Music News

Missy Elliot is set to make a comeback.
The American rapper and producer is planning her return to music nine years after releasing her last album 'The Cookbook' and has hinted she could follow in Beyoncé's footsteps and surprise fans.
In a chat with Yahoo's 'The Yo Show', Missy said: "When I create something, it's gotta be special, and it can't just be to throw something out there because I feel like I'm Missy.
"I gotta feel like what I'm giving the fans is 100 per cent and that it's game-changing. I don't just throw out microwave records."
Missy confirmed her comeback album is imminent but when quizzed about the release date, she replied: "I just ain't telling nobody when."
After stepping out of the spotlight in 2005, she began producing and lending her vocals to singles by Monica, Keyshia Cole, Jazmine Sullivan and Jennifer Hudson.
Since 2007 Missy has teased her seventh album, 'Block Party', with a handful of singles including 'Best, Best', 'Ching-a-Ling' and 'Shake Your Pom Pom' but the full record has never been released.
In 2012 she also dropped the singles '9th Inning' and 'Triple Threat', reuniting her with collaborator Timbaland.
More recently the 42-year-old star has worked with girl band Little Mix on their single 'How Ya Doin'?' last year.

Beck wrote his album using a toy guitar.
The 43-year-old rock singer says he was forced to use a plastic instrument when writing his 2008 album ' Modern Guilt' after suffering a serious spinal injury, which not only jeopardised his singing ability but made holding the instrument excruciatingly painful.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, Beck explained: "When I made 'Modern Guilt' it was really tough. I made that whole record on a toy guitar. I couldn't even sing from here [he says pointing to his waist.] And I could only sing from the neck. It wasn't the greatest time for me."
The 'Loser' hitmaker claims he was disappointed that he couldn't get back into the studio earlier after major surgery forced him to take a six year hiatus from recording music to fully recover from his injury.
Beck recalled: "I wanted to make another record and I kept thinking it was going to get better, but it took a real long time to heal. I had a lot of physical therapy and healing. I had about 20 different things done."
Meanwhile, Beck expressed his excitement ahead of the release of his new album 'Morning Phase', his first in six years, which is out on February 25.
He gushed: "I've put a lot into it and it's a record I've wanted to make for a long time. It's gratifying feeling that I finally got here."

Queen are expected to play gigs in America this summer with Adam Lambert.
Brian May has revealed the band - which also features Roger Taylor - are still working together and planning to perform with Adam Lambert replacing the late Freddie Mercury as frontman.
Brian told BBC Radio 2: "We are ongoing, we can't help it, I think we all protested too much in the sense when Freddie went and we didn't want to talk about it and didn't want to be Queen for a while.
"But after a while you realise that people wanna hear the songs and see us do things. So, no matter what you call it, Roger and I do do stuff and I think we'll be doing some more stuff this summer in fact, probably in the States."
When quizzed about who will stand in as a frontman for the band, the 66-year-old musician said: "We've been talking to Adam Lambert, you know we've already done some gigs with Adam, who is amazing."
Brian and Roger have joined forces with 32-year-old Adam, who was the runner-up on American Idol in 2009, for a number of concerts in the past.
The band are also still "good friends" with Paul Rodgers, who they formed a supergroup with in 2005, but Brian said it was unlikely they would work together anytime soon.
He added: "Paul has a career of his own and he can't do the Queen thing indefinitely."

Little Mix were "disappointed" they weren't nominated for any Brit Awards this year.
The girl group - which includes Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock - were hoping to receive recognition at the annual ceremony which honours musical talent but failed to get a single nod.
Jesy told London's Capital FM radio station: "We're not going to lie, we were disappointed. But there's not much you can do really."
However, Little Mix's second studio album 'Salute' topped the US iTunes chart earlier this week bringing in praise from other musicians.
One Direction's - who are up for British Group and British Single of the Year for 'One Way or Another' - Zayn Malik was bursting with pride and gushed about fiance Perrie on Twitter.
He previously wrote: "So proud of my baby !! Download the tune and keep it @ #1 !! 🙂 xx (sic)"
Zayn's 1D bandmate Niall Horan also applauded the girl group for the success of their second studio album which was released in the US on February 4.
He wrote: "The lovely girls of LittleMixOffic have are at #1 on the iTunes chart, you guys gotta keep it there for the week! It's a great album ! Xx (sic)"

Lars Ulrich says Metallica are in no hurry to finish their upcoming album.
The metal band have been busy with their feature film 'Through the Never', but are now working on the follow-up to their 2008 record 'Death Magnetic', although Lars admits they're in no rush to complete it.
The drummer said: "What I can say is, we're one day closer to the next record being released than we were yesterday. Unless there's what's called an 'Act of God,' I would hedge my bets that '201' would be the first three digits in the release year.
"And I don't know much beyond that. We've been jamming along. We've been putting in some time."
The heavy metal legends - made up of frontman James Hatfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo - will premiere a new track on their upcoming tour but Kirk claims they haven't done much work on the album so far.
He added to Rolling Stone magazine: "We've jammed on certain bits and pieces of music ... But we're still going through that process. Once we figure out what pieces of music are actually gonna work us, then we're going to start turning those pieces of music into songs and seeing where that leads us."

Linkin Park feel "inspired" recording their new album.
Frontman Mike Shinoda has teased details of new material for the record, the follow-up to their 2012 album 'Living Things', and said the band plan to go in a new direction.
In a blog post, Mike attached a photograph of the band in the studio and wrote: "As most Linkin Park fans know, the sound of each album is usually quite different from the last.
"The new album is no exception. But as usual, the album's sound twists and turns as it is created, so any attempt at estimating what it sounds like today would be silly.
"The moment I tell you it sounds like 'X', the songs will automatically take a drastic turn and evolve into something different within a week."
He added: "But what I can tell you is I'm inspired. We're inspired."
Meanwhile, the US metal band - which also features Chester Bennington, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell and Joe Hahnhave - have been named as one of the headline acts for Download Festival 2014 and plan to perform their 2000 album 'Hybrid Theory' in its entirety at the popular event.
Festival organiser Andy Copping has confirmed they will play on Saturday, June 14, joining special guests Fall Out Boy. Friday night headliners are Avenged Sevenfold and Aerosmith will close the festival, held in Donington in Leicestershire, on the Sunday.

Prince performed two surprise shows in London on Wednesday night (05.02.14) - treating fans to new material and his greatest hits.
The hitmaker sparked a buzz online earlier in the day that he would be performing at intimate venue the Electric Ballroom in Camden - which holds just several hundred people and was the venue for his brief show on Tuesday (04.02.14) - and thousands of fans queued for hours in the rain, despite not knowing details of the performances or ticket prices.
Eventually, more than 800 people were allowed in the venue after the doors opened at 7pm and each lucky fan paid just £10 to see the legendary singer perform with his new all-female band 3RDEYEGIRL.
The set included new single 'Pretzelbodylogic', along with 'Let's Go Crazy', 'Funk 'n' Roll', 'Guitar' and 'She's Always in My Hair', in which the 55-year-old singer changed the lyrics to, "always in Prince's big curly hair".
Audience members shouted, "London loves you", before he handed his guitar out to the crowd and dozens of fans surged forward.
The 55-year-old musician came back on for a second encore before fans were ejected from the venue and security let in hundreds of people who were still queuing outside for the second performance.
The pop superstar powered through several of his most famous hits, including 'When Doves Cry', 'Housequake', 'I Would Die 4 U' and 'Purple Rain'.
VIP guests at the gigs included Paloma Faith, Nicole Scherzinger and Lianne La Havas, who welcomed Prince into her home for a secret press conference this week.
Prince has ruled out playing any large venues while in London with his band this month, hinting instead of his desire to play small club gigs.
Speaking to BBC 6 Music, he said he wants 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.
He described his trip to London as "open-ended" and told last night's audience: "We're gonna try and find somewhere else to play in this city. We'll stay as long as you'll have us."

Lianne La Havas claims it was "like a storm had hit" when Prince played an impromptu gig at her house on Tuesday (04.02.14).
The 24-year-old star saw her east London home turned into a concert venue when the 'Purple Rain' singer and his new band 3RDEYEGIRL bombarded her pad for his Hit & Run tour.
She explained: "It's been a weird few hours but a lot of fun.
"They put amplified equipment in my lounge, Prince came, conquered and left. It was like a storm had hit."
The 55-year-old star - who is playing a series of secret guerilla gigs at small venues across London throughout the month of February - performed two acoustic tracks in Lianne's front room, including new single 'PretzelBodyLogic'.
Lianne explained: "His plan is music and music alone. He just wants to play and promote his new band and make a name for them."
However, Prince's turn-up at Lianne's house wasn't completely out of the blue as the pair have met before.
She told the Daily Star newspaper: "Prince and I had hung out before in my old house, he enjoyed my music.
"I had always had music jams at my house, it's a way of having a conversation with musicians.
"So this was a way of Prince doing something he had never done - he just thought let's go back to basics."

Prince performed two gigs at Camden's Electric Ballroom in London last night (05.01.14).
The 'Purple Rain' hitmaker took to the stage after a secret gig at the same venue on Wednesday evening and thousands of fans queued for hours in the rain, despite not knowing details of the performances or ticket prices.
Eventually, more than 800 people were allowed in the venue after the doors opened at 7pm and paid just £10 to see the legendary singer perform a special gig with his all-female band 3rd Eye Girl.
The set included new single 'Pretzelbodylogic', along with 'Let's Go Crazy', 'Funk 'n' Roll', 'Guitar' and 'She's Always in My Hair', in which the 55-year-old singer changed the lyrics to, 'Always in Prince's big curly hair'.
Audience members shouted: "London loves you", before he handed his guitar out to the crowd and dozens of fans surged forward.
The singer came back on for a second encore before the fans were ejected from the venue and security let in hundreds of people who were still queuing outside.
The star powered through tracks including 'Cause and Effect', 'I Would Die 4 U' and 'Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)' during the second set, before ending the first encore with a sensuous rendition of 'Purple Rain'.
He then closed the gig with a medley of hits, including 'When Doves Cry' and 'Sign o' The Times'.
VIP guests at the gigs included Paloma Faith, Nicole Scherzinger and Lianne La Havas, who welcomed Prince into her home for a secret press conference this week.
The singer has ruled out playing any large venues while in London with his band this month, hinting instead of his desire to play small club gigs.
Speaking to BBC 6 Music, he said he wants 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.
He described his trip to London as "open-ended" and told last night's audience: "We're gonna try and find somewhere else to play in this city. We'll stay as long as you'll have us."