Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Earlier this week Take That announced their latest stadium tour – Progress Live 2011. Tickets go on sale Friday 29 October 2010 at 09:00 at Click here to visit Ticketmaster official site UK tour dates . Sunderland Stadium of Light Monday 30 May 2011 City of Manchester Stadium Friday 3 June 2011 | Saturday 4 June 2011 | Sunday 5 June 2011 | Tuesday 7 June 2011 Cardiff Millennium Stadium Tuesday 14 June 2011 Glasgow Hampden Park Wednesday 22 June 2011 | Thursday 23 June 2011 Birmingham Villa Park Monday 27 June 2011 Wembley Stadium Friday 1 July 2011 | Saturday 2 July 2011 | Sunday 3 July 2011 | Tuesday 5 July 2011 FIND TICKETS

To round off yet another exceptional year, Florence will be releasing the mighty single ‘Heavy In Your Arms’ single alongside ‘Between Two Lungs’ – a two disc special edition version of her 4 x platinum selling Brit Award winning debut album ‘Lungs’. ‘Between Two Lungs’ features new cover art, sleeve notes by Florence and exclusive images. Plus a 10 track second disc which as aswell as Heavy In Your Arms, also includes among others, a live recording of brand new song ‘Strangeness & Charm’. The massive collaboration with Dizzee Rascal ‘You Got The Dirtee Love’ and a previously unreleased Yeasayer remix of ‘Dog Days Are Over’ and will also be available on November 15. Florence recently wowed worldwide audiences with her live performance (and victory) at this year’s MTV VMA Awards which saw her album explode in the U.S. Firing up to #2 in the I tunes chart and breaking the top #15 in the Billboard album chart. Back home Florence has just won two Q Awards for Best Female and Best Trac...

CocknBullKid has made a couple of important transitions recently. First, she's changed her name, dropping the pronoun (she's CocknBullKid, not thecocknbullkid). And secondly, she has emerged from a creative cocoon with a suite of bright, breezy and ultra-colourful pop songs that exist at least five giant leaps away from the savvy, autobiographical electro tunes like 'On My Own' that got her a slot on Jools Holland even before she signed to Island/Moshi Records. " The music I made at first was cool, but it was work in progress. There was only so far I could take it. I knew I was capable of more. I wanted to make music that reached people further than E9, or whatever the cool postcode is now ." It's been worth the wait. The 25 year old Hackney resident, aka Anita Blay, is in possession of the most interesting, credible pop record of the year. But you’ll just have to take our word for it until spring 2011 when the full album, ‘Adulthood’ will be released. An...

One of the most successful, iconic and talented artists of the late 20th century is back – and back like you’ve never heard her before. On November 15th 2010, Annie Lennox releases her sixth solo album. A Christmas Cornucopia is a collection of new, inspired interpretations of 11 traditional festive songs, rounded out by a new Lennox composition, Universal Child, available digitally from 12th October. “All the income that I earn from Universal Child will be paid to the Annie Lennox Foundation.” The Annie Lennox Foundation raises money for projects supporting and educating women and children in Africa with HIV/AIDS. “I’ve known these songs, these carols all my life, I’ve sung them since I was little,” says the songwriter and singer of The Holly And The Ivy, Silent Night, The First Noel and other, less-widely-known songs such as Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant, and Lullay Lullay. “ They’re just in me. They’re a huge part of my life. So it’s not an arbitrary selection. Those relationships with ...

To round off yet another exceptional year, Florence will be releasing the mighty single ‘Heavy In Your Arms’ on November 15th. Produced by Paul Epworth the track a favourite of recent festival headlining live sets was recorded for the Twilight Eclipse film. Florence comments “ Heavy in your arms I suppose is about the weight of love, and how sometimes it can be a burden between two people, I felt this was a strong theme in the twilight series, is someone being rescued or are they being condemned, and is the love you carry bringing you down. I recorded it with paul one evening, using a lot of strange reversed vocal samples and big hip hop piano, its basically inspired by 90's hip hop, and gospel choirs, like most of my songs.. ” ‘Heavy In your Arms’ will also be available on ‘Between Two Lungs’. A two disc special edition version of her 4 x platinum selling Brit Award winning debut album ‘Lungs’. ‘Between Two Lungs’ will feature new cover art, sleeve notes by Florence and exclusive...

Rapper/actor/CEO, 3 time Grammy winner and all-round superstar Nelly, whose 30 million plus combined album/single sales have established the St. Louis native as one of music’s most bankable and consistent stars, returns in a big way with the release on November 8th of his brand new US smash single “Just A Dream”. Taken from his hotly anticipated forthcoming new album “5.0”, “Just A Dream” entered the US iTunes chart at number 5, has already sold over 1 million copies. “Just a Dream” was produced by Jim Jonsin (Lil Wayne “Lollipop”, T.I. “Whatever You Love”) and Rico Love (Beyonce “Sweet Dreams, Kelly Rowland “Commander”). The new album will feature appearances by Akon, T.I. and Kelly Rowland. With “Just A Dream” Nelly looks to add to his celebrated run of global hit singles from his game-changing debut “Country Grammar,” and “Ride Wit Me” to the Justin Timberlake collaboration “Work It”, the Kelly Rowland duet “Dilemma” and the seven-week at No. 1 “Hot in Herre.” With a catalogue of g...

Global superstar Akon, whose three previous albums have each sold more than half a million copies in the UK, yielding an unbroken string of massive worldwide hit singles, returns with the release on November 22nd of his brand new single “Angel”. Taken from his eagerly awaited dance music inspired album “AKONIC”, “Angel” was produced by Akon & fellow master hit maker David Guetta. Akon is without question one of the greatest hit making forces of all time and is the first solo artist to hold the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 - twice. Over the years he has worked with, produced and featured on a slew of international hits, including those for Michael Jackson, Sir Elton John, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, Whitney Houston, as well as Lady Gaga, who was one of the first signings to Akon’s Kon-live label. Akon has also established himself as a serious business man and entrepreneur who has quickly built an empire that includes a record label, fashion line and ch...

For one night only on Friday 29th October at the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple, original ‘dreamboats’, Marty Wilde, Eden Kane and Jet Harris join forces in a spectacular show that will show they really were Born to Rock N Roll! From 1958 to 1961 Marty, Eden and Jet took the charts by storm clocking up well over 200 weeks in the charts in just under four years. The original teen idols will take in 29 towns and cities across the UK performing their own hits and collaborating live on stage for the first time ever. Singer, songwriter, legend Marty Wilde is hailed by many friends as one of the first original British Rock N Roll pioneers. Cliff Richard reminisces “I remember when Marty Wilde, Dicky Pride and I were ‘three cool cats’. I always thought in those days there was actually only one ‘cool cat’ – and that was Marty.” Wilde enjoyed countless hits in the late 50s and early 60s, with thirteen consecutive hit records staying in the charts for a total of 117 weeks including Endless Slee...

At long last it feels like UK rap music is well and truly erupting. Every way you look - from the summit of the charts to the breaking waves of the underground - the UK rap fraternity is seizing control. In between the ricocheting lyrical crossfire one face is emerging as one of 2010's most notorious breaking artists, and that's the angular bone-structure of Dagenham, Essex's very own Devlin. ‘bud, sweat & beers’ is a step change for grime. Socially aware. Spiritually conflicted with a sacred heart and profane mouth. Dark, accurate and artful lyrical sketches of life at social margins. Capacious enough to make reference to Hollywood’s Wesley Snipes, super-bug C-Difficile, Pengi, Nostradamus, Picasso, Tectonic plates and Elvis. It’s an imaginative feast. Lyrical meaning unfolds on meaning. Metaphors come as quickly as the mind can process. The album opens with the thunderous cavalcade of ‘1989’ where heavy-metal guitar stabs provide an urgent, heart-in-mouth backdrop for...

In thrall to uplifting 1970s Disco as much as it is to intricate 1980s electro, ‘In Spirit Golden’ is a shimmering, soaring anthem full of giddy nods to computer game soundtracks and Killers style stadium pop riffs. ‘In Spirit Golden’ will be released one week before I Blame Coco’s debut album, ‘The Constant’ (November 8th). The single will be accompanied by remixes from Arthur Baker,, RacknRuin, Soul Avengerz and DC Breaks, the latter of which has already worked its way onto Radio 1. After a summer packed with festival shows, I Blame Coco will be embarking on her first nationwide headline tour this autumn, during which ‘In Spirit Golden’ will be released. Read More I Blame Coco posts

As arguably the most original, genre-redefining, prodigiously talented and best-selling hip-hop artist of the past decade, Lil Wayne returns with the hugely anticipated release on October 4th of his brand new album “I Am Not A Human Being”. The album has just gone straight in at number 1 on the US iTunes chart and features ten brand new tracks including lead single (US iTunes # 1) “Right Above” which features Wayne’s protégé and hip hop superstar in his own right Drake. Speaking about the new release on his birthday September 27th, Wayne commented “ I want to give a gift on my birthday to my loyal fans who have continued to support me ”. “I Am Not A Human Being” will be released digitally on October 4th in the UK and physically two weeks later on October 18th. The physical release will feature the same ten tracks plus three additional cuts: “YM Banger” feat. Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, Tyga, “YM Salute” feat. Lil Twist, Lil Chuckee, Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz, Nicki Minaj and “I Don't Lik...