Category Archives: Music

Argentina court drops charges against three people over Liam Payne death

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Charges of criminal negligence dropped against three key defendants over death of British singer in October

A court in Argentina has dropped charges of criminal negligence against three of the five people indicted in connection with the death of Liam Payne, the former One Direction singer who fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires last October.

In a decision issued Wednesday, the Argentine federal appeals court ordered the other two defendants in the case to remain in custody. They are facing prosecution on charges they supplied the famed British boy band star with narcotics.

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‘Sweating like a mafioso’: calls in Italy to bar Estonia’s ‘offensive’ Eurovision entry

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Consumer group complains about song’s stereotypes of Italians – but other Italians say the lyrics are ‘no stresso’

The Eurovision song contest is several months away but the drama has already begun, with calls from Italy for Estonia’s catchy pick for the competition to be scrapped due to lyrics poking fun at Italian stereotypes of being coffee-drinking, spaghetti-eating mafiosi.

Espresso Macchiato, by the rapper Tommy Cash, is sung in a blend of broken English and Italian and depicts a life of sweet indulgence. “Ciao bella, I’m Tomaso, addicted to tobacco. Mi like mi coffè very importante,” the first verse begins.

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A$AP Rocky found not guilty in gun assault trial

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Verdict comes after former friend A$AP Relli accused rapper of shooting him in Hollywood in 2021

The musician A$AP Rocky has been found not guilty of shooting a former friend after an altercation in Hollywood in 2021, sparing him from a potentially decades-long prison sentence.

A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday acquitted him of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

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Bashy, Darkoo and Odeal top winners at 2025 Mobo awards

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There are two awards apiece for the UK artists, while Nigerian singer Ayra Starr also wins two at Newcastle-hosted ceremony for Black musical excellence

Seventeen years since his debut single, British rapper Bashy has capped his long-awaited return to music with two wins at the 2025 Mobo awards, given each year to the best music of Black origin in the UK and overseas.

The 40-year-old vocalist and actor, born Ashley Thomas, won best hip-hop act as well as album of the year for Being Poor Is Expensive. While it didn’t make the UK charts, the album earned critical acclaim and a dedicated audience on streaming, drawn to its examination of race, mental health and working-class life in north-west London.

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Rick Buckler, drummer of The Jam, dies aged 69 after short illness

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The musician, along with band members Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton, had many hits in the 1970s and 1980s, including four UK No 1s

Rick Buckler, the drummer of the rock group The Jam, has died aged 69 after a short illness.

In a statement, his management company said Buckley “passed away peacefully on Monday evening in Woking after a short illness with family by his side”.

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Placebo frontman Brian Molko charged with calling Meloni ‘fascist’ and ‘racist’

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The singer is being charged with defamation of the far-right Italian prime minister leader while performing at a festival in Turin in 2023

Placebo frontman Brian Molko is being charged with defamation after appearing to call the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, a “piece of shit, fascist, racist” in Italian while performing at a festival in Turin in 2023.

In August 2023, Meloni sued Molko over the comments. Prosecutors subsequently opened an investigation into the claims and have charged Molko with “contempt of the institutions”.

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Shakira cancels Lima concert after being hospitalised during global tour

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The Colombian star went to the emergency room in Peru’s capital on Saturday night, days after launching her first worldwide tour in seven years

Shakira cancelled her concert in the Peruvian capital on Sunday after being hospitalised with abdominal pain, a setback that comes days after she launched her first worldwide tour in seven years.

The 48-year-old Colombian star posted on her social media accounts that she had gone to the emergency room on Saturday night and remained in hospital.

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Patti Smith to perform Horses in full on 50th anniversary tour

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Singer will visit US, UK and Europe later this year alongside members of the original band who recorded the classic punk text

Patti Smith is to perform her classic album Horses in full on a tour to mark the album’s 50th anniversary.

Playing gigs across the US, UK and Europe, Smith’s band will feature guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, each of whom played on the original recording. The tour includes two UK dates, at London’s Palladium on 12 and 13 October, with Dublin, Madrid, Bergamo, Brussels, Oslo and Paris also featuring on the European run. The US tour will visit Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington DC and Philadelphia.

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Police in India stop Ed Sheeran busking on street before concert

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Local channels show police officer walking up to star as he sings Shape of You and unplugging microphone

Ed Sheeran has been stopped by police from busking in India after he was told he lacked permissions.

The songwriter was seen singing the hit single Shape of You on a pavement in the southern city of Bengaluru before his concert on Sunday night.

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Sewer fatberg of ‘grease and rags’ forces Bryan Adams to postpone Perth concert

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Singer was due to perform Sunday night but authorities worried large blockage could cause sewage to back up in venue toilets

An enormous fatberg in central Perth has forced a Bryan Adams concert to be postponed after authorities raised concerns that sewage may back up at the venue’s toilets.

Adams was due to perform at the Western Australian capital’s RAC Arena on Sunday night, but the city’s water corporation said a “large blockage of fat, grease and rags” was causing wastewater overflows at nearby properties, prompting authorities to intervene.

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‘Best of the best’: Robbie Williams buys Eric Morecambe’s glasses for £20,000

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Singer says he cried ‘happy, childlike tears’ after placing winning bid on late comedian’s glasses and pipe at auction

Robbie Williams has said he bought Eric Morecambe’s glasses for £20,000 at auction as the comedian was an “uncle of sorts” whose “spirit has been salve for my soul”.

The singer said he cried “happy, childlike tears” after winning the bidding war last month with a final offer far exceeding the £2,000 to £4,000 estimate.

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Three-hundred-year-old Stradivarius violin sells for $11m in New York

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Proceeds from sale of 1714 instrument will be used to fund scholarships for violinists at New England Conservatory

A Stradivarius violin crafted in 1714 sold for $11.25m (£9.1m) at a New York auction on Friday, missing the world record for a musical instrument that some predicted it might break, but still securing a solid financial future for a new generation of performers.

The 311-year-old instrument, listed by Sotheby’s of Manhattan as “a masterpiece of sound”, once belonged to the celebrated 19th-century Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, a close friend of the composer Johannes Brahms. It was gifted to the New England Conservatory in 2015 following the death of its most recent owner, a former student, Si-Hon Ma, with the understanding it would one day be sold to fund musical scholarships.

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A$AP Rocky’s prosecutors rest case at his felony trial over two assault charges

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Five witnesses called in eight days, including accuser A$AP Relli, who was on stand for three day’s worth of testimony

Los Angeles county prosecutors rested their case on Thursday at the trial of rapper and fashion mogul A$AP Rocky, who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend on a Hollywood street in 2021.

They called five witnesses in eight days of testimony, including two police officers, a police detective and a firearms expert.

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Killer Mike sues security firm over Grammys arrest, alleging ‘public humiliation’

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Rapper alleges assault, false arrest and more when he was detained shortly after winning three awards at 2024 ceremony

Killer Mike, the hip-hop artist known for his solo work as well as the duo Run the Jewels, has sued a private security company after he was arrested at last year’s Grammys.

The rapper, real name Michael Render, won three awards at the ceremony, for best rap album, best rap song and best rap performance. But shortly after his wins, as he moved backstage towards the red carpet area, he was arrested and detained after an altercation with what Render later described as “an overzealous security guard”.

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Over the moon: Billie Eilish sports 188-year-old Yorkshire wool brand at Grammys

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The singer paid tribute to her home city wearing an LA Dodgers baseball cap crafted by English woollen mill Moon

When Billie Eilish took to the stage at the 67th Grammy awards wearing a hat with the branding of the baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers, few would have noticed the much smaller logo on the side with two tiny union flags and the word “Moon”.

But in a small town in West Yorkshire, Moon is a household name, as one of the last surviving woollen mills in the UK.

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Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar lead Grammy awards in aftermath of LA fires

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An unusual ceremony paid tribute to and raised money for those affected by the California wildfires while giving Beyoncé her first album of the year

Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar ruled the Grammys during a night that also paid tribute to those affected by the California wildfires.

The night’s biggest prize, for album of the year, went to Beyoncé for Cowboy Carter, the first time she has won the award. It was presented by members of the Los Angeles country fire department in one of many of the night’s tributes to those affected by the wildfires. The ceremony took place at the Crypto.com arena in LA.

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York Minster congregation outraged over ‘deeply inappropriate’ concert

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Gig at cathedral by metal band Plague of Angels would be ‘outright insult’ to their faith, say parishioners

First there was a silent disco at Canterbury Cathedral. Then there was the “rave in the nave” in Peterborough.

But York Minster is taking it one step further by hosting a controversial metal band in what parishioners have called an “outright insult” to their faith.

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Patti Smith collapses on stage in Brazil after suffering days-long migraine

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The poet, author and musician fell during a performance with Soundwalk Collective, who later posted ‘she is being cared for by the best doctors’

Patti Smith collapsed during a performance in Brazil after experiencing a severe migraine for several days. Smith, 78, was performing with the Berlin group Soundwalk Collective, in which she recites her writing to a musical backing.

Associated Press reported that the newspaper Folha de S Paulo said that Smith passed out about 30 minutes into the event while reading a piece about the climate crisis. After falling, she was taken backstage in a wheelchair.

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Ozzy Osbourne ‘very proud’ as Birmingham to honour Black Sabbath

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Sharon Osbourne says husband excited to be awarded Freedom of Birmingham along with other band members

Being awarded the Freedom of Birmingham “means a lot” to Ozzy Osbourne and the members of Black Sabbath, Sharon Osbourne has said, as the city council prepares to approve the honour.

Ozzy, alongside the founding band members, Tony Iommi, Terence Butler and Bill Ward, will be given the honorary title in recognition of their service to the city, with councillors expected to give the go ahead on Tuesday.

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Paul McCartney says change in law over AI could ‘rip off’ artists

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Former Beatles member says government should protect creative workers as consultation on copyright continues

Sir Paul McCartney has warned artificial intelligence could “rip off” artists if a proposed overhaul of copyright law goes ahead.

The proposals could remove the incentive for writers and artists and result in a “loss of creativity”, he told the BBC.

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