Daniel Merriweather, Change

Daniel Merriweather...you may be more familiar with this man's voice than with his name as he has been doing backing vocals on tracks by Mark Ronson and others in the past, but now he's ready to show himself to the world with his own album, which will be out in April 2009. To give us all a taster of what's to come, here's the first single off the album; 'Change' (and a mighty fine taster it is too ; )

My only criticism to Daniel is the fact that he flaps his hands around like he is some kind of player or black rap star. To me that always looks silly on white boys (unless your name is Eminem, then you are forgiven) Great voice though!

P. Diddy gives money to Mark Ronson

Super-producer Mark Ronson once got a $100 tip from P. Diddy.

While Mark has made his name recently through his collaborations with some of the UK's hottest singers including Amy Winehouse, he revealed that he lived in New York in the early 90s and worked as a DJ for £25-a-night at various clubs.


It was at one of these hotspots Mark was spotted by Diddy, who liked his music so much he decided to give him his details. Mark said: "The first time I met him he said, 'I like the way you DJ' and gave me a $100 bill with his number on it. Mark admits he was so pleased with the bill that he framed it and put it up on his wall, but he was eventually so desperate for cash he was forced to spend it.

He added: "I saw P.Diddy this year and reminded him of the story - and he gave me another $100 bill!" Mark, by the way, is currently producing the new album of the Kaiser Chiefs.

Now, many, many years ago I had something slighty similar happen to me. Shaun Ryder (Happy Mondays and Black Grape) handed me an papertrip with the Black Grape logo on it, whispering: 'If anyone else ever shows up with any of these, tell me. I have the copyright on them'. I thought it was hillarious and folded it into my Black Grape CD sleeve, planning to always keep it. But when I checked the CD sleeve months later the trip was gone (maybe my crazy flatmate swiped it, I don't know)

I know, that's not as cool as being handed a $100 bill with Diddy's personal number on it, but it's my own 'ravers version' of that story. Hihi...

Mark Ronson music, Utube collection

He's just so bloody good, isn't he? That Mark Ronson. 'Versions' is definitely one of my favorite albums ever. So I thought I'd grab some Utube videos of that album and place them here together with the originals. Are the covers better than the originals? You judge!

Which version of 'Oh my God' is the better one?

Which version of 'Stop me' is the better one?

Which version of 'Just' is the better one?