The winners of every category at the 2024 Brits, updated as the ceremony progresses
• Brit awards 2024: women dominate as Raye scores record-smashing six wins
• Brit awards 2024: as it happened
Blur – The Ballad of Darren
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard
Little Simz – No Thank You
Raye – My 21st Century Blues – WINNER!
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy
This blog is closed. The once-in-a-lifetime show has finally come to Australia. For the millions who couldn’t get tickets, might a slightly chaotic blog be the next best thing? The night 1 setlist (spoilers), all the surprise songs, the atmosphere of 96,000 people at the MCG – if you missed it you can read it all again! Start at the beginning.
Taylor Swift sing-along on board Qantas flight to Melbourne
The Taylor Swift hype reached new heights earlier today.
Continue reading...Tributes paid to 66-year-old musician after Hertfordshire police confirmed he died in collision last week
The bassist Derrick McIntyre, who was part of the band Jamiroquai and lent his strings to songs by Emeli Sandé, Will Young and Beverly Knight, has died in a car crash aged 66.
Tributes have been paid to the musician after Hertfordshire police confirmed that McIntyre died in a collision involving five cars on 2 February. Police said McIntyre died at the scene and that two people were taken to hospital.
Continue reading...London MC wins best male and song of the year, while Potter Payper beats stiff competition to win album of the year
Central Cee has topped the winners at the 2024 Mobo awards, winning best male for the second year in a row, and best song for Sprinter, his collaborative track with Dave, that dominated the summer months with a 10-week run at No 1.
Elsewhere the awards, which celebrate black musical artistry in the UK and globally, spread the garlands across a diverse range of music, with no one artist dominating.
Continue reading...Public opinion divided over lyrics to Zorra, usually used to mean ‘bitch’, by electropop duo Nebulossa
It has been criticised by some as insulting to women, but hailed by the prime minister as provocative – in a good way.
Days after Spain selected its entry for this year’s Eurovision song contest, the electropop tune Zorra has rocketed to the top of the country’s music charts and divided public opinion.
Continue reading...Guitarist helped to give Detroit band their powerful, politically charged sound and continued their legacy into the 21st century
Wayne Kramer, the guitarist who co-created MC5 – one of the rawest, most influential and politically engaged bands in US history – has died aged 75. His Instagram page announced the news: “Wayne S Kramer. Peace be with you. April 30 1948 – February 2 2024.”
Born and raised in Detroit, Kramer teamed with teenage friend and fellow guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, each of them influenced as much by free jazz as they were by R&B and rock’n’roll. Along with the frontman Rob Tyner, they made MC5 into an incendiary force in their city’s music scene, alongside peers such as the Stooges.
Continue reading...Open letter signed by more than 1,000 musicians from 2024 host country follows petition from artists in Finland and Iceland
More than 1,000 musical artists from Eurovision host country Sweden have signed an open letter calling for Israel to be excluded from this year’s edition of the song contest over its “brutal warfare in Gaza”.
Published in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the open letter says that by allowing Israel to participate, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) “is exhibiting a remarkable double standard that undermines the organisation’s credibility”.
Continue reading...Weiss led US girl band with run of hit songs about teenage love and tragedy, including Leader of the Pack
Mary Weiss, the lead singer of the 1960s pop group the Shangri-Las, has died at the age of 75, her record label said.
The US girl band rose to stardom with a run of hit songs about teenage love and tragedy, including Remember (Walking in the Sand) and Leader of the Pack, and was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Continue reading...The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, is seeking class action status for attenders of all other Celebration tour shows in the US that started late
Two Madonna fans in New York City are suing the pop star for starting her concert late, claiming that they “had to get up early to go to work” the next morning.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden say they bought tickets to a 13 December show at Barclays Center as part of Madonna’s Celebration tour.
Continue reading...Lachlan Galbraith says he feels ‘deep regret’ for stealing a drink bottle lid, but the Hunting and Fishing store in Queenstown says embarrassment ‘is punishment enough’
Ocean Alley keyboardist Lachlan Galbraith has publicly apologised after a shop in New Zealand shared CCTV footage of him shoplifting.
Hunting and Fishing Queenstown uploaded footage to Facebook and Instagram showing Galbraith placing a A$17.95 drink bottle lid in his bag on New Year’s Eve. The Australian rock band is currently touring New Zealand and is due to play in Wellington on Wednesday and Whangamatā on Friday.
Continue reading...Scottish singer says six-month hiatus from live shows after struggling during his performance at Glastonbury helped him ‘cope better with my Tourette’s and anxiety issues’
Lewis Capaldi has said he is “going to continue taking some time to carry on looking after myself” after his six-month hiatus from touring yielded an improvement in his health.
The Scottish singer-songwriter announced in June he would be taking a break from touring “for the foreseeable future” after he struggled with his voice during a Glastonbury set, during which the crowd stepped in to sing the lyrics to his final songs.
Continue reading...As the singer prepares to host the BBC’s new year special, it caps a stellar 2023 for the star who launched a meme phenomenon
Some may think: why is the BBC welcoming in 2024 with “Mr 1987”? Though that suggests they missed the memo about the spectacular revival of Rick Astley. On Sunday night, 1980s pop star Astley will host BBC One’s New Year’s Eve show from the Roundhouse in Camden, north-west London, following in the footsteps of Sam Ryder and Years & Years, fronted by Olly Alexander.
Stars come back. It’s what they do. But few manage to do it in a way that makes them look infinitely cooler than before. As Astley, 57, continues to ride the Rickrolling phenomenon (more of which anon), his 2023 has been stellar.
Continue reading...Duo’s music ‘will always trump almost anything that Daryl does on his own or I do on my own’ says Oates, weeks after Hall filed to stop him selling his share of their rights
John Oates, half of the hugely successful pop rock duo Hall & Oates, has opened up about his partnership with Daryl Hall amid their ongoing and fractious legal battle.
Hall, 77, is suing Oates, 75, in an initially confidential lawsuit that came to light in November when Hall also filed for and received a temporary restraining order against Oates in a Nashville court.
Continue reading...Ana Clara Benevides, 23, died hours after the singer’s 17 November show – a day when temperatures hit 40C
Heat exhaustion caused the death of a Brazilian fan who attended a Taylor Swift concert in November, according to a forensics report obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Ana Clara Benevides, 23, passed out during Swift’s second song at the show in Rio de Janeiro on 17 November and died hours later at a local hospital. Temperatures in the city that day were at about 40C (105F).
Continue reading...‘Mission accomplished!’ says Andrew Ridgeley, while Cher becomes oldest woman to score a UK Top 40 hit
Wham! have finally earned a Christmas No 1 for Last Christmas, 39 years after the song was denied the festive top spot by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?.
With the song’s pain and poignancy still undimmed thanks to the tangibly heartbroken performance of the late George Michael, it was streamed 13.3m times this week, and was helped along by special vinyl and CD editions.
Continue reading...Joseph Fiddler performed and recorded with Prince, Seal and Maxwell, and mentored hip-hop producer J Dilla
Joseph Fiddler, the funk musician known as Amp Fiddler who was acclaimed for solo work and collaborations with generations of diverse musicians, has died aged 65.
A statement on social media read: “Detroit’s own world renowned ambassador of funk, soul, & electronic music, keyboardist, producer, afro-futurist, and guiding force of light for so many, has transitioned at the age of 65. After an extensive and noble battle with cancer, he now gracefully rests in peace and power.”
Continue reading...Rock star is sued by unnamed woman who alleges he attacked her on board helicopter in 2003
Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee has been accused of sexual assault, in an incident in 2003.
A new civil lawsuit filed on Friday by an unnamed woman, Jane Doe – and reported by Rolling Stone – accuses Lee of “forcibly groping, kissing and penetrating her with his fingers, and attempting to force her to perform oral copulation”. The woman had been invited on to a helicopter by pilot David Martz and believed she would be on a sightseeing tour around San Diego, but was told they would be flying with Lee to Los Angeles.
Continue reading...Singer suffers sudden illness while on tour and cancels remainder of dates
Patti Smith has been briefly hospitalised following an illness while on tour in Italy.
The 76-year-old singer had been due to perform in Bologna but she cancelled the concert after suffering what the city’s Teatro Duse venue described as a “sudden illness”.
Continue reading...Singer who played for Nelson Mandela at his home had been hospitalised with ‘physical pains’, and previously suffered liver damage from alcoholism
The South African pop singer Zahara, whose soaring voice and strident ballads earned her multiple platinum-selling albums in her home country, has died aged 35.
South Africa’s sports, arts and culture minister, Zizi Kodwa, announced her death, saying: “My deepest condolences to the Mkutukana family and the South African music industry. Government has been with the family for some time now. Zahara and her guitar made an incredible and lasting impact in South African music.”
Continue reading...In a lengthy interview as she is named Time’s person of the year, Swift speaks about toll of high-profile spat, and criticises music industry over treatment of young stars
Taylor Swift has spoken of the psychological damage of her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, and lambasted the music industry over its treatments of young pop stars, in a new interview with Time, which has named her their person of the year.
After a year in which she has been at the centre of cultural conversations for her massively lucrative Eras tour, Swift spoke damningly of what she sees as a short-termist approach by record labels to replace, rather than nurture its stars. “By the time an artist is mature enough to psychologically deal with the job, they throw you out at 29, typically,” she says. “In the 90s and 00s, it seems like the music industry just said: ‘OK, let’s take a bunch of teenagers, throw them into a fire, and watch what happens. By the time they’ve accumulated enough wisdom to do their job effectively, we’ll find new teenagers.’” She said her solution was to change style with each new album project: “I realised every record label was actively working to try to replace me. I thought instead, I’d replace myself first with a new me. It’s harder to hit a moving target.”
Continue reading...