Music giant EMI fell sharply after a shock announcement that it had uncovered fraud in its Brazilian business. Senior management has been suspended.

A brief statement said the fraud resulted in an over statement of revenues by £12 million and operating profits by £9 million. The shares fell 8.75p to 272p.

The affair will cause huge embarrassment to EMI, best known for stars such as Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay and Robbie Williams.

Profits of the recorded music division rose 15% to £145 million last year. At the time the company drew attention to the performance of its business in Brazil.

EMI said it had gained market share in every country in Latin America with the best performance coming from Brazil.

Today EMI(EMI) said it had identified through its internal controls, a 'one-off accounting fraud affecting the reporting of results at EMI's recorded music business in Brazil.'

The impact of the fraud will be reflected in the results for the six months just ended. In the meantime EMI ' is conducting a full investigation and is suspending certain of the senior management of the Brazilian business.'

London - EMI has shortlisted The7stars, Starcom and MindShare to pitch against incumbents Carat and Media Campaign Services for its £14m media account, reports BrandRepublic.

The record company, home to artists including Coldplay and Robbie Williams, is expected to conclude its UK review by the end of the year. Carat handles television, outdoor and online while MCS covers press and radio.

The pitch will pit The7stars' Gareth Jones, who used to head up Carat's EMI business, against his former employer. MindShare was also shortlisted recently for Warner Music's £18m account, on which MCS was the incumbent. Warner is believed to have appointed PHD but has not as yet confirmed this.

The relationship between rich western celebrities and poor Africans highlights a hard challenge to the orthodoxies of aid policy, says Michael Holman. More than twenty years ago Bob Geldof and I shared what turned out to be a case of wishful thinking.

We believed that the millions of pounds raised by Band Aid in a response to the famine that was wracking Ethiopia would go towards ensuring that never again would we look at our television screens and see emaciated figures, the consequence of famine, dying.

Since then, as Africa’s crisis has deepened, Bob Geldof and I have gone our separate ways. The Irish rock star, businessman and philanthropist has continued to devote many of his energies to African causes, from membership of the British government’s Commission for Africa to a leading role in organising the Live Aid concerts that accompanied the G8 summit in Gleneagles in July 2005. And he collected a knighthood along the way.

Geldof, then, is a pioneer of Celebrity Aid, though in seeking to draw the rich world’s attention to the plight of the African poor, even this larger-than-life character stands on the shoulders of earlier figures such as Danny Kaye, the first ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund [unicef] in 1954.

Since Geldof’s Ethiopian epiphany in 1984, more celebrities have joined the cause of Africa’s recovery, from Kate Moss to Bono, Angelina Jolie to Chris Martin. Now they have been joined by Madonna (and her film-director husband Guy Ritchie), whose adoption of a boy from Malawi has created a media furore.

Sir Bob himself has helped raise more for Africa through Live Aid, and saved the continent’s governments further huge sums by throwing his weight behind debt relief for some of the world’s poorest countries. More than that, he has kept Africa’s crisis high on the international agenda - or at least higher than it otherwise would have been - through ceaseless lobbying, a powerful personality and deep compassion.

All this while, I have done little more than send back to the Financial Times increasingly sceptical reports from Africa’s development frontline about the benefits of aid, and questioned the role of the thousands of foreign-based or foreign-funded non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have proliferated across the continent.

And now, a generation after our Ethiopian experience, I find it hard to find much we agree on.

I believe that debt relief without the toughest of conditions will fail; that to provide more aid is to send good money after bad; and that although the report of the Africa commission on which Geldof served is an invaluable source of information, it failed to address the fundamental question about the failure of aid.

Michael Holman was Africa editor of the Financial Times, 1984-2002. His first novel, Last Orders at Harrods: An African Tale (Polygon, 2005) is being republished by Abacus in March 2007

The trap of cynicism

Like the poor, celebrities have always been with us. And as long as Africa remains a scar on the conscience of the west, as somebody once said, I expect they will stay with us. On either side of this great divide of life-experience and life-chances, this is one area where there is no prospect of any supply problems.

The celeb phenomenon has been around as long as the African continent has been in trouble; but it has increased in velocity since the problems of poverty, illness and dependency became more broadly exposed to the world’s eyes in the first decades after independence.

As Hollywood’s A-list finest such as Audrey Hepburn have been supplemented by a far wider range of figures from the worlds of pop music, television and football, as well as film, there is as much chance of stopping the southward flow of glamour as there is of finding a quick fix for Africa.

For there is a lot to keep these celebs busy. At least 40% of the continent’s 800 million people go to bed hungry each night. What is more, as the world hunger report published in October 2006 revealed, this number is increasing each year. Some 3 million African children die every year of preventable diseases before they reach the age of 5.

And that is just the human toll. The loss of biodiversity as a result of soil depletion, desertification, and forest clearance has meant that dozens of animal species have become endangered or extinct - creating a further space for conservationist celebs to enter and campaign to save favourite (and very often the most photogenic) creatures.

There are occasions when the accompanying media coverage - designed to entertain as well as raise concern among potential western aid-givers - is plainly insensitive and silly, as when Kate Moss “blacked up” for the Independent’s special Africa supplement (though the blame falls as much on the journalist who thought it up as the model who went along with it). It is true too that some events or photo opportunities owe less to a compassionate heart than to attempts to boost a flagging career.

It also seems to me, however, that the frequent mockery and derision by journalists and others of Bono, Geldof, Madonna or any of the other celebs is insufferable arrogance. To say that they are motivated by a desire for further publicity, or that they are expressing their concern in an inappropriate way, is unwarranted.

The vice of aid

But it is possible to have concerns without falling into fashionable cynicism. I have three such.

First, there is a danger that the attention given to celebrities’ involvement is a distraction from the debate that should be taking place: about the fact that aid does not work in Africa.

That is surely beyond doubt. In Kenya, recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid since independence in 1963, more of its citizens than ever are categorised as impoverished - around 55-60% - than when the flag of statehood was raised and Jomo Kenyatta installed as the country’s founding president. True, life-expectancy has increased (though I suspect it is starting to decline), but an increase in longevity is scant return on aid investment if in other respects, life for millions of Kenyans remains nasty and brutish.

In this respect, there is surely the danger that those in the business of aid have lost sight of the purpose of aid.

The second, related concern is that the publicity surrounding celebrities tends to obscure discussion of whether aid has contributed to - or in some cases even caused - Africa’s problems.

Kenya’s northeast, where aid has subsidised the settlement of people on land that never had the capacity to sustain them, is one prime case. Another is Sudan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There, the United Nations programme to feed civilians caught in the country’s north-south civil war (Operation Lifeline, established in April 1989) arguably did as much harm as good, by taking responsibility from the shoulders of the men who were leading the fighting.

Year after year food aid poured in to Sudan, until the process became institutionalised and the “aid” became an integral part of the wider conflict. A tough question was avoided: should the donors have in effect declared a cut-off point in the delivery of food aid, in order to try to concentrate the protagonists’ minds on the peace process?

This would have been a terribly difficult decision to make, and if it had been it is certain that TV cameras would be present to record the last breaths of stick-limbed children. But the decision would have been no more difficult, nor more terrible in its consequences, than one to take a country into war.

The third concern is that the alliance of celebrity involvement and aid strategy in Africa is diminishing, or will diminish, the continent’s self-confidence.

A post-independence generation of Africans says it does. From Andrew Rugasira, the Ugandan coffee entrepreneur, to John Githongo, the exiled anti-corruption campaigner from Kenya, to Moeletsi Mbeki, a leading South African businessman, comes the same answer: we don’t need aid, we want a fair crack of the trade whip.

Part of their concern is the impact of aid on the role and the capacity of the state. Kenya (to stay with the example of the east African country, so long considered - though not any more - as one of Africa’s relative “success stories”) has been a food importer most years. I expect it always will be. Certainly the trend is not encouraging: the population has doubled since 1980, two-thirds of the country is arid or semi-arid, and the size of the average shamba (small farm) has fallen by half since the 1970s.

I don’t doubt that many people - more than a million - are going hungry in northern Kenya. But questions must be asked that tend to be evaded:

why are there so many people living in such an inhospitable part of the country in the first place? has a population that was dominantly nomadic become settled? If so, how has it survived? has donor aid unwittingly created or contributed to the problem that is entrenched or endemic? will hunger continue, despite conventional aid efforts, as the years go by - and will there be more mouths to feed? And even more critically:

is the donor/NGO presence doing more harm than good? are aid donors, by taking on a responsibility for care, contributing to the atrophy of the Kenyan state, thus leaving it less and less capable of meeting its obligations to its citizens? If the answer to the last two questions in particular is yes, even a heavily qualified yes, it should be followed by a question which goes to the heart of the billion-dollar development failure in Africa:

could the experience of northern Kenya provide insights that lead to a better understanding of the weakening of the state across Africa?

For - to explain the last point - if the state cannot deliver its side of the contract (provision of basic services including roads, healthcare, security and law-enforcement, and disaster relief) why should the citizen stay loyal? Why pay taxes - and ultimately, why not bribe? And as the state recedes, why not turn to regional and ethnic loyalties, or to the political “big man”?

The air of debate

What then should be done? The answer is not to scorn the celebs but to encourage them - precisely to initiate a much-needed debate on these three issues.

Just imagine if Bono said: We should be prepared to admit defeat and re-engage - but re-engage on different terms. The process - of disengagement and re-engagement in turn - should take place over ten years. At the end of those ten years, any aid project should be conditional on matching funds from African sources.

Or if Bob Geldof declared that: Africa has capital tied up in land - so radical fooking reform of land tenure is fooking essential.

Or if Roger Moore maintained that: Africa’s ill-managed state pension-funds should be opened up to competitive managements.

Or if Madonna argued that: We should respond to the fact that the diaspora of Africa’s educated is swollen by 60,000 a year. This has led to the bizarre, outrageous situation that more doctors who were trained in Malawi are practising in England’s second city of Birmingham than in Malawi itself. If one of Malawi’s main exports is health professionals, that is not in itself a bad thing - what is unacceptable is that there is no organised replenishment. But if visas cost the equivalent of what it costs to train them in the first place, and the money is spent on the schools and universities that produced them, Malawi could thrive.

If these and other celebrities made such statements - in tune with modern African realities and the lessons of the past forty years, rather than with the outdated nostrums of the aid industry - the result would be an opening of a space for discussion of Africa’s real needs.

Whether the celebrities can say these things - or whether their armies of advisers and publicists and sponsors will allow them - we can all agree on one thing. To provide effective aid, as opposed to a response to a humanitarian appeal, and to ensure that it contributes to a self-sustaining recovery, is a difficult thing to achieve. Who better than celebrities to boost a debate on ways to do it?

Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley [pictured with Will Champion] has championed live music throughout her career, especially on her Live Lounge slot.

People have tuned in to hear artists' cover versions of contemporary hits such as Jamie Cullum's much-discussed rendition of Pharrell's Frontin' and Arctic Monkeys doing Girls Aloud's Love Machine.

You can catch the mother-ofthree's new show, In Live Music We Trust (Wednesdays 9pm-10pm), or her weekday show (Monday-Fridays 10am-1pm). Her new album, Live Lounge, has just been released. Shereen Low met up with her.

What's been your favourite moment?

"It's really hard to choose one favourite performer, but I have special spine-tingly moments. The Arctic Monkeys doing a cover of Girls Aloud's Love Machine is one of my favourites. It was a bit rough around the edges but they had fun. The White Stripes did something for us and that was cool. Also, I'm really fond of the first time Coldplay came on the Live Lounge. We had Keane doing U2's With Or Without You - that was really beautiful."

It must be great for the bands to receive such amazing feedback. "It is. People often have immediate reaction when they hear the bands, with goosebumps or hairs on the back of your neck rising. We always tell the bands too, so they know what's going on."

Have there been any cringey moments?

"It does happen. Sometimes the artists forget their words -Jack Johnson did but made something up on the spot. When Lemar did The Darkness' I Believe in a Thing Called Love, and The Automatic did Kanye West's Goldigger, I thought, 'Oh my god'.

"This gives the artists the chance to surprise people and show fans what they're made of. Will Young did a cover of OutKast's Hey Ya, which was absolutely phenomenal and still gets requested to this day. Same with Jamie Cullum's cover of Frontin'."

Who would you like to see on the Live Lounge?

"I would very much like Justin Timberlake to come in and do covers of U2 or Foo Fighters, or even Britney Spears. We're also trying to get the Killers on."

Do the bands know what's involved?

"It's very much understood that if they come onto the Live Lounge, they will perform some of their singles but also a cover. I ask them to do a contemporary hit, rather than doing a Nirvana or Beatles track. It's more interesting then."

Who do you think is going to be big?

"I'm getting excited about The Hours, Damon Albarn from Blur and Gorillaz has a new band called The Good, The Bad and The Queen, featuring Paul Simonon of The Clash, and that might take off in a Gorillaz kind of way. Damien Rice has a new record out, which is fantastic, Scott Matthews - he has an amazing voice like Jeff Buckley, and Mika -although he's quite flamboyant."

Source: Various IC Network [London]

Under the bright lights and probing questions of an all-in media conference yesterday, Shane Warne gave off the distinct impression that he is evolving into a cricketing version of Mick Jagger.

He is old enough to be the father of several of his contemporaries. He courts celebrity and, in the case of rock band Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin, celebrity returns the favour. And despite being at an age where his powers of performance and charisma should be diminishing, he is confident, brash and, when it comes to the show, seldom misses a beat.

Before launching his book, My Illustrated Career, yesterday, Warne discussed the oddity of last week, in which he bowled to Western Australia's Shaun Marsh in a Pura Cup game. Marsh is the son of Geoff Marsh, alongside whom Warne made his Test debut in 1992. Though Marsh has long since retired, taking on roles as selector and coach along the way, Warne is still plying his trade, and with great success. Surely Jagger would empathise.

But if there is any doubt as to Warne's star appeal, it was cast aside yesterday when the leg spinner discussed his blossoming friendship with Martin, who is among the world's top performers.

"We bumped into each other in a lift in England during the 2001 Ashes series and became very good friends," Warne said. "I went over to his house for dinner in London, we spoke all the time on the phone and hung out a few times. He's a really good guy."

The rock star theme continued yesterday, with Warne fielding as many questions about his personal life as his cricket. "If you look at the public record, we're divorced, but we get on fine," Warne replied when asked about reports he had reconciled with his former wife.

And like most celebrities of his ilk, Warne revealed that his past was not without its trials. "When I was at kindergarten someone jumped on my back and broke my legs," he said. "I was getting around on a trolley like that for 12 months, lying down with broken legs. That might have something to do with why my wrists are good and have helped me bowl leg spin."

From adversity sprouted triumph. Encore.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au

Having children changes your life in many ways. For American rocker Ed Kowalczyk from the band Live, having two daughters, Ana Sophia and Natasha, has turned him into a Kelly Clarkson fan.

"One of my current guilty pleasures that I feel like I have to confess, I really do like that Walk Away song by Kelly Clarkson and I can't get it out of my head," Ed says with a laugh.

"My four-year-old is such a huge Kelly Clarkson fan and I am now, by osmosis, becoming one, too."

In town with his band to play at the Entertainment Centre last night, Ed says listening to music via the enthusiasm of his kids is refreshing.

"Having a four-year-old, they have such an honest palate and I realised I'm just a little jaded," he says. "But that's not saying the next Live album is going to sound like Kelly Clarkson."

But Ed is quick to insist Kelly isn't the only music his eldest daughter listens to at home: "She's also a huge U2 fan. She loves Coldplay, Gnarls Barkley. She loves Peter Gabriel. Of course, those are all my choices but she loves that."

Source: http://www.news.com.au

NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 23, 2006 -- The Orchard, the world's leading digital distributor and marketer of independent music, and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, today announced a distribution agreement through which The Orchard will digitally market and distribute soundtracks and scores from Lionsgate's impressive library of motion picture and television hits.

Among the titles to be represented by The Orchard are the soundtracks to the comedy feature film "Employee of the Month" and hit Showtime television series "Weeds," currently in its second season.

Now in theatrical release nationwide, "Employee of the Month" stars Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson and features a cover of Cheap Trick's classic "Surrender" by rock's newest supergroup, Camp Freddy, composed of Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver), Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction, The Panic Channel), Matt Sorum (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Donovan Leitch (son of legendary folk singer Donovan), Billy Morrison (The Cult, Circus Diablo), and Chris Chaney (Jane's Addiction, Alanis Morissette). The "Employee of the Month" soundtrack also includes the hit "Cobrastyle" by Teddybears as well as tracks from Sugarcult, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and the Sammies. Major artists on the "Weeds" soundtrack include Elvis Costello, Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, Rogue Wave, and Zeroleen.

In addition to the above titles, the agreement includes digital distribution rights to other soundtracks and scores from Lionsgate's extensive library, which includes Oscar® winner "Monster's Ball," "Akeelah and the Bee," "Secretary," a host of acclaimed horror films, and many other film and TV hits. At the same time, The Orchard will deepen its existing relationship as a music publishing A&R source to Lionsgate, and as a provider of tracks for use in Lionsgate film and television productions.

"Lionsgate's soundtracks will sell well digitally, and The Orchard is the most capable and forward-looking marketing company in this space, making them the logical partner for us," said Jay Faires, president of music and publishing at Lionsgate. "The Orchard's team will incorporate creative digital marketing and promotion programs into our broader campaigns for Lionsgate soundtracks and scores -- which will help our projects as well as sales of our soundtracks. We're also excited about drawing even more from The Orchard's vast reservoir of songs as an A&R source for our growing publishing company and for placement in Lionsgate films and TV shows -- it's one of the world's most comprehensive and unique catalogues of music."

"Lionsgate has consistently produced some of the world's most compelling films and TV shows, and the company's music division is having similar success with soundtracks that stand out for their quality and originality," said Greg Scholl, chief executive of The Orchard. "We share Jay's passion for great music, his independent and entrepreneurial spirit, and his commitment to seeking creative marketing approaches in the digital sphere."

About Lionsgate

Lionsgate is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, winning this year's Best Picture Academy Award® for "Crash," generating two consecutive years of $300 million-plus domestic theatrical box office, operating a $500 million-plus home entertainment business and producing a broad slate of prime time television series for fiscal 2007. It is a premier producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of more than 9,000 titles is a valuable source of stable, recurring revenue and a foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

About The Orchard

The Orchard is the world's leading digital distributor and marketer of independent music, with a catalogue of more than one million tracks representing 73 countries, thousands of labels, and every music genre. This catalogue includes titles from multi-platinum acts such as Green Day, Coldplay, Ray Charles, and Barenaked Ladies, as well as from breaking bands like The Hold Steady, Bedouin Soundclash, and Immortal Technique. The Orchard supplies all the leading legal digital music stores and mobile operators throughout the world and markets its labels' catalogues for sync song placements in films, commercials, and television shows. The company is owned by Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc. whose portfolio companies also include eMusic and Dimensional Music Publishing. The Orchard is headquartered in New York and London, with offices in 23 countries and six continents. For more information, please visit: www.theorchard.com.

Music channel to show entire Pink Floyd, Coldplay, U2 sets on Saturday

NEW YORK - In the television equivalent of a do-over, the MTV Networks said they would air 10 commercial-free hours of performances Saturday from last weekend's Live 8 concerts.

Viewers will be able to see the entire sets of U2, Coldplay, Pink Floyd, Kanye West and Green Day on either MTV or VH1, and sometimes both, Van Toffler, president of the MTV Networks Music Group, said Friday.

MTV took a critical whipping and received complaints from more than 2,000 viewers about their eight hours of Live 8 coverage on July 2. Between commercials, interviews and reports from correspondents, MTV often showed only a song or two from several of the performances.

Toffler said the list of performers at each concert, held in 10 different cities, kept growing in the days leading up to the show — partly because MTV was helping organizers book acts.

"It just got bigger and bigger and we couldn't accommodate them all," he said.

At the same time, MTV had made a commitment to organizers to explain the purpose behind the concerts, and many artists wanted to be interviewed about their reasons for being there, he said. MTV's telecast stood in contrast to America Online, which offered most of the performances in their entirety.

Many of MTV's viewers weren't even alive when Pink Floyd broke up, so Toffler said he was surprised at how many wanted to see the band's reunion performance in full.

As the complaints flooded in, Toffler said he contacted Live 8 organizers on Wednesday to see if some of the performances could be rerun.

Jay-Z has released details of his upcoming album, Kingdom Come, which hits stores next month.

The album is rumoured to feature guest appearances from Kanye West and Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Kingdom Come is the follow up to 2003’s The Black Album, after which the rapper said he had retired. "I thought I was retired but my passion for music had other plans for me,” he explains. "I am overwhelmed with the initial record breaking response. I am happy to be officially back... I can't wait til ya'll hear the album."

Kingdom Come will be released on November 20 and will be followed by the single, Show Me What You Got, on December 3.

In an article taken from 'Famous weekly' on October 23rd 2006, are celebrity couple Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin taking their admiration of Donatella Versace and Vince Vaughn a little too far?

Gwyn is only lacking the "roast chicken" tan or she'd be a dead ringer for the fashion guru. Meanwhile, hubby Chris appears to be channelling newly single Vince - both clearly have trouble handling their food and drink! The greasy stains the Coldplay frontman is sporting down his front are eerily similar to those Vince was modelling in London recently, where he was partying with pal Kevin Spacey.

Read the full article here [thanks Coldkay]

British megabands U2 and Oasis are having to be kept apart at the Q music awards later this month (30th Oct 2006), because the organisers are terrified of a spat breaking out between the rival rockers.

The two bands are both up for the Best Act In The World Today gong - but after Oasis star Liam Gallagher branded Coldplay's Chris Martin "a plantpot" at last year's bash, the bosses behind the event at London's swanky Grosvenor House fear the worst should Oasis not take home the coveted gong.

An insider tells British newspaper the Daily Star, "Oasis and U2 are very important acts to Q and the fact that they've both confirmed to attend the awards has made everyone excited - but twitchy. "The last thing they want is either act to be disgruntled but we expect that whichever loses the gong will not be happy. "We're scheduling to keep them apart before the ceremony and the seating plan puts them on opposite sides of the room."

For the first time in its history the BRIT Awards with MasterCard will feature a LIVE vote in 2007 as viewers are invited to choose the winner of The British Single category during the live TV broadcast.

Viewers will be able to vote during the two-hour long telecast for their favourite of the five shortlisted singles with the winner announced at the end of the show.

And in a unique collaboration with commercial radio, the final shortlist of five will be selected from a long list of 10 in a vote off by listeners of the hit40uk, A-List and Fresh 40 charts. BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson said, "We have a longstanding and close relationship with commercial radio and we're delighted to be working with them on this BRITs first."

This year the British Single award was won by Coldplay's 'Speed of Sound'.

The nominations for the 27th BRIT Awards will be unveiled at the Hammersmith Palais in London on Tuesday, 16 January 2007. The launch will be televised live on ITV2 as part of "The BRITs are coming" programming. Both media and artists alike will discover who has been included in the most-talked-about nominations list of the year. Guests at the launch will be treated to three exclusive live performances from some of the hottest musical talent around. Details to be announced shortly.

Key to the prestige of The BRIT Awards 2007 with MasterCard is the fact that alongside categories chosen by the public, it also includes awards decided by The BRIT Awards Voting Academy.

The Academy is made up of 1000 specially invited members from different sectors of the music industry. Only 6% of the academy is represented by the major record labels and their associated companies, with the remaining 94% coming from Independent record companies, retailers, music critics & music press, music TV and Radio producers & presenters, music publishers, artist managers, concert promoters & venues, NUS representatives and DJ's.

The BRIT Awards is the only UK show from which all the proceeds are donated to charity. Millions have been raised over the years for its beneficiaries, which include The BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology and Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy. Over 7,000 young people have been given free education and the opportunity to enter the school since its opening in 1991 and more than 10,000 children and adults have been helped by the phenomenal music therapy work carried out by Nordoff Robbins.

The BRIT Awards

Nominations Launch -Hammersmith Palais on Tues. 16 January 2007

BRIT Awards with MasterCard Earls Court - Weds 14 February 2007, ITV1

More on this and an Outstanding Achievement award for Oasis here

If all there was to Chas and Dave was novelty songs about snooker and Spurs football club then they would have been consigned to the novelty pop bin of musical history years ago.

But instead of drifting into obscurity the Cockney pair, who play the Junction on Tuesday, have seen a renaissance in recent years, largely thanks to a new generation of young fans discovering their music.

The veteran duo say the reason for their recent injection of cool is simply that they know how to put on a good show. The first time the new generation of music fans came to know about the pair was when they were chosen by Pete Doherty to support The Libertines, and that led to their now infamous appearance at Glastonbury last year.

"We've done festivals before over the years and we've always gone down well," says Chas. "But what really surprised us was the amount of people who walked across the field to see us. When I got there about an hour before there were about seven or eight hundred people there and I thought, 'That's not a bad crowd'. Then backstage we started hearing them chanting 'Chas and Dave' like a football crowd and I thought, 'There's more than 700 people out there'.

"I think it was Coldplay on the main stage and the review in The Guardian the next day said one of our songs was better than their whole set."

Undoubtedly part of their enduring appeal is the fact that they can actually play their instruments. On his Radio 2 show recently, Dale Winton counted down the charts from 1961 and Chas was able to count three different records he'd played on as a 17-year-old session musician 45 years ago.

"If I look back on the people that influenced me, like Jerry Lee Lewis, he was up there playing the piano and he put on a performance," Chas tells scene. "There are lots of people nowadays that can't really sing or play and they rely on the studio to make them sound good but they don't last long. The reason we've lasted is because we can get up there and play.

"I think the younger generation of music fans now are the best ever, they really listen to you. I get cheers when I do a piano solo now, I never used to get that before."

But the thing that has always made Chas and Dave stand out from the crowd is their insistence on singing in their own native London accents.

"My ambition, before me and Dave even got together, was to write a song and sing it in my own accent, which is Cockney, and for it to be taken seriously.

"I had never known that to happen before and Ain't No Pleasing Youdid that when it got to number two in the charts.

"I think wherever you're from you should sing in your own accent and not put on something else, like an American accent. We have been misunderstood over the years, sometimes people think it's all about us thinking that London is the greatest place in the world but it's not.

"One of my favourite modern bands is the Arctic Monkeys, they sound great and they sing in their own northern accents.

"I was born in London and I love where I was born but all I ever wanted to do was make music."

Supporting Chas and Dave are a local band, The Shivers, who cite the duo as an important influence on their music.

The band are currently putting the finishing touches to their new album It Ain't Easy Being in The Shivers which is set to cement their place as the biggest crowd-pullers on the Cambridge music scene.

Chas and Dave and The Shivers play The Junction on Tuesday. Tickets are £12-£13.

To book, call (01223) 511511.

Source: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk

Do people still buy Q Magazine? We're not sure - are people still interested in paying for a publication that only ever seems to put REM and U2 on the cover and then fills up its insides with interviews with Bob Geldof?

Still, however deathly dull Q Magazine is these days there's always the Q Awards - the event that seems to have overtaken both the Brits and the NME Awards in terms of rock stars getting drunk and showing themselves up a lot. The Q Awards take place at the end of the month and, although people are mainly hoping that Liam Gallagher turns up and starts a fight with his own outerwear, some actual awards have to be given out.

And since the folks at Q have heard that Arctic Monkeys are quite popular these days, Arctic Monkeys have picked up the most Q Awards nominations this year.

Q Magazine is the music magazine that's never afraid to be different, to have its own agenda. Sure, that agenda happens to mainly revolve around licking Bono's bumhole at any opportunity, calling every new REM album "Their best since Automatic For The People," and being a bit scared of Green Day for their ruthlessly cutting-edge approach to making songs, but - hey - an agenda's an agenda, and we can mostly forgive Q for this so long as it means we get more Q Awards.

The Q Awards, you see, are a hotbed of controversy. Last year's Q Awards were no exception, as they involved the mighty double-header of Liam Gallagher saying this about Coldplay:

"You’re a plantpot. That lot are all wankers."

While Yoko Ono accidentally kicked off a war of words with Paul McCartney by mentioning that John Lennon never wrote a song that rhymed "June" with "spoon," an obvious reference to Paul McCartney's string of singles in the late 1970s; June Spoon, Spoony June, In June The Spoons Live On The Moon, I Like June And I Like Spoons and Wonderful Christmastime. However, that feud has cooled down lately thanks to Paul McCartney realising that he likes Yoko more than his estranged monoped wife.

Don't forget, though, that the point of the Q Awards isn't to watch a bunch of singers act like wankers, but to award the music that's most likely to appeal to the middle-aged, people carrier-owning James Blunt fans who read Q. Last year's Q Awards nominations were a bit crap and this year's… well, they're almost the same, to be honest.

Mercury Prize-winning, NME Award-winning Arctic Monkeys have inevitably come out tops here, despite sounding The Hits Of The Libertines Performed By The Cast Of Kes and only really having that one song that anybody likes. Arctic Monkeys have picked up four Q Awards nominations, for Best Album, Best Live Act, Best Track and Best Newcomer. However, Arctic Monkeys face stiff competition for best album - from Muse, Kasabian, Razorlight, Keane and Snow Patrol, even if we do think the Q Awards nominations panel have mistaken 'Best Album' for 'Album That'd Make You Throw Yourself Under A Train Fastest Just To Make The Noises Go Away'.

Oh, and don't forget the legendary Q Awards Best Act in the World Today trophy. This year it'll be going to either Muse, Coldplay, Oasis, U2 or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Just like every other year since the dawn of time.

Source: http://www.hecklerspray.com

WASHINGTON -- The president of a Chicago-based investment fund misspent nearly $11 million in investments by Detroit area pension funds on lavish travel and entertainment and diverted some money into a company that operates a Detroit strip club, according to federal regulators.

AA Capital Partners Inc. manages $194 million in assets for six pension funds -- including $92.7 million from the Detroit-area Carpenters Pension Trust Fund and $75 million from Livonia-based Operating Engineers Local 324.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil complaint against the company and its president, John Orecchio, a former managing director of Bank of America Capital Corp., accusing him of misappropriating $10.7 million.

"We're concerned about the misappropriation of union pension funds," said John Sikora, the SEC's assistant regional director in Chicago on Tuesday.

Orecchio submitted more than $4.3 million in travel and entertainment expenses in the first nine months of 2006, including $1 million for political donations -- $650,000 to the Michigan Democratic Party. When he was removed by the company in September, Orecchio had five cases of wine and an oversized humidor filled with Cuban cigars in his Chicago office. On the wall was a Playboy golf flag signed by Miss July 1998, court records show.

He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private plane travel and $120,000 to entertain clients at the Super Bowl in Detroit in February. He bought event tickets through scalpers and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on stays and entertainment at Las Vegas and Colorado resorts, according to government documents. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago froze the assets of AA Capital and Orecchio and appointed a receiver, Scott Porterfield, who is seeking to recover misappropriated funds.

Porterfield has hired a forensic accounting firm to help his law firm conduct an investigation over the next few weeks. He said that the firm's investments were generally solid. "This is about lavish living and a lavish lifestyle," Porterfield said.

Numerous expensive items have turned up, Porterfield said, including a signed pinball machine by The Who, an autographed Coldplay lithograph and several autographed Tiger Woods items, according to government documents. It's not clear how much the pension funds stand to lose. Representatives for the pension fund either declined to comment or didn't return calls. AA Capital has insurance policies that Porterfield will pursue to recoup losses.

Orecchio, 40, of Arlington Heights, Ill., owns 50 percent of AA Capital and became the company's managing director and president in April 2002. "Since it's an open matter, we're not commenting," Orecchio said, when reached at his home.

The SEC alleges Orecchio diverted at least $5.7 million to various accounts, including more than $1 million to Lonyo LLC, which runs the Crazy Horse strip club in Detroit and $610,000 to a Michigan horse farm called M&J Animal Rescue LLC, the SEC said. M&J, based in Fair Haven in St. Clair County, is now empty, said Paula Martin, a former employee who spoke by telephone with The Detroit News.

M&J Rescue was run by Marley Powers, who also oversaw the strip club, said Martin, who lost her job last month. Orecchio helped Powers rescue dozens of horses destined for slaughter. "He didn't spare any expense to take care of those horses," Martin said Tuesday.

Martin said Orecchio gave Powers lavish gifts, she said, including a $400,000 diamond ring, two Bentleys and a Jaguar. In 2005, AA Capitol had revenues of $2 million and expenses of $7.2 million. The company borrowed money from union accounts to pay for its expenses, the SEC said. AA Capital chief financial officer, Mary Beth Stevens, told the SEC the company doesn't keep a general ledger, according to the filing. Among AA Capital's assets is a Detroit office of the company at 400 Monroe St. that's empty, except for some documents.

The asset search turned up a 20-seat suite to Chicago Bears games, along with Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings hockey tickets. Both hockey teams have agreed to refund the balance of the season tickets to the court-appointed receiver. The Bears tickets will be sold.

On Sept. 21, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a subpoena to AA Capital in a separate investigation in connection with pension losses. Beginning in 2002, several Detroit-area pension funds began investing tens of millions with AA Capital through three of its funds: AA Capital Equity Fund I and II and Brush Monroe Partners LLP.

Warren-based Millwrights Local 1102 invested $6 million, while the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters annuity fund invested $21 million. Two other units invested very small amounts: the Michigan Teamsters Joint Council No. 43 invested $100,000 and the Arkansas/Oklahoma Regional Council of Carpenters invested $500,000. Lawyers for the pension funds declined to comment or didn't return calls.

AA Capital said through the end of 2005 it had provided an 8.8 percent return since its inception, through investments like a $40 million stake in rebuilding the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, Miss., ruined by Hurricane Katrina. It also was involved in financing the building of the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Detroit, through $4.5 million invested in DHG Associates LP.

Cleveland-based Ferchill Group, which built the $27.5 million Garden Inn in 2004 and is restoring the Book-Cadillac hotel, said it had a minor relationship with AA Partners. Ferchill's CEO John Ferchill said Tuesday the AA investment "wasn't a big deal."

Ferchill said AA Capital has no role in the Book-Cadillac project. Porterfield has been aggressively cutting expenses at AA Capital. More than half of the employees have quit or been fired and the remaining highest paid employee accepted a 44 percent pay cut.

Source: http://www.detnews.com

Blythe Danner, beautiful American actress, mother to lovely Gwyneth Paltrow and therefore mother-in-law of Coldplay singer Chris Martin, says that she catches Coldplay in concert whenever she can: "I go to every [Coldplay concert] that comes along. If we're in the same place, wherever - New York, L.A. - I've been all of those. When I'm in town, I go." She adds, "I'm usually in back with my daughter, screaming just as loud as everybody else."

To find out what Danner has to say about her son-in-law and her two little grandchildren, read more after the jump!

Danner & Apple in 2004Danner is obviously very fond of her son-in-law, Chris Martin: "I adore him. And I think it's great, great stuff. It's deep. He's extraordinarly talented and funny and he writes great poems."

The 63-year-old says that her fountain of youth comes from being a grandmother: "Being a grandmother has probably done the most for my heart and soul and happiness. I used to glaze over when my friends would go on about it. I'd say, 'Oh, please don't tell me how incredible it is.' But then here I am. It's really profound. It's just very, very deep. It's very primal.

About her future, Danner says that there'll probably be a sequel to "Meet the Parents", a hilarious movie starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and many more. "I heard there was [a sequel coming]. I said to Bod, 'Next we'll be on canes, then walkers, then wheelchairs, but keep them coming.' Oh, it's fun. I just go and laugh. Sit in the corner and basically laugh at everybody."

Albury's Lisa Mitchell survived another round of Australian Idol voting last night — but only just.

After viewers’ votes were tallied the Scots School student was in the “bottom three” with Bobby Flynn and Ricky Muscat. Eventually, the man with the wild afro, Flynn, was told his time in the show was up, leaving Mitchell one of just six contestants still in the running.

Mitchell’s poor voting result was something of a surprise given generally positive judges’ responses to her rendition on Sunday night of the Coldplay song, See You Soon. She had been allowed to accompany herself on guitar, her preferred way to perform.

The program’s acid-tongued judge, Kyle Sandilands, said Mitchell, 16, deserved to be in the bottom three although he had said after one of her earlier performances that “I think this girl could be the best thing to come out of this country musically”.

“The kid needs to grow up,” he said last night.

Lisa said she had been looking forward to playing guitar on the show but in doing so had “heaped pressure” on herself “which was a bit dumb”.

Tonight the contestants will perform their own songs with Flynn also invited back to perform an original song as a guest. Meanwhile, Idol’s revamped format has paid off, with the program attracting nearly two million viewers for a regular live performance show.

Contestants playing instruments on stage struck a chord with viewers, attracting an audience of 1.92 million people nationally for the reality show on Sunday night.

Allowing the use of instruments was a world-first for the program now in its fourth series. “All Idol markets (around the world) were looking at it very closely, so there was pressure,” said the program’s executive producer Stephen Tate.

This year Idol also increased the maximum age of contestants to 30.

Source: http://www.bordermail.com.au

Jay-Z has confirmed details of his new album 'Kingdom Come'.

The record will be released on on November 20, followed by single 'Show Me What You Got' on December 3. 'Kingdom Come' is the rapper's first album in three years and the follow up to 2003's 'The Black Album', after which Jay-Z claimed to have "retired". In a statement, the rapper explained: "I thought I was retired but my passion for music had other plans for me. I am overwhelmed with the initial record breaking response. I am happy to be officially back... I can't wait til ya'll hear the album."

A tracklisting for 'Kingdom Come' has yet to be announced. It is rumoured to feature Coldplay's Chris Martin and Kanye West.

Meanwhile the video for 'Show Me What You Got' - which briefly leaked online causing it to gain airplay early - was shot in Monaco by F Gary Gary and features race car drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr and Danica Patrick[/b].

Jay-Z is now shooting commercials for the 'Let The Truth Be Told' campaign, where in eight different 30 second clips he will discuss his 'truths', including competition, talent and legacy.

Gwyneth Paltrow's mother Blythe Danner has revealed her family turned to Coldplay's music to get over the death of her husband.

Blythe has revealed her actress daughter [pictured] was already emotionally attached to her future husband, Chris Martin's music before they met, because she listened to it while grieving for her director father Bruce.

She told Britain's New magazine: "I think there is something quite deep about their music. Weirdly enough, when Bruce died, we were all listening to Coldplay a lot, and then Gwyn and Chris happened to meet. It's really interesting."

The 'Meet The Fockers' actress has also joked that she feels like her son-in-law's "oldest groupie" when she goes to see him perform live - because she is always hanging out backstage with musicians and fans.

She added: "I don't sit in the front row when I go to his concerts, I usually hang out backstage with Gwyneth and Apple. I'm his oldest groupie!"

Source: http://people.monstersandcritics.com

The boredom caused by endless hours on the tour bus and a succession of anonymous hotel rooms are well known problems, but rock stars on tour now have something else to grumble about: the environmental impact.

Thom Yorke, singer with Radiohead, yesterday hit out at the "ridiculous" use of energy by such events, and threatened to stop playing far-flung destinations if steps were not taken to reduce carbon emissions.

He said: "The way that tours are structured now and the way it works is a ridiculous consumption of energy ... I would consider refusing to tour on environmental grounds, if nothing started happening to change the way the touring operates."

Unlike bands such as the Rolling Stones and Coldplay, Radiohead do not offset the carbon emissions caused by their tours, because they are not convinced of the environmental benefits of such schemes, which claim to make activities carbon-neutral by planting trees or investing in renewable energy projects.

Speaking to the Guardian yesterday as part of a climate change campaign by Friends of the Earth, Yorke said: "I think it's a necessary part of what I do, to tour or play live, but I find it unacceptable, what the consequences of that are.

"Some of our best ever shows have been in the US, but there's 80,000 people there and they've all been sitting in traffic jams for five or six hours with their engines running to get there, which is bollocks."

Tours would continue because others in the band did not feel as strongly, he said.

"It's all completely la-la. It's daft. When you discuss it you feel like a prat because you're saying I'm not happy with that and I want to do it another way. I want to go to the US by ship. The Cure did that years ago because Robert Smith refused to fly, and then I get told that if you take the ship, that's as much carbon usage."

He added: "Long haul flights just feel wrong. I'm trying to figure out a way of getting to Japan by train. I quite fancy that Trans-Siberian whatsitsname but apparently it's a bit scary."

Friends of the Earth wants the government to introduce new climate change legislation in next month's Queen's speech.

Tony Juniper, the group's director, said: "We need a new law on climate change that sets out a requirement on government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a specified amount every year."

Source: http://arts.guardian.co.uk

EMI is expecting a bumper second half of the year with a host of big-name artists, including The Beatles, due to issue albums. The music publisher expects the new releases to compensate for a decline in first-half sales.

A host of popular EMI artists including Robbie Williams, Joss Stone and Nora Jones will release new records in the second half of EMI's financial year and should sell well over the Christmas sales period. Other big-selling artists including Depeche Mode, Moby and Keith Urban will also chip in with new albums.

Yet perhaps the highest profile release will prove to be a new collection of Beatles songs.

Sir George Martin, who produced almost all of the band's albums in the 1960s, has reworked a selection of famous songs that will be used to accompany a new Cirque du Soleil show called Love. The resulting soundtrack will be released in November.

Analysts had expected EMI to turn in a more subdued performance in the first half than in the previous year when albums from British acts Coldplay, Gorillaz and the perennially popular Rolling Stones dominated the charts. EMI said that first-half revenue, factoring in currency movements, would decline 5 per cent while profit before tax has declined 34 per cent to £27m.

Data from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry showed that in the first half of 2006, physical CD sales declined 10 per cent, leading to a 4 per cent drop in global media sales. The fall was partly offset by the explosion in the number of people who download music digitally. This now accounts for about 11 per cent of all music sales. During the first half, EMI's digital sales accounted for around 9 per cent of its music sales. It still lags the overall industry on this front.

Source: http://news.independent.co.uk

The process of giving money to good causes is starting to bother me. Not because of those annoying people who approach you in the street and yabber at you until you give them your credit card details – I put them only one rung above those awful Amex sellers in shopping centres.

I'm talking about recent trend of flaunting charity by accessorising with our generosity as if it were some kind of Gucci for rich Westerners with a social conscience. The Oxfam wristband promoted by Coldplay's Chris Martin said "Make Poverty History". It's time we made wristbands history as well.

Especially when, as another Radar site reports, they've been used for some truly horrifying purposes. Check out the pro-Michael Jackson wristbands.

But the whole accessorising-with-charity thing has just been taken to new heights by Bono – who else? He's come up with an uber-hip new concept called Product Red, or (PRODUCT)RED if we really must. The brackets thing is about taking a brand "to the power of red", which is that rare thing – both fashionable and mathematical.

The idea is an extremely clever one. He uses his star-power to convince trendy brands to produce trendy products, usually in red. Then trendy consumers buy them, and use them to demonstrate just how trendy, trendy, trendy they are. Funds are raised for AIDS drugs in Africa.

They have a "manifesto" which is hypertrendy as well:

IF THEY DON'T GET THE PILLS, THEY DIE. WE DON'T WANT THEM TO DIE. WE WANT TO GIVE THEM THE PILLS. AND WE CAN. AND YOU CAN. AND IT'S EASY.

Strange thing is that as irritatingly simplistic as this sounds, it actually is pretty straightforward, and it does raise a lot of money. The existing products included American Express cards, Converse All-Stars and Motorola RAZRs, but that wasn't trendy enough. So now Apple have just jumped aboard with a red version of their iPod nano – "Sounds good. Does good." When you buy one, Apple donates $10. You'd have to predict they'll sell an avalanche-load.

This could create a dilemma for consumers. The red iPod looks great, it's the best colour. And who doesn't want to donate $10 for AIDS drugs? But in buying one, doesn't that just make you look incredibly ostentatious? Like you think you're morally superior to those who have those oh-so-passé white or black iPods?

Then again, anyone hugely worried about appearing ostentatious probably won't buy an iPod anyway, let's face it.

But perhaps there's another way to look at this. Perhaps making charity fashionable is a stroke of cynical genius. Maybe Western consumers are just so shallow and materialistic that the best way to raise money from them is to go along with that, rather than convincing them otherwise? We tend to balk at charity, but think nothing of splurging on consumer goods. So if just pointing out that people are dying and it'd be nice if we incredibly rich people helped with it doesn't work, maybe appealing to our shallow side is the best approach after all?

It certainly seems to be yielding results with Project Red, if you believe their website. They've already distributed $10 million. And if people are going to buy this stuff anyway, and they do, it's surely better that some of that money goes to one of the best causes around.

But I'd like to see companies going further. Why doesn't Apple give $10 from every iPod to a different charity? Their margin on those things is huge anyway, if you believe the reports. It's not like they or the consumers will actually miss that money. So why not make themselves feel better?

Wouldn't it be great if every time you bought a vaguely luxurious item, 5% of the purchase price went to charity? Like a luxury tax, only for charity. So there'd be no choice, and also no ostentation associated with having that specific product that's the "charitable edition". I can't think of a better company to kick this off than Apple, whose stuff is already expensive, and whose addicted consumers are hugely price-insensitive anyway.

Above all, you'd retain the most important benefit: assuaging our guilt at having enough money to blow on such inessential items. Most people in the West have the nagging sense that the distribution of wealth around the world isn't quite right, and that something should be done. But that doesn't generally take them as far as really putting their hands in their pockets.

As much as I hate the idea of wearing your generosity to the gym – or literally on your sleeve, if you buy the red Emporio Armani watch – I've had to begrudgingly concede that Project Red is a good thing, because of its ultimate impact. It'd be so much better if we just gave money, but we don't give enough. So in short, it raises donations that almost certainly wouldn't be raised otherwise.

Perhaps we should embrace this? Perhaps all charity should take our shallowness and selfishness as a starting point? Maybe if we're honest about just how cravenly, disgustingly consumerist we are – and heaven knows I am – we might actually raise enough money to do something useful. Product Red caviar, anyone?

Source: http://radar.smh.com.au

LONDON (Reuters) - EMI Group , the world's third-largest music company, said on Monday it expected a 3 percent decline in first-half revenue, citing an album release schedule weighted towards the second half.

First-half underlying profit before tax is expected to fall 34 percent to about 27 million pounds. Full-year results are on track to meet expectations, EMI said.

The London-based company, home to artists such as Coldplay and Robbie Williams, said its recorded music division was on track for a 4 percent decline in revenue in the six months ended September 30 on a constant currency basis.

Digital music represented about 9 percent of its recorded music division's revenue, compared with 11 percent for the global music industry.

EMI, which ended takeover talks with rival Warner Music Group earlier this year, said its music publishing unit revenue would be in line with last year's first half.

The company said the year-on-year decline was due to its planned release schedule, which is expected to be stronger in the second half than in previous years, with albums from Norah Jones, Moby and Depeche Mode.

Albury's Lisa Mitchell may well be the new Joni Mitchell, going on last night’s Australian Idol performance. Singing Coldplay’s See You Soon, flanked only by her guitar and a cello for depth, Mitchell wowed the judges.

“Bring on Tuesday night,” Mark Holden said. “I want to hear a Lisa Mitchell original. The guitar playing was reminiscent of an early Joni Mitchell: I could have listened to you for another hour or hour and a half.”

Holden said Mitchell always divided her audience. “Some people find you beautiful, some people find you boring,” he said. “I find you beautiful.”

Fellow judge Kyle Sandilands agreed. “I’ve been in the boring side with you for the past few weeks, but I loved it,” he said. "You’ve been talking up this night for weeks and you’ve come through. What you need to do now is have that same comfort level without that guitar to stay here to the end.”

Marcia Hines said Mitchell’s rendition brought tears to her eyes. “I loved it, it’s been a long time coming,” she said, adding Mitchell had hypnotised them with her guitar the first time they met.

To vote for Mitchell, SMS Lisa to 19 10 10 or call 1902 555 566.

The profits for last year's enormous Live 8 concert totalled $5 million, it has been announced.

According to figures released today, the total cost of putting on the series of shows across the globe in July was over $15 million but raised around $20.6 million. The profit, which amounts to £2.7 million, is expected to be used as part of the ongoing effort to mobilise the G8 countries into recognising and addressing the issue of African poverty.

Madonna, Robbie Williams, Paul McCartney, U2, Scissor Sisters, Coldplay and a reformed Pink Floyd were amongst the performers at the London leg of Live 8 in Hyde Park.

Live 8 took place on July 2, 2005, and was organised by Bob Geldof.