Madonna: 'Quiet, concentrated, a little moody'

After Martin Schreiber paid an unknown New York dancer $30 to pose naked for an art class, little did he know that he was sitting on a potential gold mine. Fiona Sturges met him
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Pop Idol

As his swinging art bus rolls into town, artist Peter Blake talks to Fiona Sturges about his life's work, his false retirement and 'that' album cover...
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Peaches and cream

The charts are full of sassy young female solo stars, but Peaches was there first. With a reputation as a shocking exhibitionist, she tells Fiona Sturges she has a vulnerable side too
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Music review - PJ Harvey, Corn Exchange, Brighton

PJ Harvey has never been one to pointlessly bask in the limelight. Judging by her interviews – and she doesn’t give many – she’d rather be sitting in her local in Dorset discussing the finer points of jam-making than giving it the big rock-star ‘I Am’.
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Gomez land a bigger prize

The Southport band had a meteoric rise to fame when they took the Mercury Prize in 1998, but were soon forgotten. America has been their salvation, says Fiona Sturges
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Obituary - Jade Goody

From the moment Jade Goody emerged from Channel 4's Big Brother house in 2002, bursting out of an ill-fitting pink satin dress, she was a media phenomenon and an icon for the reality television-addicted, Heat magazine-loving masses.
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Music review - Emiliana Torrini

In a recession-battered industry, it's a smart singer-songwriter who is able to broaden their assets. The part-Italian, part-Icelandic, Brighton-based singer Emiliana Torrini has pulled off what looks to be the ultimate professional balancing-act.
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Music review - The Noisettes

On the ubiquitous critics' lists of über-cool pop babes destined to hit the big time this year – see La Roux, Little Boots, Lady Gaga – one name was conspicuous by its absence.
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Music review - Elbow

"You need forgiveness when you've been in a band this long," says Elbow's Guy Garvey, squinting into the lights. Forgiveness for what, you wonder?
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Music review - Emmy the Great

It's a bold and, some might say, foolish singer that pronounces herself great before she's got her career off the ground.
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Heaven knows I'm happy now - Top Of The Pops returns

The year was 1984. It was a damp Thursday night, and I was a moody 11-year-old marooned on the sofa in a dark corner of the West Country watching Top of the Pops.
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Music review - Kings of Leon

They're hard workers, I'll give them that. Ever since they first appeared in 2003, the Kings of Leon have toured relentlessly, criss-crossing the globe and – if you believe the stories – leaving a trail of ravished maidens and STDs in their wake.
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Music review - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

The last time I saw Nick Cave he was shopping for groceries in Marks & Spencer. It's not a sight you expect to see – the latter-day harbinger of the apocalypse clutching a wire basket and scanning the ready-meal section.
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Music review - Ida Maria, Komedia, Brighton

'I'm sorry I haven't broken a rib yet," remarks Ida Maria, the Riot Grrl-esque punk-pop diva and, if you're seduced by the hype, Scandinavia's hottest new export.
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Guns 'n' Roses and the lost album

It's taken 14 years, but Guns N' Roses finally release their sixth album tomorrow. Will it be worth the wait? Late, says Fiona Sturges, doesn't always mean great
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