Song sung blue

He’ll continue writing and recording, but due to a recent Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, Neil Diamond has announced his retirement from touring. In Diamond’s honour, we’ll be belting out “Sweet Caroline” at our next karaoke party.

Rush (kind of) lives

Alex Lifeson admitted this week that the odds of Rush reconvening as a band are slim. Those who’ve always hated “Tom Sawyer” will be horrified that Lifeson and
singer-bassist Geddy Lee have formed a new project, LeeLifeson.

Property tycoon

Ed Sheeran has bought four adjacent houses in Suffolk, England, building a complex (complete with pub and treehouse) where an actual cave will include a cinema and music room. In related news, if you stop eating everything but air right now, you might have enough money to make rent this month.

Stop panicking

On January 22 it was announced that the Manchester Camerata orchestra would team with the guys in the Smiths not named Morrissey or Marr for a live reimagining of songs like “How Soon Is Now?” and “Panic”. Proving there is a God, on January 23 the series, titled Classically Smiths, was cancelled.