Updated 12:21pm 12 February 2012:

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Andy Coleman

Andy Coleman

Picturing the past 40 years

THERE are just 15 minutes before Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi has to join his bandmates on stage for a sound check.Read

Scarlet hope of Orange success

BIRMINGHAM band Scarlet Harlots are hoping to match the success of fellow Brummie outfit Envy And Other Sins by winning a prestigious talent contest.Read

Learning To Fly all over again

Why did you decide to play all of Expecting To Fly?Read

Jason Donovan gets tips from a neighbour

NEIGHBOURS. Everybody needs good neighbours – especially when they are international music stars!Read

A musical way to meet childhood idols

POP trio Scouting For Girls have discovered the perfect way to meet their heroes – write a song about them.Read

Kelli’s change of key

KELLI Ali’s new album may come as a surprise to fans of the poppy electronica with which she’s most associated.Read

Pop punksters spend time helping others

A YEAR of almost constant touring has not stopped French Canadian pop punks Simple Plan making time for others.Read

Sample a soulful duo

PIANIST Joe Sample is travelling from Frankfurt to Munich when I catch up with him on his mobile phone – and he admits hating being on the road.Read

Fight Like Apes for Mr T treasure

Who’s in the band and how did you get together? Fight Like Apes are Maykay, Pockets, Tom and Adrian. We are a group of mates who got bored playing computer games, watching b-movies and flunking college. We decided it was best to form a band. It was either that or start making movies which takes patience ... and a budget.Read

Elton John performs at Birmingham NIA

SIR Elton John brought a slice of Las Vegas glitz to Birmingham last night. Read our review and see pictures from the show. Read

Fat Freddy’s dropping in to fish for taste of Kiwi funk

SOME bands write songs on their tour bus, others compose at specially convened studio sessions. But the latest single by New Zealand seven-piece Fat Freddy’s Drop was conceived during a laid-back fishing trip.Read

Elton on red alert for Brum return

ELTON John will be seeing red when he performs in Birmingham next Wednesday.Read

50th tour Cliff to unveil 1977 song

FIFTY years after his first hit record Sir Cliff Richard has unearthed a song he’d forgotten he’d recorded.Read

Money spinners

MCFLY plan to spend, spend, spend to ensure they remain Britain’s top pop band.Read

Jack’s back at the Town Hall

Music legend Jack Bruce performs with the BBC Big Band at Birmingham Town Hall next Friday. Andy Coleman caught up with him.Read

A sneak peek for One Night

IT’S getting pretty crowded on the One Night Only tour bus because the band has been joined by a camera crew recording behind the scenes footage for a new DVD.Read

Bull Elephant

BIRMINGHAM’S newest music festival gets off to a roaring start tomorrow when American rock band Cage The Elephant take to the stage in the Bullring.Read

Hard to tell fake Diamond from real thing

COMEDIAN Arthur Askey performed many times at Birmingham theatres – and on Thursday one of his descendants will follow in his footsteps and take to the stage.Read

Scorpions still rising

BANDS do not get more global than hard rock veterans The Scorpions.Read

Queen still have a kind of magic

IT’S Queen – but not as we know them.Read

Author Profile

Andy Coleman is a Birmingham Mail veteran having worked at the paper for 25 years. He is the Mail's music editor, regularly reviewing rock concerts at the NEC, NIA and Carling Academy, as well as CDs and DVDs. Andy edits the Friday What's On section.