ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard dies aged 77

Tributes paid to ‘great friend and collaborator’ who played with band for 56 years and died in hospice care in Texas

‘You’ve got to see this girl!’ Tanita Tikaram on making Twist in My Sobriety

‘People tell me it helped them with their rehab. I have to explain: Sorry, it’s not about alcohol – I was just a kid singing about injustice’

Next year’s Eurovision host is Burgas, not Sofia. Some Bulgarians are baffled

Next year’s competition won’t take place in the country’s capital, an announcement that even surprised Bulgarian winner, Dara

‘I had to learn how to be a feminist’: Greg Dulli on surviving grunge, shunning misogyny, and Afghan Whigs’ glorious return

With a soulful sound and soul-baring lyrics, the Afghan Whigs rode the post-Nirvana boom to the big leagues. Their frontman explains his exploration of the male ego – and how Usher got the band back together

Brandon Flowers: Thrasher review – Killers frontman’s country pivot is a rootin’ tootin’ cowboy-bootin’ hoot!

Even a couple of bafflingly misguided social commentary songs can’t detract from the joys of Flowers’ classically full-throated commitment to the Nashville bit

Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine tour review: pop illusion at its most effective – for good and bad

On her last live dates before she steps back from the public eye, Grande holds her own – but it’s also impossible to avoid feeling concerned for her wellbeing

Rock stars Ash look back: ‘Mark broke his feet jumping off a balcony – for the rest of the tour he self-medicated with gin and buckets of ice’

The Northern Irish band on jamming together at school, booze and breakdowns, and being a weirdly functional family

‘I thought – if I die, I’ve had a good innings’: producer James Ford on life, death and making an album from his hospital bed

The Arctic Monkeys, Pet Shop Boys and Pulp collaborator was Britain’s most in-demand producer when leukaemia struck. ‘I realised life is exceptionally fragile,’ he says

‘Have I tried having sex to my own music? God, no!’: Natalie Imbruglia’s honest playlist

The singer was wooed with some knocked-off Joni Mitchell and might even be persuaded to sing Torn at karaoke. But what fan comment winds her up the most?

Family affair: how pop-star siblings Audrey Hobert and Malcolm Todd stormed the charts in parallel

Following in the footsteps of Michael and Janet Jackson, and Kylie and Dannii Minogue, the Hobert siblings have simultaneously struck pop gold – with no rivalry

Add to playlist: the heartbreak post-mortems of Cape Town’s Rowlene and the week’s best new tracks

The South African singer has been a memorable guest artist, but the unhurried, emotional tracks on new album Some Strings Attached show she’s ready for the spotlight

‘It was lonely being a young queer artist’: Sam Smith on finding health, happiness – and their hazel-eyed fiance

On their new album, Smith is subverting their singer-songwriter roots to tell a queer love story. They talk about their shifting fanbase, the nasty undercurrents of fame – and finding sanctuary in New York City

Chelsea Wolfe: The Dark review – existential reflection goes from whisper to gothic scream

The genre-blending Californian artist casts off past toxic influences with a powerful set of tender, brooding and emotionally charged songs that wouldn’t feel out of place as festival anthems

James: Getting Away With It review – hippies, hardnuts and dreamers unite

Auto-hagiography it may be – most of the interviewees were in the band at some point – but this portrait of the seminal Manchester indie group is charming stuff

Countries in ‘armed conflict’ barred from hosting Eurovision

Organisers says new rule will ensure contest provides ‘safe and welcoming environment’ for participants