All good things must come to an end and that, folks, is that for today's MNL.

Scroll back down for rave reviews from Buju Banton's first post-prison gig, Sam Smith on his gender and behind the scenes at an all women hip hop tour.

Plus Slipknot are down one member (which should at least save on dry cleaning), tributes to the 'King of Surf Rock' and the Chili Peppers show they are total Gizas.

We'll leave with this amazing visual tribute to the late Keith Flint of the The Prodigy which has appeared under a bridge in Essex seaside town Southend.

Speaking on his Rocket Hour Apple Music Beats 1 show, Sir Elton John last week described The Prodigy as "one of most original groups to come out of England…ever."

This latest image may not be hanging in the National Portrait Gallery but we hope it's on that there wall to stay.

Image source, Getty Images

Finally today, the US singer/rapper's second solo album, Death Race for Love, has gone straight in at the top of the Billboard 200.

It sold 165,000 total copies in its first week of release, including 120,000 streaming equivalent albums, and replaces Irish singer Hozier at the summit.

Juice World's collab with Future back in October got to number two, so these are dizzy new heights for Nicki Minaj's touring mate.

The same album charted at number 12 in the UK.

The dancehall star has spent eight yards in a US jail for conspiring to set up a cocaine deal.

Buju Banton's first show since his release was described as the biggest music event in Jamaica since Bob Marley's Smile Jamaica concert in 1976.

It's estimated Banton played to more than 40,000 (including British star Stefflon Don, picturered with Buju above) at the show in the country's national stadium.

Speaking to Newsbeat, UK rapper Konan said: "I haven't seen anything like that and I have been to a few concerts. To come out and do this, that's crazy."

Read more

Image source, Get

More from that Sam Smith, external interview now that we told you about on Friday afternoon.

As well as revealing that he had liposuction aged 12, the singer appears to have come out as non-binary, saying he feels "like a woman sometimes" and has considered having a sex change.

"I've always had a little bit of a war going within my body and my mind," said Sam, in the interview with actress Jameela Jamil about fame, body image and confidence.

"It's something I still think about, like, 'Do I want to?'"

Many non-binary people don't identify as either male or female and use the pronouns they or them instead of he or she.

Sam says listening to conversations about being non-binary made him realise that was how he identified.

"I'm not male or female, I think I flow somewhere in between. It's all on the spectrum," he says.

He added that he had always resented being "feminine in many ways" and describes being non-binary as being "your own special creation".

Read more

St Patrick's Day yesterday marked the death of the foremost patron saint of Ireland.

That fact, however, didn't stop plenty of non-Irish singers slipping into something green in his honour, as usual.

To be fair to Mariah Carey (above) she does actually have some Irish blood in her on her mother's side.

As for Dolly, well she can wear whatever she darn well wants as far as we're concerned.

While Celt Rod Stewart - who is half-Scottish - was ready to Shamrock & Roll, some actual real life modern day Irish singers were celebrating.

County Westmeath boy Niall Horan spent the day watching (and possibly betting on) the golf and will have been delighted to find that Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy did indeed win the Players Championship.

It turns out that 17 March marks Hozier's birthday too.

The Irish singer-songwriter from County Wicklow scored a US number one album last week and celebrated Paddy's Day early with a gig in North Carolina the night before.

Oh, and speaking of national pride, members of our former Newbie Tuesday-featured band Boy Azooga and Seazoo watched Wales win the 6 Nations Rugby from an unlikely location.

Countryman and Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens managed to compose himself enough to take this rather blurry picture of them in a bar in Austin, Texas, where they were performing at SXSW.

We bet that wasn't the only blurry thing this weekend.

BBC Radio 1

Here's just a very quick one for your diary, all you indie kids.

Ezra Koenig and co will be gracing the Radio 1 Live Lounge on Thursday, in anticipation of their forthcoming album, Father of the Bride.

The record is out in May and signifies the end of their six year hiatus.

Frontman Ezra recently told us that he's "a neurotic over-thinker' when it comes to selecting comeback singles.

What's he like at choosing covers then?

Find out on Radio 1 on Thursday from Midday.

The Queens of Art tour, which travels across eight UK cities and towns, claims to be the first UK tour to feature an all female lineup of rappers, musicians and DJs for every date.

BBC News has been following the artists involved.

Rapper Shay D said: "It's been so much work, I've had to literally call up venues and say, 'Look we are making history'."

Watch above.

Ian Youngs
Entertainment and Arts Reporter, BBC News

In the 1980s and '90s, Frank Sidebottom was a giant-headed, cartoon-eyed, cult comedy hero - but few knew who was behind the mask.

Now a documentary is now telling his full story for the first time.

The man underneath the hot, uncomfortable fibreglass head was Chris Sievey, a musician, artist and comedian from Manchester.

When his head was on, the man behind Frank would never answer to his "real" name.

"It was like method acting really," reflects BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music DJ Mark Radcliffe, who was in Sidebottom's band.

Before pulling on the giant head, Sievey tried to make it as a musician in his own right, forming a band called The Freshies, whose biggest hit, I'm in Love with the Girl on the Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk, reached number 54.

Sievey died from cancer, aged 54, in 2010.

Read more

Image source, Getty Images

While that headline may look like it came from a random music news words generator, it is in fact true.

It turns out, the recent Oscar winner rocked up at the Limp Bizkit frontman's regular weekly jazz night in Los Angeles on Thursday, grabbed the mic and delivered a couple of songs by Ol' Blue Eyes himself.

“I’m here to ruin the party," she joked, as Entertainment Tonight, external reports.

Gaga performed Sinatra favourites Fly Me To the Moon and Call Me Irresponsible at the Black Rabbit Rose venue. She’s apparently been performing both tracks lately at part of her Las Vegas residency.

Introducing the latter she quipped: “My whole life, you know, I’ve been called irresponsible.

You can find some footage online, external but be warned about any potential jazzy language.

Image source, Getty Images

The Iowa metal band's percussionist Chris Fehn has left the band, reportedly after suing his fellow bandmembers over the bands profits.

In a statement on their website, Slipknot say: "Chris knows why he is no longer a part of Slipknot.

According to a reports on website The Blast, external, Fehn is taking his former bandmates to court over a pay dispute.

He has been a member of Slipknot for over 20 years and has also performed backing vocal duties for the band

"We would have preferred he not take the path that he has, but evolution in all things is a necessary part of this life," said the band, adding they are working on their sixth album.

The Beatles drummer, external, who has played on some of the most famous albums ever made, is apparently making a new record.

The 78-year-old posted a picture of himself alongside Toto singer/songwriter Steve Lukather (above) late last week suggesting something was happening.

Now his representatives have confirmed to Billboard that new music is on the way, saying: “He has been working on a new record for a few months."

Fingers crossed for another Octopus's Garden, external, although we won't hold our breath.

His last album, 2017's Give More Love, peaked at #128 in the US chart.

Ringo and his All-Starr Band will head over to Japan next week on tour.

Image source, Getty Images

The Junos are the Canadian equivalent of the Brits and the Toronto singer almost swept the board on Sunday night, scoring wins in five out of the six categories in which he was nominated.

Shawn - who last month lost out to countryman Drake in the category for best international solo male at the Brits - scooped single of the year for In My Blood and artist and album of the year for his self-titled third LP, as well as the awards for songwriter and pop album.

The 20-year-old wasn't there to receive the award in person as he's currently touring Europe, but he did send a tape of him performing a rendition of the award-winning below track.

Shawn, who recently caused a stir by posing for an undies ad, later tweeted he was "sending all my love back to Canada to everyone.”

Other Juno winners included Michael Bublé, Avril Lavigne and Post Malone - who is not Canadian but won best international album.

Check out the full list of winners, external

Image source, Getty Images

Staus Quo singer Francis Rossi has written about his late bandmate for a new edition of The Big Issue magazine, external, out today.

Guitarist Parfitt - who died on Christmas Eve 2016 aged 68, battled drinks and drugs throughout his career and was known for his hedonistic lifestyle.

But Rossi, his bandmate of 50 years, said he "wasn't that person inside."

In the A Letter To My Younger Self feature, the 69-year-old wrote: "I watched Rick, somebody I loved dearly, who was such a great friend, become a caricature of himself.

He continued: "Poor Rick, always trying to be the rock star his fans thought he was... To me he was soiling the very person I liked. I'd be thinking, don't do that Rick."

He also suggested Parfitt's issues lead to him being jealous of Rossi's frontman status.

"He said to me once, 'I'm fed up being number two.' Well that was obviously going to put a wedge between us."

Image source, Getty Images

MySpace, one of the first online social networks, has apologised after losing millions of videos, pictures and sound files uploaded by millions of users.

The site has blamed a server migration for the huge loss of data.

A message on its website says "any photos, videos and audio files" uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available.

There had been complaints going back several months that links to music were no longer working.

The platform has waned in popularity since it was founded in 2003 but in its prime it attracted millions of users. In 2006 it was the most visited site in the US - beating Google.

It was a popular platform for sharing new music, and has been credited with helping to launch the careers of artists including the Arctic Monkeys and Kate Nash.

If we could remember our old passwords we would check but it was a while ago now.

Read more

Image source, Getty Images

It's her "favourite part of the week," according to social influencer mum, Kim Kardashian-West.

Kanye's daughter, North West, was one of the stars of the show at the latest of his Sunday service gigs, which sees her dad - joined by a gospel choir and a host of musicians - put on a pretty biblical weekly jam.

This week's service was conducted outside.

Watch below as the youngster and her friend sing and dance along to a performance of Ye's recent track, Lift Yourself, which contains one of the greatest (and most child friendly) lyrics in recent memory.

Poopy-di scoop / Scoop-diddy-whoop / Whoop-di-scoop-di-poop

Image source, Getty Images

The Red Hot Chili Peppers played to an audience of 10,000 in front of Egypt's great pyramids of Giza on Friday.

Artists who have previously performed at the ancient site include the Grateful Dead, Scorpions and Frank Sinatra.

The Californians even performed on a stage rigged to look like the ancient structures behind them, which may remind regular Glastonbury goers of something...

Image source, Getty Images

The whole two-hour show was live streamed and you can still check it out, external on their YouTube channel.

The funk-rockers opened with Can't Stop from 2002 album, By The Way.

Father fittingly, guitarist Josh Klinghoffer also performed a piano-led cover of Radiohead’s Pyramid Song, from the bands 2001 album Amnesiac.

The show, promoted by Egypt's tourism ministry, is being seen as an attempt to woo holidaymakers back to the country following political turmoil and terror attacks.

Image source, Getty Images

London rapper Dave has topped the UK charts with his fearless, emotionally raw debut album Psychodrama.

It was inspired by his brother, who is serving a life sentence for murder.

Over 11 tracks, Dave unflinchingly examines the impact of that conviction and the tough social conditions that confront black working class men.

Foals were just 279 copies behind with their fifth album Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt 1, while Dido's comeback landed at number three.

According to the Official Charts Company, Psychodrama racked up 26,390 combined sales, with streams making up 79% of the total.

Read more

Image source, Getty Images

Scots singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi, meanwhile, has held on to the top of the singles chart with his song, Someone You Loved.

Lewis posted a reaction on Twitter but his language is too strong to post on here, needless to say he was very pleased.

Image source, Getty Images

The Trinidadian rapper cancelled her Dublin gig at the last minute on Friday night, citing "adverse weather conditions."

A statement released by MCD Productions on her behalf, external, read: “Unfortunately, due to adverse weather conditions which have affected Irish sea sailings over the last 24hrs resulting in some equipment trucks not arriving, Nicki Minaj has been forced to cancel her concert tonight (Friday 15 March 2019) at Dublin’s 3Arena."

Worse things happen at sea, we suppose.

Nicki, who had to cancel two other dates on her European tour - in Paris and Slovakia - tweeted: "Dear Ireland, I love you."

This apparently proved scant consolation to some fans.

Image source, Getty Images

Michael Jackson items have reportedly been removed from the Indianapolis Children’s Museum following disturbing allegations made in the recent Leaving Neverland documentary.

The museum, which is is located two hours away from the Jackson family’s hometown of Gary, Indiana, has removed one of Jackson’s iconic gloves and fedora hats, as well as an autographed poster, the Indianapolis Star reports, external.

The museum’s director of collections Chris Carron told the newspaper: “When we put together exhibitions, we look at the objects and their association with high-profile people. Obviously, we want to put stories in front of our visitors [showing] people of high character.

“When you learn new stories or you look at something historical in a different way, then sometimes we re-evaluate whether that’s appropriate to be [on display]."

US surf rock pioneer Dick Dale, whose song Misirlou, external (which you can hear him play below, from about 1 min 30) featured over the opening credits to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, has died aged 81.

The guitarist died on Saturday evening, his bassist, Sam Bolle, confirmed to the Guardian, external, though the cause of death is not yet known.

Celebrities and fans have been paying tribute.

Queen guitarist Brian May posted the above pic to Instagram, writing: "RIP Dick Dale - Father of the Surf Guitar. We all owe you. Rock on."

Beach Boy Brian Wilson described Dale as "a big inspiration on us all."

Misirlou came back into the public display in 2005 when the Black Eyed Peas sampled it on their track, Pump It., external

Read more tributes below.