ONE Classic Series II is a DAB digital and FM radio that looks great, sounds fantastic and is easy to use.

With a new Listen Later feature which enables you to save your favourite programme and play it back later, smooth satin-touch finish, a choice of colours, an input for your iPod/MP3 player and digital radio pause and rewind, ONE Classic Series II has something for everyone.

If you haven’t experienced digital radio yet, you’re in for a treat. There’s more station choice, easy station selection, extra information on the display and crisp, clear digital-quality sound.

Features also include FM with RDS, Intellitext, textSCAN, kitchen and sleep timers, a backlit display and USB upgradeability.

• DAB digital and FM radio
• Listen Later to save your favourite programme
• Intellitext for on-demand access to stored scrolling text from participating broadcasters
• textSCAN to pause and control scrolling text
• Adjustable bass and treble
• Clock with sleep timer
• Takes an optional ChargePAK C6L for portable listening.
• 30 presets (15 digital, 15 FM)
• Handy countdown kitchen timer
• Pause and rewind digital radio for up to 15 minutes
• Easy to use tone or radio alarm (mains power only)
• Aux input for iPod/MP3 player
• USB connector for product upgrades

Tune in to breakfast at 8am each day to find out the days winning track and how to win!

www.magicradio.com

See your favourite bands from the 60′s all under one roof.

•          Dave Berry and the Cruisers

•          Herman’s Hermits,

•          The Dreamers,

•          The Fortunes,

•          Union Gap, and many more…

Magic and Butlins bring you the Festival of the 60′s live at Butlins Skegness resort on December 9th,10th and 11th.

With the Met Office’s announcement that rain will lash Britain until the end of August, PRS for Music has today revealed the top ten most played rain-themed songs.

The unique chart reveals that Bill Wither’s 1979 song, ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, which has been covered by artists including Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond and Van Morrison, is the most played rain-themed song in the past 5 years

Also on the chart, is Rain On Your Parade by Duffy. The 2008 song was co-written by British songwriter, Steve Brooker, who is also credited for writing Duffy’s chart topping song, Mercy.

Top 10 Rain Songs

1. Ain’t No Sunshine – Bill Withers

2. It’s Raining Men – The Weathergirls

3. I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash

4. November Rain – Guns N’ Roses

5. Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution

6. Rain On Your Parade – Duffy

7. I Can’t Stand The Rain – Tina Turner

8. Rain On Me – Ashanti

9. Sunshine On A Rainy Day – Zoe

10. Rain Down On Me – Kane

Listen to our chat here:

Mary Lynn

To coincide with the launch of Elaine’s new album we ran an Elaine Paige Free Music Friday on Magic.  I spoke to her on the show about her life and about the new Duets album.

Listen to the full interview here:

Elaine Paige Full Interview

John Barrowman

John Barrowman talks to Nick Wright

John Barrowman Interview

AUTUMN UK TOUR ANNOUNCED

 WWW.JOHNBARROWMAN.COM 

John Barrowman, Britain’s most successful – and comfortably Britain’s best – all-round entertainer releases his third solo album, the self-titled John Barrowman this week on Arista and has now announced a brand new 23 date UK Tour including a show at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

John Barrowman is easily one of the most familiar faces on British television and the West End stage. Best known for playing Captain Jack Harkness in the BBC series’ Torchwood and Doctor Who, he has also been a judge on the award-winning BBC1 entertainment shows How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything. More recently he has hosted his own primetime Saturday night TV extravaganza, Tonight’s The Night and graced London’s West End as Zaza in the Olivier Award-winning La Cage Aux Folles.  John Barrowman recently announced he has accepted a role in the hit TV show Desperate Housewives and will start filming imminently.  

John Barrowman is perhaps his most personal album to date – the album he has always wanted to make.  As with 2007′s Another Side and 2008′s Music Music Music, it is a masterful, evocative and uplifting journey into perhaps the man’s first love, musical theatre, comprising his favourite moments from Cats, Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys and Mack and Mabel to name a few. The album is filled with instantly familiar classics – Memory, The Winner Takes It All, My Eyes Adored You – to the less immediately familiar, such as So Close, a spine-tingling duet with Jodie Prenger lifted from the recent Disney movie Enchanted and chosen for his niece Clare. Also included is a beautiful version of You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel, a song which his mother sang to him as a child. Every track holds an emotional relevance for John.

Recorded exclusively for the iTunes album, The Doctor and I, about Captain Jack’s relationship with Doctor Who, is an imaginative re-working of The Wizard And I from the musical Wicked.

John Barrowman is representative of a man at the height of his powers, someone who can fill a song with the same chutzpah and style that he can a role on the West End stage. Simply put, he has never sounded better. 2010 is already promising to be a remarkable year for John Barrowman with a number of major projects confirmed. Watch him go global!

“I Have to say this was a really suprising interview, I’ve always loved UB40, seen them on quite a few occasions and now here was a chance to talk to one of the band members about their up-coming Signing Off tour.

It turned out to be a great chat with a guy that is dedicated and so enthusiastic about what he does, he made me want to see the live shows and play more of their songs. ”

Enjoy the interview

Part One: UB40 – Brian Travers – Part One

Part Two: UB40 Brian Travers 2

UB40 ANNOUNCE ‘SIGNING OFF’ 30th ANNIVERSARY TOUR

UK – 13^th July 2010 -UB40 are to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of their seminal debut album, ‘Signing Off’, by performing the whole album live during a tour of intimate venues across the UK throughout October and November 2010.

Taking its name from the unemployment form, ‘Signing Off’ was heralded as a landmark album when it was released in late August 1980.  Considered by many as one of the greatest reggae albums ever released by a British band, ‘Signing Off’ was well received amongst many music fans, including followers of punk and the 2 Tone movement, and struck a chord amongst a large proportion of the UK’s disaffected youth. Mixing reggae and dub, ‘Signing Off’ chronicled the times, and wider social and political issues, as well as the plight of communities throughout the country during the early Thatcher years.

‘Signing Off’ went on to attain Platinum status after spending 71 weeks in charts, peaking at #2. The album features hit singles ‘King’/‘Food For Thought’ and ‘I Think It’s Going to Rain Today’ (#4 & # 6 on the UK singles chart, respectively), along with other UB40 classics such as ‘Tyler’, ‘Madam Medusa’ and ‘Burden of Shame’.

The album artwork for ‘Signing Off’ also famously depicted a replica of the bright yellow unemployment card from which the Birmingham-based band took its name: Unemployment Benefit, Form 40.

Since the release of ‘Signing Off’, UB40 have become one of the most successful reggae groups of all time, with over forty UK Top 40 hit singles and sales of 80million records across the world.

UB40 saxophonist Brain Travers said, “2010 marks UB40’s 30th anniversary, three decades since we started this incredible journey. We had to ask ourselves “How can we celebrate? How can we say thanks to the fans for their unconditional support?” We decided to go back to where we started, downtown to the heart of the cities and the venues where we played our first gigs, then perform our first album ‘Signing Off’ in its entirety, something we have never done before. Of course, there will also be some surprises, but we’ll save them for the night.”

In addition to performing ‘Signing Off’ in it’s entirely, UB40 will perform a second set on the evening featuring some of the band’s most loved tracks. Tickets go on sale from Friday 16th July 2010.

To celebrate Signing Off’s 30^th anniversary, EMI will release a special, remastered double-CD together with a bonus DVD

The UK dates are as follows:

October 25th – Liverpool Philarmonic
October 26th – Birmingham Symphony Hall
October 27th – Wolverhampton Civic Hall
October 29th – London Troxy
October 30th – London Shepherds Bush Empire
October 31st – Brighton Dome

November 2nd – Newcastle City Hall
November 3rd – Edinburgh Usher Hall
November 4th – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
November 7th – Manchester Bridgewater Hall
November 8th – Preston Guildhall
November 10th – Southend Cliffs Pavillion
November 11th – Cardiff St Davids
November 15th – Leicester De Mont Fort Hall
November 16th – Cambridge Corn Exchange
November 18th – Ipswich Regent
November 19th – Southampton Guildhall

A study claims that’s the age at which we start becoming more content with our lot in life.

It also found that over 65′s are the happiest people, while those aged between 45 and 54 are the glummest.

(Study by First Direct)