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New British bands head to Dubai fest

Almost 50 British bands performed at a new music festival in Dubai this past weekend. Dubai Sound City was organized in order to create exposure for new British bands in an entirely new market.

Dave Pichilingi, the British event director, told the BBC: “The record industry is in sharp decline, the more markets we can open up the better. It offers [the British music industry] the opportunity to do business with people they might never have met before, the paying audience for the festival have come from places like India, China and Japan.”

Joss Stone dismisses Lily Allen’s filesharing rants

According to singer Joss Stone, Lily Allen is more a “personality” than she is a musician, and Stone went on to dismiss Allen’s online adversary to illegal filesharing.
“[Lily] needs to sell records because she’s not a singer,” Stone told the Press Association, “and that’s not an offence to her because I think that she knows that too.”
Stone believes that she is “making real music [that] people [will] come to the show” for, whereas with an “artist like Lily… it’s about the track, their personality and their celebrity”, said the femaile singer.

Stone Roses’ Ian Brown arrested

Former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown was taken into custody over charges of assaulting his wife, Fabiola Quiroz. The police were called to the home Brown shares with his Mexican wife in West Kensington, London, on Monday morning at 8:05. Reportedly it was the couple’s neighbors who called in the disturbance.

Quiroz, a 37-year-old model/ actress, informed the police upon their arrival that Brown had attacked her.

New Christmas Tune from George Michael

George Michael is preparing to release a brand new single for the holiday season, the BBC reports. The song will mark Michael’s first release since his 1984 hit with Wham!, “Last Christmas.”  

Man who punched Leona Lewis not fit for court

NME reports that the man accused of punching X Factor winner Leona Lewis in a bookstore on October 14 has been found to be unfit to attend court. A judge ruled that 29-year-old Peter Kowalczyk should be confined to a hospital.

The 2007 reality television contest winner was assaulted by Kowalczyk as she was signing copies of her book at a Waterstone’s store in London. After management at the Piccadilly location notified police, the man was subsequently sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Noel Gallagher Confirms Future as Solo Artist

The Daily Mirror was surprised to see Noel Gallagher attending the reopening of celebrity hotspot Chinawhite last Tuesday night, but it wasn’t especially shocking that the ex-Oasis member wasn’t too broken up about departing from the band.

X Factor performance puts Whitney Houston comeback in question

The Telegraph is taking the stance that Whitney Houston’s so-called comeback was a bit below par after the singer appeared on X Factor to sing her latest single “Million Dollar Bill” “over some pre-recorded vocals.” Houston’s first appearance on UK television in 12 years was also punctuated by a wardrobe malfunction when one of the straps in back of her flowing silver gown broke open.

Robbie Williams comeback accompanied by accident

After Robbie Williams performed what he hopes will be his comeback single on X Factor, a photographer fell under the wheels of the singer’s people carrier, driven by a chauffeur. The young photographer was hit as the ex-Take That member was being escorted from the television studios. The Telegraph reports that Williams seemed shaken and tearful after the accident.

Boy Band Singer Stephen Gately Found Dead

Former Boyzone member Stephen Gately was found dead at his vacation residence in Majorca, Spain over the weekend. ABC news reports no evidence of foul play, as well as a lack of suicide note or any indication of excessive drug use. Gately was found dead on his sofa at 1:45 am on Saturday.

A source told the Independent: “All we know so far is that they had gone out the night before till late and had quite a few drinks and raised the alert when they found Stephen dead.”

Robbie Williams comes clean about his drug addiction

Robbie Williams informed the Sun that he was 24 hours from death at the ultimate depths of his drug addiction: “At the time you don’t give a s--- if you pop your clogs. I must have been very, very close. I would have carried on, to be honest… I might have been a couple of days of 24 hours from dying.”