It is hard to watch Katie Melua without lamenting the absence of smoking within venues. Her soft lustrous vocals hark back to days of the melancholic lounge singer, emoting to an absorbed audience through an opaque smoky veil.

Britain's superbike man of steel James Toseland made his comeback to racing here yesterday – backed by singer-songwriter Katie Melua.

A rich velvety voice on an empty stage fills the Apollo and is greeted with instant applause. "The Closest Thing to Crazy" opens the show, a tender track that the singer wraps her distinct vocals around.

The audience was pulled out of its drinking and chatting revelry at the Jazz Café when "101", the title track of Keren Ann's latest album was pumped loudly from the PA system.

B&S's eighth studio album comes after a four-and-a-half year wait, but the hiatus hasn't altered them one jot.

William Orbit produces, Guy Chambers helps out, Mike Batt hovers.

As debut headline gigs go, there was always a chance that tonight would be anticlimactic, not least because Florence Rawlings had already graced Wembley Arena as support for Tom Jones.

Discovered by Mike Batt at 13 but, after a wise decision to finish school, only now releasing her debut album, Florence Rawlings is the latest product of the pop mind who gave the world Katie Melua.

Jonathan Ross forked out £20,000 at a charity auction last night for a self-portrait of his hero, David Bowie.

When the new home in Manchester for Royal Opera House productions was announced this week, there was one aspect that not a single reporter or commentator mentioned. And I'm quite sure that the two guiding spirits behind the scheme, ROH chief executive Tony Hall and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, never once mentioned it. It is the old saw of booking fees.

From the opening song "I Believe in Love", with its hopeful chorus, The Storys don't so much wear their influences on their sleeves as have them branded to their arms.

"BEING SWEATY is a good thing, isn't it?" K T Tunstall asks self- mockingly, before launching into her sassy blues track, and debut single, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree". "The single's out on 21 February, so let's make it Top 50," she laughs.

The family that sings together isn't always harmonious, says CHRIS MUGAN. Can the Bedingfields break the mould at the Brits?

Everything I've Got in my Pocket, LIBERTY