She added to The Hollywood Reporter: "The biggest challenge this year actually was convincing members of my own team that this was a good call.
"I'd get called in front of a group of people who have known me and worked with me for years who'd say, 'Are you sure that you want call the album '1989'? We think it's a weird title. Are you sure you want to put an album cover out that has less than half of your face on it? Are you positive that you want to take a genre that you've cemented yourself in and completely switch to a new one that you are a newcomer to?'
"The biggest struggle kind of turned into the biggest triumph when it worked out."

Brandon Flowers wants to "change" with his second solo album.
The Killers frontman - who released his debut solo record, 'Flamingo', in 2010 - is working with Ariel Rechtshaid on the LP and is excited with the way the producer is pushing him to do new things.
He said: "Even though I'm still young, you can start to get set in your ways. Change is good and there's always growth, I'm always looking for that.
"It's nice to steer the ship and that's what you'd think I'd do on my own album, but I'm letting Ariel take over every now and then. That's led to some really exciting things and sounds I would never have used.
"As I've gotten older I'm much more open to that - I'm much more open to peoples' strengths and really trying to utilise them - and that's where Ariel comes into the picture. He's really knowledgeable about every genre; it's pretty incredible what he's able to reference and pull out. It's definitely going to be different, but I'm still in the thick of it, hammering away."
This year, The Killers have teamed up with Jimmy Kimmel on their annual Christmas single, 'Joel the Lump of Coal', but they originally planned to record with 'Power of Love' singer Huey Lewis.
Brandon explained to NME magazine: "We watched 'Back To The Future' in Soho in London one night. And of course [the soundtrack is] doused in Huey Lewis. It made me think how much we loved his voice growing up.
"Somehow, along the way, Huey lost his involvement. Jimmy had this idea of a lump of coal who goes to a bad kid and gives up his life and becomes a diamond. It's kind of genius that it hasn't been used."

Duran Duran and Bastille will play at tiny music venues to support War Child in February.
The 'Girls On Film' hitmakers are just one of the acts announced for the Passport Back To The Bars week of one-off events - being held in collaboration with O2 - to raise funds for the charity which brings hope and safety to children in war zones.
Duran Duran bassist John Taylor said: "Thousands of children are innocent victims in the war zones of adult conflict around the world. They are often being denied education and other basic human rights. We are looking forward to performing an exclusive event in London this coming February, in support of War Child and the important work they do in the regions where these children are suffering."
Four-piece rock band Bastille, who released their debut album 'Bad Blood' in 2013, and Mark Gardener and Andy Bell's acoustic act Ride will also perform exclusive shows, which will be held in intimate venues in London and Manchester with a capacity of 300 or less.
The announcement marks 10 years since the charity's original set of Passport Back To The Bars shows in aid of victims of the Iraq war, with acts including The Cure, Elbow, Pet Shop Boys and Amy Winehouse.
The series of performances will take place as part of the BRITs Week 2015 from February 16 to 24, 2015. It is hoped the gigs will raise huge amounts of money for the charity, with fans pledging money to be in with the chance of winning tickets.
Further acts are expected to be added to the line-up in the coming weeks. To register for information visit www.warchild.org.uk/passport.

Madonna sings about President Barack Obama and Lady Gaga in a leaked track titled 'Illuminati'.
The 56-year-old musician's 13th album - tentatively named 'Iconic' - leaked online in full yesterday (17.12.14), and features one track on which she can be heard singing about a host of famous faces, who she claims are not part of the secret group of people who conspiracy theorists believe run the world, name checking Ariana Grande, Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and the US leader among others.
In the opening lines, she raps: "It's not Jay Z and Beyonce... it's not Oprah and Obama, The Pope, Ariana, Queen Elizabeth or Kanye... black magic or Kanye."
Other stars - who have all previously been linked to the secret society - mentioned on the track include Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, while on another track she rants about drug use.
On 'Make the Devil Pray' she sings: "Teach me how to pray, and we can do drugs, and we can smoke weed, and we can drink whiskey.
"Yeah we can get high, and we can get stoned, and we can sniff glue, and we can do E, and we can drop acid."
The 'Hung Up' hitmaker previously spoke about her drug use saying she had "tried everything once."
She said: "I mean, I tried everything once, but as soon as I was high, I spent my time drinking tons of water to get it out of my system.
"As soon as I was high, I was obsessed with flushing it out of me. I was like, Okay, I'm done now."
Following the untimely release of her new material, the star took to social media to unleash a furious rant in which she compared the illegal act to "terrorism."
In a post on Instagram which has since been deleted, she wrote: "This is artistic rape!! These are early leaked demo's half of which wont even make it on my album the other half have changed and evolved. This is a form of terrorism. Wtf!!!! Why do people want to destroy artistic process??? Why steal? Why not give me the opportunity to finish and give you my very best? (sic)"

Michael Buble has been taking "eight or nine" steroids before his gigs.
The 'Haven't Met You Yet' crooner was battling a heavy cold during his UK tour and though he was often "hurting" on stage, he insists his fans make the pain worthwhile.
He said: "My trip's been great, the crowds have been nuts.
"Me and most of my crew and band came down with a pretty bad cold. I've been on eight or nine different steroids every morning, and also antibiotics.
"But it's worth it - on nights when we're hurting the audience carry us through it."
The 39-year-old singer also revealed his generous side as he has given £1 from every ticket sold for his UK tour, totalling £125,000, to music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins.
He told The Sun newspaper: "I came up with this a year ago after I played the O2 arena. My manager wanted to book the tour for 2014 and I said I'd only do it if we give back too.
"The UK has been so great to me and I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth was.
"I'm lucky I can help a lot of beautiful young people."
A spokesman for the charity said the cash will make a "huge difference" to the work it will do in 2015.

Mark Ronson was "annoyed" his song 'Uptown Funk' was performed on 'The X Factor'.
The DJ had intended to unveil the song - which also features Bruno Mars - in January but was forced to hasten its release date after discovering that the ITV reality TV show contestant Fleur East intended to release it as a single, too.
The 39-year-old star told NME magazine: "I realised this girl's cover's going to come out before our own.
"So yeah, for a minute I was a little bit annoyed and then we kind of rushed ours, which is good 'cause I think whatever it took to get the song out."
Mark's record is among the contenders for the coveted Christmas number one spot in the UK singles chart, not far behind behind 'X Factor' winner Ben Haenow's debut single.
And Mark has joked that he would feel a little bit guilty were he to steal the thunder of the reality TV show winner.
He said: "I almost feel guilty, maybe we can do a remix with a few Christmas words in there in time."
Meanwhile, Fleur's performance of the tune drew praise from music mogul Simon Cowell, who described it as one of the best things he'd ever heard on the show.

Gerard Way's new album will feature "old soul music."
The 37-year-old musician has suggested he will shy away from the Britpop-inspired sound of his debut solo album 'Hesitant Album' - released earlier this year - in favour of embracing the sound of his track 'Get The Gang Together'.
He explained: "[I have] changed things up again. The stuff I've been writing recently feels a lot more akin to songs like 'Get The Gang Together' - it feels like it's moving in a garage-y, old soul music kind of direction."
Continuing to speak about the record - which he plans to record in September 2015 - he hinted guitars may not be as prominent as they have been in his previous music, because he wants to have brass instruments on the tracks.
He told NME magazine: "I want to use horns, backing vocals, things like that. Even though I do the majority of my writing on the guitar, I don't know how prominent it's gonna be. So it's moving in a different direction, for sure."
The star rose to fame as the frontman of My Chemical Romance but split from his 'Teenagers' bandmates in March 2013 after releasing four studio albums, and admits he misses the extravagance of the group's stage shows.
Speaking of his live shows, he said: "I definitely miss the theatricality of it a little bit.
"Now that I've gotten not doing something theatrical out of my system, I feel like it would be nice to get back into concepts again, maybe explore some more visual stuff."

Olly Murs thanked Jessie Ware for appearing on his album, despite her not being involved in the record.
The 30-year-old singer admitted the pair met while recording the Band Aid 30 single 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' and led to the most embarrassing moment of his year because he falsely believed she had sung on a track from his album 'Never Been Better'.
He revealed: "OK so cringe worthy moment, you know what, this is really bad. I was at the recording for Band Aid 30 and I met Jessie Ware. I thought that she was on my album because there was a song that I did called 'Alone Tonight' and the guys that were producing it wanted her to sing on the song because she's got a really great voice. I got it completely wrong; it's not Jessie Ware at all!"
However, the 'Wrapped Up' hitmaker revealed it wasn't the most awkward encounter which the 'Tough Love' singer had that day, after Jessie was mistaken for 'Bang Bang' singer Jessie J by Sinead O'Connor.
He added: "But then, to add to the awkwardness, Sinead O'Connor went up to Jessie and went, 'Oh my god, Jessie J, it's so lovely to meet you.' "
Listen to Olly Murs & Caroline Flack on Magic Radio on Christmas Day (10am-12) and on New Year's Eve (6pm-8pm) www.magic.co.uk