This is the end of today's Music News LIVE, dear reader.

Scroll down for Liam Gallagher recruiting his son Gene on bongos, Stormzy starring in the new Noughts + Crosses TV series and Annie Lennox et al lobbying the PM.

Plus cash-strapped R. Kelly seeks permission to travel overseas for work and a review of the new Richard Hawley musical.

We'll leave you today with this moving tribute from Susan Eubanks, the mother of the late Linkin Park frontman, Chester Bennington, who would've celebrated his birthday yesterday.

It's the last picture they ever took together before his death last year.

"Hoping you are all well and I love you all!" she wrote in seperate tweet.

"Chester would want us to celebrate his birthday!"

Last but not least today, as promised earlier the New Yorkers brought a little sunshine to the Radio 1 Live Lounge, first with their summery Harmony Hall from their new album Father of the Bride.

Then a cover of Posty's Sunflower from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse movie.

Check out a snippet above.

We'll bring the full sun-drenched video when we have it.

US rapper Macklemore and his new pals Why Don't We are struggling to get through the queue and into the nightclub in their new track.

Sound familiar Arctic Monkeys fans, external?

I Don't Belong In This Club is the third release from the boyband in 2019.

They say they'll do anything to get out of the club but it looks pretty fun inside to us.

Each to their own, check it out above.

Image source, Getty Images

If you like your drummers drumming in unison, facing one another, then you might like to know that Oh Sees are returning to these shores in May.

The fairly prolific California psych rockers are surely due a new record, with their most recent coming in the form of 2018’s Smote Reverser.

They'll play the Albert Hall in Manchester on 18 May, followed by gigs in Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff.

They'll round off the UK leg of their tour with what's bound to be a memorable gig at the Bearded Theory Festival in Derby on 24 May.

Inmates of the nation's prisons will be delighted to hear this news.

With a nod to today's lead story of Liam G recruiting his lad, Gene, on percussion for his second album, our #TBT takes us to Chile, in 2015, where we find Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens performing his hit, Father and Son at the Viña Del Mar Festival.

"I have a very good son," declares the singer-songwriter.

"And he's the one who got me here..."

Find a girl / Settle down / And if you want you can play bongos...

So are we to be fair, but sadly some of the rather robust language on the track prevents us from bringing it to you here in the full.

Instead we can just tell you about it while Lizzo herself listens to it in her headphones (above) while indulging in a spot of ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) into the mic.

Tempo, is taken from upcoming new album, Cuz I Love You - which is out on 19 April - and features the Work It rapper.

We imagine they had a lot of fun the studio recording it.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC 6 Music

Image source, Getty Images

So as you all know by now, it's World Poetry Day today and we hope that Live Lounge star George the Poet (scroll down) has inspired you to get creative in your communications with your colleagues/classmates/loved ones.

BBC Radio 6 Music has been asking its followers for their most poetic song lyrics ever.

Billy Bragg, whose no slouch with a pen in his hand himself, got in touch with the station to cast his vote for Bob Dylan's epic love letter to his drug dealer in 1965, Mr Tambourine Man.

Elise (below) went for another literary titan in writer-turned-singer Leonard Cohen, and his track 1967 track, Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye.

So it seems the key to great rhyming verse is to start the main chorus line with the word "hey."

Who knew?

Vic went for a bit of The Verve, but we're not entirely sure that Morrissey fan Mike is taking this poetry lark seriously...

Image source, Getty Images

The Glasgow-based band have followed up their 6 Music playlisted track The Third Degree with another tasty slab of rock and roll.

They've shared the lyric video for Glimmer, from their forthcoming third album, In Plain Sight, which is due out on 24 May.

Honeyblood are heading out on a pretty extensive UK tour at the end of April.

Of the new single, frontwoman Stina Tweeddale said: "Glimmer’is a song about the wonders of women. They can be alluring and kind but also strong and badass so you better not double-cross them."

Duly noted.

Image source, Getty Images

Classical music is being played at Hull's railway station in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour.

Train operator TransPennine Express (TPE) said the music would be played as part of a three-month trial.

The company said that the same move at Cleethorpes station had seen "complaints of anti-social behaviour reduced by around 75%."

Station manager Dan Dreggs said: "It deters youths that possibly don't want to listen to it".

For anyone who has seen Clockwork Orange, this news will conjure up images of Beethoven Symphony No.9 driving away a young demented Malcolm McDowell.

Read more

American singer-songwriter John Grant is to perform at the 6 Music Festival in Liverpool, as announced by Lauren Laverne on the Breakfast Show this morning.

John will co-headline at Mountford Hall on 29 March alongside Ex: Re, with local Wirral lad Bill Ryder-Jones opening the night.

DJ Lauren said: “John Grant is such a brilliant performer and hugely popular with our listeners, so it’s exciting that he is joining the line-up for 6 Music Festival in Liverpool."

Tickets are available now.

Image source, Alamy

Here's one for all the gamers out there...

Sound can be key to gaming success both for the game creators and the players. It sets the tone, builds drama and rewards good play.

From the simplistic bleeps in the arcade games of 40 years ago (like Pong above - anyone?) to the epic, multi-layered, orchestrated scores of today.

Now the BBC's Mark Savage has been exploring how far music has come in the virtual worlds of gaming.

Read more

Once you've digested that audio-visual treat, you can also listen back to Mark's two-part History of Video Game Music on BBC Sounds.

Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker is such a fan he's made the BBC his own video game playlist.

With a new hard-edged black metal sound no less.

Just joking.

The band is returning with a radio-friendly new single, their first in 18 years.

My Salvation is from the LP Blue Sky In Your Head, which will be released on 3 May and is positively brimming with, well, positivity.

The track was premiered on Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 show earlier.

Tunde Baiyewu and Paul Tucker will be heading out on tour later this year, culminating at the London Palladium on 22 November.

Their 1995 debut album, Ocean Drive, went six times platinum and stayed in the album charts for almost three years.

"Platforms like YouTube help artists by giving everyone a fair shot at getting their voice out there," the acclaimed performer (who you can watch above) has told the BBC on World Poetry Day.

The poet - whose real name is George Mpanga - is known for singles like Follow the Leader, which he made with Maverick Sabre.

Sales of poetry books hit an all-time high of £12m in 2018, with younger readers making up two-thirds of buyers.

George says: "My career was propelled by putting my work on YouTube, and millions more can make use of the same opportunity.

"Poetry is more relevant than ever. We live in times of change - right now more than ever - and poetry provides a way of tracking these changes in the journal of humanity."

Read more

The three-day music conference will return to London’s Tobacco Dock on 31 October - 2 November

Last year, 15,000 young people attended the event, a mix of talks, masterclasses and live music.

Guests included Adele’s manager Jonathan Dickin and Glasto boss Emily Eavis, plus artists like Kano, Jax Jones, Nile Rodgers.

Clean Bandit, Tom Grennan and Declan McKenna all made surprise live appearances with more than 20 hours of shows broadcast live from the event.

James Stirling, Head of BBC Music & BBC Music Introducing said, “BBC Music is dedicated to developing the next generation of artists and music industry professionals around the UK and this event is a true inspiration for all who participate.”

Early tickets go on sale in April.

Ian Youngs
Entertainment and Arts Reporter, BBC News

Richard Hawley may not seem like the most obvious musician to get a stage musical, but a new show using the Sheffield crooner's songs opened in his home city last night. And it’s really good.

Standing At The Sky’s Edge - named after his Mercury Prize-nominated 2012 album - is set in the ugly/beautiful Park Hill estate, which dominates the city centre skyline.

It cleverly tells the overlapping stories of the residents of a single flat over three eras, from the 60s to the present day, exploring what makes four walls a home.

Image source, Johan Persson

The fabulous playwright Chris Bush has penned the script, and Hawley has provided music from the titular album and elsewhere in his solo career along with some new material.

The songs occasionally feel shoehorned, but more often than not the emotional force, romance and melodrama of Hawley’s music matches the story and mood of the show, adding up to something more potent than other more superficial musicals.

Standing at the Sky's Edge is at the Sheffield Crucible until 6 April.

The singer is in the studio recording the follow-up to his number one solo album, As You Were, and tweeted a picture of one of his offspring laying down some tasty bongo.

We hope this signals a new calypso direction for Liam G's new music, something that was arguably always missing from Oasis.

Although they did go through a fair few drummers.

Of course, Liam isn't the first musician to use his own kid to appear on an album.

Jay Z's daughter, Blue Ivy, provided a freestyle on his 4:44 album while Liam's hero, Stones Roses frontman Ian Brown's sons also featured on his latest album, Ripples, which was released earlier this year.

Here's another bonus fact - Liam also included another of his idols, the late John Lennon, in the production notes for his last album.

Apparently the former Beatle contributed (in spirit, at least) to all tracks.

Image source, Getty Images

The New York band will be playing a little something from their forthcoming Father of the Bride album plus a customary cover for host Clara Amfo in under an hour.

They popped by the 6 Music studio on Wednesday to perform Sunflower and 2021 and you can hear those performances over at BBC Sounds.

We hope singer Ezra has decided on who to cover, as he told us earlier this year: "I'm a neurotic over-thinker."

Image source, Getty Images

Music stars, including Annie Lennox, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and Libertine Carl Barat have posted a letter to MPs, external and the Prime Minister, Theresa May, demanding an "alternative to Brexit."

The prime minister is to make a direct plea to EU leaders later asking to postpone Brexit for three months.

Paloma Faith, Nadine Shah and Dave Rowntree of Blur, as well as Billy Bragg have also put their names to the petition, which claims to "represent artists, producers, managers, businesses, and platforms from across the Music Industry in the UK."

It reads: "Brexit represents a significant threat to the UK’s Music Industry. Leaving the EU’s customs union, single market, VAT area and regulatory framework (in whole or part) could devastate our global market leadership, and damage our freedom to trade, tour and to promote our artists and our works."

The statement goes on to say that "the music industry contributes £4.5 billion to the UK economy," and that "freedom of movement is core to an artist’s ability to tour and promote their art."

Read more, external

Famous London music venue, The Social, has been saved from closure after eclipsing its crowdfunding target of £95,000 in less than seven days.

It was reported last week the Heavenly Records-run venue, which has played host to early gigs from the likes of Adele, Arctic Monkeys and Florence and the Machine, was under serious threat due to rising rents and an offer from a new wine bar chain.

This caused an outcry in the indie community but thanks to donations from music fans and bands alike, the bar will live on.

”You’ve done it," tweeted the central London venue's social account.

"You’ve helped us raise enough money to stop the imminent sale of the Social. We can’t thank you enough for believing in us."

Shame performed a free gig there last night (pictured above), while Fatboy Slim is due to play there this weekend.

The venue is keeping the fund open as the management hope to take greater control of the business.

Image source, Getty Images

Meanwhile, across town, Heavenly act, The Orielles, were performing at the Scala's 20th birthday celebrations, where joyously beers were at 1999 prices.

Speaking after the gig, where they debuted new track, When the Flowers Look, the Halifax band - who perform regular DJ sets (and generally "bring vibes") at The Social - told MNL they were delighted to be able to raise a glass to their "drinking home when we come to London."

"We signed our contracts to Heavenly in the bar manager's office of The Social," said guitarist Henry Carlyle Wade, "in this tiny little room, so we have a big history, there as well.

"It's nice to see it saved. 'Independent venue to live on' - I'll drink to that."

Singer and bass player Esmé Dee Hand-Halford added: "It's the best venue in London... the best place in London, actually."

On Wednesday's MNL, we told you about the crowdfunding campaign for an eight-year-old Nigerian refugee, whose high profile supporters included singer Camila Cabello (below).

Tanitoluwa Adewumi is a US chess champion and fled terror group Boko Haram with his family.

More than $180,000 (£130,000) was raised for him, which means his family will be able to move out of the homeless shelter they've lived in for the last two years.

Watch above.