It’s been three long years since Amy Winehouse released Back To Black, an album that transformed her from a little-known singer to a world-renowned singing sensation. But since then she’s had a rather hectic time of it, some of her own doing and some not. Which means her music career has taken a backseat somewhat, with a follow-up album being constantly delayed.

Winehouse has spent a considerable amount of time in St. Lucia over the last couple of years. And there was speculation she had been so touched by the place that her new album was influenced by the culture there. …read more

Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse were, at one point, a kind of musical dream team. Ronson produced Winehouse’ ultra-successful Back To Black album, which made her a superstar the world over, and in return, Winehouse provided the vocals for Ronson’s Version version of The Zutons’ Valerie.
And then their relationship soured while the pair were working on a theme for the latest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. At the time, Ronson claimed that Winehouse wasn’t “ready to work on music yet.” The pair fell out and haven’t worked together since.

Circumstances look to have thrown the pair back together, with the …read more

The Zutons were/are one of my favorite current British bands. I got into them before most people did, before they were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2004. And well before they, or at least their music, crossed over to the mainstream when Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse covered Valerie in 2006.

With so much invested in the band, having seen them live a few times and having bought all their albums, I’m gutted to hear that they’ve been dropped by their record label, Sony BMG.
The split reportedly happened over Christmas after the record label decided poor sales of their …read more

I made the last part of the title up but Noel might as well have called his list that. It’s a brilliant top list of bands, but there are some glaring omissions, which makes me wonder how Noel can describe it as “THE DEFINITIVE Top 10″. In your opinion Noel, in your opinion.
Noel and his brother Liam Gallagher have been very vocal of late about their dismissal of current bands. Liam criticised the fans of Coldplay and Radiohead as boring and ugly, and went on to claim not to like modern bands at all. Noel went on a drunken rant …read more

After all the bitterness surrounding Oasis and Jay-Z after they had a little spat earlier in the year, it seems that the two artists have put their differences behind them and teamed up.
Or maybe not. But there is a mixtape featuring them both now available online.
The spat between Oasis and Jay-Z began when Jay-Z was announced as a headliner for Glastonbury 2008. Noel Gallagher stated in no uncertain terms that Jay was wrong for the traditionally more rock festival. Then Jay-Z actually played his set and mocked Gallagher by covering Wonderwall.
The spat carried on when Gallagher criticized Mark Ronson …read more

Mark Ronson is a confident (some would say cocky) young man who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He’s a super-producer who has not only been one of the main reasons for Amy Winehouse‘ worldwide success but has also released his own album full of cleverly re imagined covers.
So the man knows his stuff, which is why it’s no surprise to see that he is the first person to have reacted to Noel Gallagher’s drunken rant about various musicians and artists the other day. In fact, rather than just defend himself, Ronson went on the attack, and owned Gallagher.
Speaking to Radio One, …read more

I’m sure I’m living in some kind of time bubble as I keep experiencing deja vu, again, and again, and again. Just yesterday I reported how Amy Winehouse had hit one of her fans, yes, another one. And now Noel Gallagher has taken a pop at some of his fellow British artists. Didn’t he do that last week, and the week before?

The older Gallagher was being interviewed on BBC Radio One, and was reportedly in a state of drunkenness, when he decided to go to town on a whole host of British singers and groups. This comes just a few …read more

Amy Winehouse may have had her theme tune for the next James Bond film, Quantum Of Solace, rejected recently in favour of a composition from The White Stripes Jack White and Alicia Keys, but she’s not going to take the matter lying down (in a gutter).
In fact, she’s so pissed at getting the cold shoulder that she’s threatening to release her single on the same day as theirs.
Amy Winehouse seemed to be a natural choice to record the official theme tune for Quantum Of Solace, with her being British, and Bond being a British spy, and the fact that …read more

Kaiser Chiefs have revealed details about their forthcoming album, including the name, track listing, and special guests. But on the same day, they have described the British Indie scene as “very, very boring”. But that doesn’t include them, obviously.

Kaiser Chiefs third studio album is to be called Off With Their Heads, and will be released on October 13th. The follow-up to last year’s Yours Truly, Angry Mob has been produced by Amy Winehouse’ mate Mark Ronson, and will feature guest appearances from a number of high profile artists.
The album release will be preceded by the first single to come from …read more

The Vodafone Live Music Awards are an annual awards ceremony, sponsored funnily enough by Vodafone.
Unlike other all-encompassing awards ceremonies, these focus on live music. I bet you’d have never guessed if I hadn’t told you so.
The year’s nominations have now been announced and it’s an eclectic bunch of artists to say the least. Leading the way are bands such as Muse, The Verve and Led Zeppelin, while female solo artists are also well represented by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and Kate Nash.
Unfortunately, the list of solo male artists is a bit bare, with Morrissey and Paul Weller …read more