Talent 2010

You might think that Coco Sumner – frontwoman of the band I Blame Coco – has an unfair advantage over her indie-pop rivals this year. Coco is the daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler, one of the wealthiest, most famous and eminently slappable celebrity couples on the planet.
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Wilco: Saddled up for the long haul

Fiona Sturges talks to Wilco's Jeff Tweedy about longevity against the odds and a dream comeback
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The grime of his life

Lethal Bizzle's uncompromising, personal, lyrics have put him in the political spotlight and led to racist attacks. With his new album moving up the charts, he tells Fiona Sturges what drives him
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Music review - The xx, Audio, Brighton

In an era where stadium-sized rock bands such as Muse create towering symphonies and sing in a register of permanent panic, the south-west London four-piece the xx trade refreshingly in subtlety and understatement...
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The boy in the corner

On 'Pop Idol', he fought Simon Cowell – and won. On the slippery slopes of the record industry, he kept his feet and triumphed with four platinum albums. On stage, he was lauded for playing Coward. On screen, he shone alongside Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. And on 'Question Time', he dumbfounded the critics to send ratings sky-high. So why, with a greatest-hits album on the way, has Will Young spent the past decade in outright terror? By Fiona Sturges
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Scare tactics

Fiona Sturges on the Hammer horror film posters with real bite
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The return of the concept album

Concept albums used to be the most hideous emblem of conceit in rock bands, so why are they now acceptable? By Fiona Sturges
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Brighton beautiful on the big screen

Armed with a map and an MP3 player, Fiona Sturges takes a new film tour of the Sussex city
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Act of Faith

Burlesque, magic and modelling – Paloma Faith has done it all. Fiona Sturges meets the multi-talented star
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Theatre review - Quadrophenia, Theatre Royal, Brighton

"The battle of Brighton" cried the Argus newspaper in 1964 after the mods and rockers descended on the seaside town for a violent face-off.
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Back to black

Writing his first novel almost killed Nick Cave, the rock'n'roller says. He is in a better place now: Hove. But that has only served to make his work darker.
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The Stone Roses - a 'classic' that is nothing but fool's gold

The Stone Roses may have been the most overrated band ever, claims Fiona Sturges. So why are people getting excited about the re-release of their self-titled debut album?
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Moby: 'To my shame, I liked the attention'

Since 'Play' carried him into the homes of millions – and into countless adverts – 10 years ago, the famously outspoken Moby has mellowed somewhat. Maybe there's an art to it, writes Fiona Sturges
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Away with the fairies

Natasha Khan, aka Bat for Lashes, sings of a hippy-dippy universe of woodlands and wizards. Fiona Sturges enters her world
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Refugee from Soviet Kitsch

Regina Spektor's family fled Moscow for the United States but, she tells Fiona Sturges, it was a conversation on an Israeli mountain that began her transition to New York alt-folk darling
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Baby, we weren't born to run

He is the working-class hero, the champion of the underdog, the everyman in search of the American Dream. His place in the pop canon is irrefutable, his name mentioned in the same breath as Tom Waits, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. So why is it that Bruce Springsteen leaves me cold?
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The return of dance music

After a period of commercial decline, the original trailblazers of Nineties dance music are back in a big way. The rush of nostalgia is well deserved, argues Fiona Sturges
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Lady Gaga: How the world went crazy for the new queen of pop

She's pop's newest princess and the paparazzi's latest plaything. But it is Lady Gaga who is calling the shots. By Fiona Sturges
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Hello campers!

Joe Orton's The Erpingham Camp is coming to Brighton Pier, complete with audience participation and fish'n'chips. Fiona Sturges reports
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Maxïmo Park: Clinical but never cynical

Landfill indie? No way, insists Maxïmo Park's Paul Smith. Fiona Sturges hears how they challenge the medium of pop
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Stand-up women

Despite the macho culture of many comedy clubs, the number of female comics is on the rise, and a national women-only competition is thriving. But, as Fiona Sturges finds out, the struggle isn't over
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Madonna: 'Quiet, concentrated, a little moody'

After Martin Schreiber paid an unknown New York dancer $30 to pose naked for an art class, little did he know that he was sitting on a potential gold mine. Fiona Sturges met him
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Pop Idol

As his swinging art bus rolls into town, artist Peter Blake talks to Fiona Sturges about his life's work, his false retirement and 'that' album cover...
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Peaches and cream

The charts are full of sassy young female solo stars, but Peaches was there first. With a reputation as a shocking exhibitionist, she tells Fiona Sturges she has a vulnerable side too
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Music review - PJ Harvey, Corn Exchange, Brighton

PJ Harvey has never been one to pointlessly bask in the limelight. Judging by her interviews – and she doesn’t give many – she’d rather be sitting in her local in Dorset discussing the finer points of jam-making than giving it the big rock-star ‘I Am’.
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Gomez land a bigger prize

The Southport band had a meteoric rise to fame when they took the Mercury Prize in 1998, but were soon forgotten. America has been their salvation, says Fiona Sturges
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Obituary - Jade Goody

From the moment Jade Goody emerged from Channel 4's Big Brother house in 2002, bursting out of an ill-fitting pink satin dress, she was a media phenomenon and an icon for the reality television-addicted, Heat magazine-loving masses.
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Music review - Emiliana Torrini

In a recession-battered industry, it's a smart singer-songwriter who is able to broaden their assets. The part-Italian, part-Icelandic, Brighton-based singer Emiliana Torrini has pulled off what looks to be the ultimate professional balancing-act.
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Music review - The Noisettes

On the ubiquitous critics' lists of über-cool pop babes destined to hit the big time this year – see La Roux, Little Boots, Lady Gaga – one name was conspicuous by its absence.
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Music review - Elbow

"You need forgiveness when you've been in a band this long," says Elbow's Guy Garvey, squinting into the lights. Forgiveness for what, you wonder?
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Music review - Emmy the Great

It's a bold and, some might say, foolish singer that pronounces herself great before she's got her career off the ground.
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