Donna Summer, who was best known for a string of hit singles including “I Feel Love” and “Hot Stuff”, died today aged 63.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she released seventeen studio albums during a career which lasted over 30 years. Reports claim that she had been working on a new LP shortly before she passed away in Florida following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Inspired in her early teens by Motown girl groups such as The Supremes and later by the likes of Janis Joplin, Summer pursued a career in entertainment and landed roles in several musical productions in Europe as well as work as a studio session singer.

Although her debut single “Sally Go Round The Roses” – released under her birth name Donna Gaines in 1971 – wasn’t a hit, her solo career began to take shape after she met producers Giorgo Mordoer and Pete Bellote, the latter of whom produced her 1974 debut LP, Lady Of The Night.

She found chart success the following year with her single “Love To Love You Baby” – famed for its racy intro which featured her moaning suggestively – which was a Top 5 hit in the UK. It also paved the way for her US breakthrough when an extended version of the single reached No 2 in the US charts while the 1976 album of the same name sold over a million copies.

Summer released a slew of albums in quick succession throughout the ’70s and became one of disco’s most successful artists following the success of albums such as 1977’s “I Remember Yesterday” which included the iconic single “I Feel Love“, but she grew disillusioned with both the genre and her old record label Casablanca. In 1980 she signed a deal with Geffen Records with her first album for the label, ‘The Wanted’, embracing new sounds and movements such as new wave. She would go on to release several albums with the label before they parted ways in 1988.

Summer’s musical output became less frequent after the ’80s. Despite a series of compilations, her 2008 album Crayons was her first album of entirely original material since her 1991 effort Mistaken Identity. She married twice – firstly, to Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer, whose surname she kept and anglicized after their divorce, and later to Brooklyn Dreams singer Bruce Sadano.

Summer, who became a born-again Christian in 1979 – a decision which prompted to stop performing “Love To Love You Baby” for 25 years – had one daughter, Mimi, from her first marriage and two further children, Brooklyn and Amanda, from her marriage to Sadano.

Photo credit: Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images

My Bloody Valentine have announced three live dates in Japan.

According to Time Out Japan (via Pitchfork), the band will play three shows in February next year.

The dates are:

02-06 Osaka, Japan – The Hatch

02-07 Tokyo, Japan – Studio Coast

02-08 Tokyo, Japan – Studio Coast

Apart from an appearance at 2008’s Fuji Rock Festival, this will be the first time My Bloody Valentine have played Japan in two decades.

The Band recently reissued remastered CDs of 1988’s Isn’t Anything and 1991’s Loveless, along with a compilation of the band’s early material, EP’s 1988-1991, and are reportedly working on new material.

PJ Harvey has contributed two new songs to a forthcoming documentary, What Is This Film Called Love?

The songs are called “Horses” and “Bobby Don’t Steal”, and are the singer/songwriter’s first new material since her 2011 album, Let England Shake.

Described as a “poetic documentary about the nature of happiness”, What Is This Film Called Love? is the debut feature by critic Mark Cousins.

An unfinished version of What Is This Film Called Love? will be shown on May 27 at this month’s ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror festival in London.

Meanwhile, Harvey has been awarded an Ivor Novello award for Album Of The Year at a ceremony this afternoon [May 17] in London.

Among the other nominees were Adele and Kate Bush.

Slash has unveiled the video to his brand new single, “You’re A Lie”. Scroll down to watch.

Vocalist Myles Kennedy features on the track, which is the first single to be taken from Slash’s forthcoming solo album, Apocalyptic Love, which is set for release on May 21.

The tracklisting for Apocalyptic Love is:

‘Apocalyptic Love’

‘One Last Thrill’

‘Standing in the Sun’

‘You’re a Lie’

‘No More Heroes’

‘Halo’

‘We Will Roam’

‘Anastasia’

‘Not for Me’

‘Bad Rain’

‘Hard & Fast’

‘Far and Away’

‘Shots Fired’

Yesterday Slash denied claims by former Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland that he was set to re-join Velvet Revolver. Appearing on Minneapolis radio station 93x, the guitarist hit back at comments Weiland’s made at the weekend stating that the original band were getting back together.

“He’s out of his mind,” Slash said of Weiland’s claims. “There’s been a common rumour going around, I know that he’s been positive on that subject. Maybe they know something I don’t know.” He added: “I have absolutely no intention of going back to that… We have no intention of going backwards.”

The band, which includes former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Matt Sorum, and Duff McKagan has been on the search for a new frontman since Weiland was kicked out of the band in 2008.

Dirty Projectors have announced the tracklisting to their forthcoming LP, Swing Lo Magellan, which will be released via Domino on July 9.

The tracklisting is:

Offspring Are Blank

About to Die

Gun Has No Trigger

Swing Lo Magellan

Just From Chevron

Dance For You

Maybe That Was It

Impregnable Question

See What She’s Seeing

The Socialites

Unto Caesar

Irresponsible Tune

You can hear “Gun Has No Trigger” here; http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/dirty_projectors-gun_has_no_trigger

The album was written, recorded, produced and mixed by frontman Dave Longstreth.

It will be their first full length studio album since 2009’s Bitte Orca.

Leonard Cohen has announced an additional date to his UK show, A Day At The Hop Farm.

Cohen will now play Sunday, September 9 in addition to the previously announced show on Saturday, September 8.

Both shows are part of his world tour and will be Cohen’s only UK dates in 2012.

Meanwhile, Bob Dylan plays at Hop Farm Festival on Saturday June 30. Other acts include Peter Gabriel, Suede, Patti Smith and Ray Davies.

Doug Dillard, the pioneering country rock banjo-player, has died aged aged 75, according to reports.

Dillard had first found fame in the Dillards, a bluegrass group formed with his brother Rodney, who made regular appearances on successful American sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, where they played a fictional band called ‘The Darlings’.

After leaving the Dillards in 1968, Doug Dillard teamed up with former Byrd, Gene Clark, to form Dillard & Clark.

Dillard & Clark released two albums – The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark (1968) and Through The Morning, Through The Night (1969) – which are both considered country rock classics.

The musicians who played on Dillard & Clark’s two albums reads like a Who’s Who of country rock’s A list: The Byrds‘ Chris Hillman and Michael Clark, The Eagles’ Bernie Leadon and Flying Burrito Brothers’ Sneaky Pete Kleinow.

Two tracks from Through The Morning, Through The Night – the title song itself and “Polly” – were later covered by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on their 2007 album, Raising Sand.

In 2011, Dillard had been admitted to a Nashville hospital suffering from a collapsed lung.

According to country and bluegrass website The Boot, a family spokesperson confirmed that Dillard was taken to a Nashville emergency room on Wednesday night [May 16] and died shortly thereafter.

Jack White has delivered a bizarre rant against the compilers of the Guinness Book Of World Records.

White, who released his debut solo album Blunderbuss last month, told Interview Magazine that he believes he holds the record for he shortest concert in history, but was denied his place in the record books by the company.

The singer revealed that he and former White Stripes bandmate Meg tried to make history by performing one single note, a clash of the cymbal, at a stop in Newfoundland, Canada. However, White revealed that the pair’s bid to have their names in the annual stocking filler failed and that he is convinced that the book’s compilers simply didn’t want to put him and Meg in the book.

Speaking about this, he said: “We were in Newfoundland and the idea that I came up with at breakfast was, ‘Let’s play one note today’. I told Meg as we were getting out of the car. I said, ‘Make sure you grab your cymbal and when you hit the cymbal, grab it so that the note only lasts a millisecond.'”

He continued: “I was thinking that afterwards we could contact the Guinness World Records people and see if we could get the record for shortest concert of all time. So we did it, but ultimately they turned us down.”

Then asked why, White said: “The thing is, though, that the Guinness book is a very elitist organisation. There’s nothing scientific about what they do. They just have an office full of people who decide what a record is and what isn’t. Most of the records in there – who has the biggest collection of salt-and-pepper shakers or whatever – are just whatever they want them to be.”

He went on: “So with something like the shortest concert of all time, they didn’t think whatever we did was interesting enough to make it a record. I don’t know why they get to decide that, but, you know, they own the book.”

Jack White returns to the UK next month for a series of live shows.

Leonard Cohen has been awarded the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize, dubbed the “Nobel Prize of the Arts”.

The award is presented biennially to “an individual for a unique lifetime contribution that has enriched the human condition through the arts.”

Cohen was selected by an international panel of judges, which included film director Atom Egoyan and Stephen Fry.

Cohen accepted the award on Monday night [May 14] at Toronto’s Massey Hall, along with the $50,000 prize money, which he then donated to the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Glenn Gould Prize is named after the Canadian classical pianist. Previous recipients of the Glenn Gould Prize have included jazz legend Oscar Peterson, Venezuelan conductor José Antonio Abreu and French composer Pierre Boulez.

Leonard Cohen plays his only UK date at Hop Farm on Saturday, September 8.

Yeasayer have debuted a brand new track titled “Henrietta”, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen to it.

The track was sent out to members of the band’s mailing list, with a physical CD containing the song sent to every person who had signed up to updates from Yeasayer.

“Henrietta” is the first new material to emerge from the band since their 2010 second album Odd Blood and its announcement was accompanied by a brief tweet from the band, which said: “Yes, record number three is in the works! Keeping it brief because it should be.”

Speaking previously about “Henrietta”, the band’s singer and keyboardist Chris Keating had said that the song was inspired by Henrietta Lacks, a Baltimore woman who had a rare form of cancer which meant her tumours and cells continued to grow after she died in 1951.

He explained: “Her tumors were somehow used in the polio vaccine, too, so basically this woman’s cells still exist. It’s an interesting story. So we turned it into a dubbed-out pseudo-science-fiction song.”

Late last year, the band spoke about their new album and said that it is shaping up to be “like a demented R&B record.”

Keating said of it: “It’s like an Aaliyah album if you played it backwards and slowed it down. Or David Bowie‘s ‘Lodger’. Those two are major influences.”

Photo credit: Guy Aroch

Flair, grit and determination – not to mention a nine-figure outlay on players – have all been cited in recent days as the reasons why Manchester City won the Premier League over the weekend.

However, fans of the club actually have one man to thank for their first title win in 44 years – and it’s apparently not manager Roberto Mancini.

Nope, ironically it’s staunch Manchester United fan Mani – who infamously said The Stone Roses wouldn’t reform until the Blues tasted major success.

Reminding fans of his prediction ahead of the band’s huge reunion shows next month, the bassist’s wife Imelda Mounfield described her husband as a modern day Nostradamus, tweeting:

City’s win is all down to Mani , he predicted yrs ago the stone roses would play again after city won the league !!!! Nostradamus or what ..

While Mani will have been cursing his prediction, musicians from the Blue half of the City were in jubilant mood after City’s dramatic title-clinching 3-2 win over QPR on Sunday. Noel Gallagher admitted he cried while watching the match in a bar in Chile, while his brother and former Oasis bandmate Liam Gallagher sprayed champagne in a private box at the game, before aiming a jibe at United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on Twitter.

Meanwhile, QPR captain Joey Barton – who is facing a 10 game ban after being sent off for violent conduct during the match – tweeted Smiths lyrics in the aftermath.

The Stone Roses kick off their reunion gigs with two warm-up shows at Club Razzmatazz in Barcelona on June 8 and 9, before moving on to dates in Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France ahead of their trio of homecoming gigs at Heaton Park (29, 30 and July 1).

Following the hometown shows, they’ll then play at Dublin’s Phoenix Park (5) and Spain’s Benicassim (12-15), along with shows in Italy and the Far East.

The Stone Roses are also playing at this year’s T In The Park, which is taking place July 6-8 in Balado Park, Kinross.

Estranged Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has confirmed that he will not be taking part in any of the three Black Sabbath shows set for this summer.

The drummer has released a statement on his website, Billward.com, saying that he will not be playing with the band at their Birmingham show on May 19, nor with them at Download Festival on June 10 or at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 3.

Ward had previously revealed he was unhappy with the contract for the band’s new album and tour and claimed he would not take part in the new album sessions and shows if a ‘fair agreement’ was not met. As a result of this, the remaining members of the band vowed to carry on without him.

In his new statement, Ward writes that last month he was offered the chance to play just three songs with the band at Download. He wrote: “I was not willing to participate in that offer. I was not prepared to watch another drummer play a Sabbath set, while I was to play only three songs.”

Ward then said that he was invited to take part in the band’s show in Birmingham this Saturday at the O2 Academy for free, but that there would be no guarantee that he could play the following two festival shows. He explained: “Again, for me, it’s all or nothing. I had to say ‘no’ to Birmingham on the principle of wanting to play all the shows. Saying no to Birmingham is very difficult for me. My family grew up in Birmingham. Black Sabbath grew up in Birmingham.”

He added: “I hold no malice or resentment towards the other band members. I love them; I’m tolerant of them; I’m frustrated with them, as they may be with me. My fight has never been with them. I’ll love them forever. In my opinion, nobody wins this time; the band doesnt win; the fans for an original lineup don’t win. Nobody wins, nobody. Even the ones who thought they did.”‘

Read the statement in full at Billward.com.

A rare photograph showing The Beatles walking ‘backwards’ across Abbey Road is set to fetch up to £9,000 at auction.

The snap, taken by late photographer Iain Macmillan, shows the band walking right to left across the zebra crossing outside the London studio where they made their 1969 album – the opposite direction to the picture which made it onto the sleeve.

There are other notable differences, including the fact Paul McCartney is wearing sandals rather than walking with bare feet. The cigarette he’s holding on the album version is also missing.

The print is among a set of 25 being sold by a private collector. Sarah Wheeler of Bloomsbury Auctions in London explained the shot was composed in ten minutes while Macmillan was up a ladder.

She told The Guardian: “The photo has been called an icon of the 1960s. I think the reason it became so popular is its simplicity. It’s a very simple, stylised shot and is a shot people can relate to.”

The photo is going under the hammer on May 22.

Beatles artefacts regularly fetch big prices at auctions – last year a document showing how the Fab Four refused to play to segregated crowds was sold for $23,000 (£14,407).

The Rolling Stones are set to tour later this year after Ronnie Wood revealed he is “keeping October/November free”.

The band have long been rumoured to be playing live again this year to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Earlier this year, it appeared they would be delaying the celebrations until 2013 after guitarist Keith Richards suggested the band weren’t ready to go back on the road yet.

However, speaking earlier this week, Wood hinted the Stones could tour before the end of the year, telling The Sun:

“It looks like we are going to be doing more stuff. I am keeping October/November free, that’s what I’ve been told. I’m just awaiting more information.”

However, the guitarist scotched suggestions the band would be recording new material, adding: “New ones? Are you joking? We are familiarising ourselves with our back catalogue and have only scratched the surface.”

In April, Wood had to apologise to his bandmates after he was quoted as saying that the band will start recording new material later that month.

The Rolling Stones will release a new photo album to mark 50 years since their first ever gig this year. The tome – which is titled The Rolling Stones: 50 – will feature 700 shots and words from the band on their history, and will hit UK bookshelves on July 12.