Music News

Sir Elton John wants to make electronic music.
The 66-year-old singer and musician admits he's still a novice when it comes to recording but wants to collaborate with Pharrell Williams as he explores different musical genres.
He told Clash Magazine: "I adore electronic music. I get up in the morning and put on electronic music.
"I did a track with Timbaland. I hope to do something with Pharrell. I've done a track with Bright Light Bright Light, a guy called Rod Thomas, and it's brilliant. I like exploring other avenues."
But the 'Your Song' hitmaker admits he has a lot to learn and has been asking for advice from younger artists.
He said: "As a piano player I tend to overdo things, and electronic music is about simplicity. I had lunch with James Blake the other day, and listening to his album is so simple and beautiful.
"I would be tempted to do so much more, and he has the ability to be so minimalistic and I love it. They're like paintings, not songs."
The legendary star releases a reissue of his classic album 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' on March 24 but is waiting to decide what his next musical move will be and praised artists he's collaborated with in the past, including Kanye West.
Elton said: "I did things with Queens Of The Stone Age, and that was a completely different experience.
"Playing on the Kanye West record, 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy', which is genius from start to finish, was a f***ing honour. It was like: 'Wow, I'm on this f***ing record!' And it was different. You can always learn.
"By pooh-poohing dance music, rap or anything, you just lose so much, because if you get into the studio with these guys you realise they're onto something completely different to what you do.
"By you saying it's rubbish it's completely wrong, because what they do is something you don't understand but it's completely relevant and it's very exciting."

Boyband M.A.D are getting used to being mobbed by school girls in the street.
The group - made up of Michael Sutthakorn, AB Pryer and Dan Lewis - are Britain's newest teen pop act and have already scored a Top 40 hit with their debut single 'Toyboy'.
Band member Dan, who moved from his home in South Wales to London to join M.A.D, told BANG Showbiz: "It kind of scared me before I moved because I didn't know what was going to happen, but once we got Top 40 it was all worth it.
"Now when I to go out in Cardiff with my friends, my local town, I get bombarded by fans, it's unreal.
"I've enjoyed the attention from girls and every time I went home it got worse and worse. The first time there were five, then ten, now there are hundreds and I can't walk about or shop properly because so many people come up to me, but it's so much fun."
Dan, 17, was first discovered on Facebook by a music scout who watched videos of him singing and playing guitar, and the lads now have young girls follow them home from rehearsals.
He said: "Every morning before they go to school they're outside the apartment. I remember once I was in the lounge playing Fifa in my boxers and there was a fan waving at me I was like, 'Oh no'."
The band were once mistaken for boy band The Vamps in a McDonald's restaurant but say they're more of a cross between Busted and One Direction.
Dan added: "We met some of the bands from the Big Reunion in the recording studio and met 5ive. They gave us a lot of advice, telling us to enjoy it because the time flies.
"We're all very different people and have only known each other for half a year but it's all great fun and we're just like brothers now."
The band's new single 'Fame & TV' is out on Sunday, February 16.

Semi Precious Weapons have reassured fans their third album 'Aviation' will be released this year.
The Los Angeles rock band experienced "record label drama" but are now managed by RedZone Records, run by famous producer Tricky Stewart, who is known for his work with Beyonce, Rihanna and Frank Ocean.
Frontman Justin Tranter told BANG Showbiz: "Sadly the album was pushed back because of stereotypical label bulls**t. The label drama is over and the album finally comes out at the end of April."
The record 'Aviation' is the follow-up to the band's second album 'You Love You', which came out in 2010, and is hoped to be released in the UK in May following the US date.
Justin, 33, joked: "The fans are angry, I get tweets every day, they're gonna f***ing kill me if I don't put something out."
The glamorous rock band - also made up of Dan Crean, Stevy Pyne and Cole Whittle - say their goal for the new record was to simply write the best songs they could and they plan to tour after its release with a number of US and UK gigs.
Justin continued: "The UK fans are great, they're so passionate, and they actually love the music and not just the aesthetic.
"We're hoping to get back this summer, or maybe even late spring. "We have had such great experiences with the UK. It was a pretty surreal moment when Kate Moss came to one of our gigs. She couldn't have been sweeter, she loves the band and looked so gorgeous, I wanted to poke my eyes out."
Semi Precious Weapons are also famous for being pals with Lady Gaga, who was their opening act before she become one of the world's biggest stars.
Justin added: "Gaga is the hardest working woman on the planet. Even with how crazy her life is we still check in with each other a couple of times a month.
"If you go out in public with Gaga, you have a great f**king time but you can't really talk. When we do hang out now, it's in private, where we can enjoy each other's company."
The new album from Semi Precious Weapons, 'Aviation', will be released on April 8 in the US.

Busta Rhymes is set to perform at Bestival this year.
The hip-hop star will mark his first appearance at a UK festival this September when he joins the main stage line-up at the event, which takes place in the Isle of Wight, England.
Festival organiser Rob da Bank said: "Woo hah people! Yes it's true, Busta Rhymes has got you all in check and he's coming to Bestival for his first ever UK festi appearance!
"I'm such a Busta fan and it's amazing not just to see him back in the charts with another banger with 'Thank You' but also to know he's getting on the ferry and bringing it to Bestival!"
The 41-year-old rapper - who has been nominated for 11 Grammy awards in the past - will be playing some unreleased material ahead of the launch of his forthcoming album 'Extinction Level Event 2'.
Busta will play his set in the slot before the headliners, but it has not yet been announced what day he will be performing.
Meanwhile, OutKast have been named as the first headliners for this year's themed Desert Island Disco event, with Foals, Beck, Disclosure, Laura Mvula, Major Lazer and London Grammar also taking to the stage over the weekend.
More acts are due to be announced in coming months.
Bestival will take place between September 4-7.

Prince performed another surprise show at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire last night (09.10.14).
Celebrities including Cara Delevingne, Nick Grimshaw and Florence Welch danced along to the 'Purple Rain' hitmaker and his all-female band, 3RDEYEGIRL.
The gig followed a secret 'open sound-check' and two gigs in one night at the Electric Ballroom in north London last week, tickets for which were just £10 for fans who queued for hours in the rain to see the music legend.
Last night's concert was announced on BBC 6 Music by the singer's band and hundreds of fans started queuing outside the venue for tickets which were labelled as £70 and later brought down to £10 once gig-goers reached the doors at 7pm.
The singer performed new material with his band and launched into a medley of 'How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?', 'Purple Rain' and 'Do Me Baby', which went down a storm with the audience.
Prince is continuing his string of surprise London performances at a number of "iconic venues" in the city which are causing a buzz on social media.
He has hinted at his desire to play venues such as Ronnie Scott's and the Bag O' Nails Club in Soho - although details for future gigs are being kept under wraps.
Prince also described his trip to London as "open-ended" and told fans: "We're gonna try and find somewhere else to play in this city. We'll stay as long as you'll have us."

Paolo Nutini wants to be a carpenter.
The 27-year-old star - who is set to make a comeback with his third album 'Caustic Love' on April 14 - wants to explore joinery after taking inspiration from a man he saw as his grandfather when he was younger.
He explained: "The man I grew up to I think of as a grandfather on my mother's side, a man called Eddie, he was this old army hand, big white bushy moustache. He dealt in scrap, he was always down at the lost-and-found at the airport or prison, and I'd be the little kid tagging along, because he'd often look after me during the day ... He worked with wood, and made me this little rocking horse when I was young, called Rocky. I still have it.
"Whittling and carving wood is something I've always wanted to do, yet I've only dipped my toe in the water. I find it therapeutic ... I need to do that, go away and separate myself from things, get some education, some life, outside of a tour bus or a venue."
The 'Candy' singer fled back to his Scottish homeland four years ago when being in the spotlight became too much to bear and he admits he needed the hiatus to repair his relationship with his family and friends.
In an interview with Culture Magazine, he explained: "It's not like I've been making an album for three, four years. We toured the last record for a year and a bit, and I got to this point where I was only seeing my family and friends at gigs, I was miles away from home, my relationship was handing by a thread and I realised I was losing everything."

Enrique Iglesias and Kylie Minogue are locked in a battle to release their duet.
The Latin heartthrob and 'Into The Blue' singer have collaborated on the track 'Beautiful' but their labels Universal Republic and Parlophone are at war over when it will be released.
Enrique told the Daily Star Sunday newspaper: "I'm hoping the duet will be released as the next single but I know there's been a few problems between the record companies because she is on a different label.
"It's all politics. There was a moment when the record companies were fighting back and forth, but in the end Kylie and I spoke and we will make it happen."
The pair, who are both set to release new music this year, will shoot a video for the song in March.
Enrique, 38, said: "I'm a huge fan of Kylie. She's so sweet and she's been going for a long time but is as sexy as ever"
The star's new single 'I'm A Freak', featuring Pitbull, is out on March 16, while Kylie, 45, releases her single 'Into The Bull' on March 9.
Enrique also rubbished reports he got a car drive 20 metres after throwing a strip and insists he's not a diva.
He added: "That was such bull****. My manager told me to get a car because it was cold and there were photographers outside."

Beyoncé is set to perform at this year's BRIT Awards.
The 'Drunk in Love' hitmaker will grace the stage at the ceremony for the first time in ten years, joining Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Arctic Monkeys and Ellie Goulding.
The 32-year-old singer was due to perform at the annual ceremony in 2013 but had to cancel because her new material wasn't ready but is reportedly on board for the event this month.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "Beyonce is on. The only reason this has not yet been announced officially is because the Brits guys are nervous that it could all go wrong again.
"But what I can tell you is that in her camp it's 99.9 per cent on."
The star will also join Lorde, Disclosure, Rudimental, Bastille and Bruno Mars on February 19 at London's O2 Arena and organisers are hoping the show will be viewed by over 10 million people.
It has already been a successful year for the 'Single Ladies' hitmaker, who shocked fans by releasing her self-titled fifth studio album without any prior promotion.
The record, which was released exclusively on iTunes, conquered the charts and sold 828,773 copies in just three days.
Beyoncé stole the show at the Grammy Awards last month performing a sexy routine with rapper husband Jay Z.
The last time the singer took to the stage at the BRIT Awards in 2004 she sang her hit song 'Crazy in Love' and also picked up the accolade for Best International Female.

Heidi Range always felt responsible for her other bandmates.
The former Sugababes singer has taken a leap into theatre after the troubled girl group - who haven't released any new material since 2011 - decided to embark on a break, and she admits it's less pressure performing on stage than producing music with members Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen.
Asked how acting and singing are different, she said: "I think it is different. I think there's more of a big family [in theatre] I guess because there's more of you. I think it just feels like a big family, it sounds really cheesy but it does. I mean you've obviously got a lot of pressure on you as an individual to make sure you're character is right, but in regards to the actual show there's not as much pressure.
"Whereas with the band it was up to the three of us to make it work. Also you don't feel responsible for everyone else I guess in the sense that you did with the band, because it's just you three and if someone is not in the right mind frame you're really panicking about that."
The 30-year-old star is currently starring opposite former 'Emmerdale' actor Ben Freeman in a touring production of 'Happy Days: A New Musical' - based on the popular US sitcom - where she plays Pinky Tuscadero.
Speaking about the play, she said: "I'm just enjoying it. I trained when I was younger in singing, acting and dancing. I mean it's been a long time since I did all three but it really comes back to you but I'm just really loving it and enjoying it."