Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and founding member, dies aged 71

The only member of the US rock band to appear on all of its albums, Rossington survived the 1977 plane crash that killed several of his bandmates

Gary Rossington, the Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and the last surviving original member of the band, has died at the age of 71.

No cause of death was given for Rossington, who died on Sunday, nearly four months before the band was set to embark on their next tour.

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Laibach to become first foreign band to perform in Kyiv since invasion

Subversive Slovenian quintet, who performed in North Korea in 2015, to play full concert at Bel Etage Music Hall

Subversive Slovenian industrial rock band Laibach are set to be the first foreign group to perform a full concert in Kyiv since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The group will play Bel Etage Music Hall on 31 March, under the concert title Eurovision – an arch reference to the fact the Eurovision song contest, won by Ukraine in 2022, will not be hosted in the country this year, but rather Liverpool in the UK.

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Brit awards 2023: Harry Styles and Wet Leg triumph while Lizzo delivers the glitz – as it happened

Fontaines DC, Aitch, Becky Hill and the 1975 also won gongs, while Tom Grennan flubbed it. Here’s all the action from the 43rd annual music awards

Read the full report here
The trouble with the Brits
The night in pictures

Shania is here! And in a week where she has a UK No 1 album with Queen of Me to boot. She’s performed with Harry Styles in the past; wonder if they’ll have a redux (or if she’ll present him with one of the awards that he’ll inevitably walk away with tonight).

RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Bimini Bon-Boulash has arrived in extremely punk fashion, wearing a dress that transplants the colours of the trans pride flag onto the union jack – a nice little injection of chaos onto this year’s red carpet.

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‘He sounded great’: David Crosby was working on new album when he died, musicians reveal

Folk-rock pioneer ‘writing, playing, singing his ass off and preparing a fantastic show’ in his final days, says guitarist Steve Postell

David Crosby was working on a new album and planning to tour again until the day he died, according to musicians who worked with the folk-rock pioneer in his final days.

The founding member of the Byrds, and Crosby, Stills and Nash died last week at the age of 81. But other artists who were working with Crosby on new music told Variety that his death had came as a shock, as he’d been rehearsing for a new tour and “seemed practically giddy” about new songs he was working on.

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‘Out of your league’: Shakira song mocking ex Gerard Piqué breaks YouTube record

Video with DJ Bizarrap ridiculing footballer’s new relationship racks up 63m views in 24 hours

A savage new song by Shakira in which the Colombian star, philanthropist and committed believer in the veracity of hips ridicules her former partner Gerard Piqué has logged more than 63m YouTube views in 24 hours, making it the most watched new Latin song in the platform’s history.

Shakira and Piqué, who played football for Barcelona, Manchester United and the Spanish national team, separated last year after more than a decade and have two children. The former centre-back, 35, has since begun a relationship with a 23-year-old woman, Clara Chía.

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Legendary rock guitarist Jeff Beck dies aged 78

Beck rose to fame with the Yardbirds before fronting the Jeff Beck Group and making forays into the jazz-fusion sound he pioneered

Jeff Beck, the celebrated guitarist who played with the Yardbirds and led the Jeff Beck Group, has died aged 78, his representative has confirmed.

Beck died on Tuesday after “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis”, the representative confirmed. “His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss,” they added.

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UK’s top 10 singles of 2022 were all by British artists

A clean sweep led by Harry Styles was an ‘astonishing’ high note for the music industry – but the domination of older songs reflected the impact of streaming

For the first time since year-end charts were introduced more than 50 years ago, British artists have made up the entirety of the year’s 10 most popular songs in the UK.

Topping the biggest songs of 2022 in the UK was Harry Styles’ omnipresent As It Was; Ed Sheeran had two songs on the list, while new artists such as south London songwriter Cat Burns and Scottish dance duo LF System rubbed shoulders with Kate Bush, whose 1985 single Running Up That Hill topped the UK singles chart for the first time last year after being featured in the latest series of Netflix drama Stranger Things, having originally peaked at No 3.

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Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler sued for 1970s sexual battery and assault of minor

Suit alleges ‘various acts of criminal sexual conduct’ were committed against teenager by singer over three-year period

A woman who says she had a sexual relationship with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler when she was 16 is suing him in California, under a state law that has temporarily extended the statute of limitations for adults to take legal action on sexual abuse they suffered as children.

Julia Holcomb Misley, who has spoken out publicly for years about Tyler’s treatment of her as a teenager, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on Tuesday alleging sexual battery, sexual assault and intentional infliction of distress during a three-year period in the 1970s.

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Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift chaos triggers US Senate antitrust hearing

Several politicians voice concerns about dominance of ticket sales company after botched release for singer’s tour

A US Senate antitrust panel will go ahead with a hearing on the lack of competition in the country’s ticketing industry after Ticketmaster’s problems last week managing the sale of Taylor Swift tickets.

Tickemaster’s parent company, Live Nation, has blamed presale problems for Swift’s Eras tour – the pop superstar’s first US tour in five years – on “unprecedented demand” and an effort to keep out bots run by ticket scalpers.

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‘Bawdy, emotional’: critics gush over Adele’s postponed Las Vegas show

Singer thanks fans for ‘coming back to me’ and says she has never been so nervous as she launches residency

The nerves were all part of the show when Adele launched her long-awaited Vegas residency on Friday night. After the notorious rescheduling of her dates at just one day’s notice in January, it was never going to be possible to ignore the high stakes – even in a town built on colossal bets.

“I’m so nervous and I’m so scared and I’m so happy,” she said. “It might be a bit wobbly at times because my nerves are out of control … It’s a bloody massive week for me this week. It’s the Walking Dead finale on Sunday!” In an Instagram post on Thursday night, she wrote that she had “never been more nervous before a show”.

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Nik Turner, Hawkwind co-founder and saxophonist, dies aged 82

Member of influential British space-rock band also played in Sphynx, Inner City Unit and Space Ritual

Nik Turner, the co-founder of the British space-rock band Hawkwind, has died aged 82.

A statement on the saxophonist’s Facebook page said: “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Nik Turner – the Mighty Thunder Rider, who passed away peacefully at home on Thursday evening.

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Taylor Swift becomes first musician to claim entire Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100

Singer has surpassed Drake, who had held the previous record with nine of the top songs for a week last year

Taylor Swift scored a 10 out of 10 to become the first artist in history to claim the Top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, with tracks from her latest album, Midnights.

Billboard reported on Monday that Swift has surpassed Drake, who had held the previous record with nine of the Top 10 songs for a week in September 2021.

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Coldplay perform Iranian protest song Baraye by arrested singer

British band joined on stage by exiled actor Golshifteh Farahani to sing protest song by Shervin Hajipour as Buenos Aires concert broadcast in 81 countries

An Iranian protest anthem that has become the soundtrack to the national uprising was again thrust into the international spotlight over the weekend when Coldplay performed a cover and broadcast it live around the world.

The British band played the song, Baraye, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday and Saturday night at the start of their world tour, with the exiled Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani on stage and singing in Farsi.

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BTS members to do military service in South Korea

Announcement ends long debate over whether K-pop group should get exemption

The seven members of BTS – one of the world’s biggest bands – will perform military service in their native South Korea, their agency has said, ending a long national debate over whether they should receive an exemption.

While many fans of the K-pop sensations were hoping the band members would be given special consideration due to their contribution to the South Korean economy and international prestige, the artists will each serve almost two years in the military.

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Kanye West: bank JP Morgan Chase cuts ties with rapper

The decision to end the relationship with West and clothing brand Yeezy predates recent controversies and array of antisemitic comments

The US bank JP Morgan Chase has ended its relationship with Kanye West and his clothing brand Yeezy Inc – although the decision predates the rapper and designer’s recent controversies in which he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and shared racist conspiracy theories in an unaired interview.

Candace Owens, the conservative US commentator whom West has associated with in recent years, shared a letter from the bank, dated 20 September, on Twitter.

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Aria awards 2022: Rüfüs Du Sol and Amyl and the Sniffers among top nominees

Dance group leads with seven nominations, with Flume, the Kid Laroi, Baker Boy and Vance Joy also winning multiple nods

Rüfüs Du Sol has dominated the 2022 Aria award nominations, featuring in a total of seven categories, followed by Amyl and the Sniffers and Flume.

The Sydney electronic trio’s latest album, Surrender, continues to pay dividends for the band, who won best group and best dance song for their track Alive at last year’s Arias. Alive also won them best dance song at this year’s Grammy awards.

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John Farnham cracking jokes with nurses after mouth cancer surgery, sons say

Singer, 73, is focused on getting better after 12-hour operation in August to remove cancerous growth, sons Robert and James say in TV interview

The Australian singing legend John Farnham is on the long road to recovery after his life-saving cancer surgery, his sons say.

The 73-year-old underwent a 12-hour operation in August to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth.

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Sam Fender cancels shows to look after his mental health

Singer-songwriter apologises to fans in announcement on Instagram after becoming ‘burnt out’ from touring

Sam Fender has cancelled a number of forthcoming shows and announced he is “taking some time off the road” to look after his mental health, after admitting that he was “burnt out” from touring.

The 28-year-old singer-songwriter from Newcastle posted the announcement on Instagram, saying it would be “completely hypocritical” of him to advocate for discussion of the topic without looking after his own mental wellbeing.

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Lewis Capaldi reveals Tourette syndrome diagnosis: ‘It’s something I am living with’

The 25-year-old Scottish singer has been treating the condition with botox injections and says that he is ‘learning new ways to cope all the time’

Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. The 25-year-old star, who broke out with the chart-topping 2018 single Someone You Loved, said on Instagram Live that the diagnosis “makes so much sense”: “When I look back at my interviews from 2018, I can see that I’m doing it,” he said.

The singer said that he chose to go public with the diagnosis because he “didn’t want people to think I was taking cocaine or something,” and noted that he had initially thought it was “some horrible degenerative disease” before he was properly diagnosed. “My shoulder twitches when I am excited, happy, nervous or stressed,” he said. “It is something I am living with.”

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