6 h. ago Classic car in which Paul Weller wrote songs is up for auction

The motor was owned by the star from 1996 to 2014, during which time it became his family's school-run vehicle.

Politics

3 d. ago Rick Davies brought a peculiar funk to Supertramp, a band that existed on its own unfashionable terms

The tension between co-founders Roger Hodgson and Davies – who has died aged 81 – was the driving force of a band who refused to fit into any genreIt must be odd to have been a band’s co-founder and joint frontman and to know that when thousands of people came to see you, they did so on condition that not only did you play songs you neither wrote nor sung, but had also initially agreed not to perform. That was what happened to Rick Davies, who formed Supertramp with Roger Hodgson in 1970. Hodgson left the band in 1983 – on the agreement that he took his songs, and Davies took the name. But touring as Supertramp is impossible without The Logical Song or Dreamer or Breakfast in America, and so, to Hodgson’s irritation, Davies played the songs.It was fitting though, because the tension between Davies and Hodgson was very much the driving force of Supertramp. Davies loved jazz and blues, whereas Hodgson was in love with pop. And it was in the combination of their two impulses that Super...

Culture

3 d. ago ‘I wrote songs for the rich and famous and this is what it’s really like’

RuthAnne has penned hits for Britney Spears, Niall Horan and John Legend, and shares her experiences writing some of pop music's biggest bangers.

Politics

5 d. ago Back to school motors: As kids return from summer holidays, these are some of the best cars used to ferry them to the gates dating back to the 1950s

The Daily Mail and classic car insurer Hagerty have picked our combined ten favourite school run cars from five decades between the 1950s and 1990s.

Transport

7 d. ago Andrea Jenkyns belts out own song in bizarre Reform conference entrance

Dame Andrea Jenkyns walked onstage at the Reform UK conference, belting out a song entitled "Insomniac" that she said she wrote.

Politics

7 d. ago Moment Dame Andrea Jenkyns makes rock star entrance to Reform UK conference in a blue sparkly jumpsuit singing 'I'm an insomniac' song she co

Wearing a sparkly blue jumpsuit, the Reform UK Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire belted out 'I'm an insomniac' to a sell-out crowd at the party's rally in Birmingham today.

Politics

2 w. ago My favourite childhood outfit: ‘The coat I inherited from Grandpa became my teenage refuge’

After my grandfather died, I claimed his heavy, silk-lined overcoat and wore it with Doc Martens. I sat on it in parks, slept under it on people’s sofas. Then, one day, it disappeared ...I was 15 when Grandpa died. He was 69, too young, but on the plus side he was doing what he most loved – digging on an archaeological site. We weren’t close in the way I was with Granny; he could be quite scary. But we got along fine and I liked him. Mum said I could help myself from his wardrobe.I had only known him dressed for retirement, in blue workers’ overalls for archaeological digging, or baggy beige shorts for caravanning holidays. But it seemed he had been quite dapper back in the day. I helped myself to collarless shirts and a couple of suits (the best was a silvery-grey mohair one that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Paul Weller’s wardrobe). And this overcoat. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘The pope complained about the lyrics!’: the Bluebells and Siobhan Fahey on how they made Young at Heart

‘I had moved down from Glasgow and was sharing a council flat with the girls from Bananarama. We wrote the song after watching the Frank Sinatra film’I first glimpsed Siobhan Fahey at my publisher’s offices. Later that day, when I was being interviewed by Smash Hits, I told the interviewer: “I really fancy Siobhan from Bananarama.” The next night, she was at our concert, at the front. I remember saying to my bandmates Ken and Dave McCluskey: “I’m gonna get off with her.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Luke Combs has ruined Fast Car for me’: Martha Wainwright’s honest playlist

The folk-pop star would try Fleetwood Mac at karaoke and is scarred by her parents’ sex music. But which musical theatre ballad does she secretly like?The song that changed my life My mom was Kate McGarrigle, who formed folk duo Kate and Anna McGarrigle with my aunt. My dad is the folk singer Loudon Wainwright III. They were only married for five years, but wrote songs about each other and about my older brother Rufus and I. My dad wrote Five Years Old about missing my fifth birthday. That changed my life. Sometimes it’s easier to apologise in music than in person.The song I can no longer listen to Recently, I’m upset that I can’t listen to Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, because the Luke Combs country version has ruined it for me. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago John and Paul by Ian Leslie audiobook review – the bromance behind the band

Actor Chris Addison narrates a deep dive into the creative partnership of Lennon and McCartneyAnother book on the Beatles? It’s hard to imagine a writer shedding new light on the band given the mountain of literature already in existence. But there is a freshness of perspective in Ian Leslie’s book, which tells of Lennon and McCartney’s unique alchemy through the songs they wrote together. Leslie’s background in psychology serves him well in a study that jettisons the usual narrative of male rivalry; their partnership, Leslie suggests, was closer to a marriage.He begins with the pair’s early songwriting sessions, usually in McCartney’s front room, where rather than each taking ownership of songs, they worked in sync. Other fabled musical partnerships such as Leiber and Stoller, or Rodgers and Hammerstein, divided the labour between lyrics and melody, but Lennon and McCartney worked together on both. Pointing to their profound connection, Leslie notes how in the song I...

Culture

3 w. ago Paul Weller sues accountant firm for 'discriminating against him' after it stopped working with him 'for saying Israel is committing genocide in Gaza'

Paul Weller, 67, filed the discrimination suit against Harris and Trotter after the business cut ties with him after 30 years in March, according to a pre-action letter.

Economics

3 w. ago DVLA makes 'major changes' to classic car registrations for the first time since the 1980s

The Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance says the 'new policy helps to safeguard the future of the UK historic vehicles industry' worth £4bn annually.

Politics

3 w. ago Paul Weller sues former accountants after being dropped over Gaza statements

The former frontman of The Jam is bringing a discrimination claim against the firm he worked with for more than 30 years.

Politics

3 w. ago The Jam drummer Rick Buckler leaves huge fortune to wife and smaller sum to relative

The Jam drummer Rick Buckler sadly passed away in February this year following a short illness, as his bandmates Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton paid tribute

Politics

3 w. ago The Jam drummer Rick Buckler leaves huge fortune to his wife after his death aged 69

The Jam drummer Rick Buckler was a founding member of the mod punk band in 1972, playing in its classic line-up alongside bass player Bruce Foxton and lead singer and guitarist Paul Weller.

Events

4 w. ago ‘I tried to be nice. Sometimes I would explode’: John Fogerty on Creedence, contracts and control

As the driving force behind Creedence Clearwater Revival, he wrote some of the 60s most enduring songs. But a poor record deal followed by years in the wilderness drove him to the brink of breakdown. Now 80, he looks backThere were once two brothers from an Irish background, living in the outer suburbs of a hip city. They got in a band and one of them turned out to be a genius songwriter and arranger. For a few years everything they touched turned to gold. Then they fell out, bitterly, each blaming the other for everything that had gone wrong.It’s the story of not just the Gallagher brothers, but also John and Tom Fogerty. Like Noel, John was the brilliant songwriter, arranger, lead guitarist and producer – but he was also like Liam, the frontman with one of the great rock’n’roll voices. Whereas Tom Fogerty, who had been the original lead singer of the group that eventually became Creedence Clearwater Revival, had nothing without his brother’s genius. Continue reading...

Politics

last month Rita Wrote a Letter: Paul Kelly’s sequel to How to Make Gravy is an affectionate goodbye to Joe

Almost 30 years after Kelly released his Christmas classic, we finally learn what became of his cast of characters Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email“She’s the one to save me,” errant protagonist Joe declares of Rita, his long-suffering partner and unpaid therapist, in the prison letter that forms the lyrics of Paul Kelly’s 1996 single How to Make Gravy.The perennial Christmas classic was recently voted the ninth-best Australian song of all time. Almost 30 years after he wrote it, Kelly has released a sequel, Rita Wrote a Letter, in which we finally learn what became of Rita while Joe was in jail: she wised up and moved on.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Politics