Equal parts blue-eyed soul shouter and wild-eyed poet-sorcerer, Van Morrison is among popular music's true innovators, a restless seeker whose incantatory vocals and alchemical fusion or R&B, jazz, blues, and Celtic folk produced perhaps the most spiritually transcendent body of work in the rock & roll canon.

 

Fronted by the multi-talented Merrill Garbus, the band's self-released first album BiRd-BrAiNs was a homemade success story in 2009. Now they've signed with 4AD records for the release of their idiosyncratic second album w h o k i l l.

 

The Australian Pink Floyd have sold over 3 million tickets worldwide and were described by Floyd drummer Nick Mason on BBC 5 Live as “Very good, probably better than we are,” and even engaged by David Gilmour to perform at his 50th birthday celebration! The Mirror recently hailed the act quite simply as, “The kings of the genre”.

 

The Australian Pink Floyd have sold over 3 million tickets worldwide and were described by Floyd drummer Nick Mason on BBC 5 Live as “Very good, probably better than we are,” and even engaged by David Gilmour to perform at his 50th birthday celebration! The Mirror recently hailed the act quite simply as, “The kings of the genre”.

 

Il Divo started in the mind of music producer Simon Cowell who wanted to create a band that brought together an operatic voice and good physical appearance. The casting took him two years and brought him to 17 countries. Thereafter, he had his ingredients: the Spaniard Carlos Marín, the Frenchman Sebastien Izambard, the North-American David Miller and the Swissman Urs Bühler. They have already sold 22 million copies of their CDs and are starting a two year global tour. Lovers of opera-pop can't miss it.

 

For most of the British public, Oritsé, JB, Aston, and Marvin are only the most successful group of all time to enter The X Factor, Simon Cowell’s star-making vehicle that ascended the ratings scale last year to become the most popular show on British TV.

 

During the summer of 2010, the Backstreet Boys joined New Kids on the Block onstage at the Radio City Music Hall (as a part of NKOTB Casi-NO Tour), where the groups performed "I Want It That Way". Since the performance, the media began to circulate rumors of the two uniting for a tour in the summer of 2011. The tour is created by Live Nation Entertainment as an outlet to reignite the boy band fad in the United States.

 

A BAFTA nominated, award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and co-writer and star of the award-winning sitcom Grandma's House.

 

The original traditional Irish folk band, as far as anyone who came of age in the 1970s or 1980s is concerned, is the Chieftains. Their sound, built largely on Paddy Moloney's pipes is otherworldly, almost entirely instrumental, and seems as though it comes out of another age of man's history. That they became an international phenomenon in the 70s and 80s is a testament to their virtuoso musicianship. The Chieftains were first formed in Dublin during 1963, as a semi-professional outfit, from the ranks of the top folk musicians in Ireland. Until that time, and for some years after, the world's (and even Ireland's) perception of Irish folk songs was rooted in either the good-natured boisterousness and topicality of acts such as the Irish Rovers or Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, or the sentimentality of Mary O'Hara.

 

The pink trio Blink 182 formed in San Diego, California back around 1993, releasing their EP "Fly Swatter". The Irish band "Blink" threatened a lawsuit, which forced the band to change their name, but the group then earned a higher profile touring with Pennywise and NOFX.

 

Few rock groups of the '80s broke down as many musical barriers and were as original as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Creating an intoxicating new musical style by combining funk and punk rock together, with an explosive stage show, to boot, the Chili Peppers spawned a slew of imitators in their wake, but still managed to be the leaders of the pack by the dawn of the 21st century.

 

Armatrading's music is considered to be mostly pop with forays into blues, rock, folk, jazz, and even reggae. Her latest album, 2007's Into the Blues, debuted at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Blues Chart, making Armatrading the first UK female artist, and the first artist born in St Kitts to earn that distinction. Into the Blues, which Armatrading calls "the CD I’ve been promising myself to write for a long time," was nominated for a Grammy Award, also making her the first female UK artist to be nominated in the Grammy Blues category.

 

English stand-up comedian, well known for appearing at many British stand-up comedy events and for several roles on television stand-up programmes such as Live at the Apollo and his own show, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow. McIntyre has also appeared on television panel shows including Mock the Week, 8 out of 10 Cats and Have I Got News for You, and has also appeared on radio.

 

English stand-up comedian, well known for appearing at many British stand-up comedy events and for several roles on television stand-up programmes such as Live at the Apollo and his own show, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow. McIntyre has also appeared on television panel shows including Mock the Week, 8 out of 10 Cats and Have I Got News for You, and has also appeared on radio.