A host of stars have taken to social media to pay tribute to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, who died yesterday at the age of 76. Writing on Twitter, Paul Young called her “The most almighty talent” while Paul … read more

Everyone’s favourite retro festival turned ten this year, so I expected Rewind to pull out all the stops. And they did just that. Regular gig pals Sarah and Pete joined me again for a jaunt to sunny Perth, where we … read more

On this week’s Off The Chart we go back 31 years for a look at the UK singles chart from this week in 1987. As usual Steve and Julian bring you some unfamiliar hits, three tracks from one of the … read more

It’s a difficult statistic to come to terms with. Madness has been a functioning unit in one form or another – with only the occasional time out along the way – since 1976. That’s longer than most marriages. Next year … read more

An unusual choice for Top of the Pops presenter this week as we find ourselves watching the first edition ever to be hosted by an actual scarecrow! Ah no, sorry, false alarm, it’s just Dave Lee Travis in a big … read more

We’ve lost a lot of major figures in ’80s pop this terrible year, but George Michael was bigger than most. Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in North London on 25 June 1963, the son of a Greek Cypriot father and English … read more