Three women share their stories of festive singing

In 1976, the revolutionary singer-songwriter LAURA NYRO returned from self-imposed exile. But her comeback confounded expectations, shifting away from the impassioned intimacies of her early albums to embrace more radical perspectives. Fifty years on, Nyro’s collaborators revisit her striking second act. “She was a hip American from the Bronx,” one friend and producer tells Rob Hughes. “But her soul was old.”

JOHN LYDON WITH PHIL MEARS “This pic of myself and John Lydon was taken at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, Greater Manchester, as part of his I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right spoken word tour on

To quote Madonna’s 2005 global smash Hung Up, “Time goes by so slowly”, and no-one is more aware of that sentiment at the moment than the Queen Of Pop’s devoted fanbase as they eagerly await her new a

From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock (reissue, 2004) DEAD OCEANS

H.e.a.t frontman Kenny Leckremo on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.