‘My knees are as strong as Megan Thee Stallion!’ What 20 celebrities learned at Glastonbury 2024
Cut your toenails, play bingo – and drink rum instead of lager. Performers including Marina Abramović, Sugababes, Don Letts and Paloma Faith share their tips
September 2023
Lunch with...
Kevin Rowland: ‘I couldn’t ever see myself doing the music again. I was violently against it’
The Dexys lead singer explains how tai chi and a vegan diet helped him find his creative energy – and why he was too shy to say hello to Bryan Ferry
July 2023
Alexis Petridis's album of the week
Dexys: The Feminine Divine review – Kevin Rowland worships at the altar of women
Back after seven years and an apparent retirement, here’s another left turn in a career full of them: a baffling, brave record with some exceptionally beautiful songs
June 2023
Flashback
Kevin Rowland looks back: ‘Trying to calm myself down never even occurred to me’
The former Dexys Midnight Runners singer on dealing with stage anxiety, his subversive style and seeing women as goddesses
July 2020
Kevin Rowland on the My Beauty furore: 'I wasn't cracking up. I just wanted to wear a dress'
The Dexys star was ridiculed for wearing a dress and stockings on an album cover. Two decades on, he hits back – and relives the night he thought Covid-19 was going to kill him
June 2020
The 100 greatest UK No 1 singles
The 100 greatest UK No 1s: 100-1
Look back on our complete countdown of the greatest UK No 1s, from the Beatles to Baby D, and So Solid Crew to Suzi Quatro
March 2020
Broken Greek by Pete Paphides review – chip shops and pop music
An evocative memoir by the music writer, which tells how a sensitive, silent child of immigrants learned to cope, with the help of Abba and other pop bands
March 2019
The Beat singer Ranking Roger dies aged 56
Roger Charlery also performed with members of the Specials and Dexys Midnight Runners
May 2018
The man who dressed the mods: ‘They were jumping up and down for my shirts!'
His shops triggered a British style explosion – and he’s idolised by sharp-dressed superstars like Martin Freeman and Paul Weller. Meet John Simons, whose windows are ‘like theatre’
February 2017
These are the songs that never end: 10 of music's most rewarding long cuts
Father John Misty just debuted Leaving LA, a 13-minute, chorus-free track off his upcoming album. Here are the most brilliant and bewitching songs to have gotten the long-form treatment
December 2016
Culture webchats
‘As long as there are hairbrushes, people will sing’ – the best of 2016’s webchats
Jon Bon Jovi’s key change killer, Gemma Arterton’s weep-off with Glenn Close, the weirdest thing that ever happened to Harry Shearer … here are the highlights of 2016’s culture webchats
July 2016
Music blog
Dexys, the band who confound you with their strangeness – and then their brilliance
Watch our premiere of the video for their single, Grazing in the Grass – just the latest maverick move from a group who never stand still
June 2016
The art on your sleeve: visual artists on album covers
Dexys: Let the Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul review – inspired
The best original photographs from the Observer
Original Observer photography: May 2016
Dexys: Let the Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul review – a playful triumph
May 2016
Culture webchats
Kevin Rowland webchat – your questions answered on Dexys, darts and pink suits
Kevin Rowland: ‘I’ve expressed myself in the way I wanted’
Imagining Ireland review – remembering in song the rebels with a cause
Summer arts preview 2016
Beyoncé and beyond: the hottest sounds of summer 2016
