Friday, 22 April 2011

Book review: No Regrets by Carolyn Burke

Much has been written about the singer Edith Piaf, France's "Little Sparrow" who was famed for her impoverished childhood, her doomed love affairs, her illnesses and addictions and her mastery of la chanson réaliste. So what can there possibly be left to say?
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Sunday, 17 April 2011

Emmylou Harris: 'I smoked country music but I didn't inhale'

She may now be winning Grammys for 'contemporary folk', but Emmylou Harris is finally ready to confront the heartache and loss that made her the queen of the red-raw country ballad. Interview by Fiona Sturges
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Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Online arts: Click-fix culture

You can watch a rock concert and tour an art gallery from the comfort of your armchair. But can it replace the thrill of the real thing? Fiona Sturges finds out
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Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Music review - Jesca Hoop, Ballroom, Brighton

If you suspected, from her fairytale name, that Jesca Hoop was not entirely of this world, a few minutes in her company confirms it.
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Monday, 14 March 2011

Fame at last for rock'n'roll's unsung star

Darlene Love was the unacknowledged voice of many Sixties pop hits. Now that's all about to change. By Fiona Sturges
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Friday, 11 March 2011

Book review: 33 Revolutions Per Minute by Dorian Lynskey

In May 1970 Neil Young was relaxing on the porch of his road manager's house in Pescadero, California, when he was handed a copy of Life magazine. It contained a vivid account of the deaths of four students at the hands of the Ohio National Guard during an anti-war protest earlier that month.
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Monday, 28 February 2011

The real stars know when to call it a day

As Mike Skinner calls time on The Streets, Fiona Sturges says that Girls Aloud would do well to consider a similar coda
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Friday, 25 February 2011

Born This Way: It's the same old song... so what?

As Madonna's brother accuses Lady Gaga of stealing her latest hit, Fiona Sturges says pop plagiarism claims miss the point
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Monday, 14 February 2011

Why does reality TV hate women?

Half the population is getting a raw deal on screen. Fiona Sturges says it's time to switch off the sexism
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Friday, 4 February 2011

Music review - Joan As Police Woman, Komedia, Brighton

Joan Wasser, the New York singer-songwriter who goes by the fabulously barmy moniker Joan As Police Woman, may not yet be loved by the masses but she is a woman with an impeccable pedigree.
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Monday, 31 January 2011

Can you really be too posh to perform?

Pop and comedy stars have been pasted for their privileges – but inverted snobbery in the arts is nothing new, says Fiona Sturges
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Monday, 24 January 2011

The good, the bad and the wildly bitchy

Awash with champagne and catfights, Dynasty, the ultimate 1980s soap, is set to become a film
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Sunday, 23 January 2011

Assume the position! Sing like a canary

The classical violinist Joan Wasser only recently found her voice, and what a voice it is, says Fiona Sturges
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Friday, 14 January 2011

Tipped today, gone tomorrow?

Every year the music press and the BBC anoint the new messiahs of pop. Yet all too often these new stars fizzle out more quickly than a damp firework. By Fiona Sturges
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