Music

Adele may have won millions with her beautiful voice but for Chanel’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld, her voice alone won’t do!

In an interview with the Metro, Lagerfeld called Adele “a little too fat”! This would surely enrage Adele’s fans worldwide! Known as a great admirer of British singers, Lagerfeld has previously featured British singer Lily Allen as face of Channel in 2009.

However, Lagerfeld’s admiration for Adele falls quite short. When asked about Lana Del Ray, he reportedly has said “I prefer Adele and Florence Welch. But as a modern singer she is not bad. The thing at the moment is Adele. She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice.”

The “Rolling in the deep” diva hasn’t shown any inhibition about her size before. On a previous occasion she has said that her size has never bothered her at all.

She was heard saying “It’s just never been an issue — at least; I’ve never hung out with the sort of horrible people who make it an issue. I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.”

George Michael is planning to record a special song for Prince William and Kate
Middleton’s wedding on April 29.

The former Wham frontman has asked his fans to suggest possible songs that
he could cover as a gift to the young couple and has now decided upon a track,
although he’s keeping his choice a secret.

Taking to Twitter, George, 47, has posted a series of clues for his fans: ‘I think
I’ve chosen a song for William and Kate. Suffice to say it’s a beautiful song and it
was never a single so chances are u don’t know it. But I think it’s a perfect fit. It
was written in the seventies by a genius.

‘Tell you what, I’ll give u a clue that will really narrow it down to that handful of
great love songs of the pop era. The first word of the title is ‘You’.’

George’s legions of followers quickly posted their guesses as to the track’s
identity and within an hour the singer-songwriter confirmed that somebody
had named the correct song; but still refused to publicly say what he will be
recording.

He posted: ‘Oh my giddy aunt, somebody already got it!!!’

The chart-topping pop star plans to record the song this week and is hopeful
William and Kate will get to hear it before they marry at the end of this month,
jokingly suggesting that he has a way of getting it to the couple:

‘I’m in the Thames valley today, but working on the track tomorrow. Hopefully
done by Thursday. we have a mutual friend who i think will make sure it gets to
them. That and the toaster. Bye all xxxx.’

George has a successful history of covering songs, such as Stevie Wonder’s ‘As’
with Mary J. Blige, and last month released a special version of New Order’s ‘True
Faith’ in aid of charity Comic Relief.

Former Eurthymics singer Annie Lennox has been chosen as one of this year’s
recipients of the O2 Silver Clef Award at the Nordoff Robbins Awards Lunch.

Singer-songwriter Lennox is one of the most successful female artists in
the UK, with records sales exceeding 80 million. During her time in the
Eurthymics, the band released a series of chart-topping hits that brought
them several Brit and Grammy awards. Lennox’s debut solo album Diva,
released in 2002, sold more than 8 million copies and her most recent album
A Christmas Cornucopia, released in November 2010, reached the UK Top 20.

Nordoff Robbins is a charity devoted to using music to transform the lives
of people of all ages in the UK. The prestigious Silver Clef prize is awarded
annually to a British musician in recognition to their contribution to the UK
music industry.

This year the award will celebrate Lennox’s successful career both in the UK
and worldwide, and will reward her lifelong commitment to music. Lennox
said she was ‘thrilled and honoured’ to receive the award:

‘I’ve supported Nordoff Robbins over the years and I’m a firm believer in their
work and the healing power of music.’

The charity’s chairman David Munns said it was ‘proud and honoured’ to be
presenting Lennox with the prestigious award:

‘As a prize that recognises the contribution a British artiste has made to music,
I can think of a no more worthy recipient. As an outstanding musician and
philanthropist, Annie’s influence has been felt globally.’

British artists Muse, JLS and Dizzee Rascal are amongst the recent winners
of the Silver Clef. The awards have also honoured The Who, Pink Floyd, Paul
McCartney, Take That, Elton John and Kylie Minogue and Sting in previous
years.

The 2011 awards will take place on July 1 at the London Hilton in Park Lane.

Like a flash mob they came at 24 hours’ notice to hear Daniel Barenboim at Tate Modern, celebrating 60 years of public performance – and incidentally promoting three new releases from Universal Classics.

On the Bridge and round the Gallery of the Turbine Hall sat or stood the lucky holders of free tickets (8,000 people applied for just 400 tickets), while the proceedings were transmitted via a big screen to over a thousand more in the hall below.

Barenboim had brought with him a string quintet from the Berlin Staatskapelle, with whom he played an arrangement of the slow movement of Chopin’s E minor Piano Concerto. For the rest he charmed and mesmerised his audience at this hour-long concert with a series of solo works – a Nocturne, a Waltz and the Barcarolle – each charged with the highly subjective emotional intensity, sonorous tone and poetic insight Barenboim brings to bear these days.

The musical items were punctuated by philosophical and political observations peppered with humour. Connoisseurs will have been frustrated by how much detail was lost in this cavernous space – only the speech was amplified, not the music – but the gain, in the atmosphere of a special occasion, was immense.