Voted the BBC's Sound of 2012, his breakthrough came with supporting Adele on tour. But the release of his first album is the real litmus test

David Zinman's Mahler and Beethoven cycles with the Tonhalle exemplify the "third way" in historically informed performance practice.

Singer stuns music industry by saying she wants to give romance a chance

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As mysterious as he is wary of vowels, Sbtrkt was the toast of the evening at the The Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards.

Adele has led the way – and now a new crop of young artists like Michael Kiwanuka Emeli Sandé and Daley are spearheading the great soul revival

Though far from definitive, the 4CD/3DVD set Goin' Back fulfils a valuable service by augmenting the mandatory hits with copious tranches of previously unreleased material, from an early '50s recording of "Can't We Be Friends" through several discfuls of BBC sessions, soundtrack contributions and alternative takes from Dusty In Memphis.

The Temptations were the most significant '60s root of the close-harmony boy-band style that has come to dominate R&B, their voices combining with creamy smoothness, their intricately-choreographed steps the envy of less nimble outfits.

Throughout her stint on 2010's X Factor, shy Scouse single mum Ferguson was constantly being told by buffoonish Louis Walsh that she had a "recording voice" and that he couldn't wait "to hear her album".

By the law of averages, talent-show telly has to throw up at least one genuinely serviceable talent every ten years or so, and Rebecca Ferguson is surely that one. Although typically, she didn't win the contest, despite the support of high-profile fans such as Adele - who admitted she voted for Ferguson about 80 times.

This follow-up to Seal's massively successful 2008 anthology of soul classics extends that album's largely Sixties orientation into the Seventies, with covers of standards by such as Al Green, Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers.

Amy's goddaughter is shortlisted for an award at the Mobos, which will feature a tribute to the late singer

Adele's got a wicked cackle.