Singer

I'm A Celebrity star Russell Watson has publicly addressed speculation that he's Traffic Cone on The Masked Singer UK. The 55-year-old tenor appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday to discuss his farm which he is expanding as he enjoys a break from touring. He revealed that he's enjoying rural life and conversation quickly turned to speculation that he could be hiding behind the Traffic Cone disguise on wacky game show. Fans have been predicting who is behind the outrageous costume and Russel's name has popped up on numerous occasions. Adil and Susanna played a clip from the show and quizzed Russel about the speculation. Speaking to Susanna and Adil about the rumours, the singer said: "I know who that is. "The strange thing is. I didn't know who it was a first then I heard the second performance and I know who it is. "He's not admitted it or mentioned it but i'm convinced it's my mate Aled Jones. It comes after Celebs Go Dating narrator … [Read more...] about Masked Singer’s Traffic Cone ‘exposed’ by pal Russell Watson after clue in second song

Model Chrissy Teigen has responded hilariously to her husband, singer John Legend , being named “sexiest man alive”. After been granted the title by People magazine, the 10-time Grammy Award winner said he felt “excited” and “a little scared” by the pressure of following in the footsteps of actor Idris Elba , who was crowned “sexiest man alive” last year. While many people have been congratulating Legend on his latest accolade, his spouse has responded in a comically sardonic manner to her husband’s recognition. “I have fulfilled my dream of having boned @people’s sexiest man alive!! An honour!!!!!” Teigen tweeted, having changed her Twitter bio to read: “Currently sleeping with People ’s sexiest man alive.” The Lip Sync Battle co-host added that she “cannot wait for people to get mad about John being the sexiest man alive”. Following People ‘s announcement, Legend tweeted a smouldering photograph of Elba alongside one of himself taken 24 years … [Read more...] about Chrissy Teigen’s reaction to John Legend being named the ‘sexiest man alive’ is hilarious

Being the bass player for Tricky must be the most bor-ing job in the world. At least the drummer, at the deceptively named Brixton Fridge on Monday, got to muck about with some disorientated, stumbling beats. For the bassist, each song meant repeating the same simple pattern until exhaustion set in, while the guitarist's contribution to each song was to tune up. Not that the musicians had any right to feel hard done-by. Vocalist Martina, her hair in Bjork-ish bunches, had few melodies to work with either, and Tricky's own raps sounded like long, Bob Fleming-style attempts to clear his throat. You need Tunes, mate - in more senses than one. The dark prince of trip-hop had rearranged his songs for a new live band (tapes and samples were still left to do most of the work), but this concession to the medium could go only so far, given that there wasn't much there to rearrange in the first place: he seems to have made most of the noises on his new album, Pre-Millennium Tension … [Read more...] about Good? Bad? A Tricky question

Beatles gear is the top seller in the burgeoning market for rock memorabilia. In 1983 the handwritten original of the John Lennon anthem Imagine sold for pounds 7,000. Thirteen years later, just one and half verses of Being For the Benefit of Mr Kite was bought for pounds 66,400. Ted Owen, entertainment consultant at Bonhams auctioneers, believes The Beatles have a lot more mileage in them beyond the success this year of the "Anthology" series, which has pushed the market to new highs. Every generation will rediscover them, he says, and Sixties super- groups will always be popular. In the past 20 years a multi-million pound market has grown up, with rock museums and Hard Rock Cafes competing with private collectors in the United States, Germany and Japan to snap up memorabilia. Mr Owen maintains that spending money wisely on rock memorabilia constitutes a sound investment. Special-edition records can fetch high prices, providing they are in mint condition. The first few … [Read more...] about It’s Sergeant Pepper’s wealthy hearts club band

A London newspaper recently carried an article about the all-girl groups being pushed on us, following the chart-conquering, America- breaking, Zeitgeist-defining, pillow cases printed with their faces success of the Spice Girls. Odds were wagered as to which manufactured girl group - Personelle? Fluffy? - would be the one to steal their crown. New Yorkers Luscious Jackson, who have been with us for five years now and are anything but manufactured, would be surprised to see that they came in at 7-2. The raw, touchable groove of their work to date and the lyrics to a Luscious classic like "Deep Shag" ("I feel small when I am next to you, I feel big when I forget you - I'm dragging in your deep shag") put them in an entirely different category from girls in boots and mini-skirts squealing "Girl Power!" because they can't think of anything else to say. They've also been dubbed, alongside artists as diverse as Hole, Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow as exemplifiers of the "Women in Rock" … [Read more...] about Pop: Loud and Luscious

At first sight, people struggling out of their mud-drenched tents had little to excite their imagination beyond The Prodigy and Radiohead; however, there were gems to be found in among the dirt at Glastonbury. Echo and the Bunnymen formed two decades ago and dissolved in a morass of recriminations and ill-advised Doors covers and along the way just missed being the biggest band in the world. Most people tramped out to the main stage for reasons of nostalgia, only to discover they were as good as ever. Even the inclusion of a Jim Morrison-style indulgent medley/poetry section could not destroy the majesty of "Do It Clean". It was a title wholly inappropriate for the Somme-like conditions; muddy brilliant all the same, though. The first bit of blue sky was ushered in by Beck at the start of a carefully choreographed display of what sounded rudely ramshackle. Spouting lyrics that could have come from one of the babbling fools wandering around the Glastonbury market place, … [Read more...] about Glastonbury round-up Part II

IF YOU switched on The Chart Show just as it was finishing two Saturdays ago - and it is annoying the way they keep changing what time it's on - you will have seen an excerpt from the new Space video, "The Ballad of Tom Jones", in which Tommy Scott duetted with Catatonia's Cerys Matthews as he dangled off the edge of a storm-battered cliff. "I still want to cut off your nuts!" bawled Matthews and, before you had time to bundle any small children out of the room, the credits ended and the adverts began. To my mind, this makes Space every bit as taboo-breaking as the Prodigy. To most other people's minds, however, the clip will confirm that Space are just Aqua with guitars, intent on sabotaging the credibility of their every lyric by inserting a reference to murder, movie monsters, the FBI, the Mafia and/or their own zaniness. But Space never claimed to be serious rock artists. If you're after a premillennial odyssey through the wastes of drug-infested depression, Space is not the … [Read more...] about Rock: The Space boys: taboo-breakers, or is it all just a big cabaret act?

An umbrella, a Parker pen, an enamel pill box, a fine art lithograph and a porcelain collector plate ... all of these quality items and more are now on sale to celebrate Cliff Richard's 40th year in showbiz. Not that I availed myself of any of them at his concert on Tuesday, but I don't deny that this is an anniversary worth celebrating. Forty years since Harry Roger Webb sold the first of 250 million records, and here he is, filling the Albert Hall for a month. Surely 90,000 ladies of a certain age can't be wrong? From the moment Cliff appears from a rostrum trap-door in the centre of the Hall, the secret of his success is plain. He hasn't changed a whit over four decades. If you saw him in concert in 1978 or 1958, he'd be doing the same slip-sliding, ice-skating dance moves as he does now, and he'd be telling scripted anecdotes with the same faux-self-deprecating smugness. His most famous asset, of course, is a face that ages only one year for every two years of his adult life, but … [Read more...] about Rock & Pop: The old person’s guide to pop

The 1970s gave Britain the Three-Day Week, flared trousers and Chicory Tip, but not everything about the era was bad. A year before Margaret Thatcher came to power, Plenty, David Hare's study of idealism seen through the eyes of a woman, arrived at the National. This powerfully affecting portrait of hope and betrayal has rarely been revived since, possibly because no one could imagine doing it better. Chances of revivals were further scuppered by the impossibly flat film with Meryl Streep. All the more reason to book for Jonathan Kent's forthcoming Almeida production starring Cate Blanchett (above). Albery, London WC2 (0171-369 1740) 15 Apr to 10 Jul Following the huge success of her latest album, Globe Sessions, Sheryl Crow (above) celebrates with a one-off concert at Wembley Arena next month. Her first full gig in London since the sell-out concert in December 1997 is sure to follow suit, if her six Grammy nominations are anything to go by. The singer's plan for a special London … [Read more...] about Preview: First Call. Last Call

Although last year's The Globe Sessions, her third album, saw Sheryl Crow (right) heading off in a slightly less commercial Americana rock direction, her live shows still feature lots of prime singalong hits, such as "If It Makes You Happy" and "All I Wanna Do", a song for which the manufacturers of Budweiser should be eternally grateful. As someone used to playing big arenas and stadia back home, Crow easily has the sound to fill this venue. Her chatty nature and guitar-picking (she's much more than just a talented singer) are among the other assets that will be on display at this show, a one-off UK date before she returns later in the year for a support slot on the Rolling Stones tour. Wembley Arena, London (0181-902 0902) Thur Tim Perry … [Read more...] about Pop: Sheryl Crow