It’s that time of year again, readers, when the who’s who in music gather together at the Staples Centre, in Los Angeles, to celebrate the world famous ceremony that is the Grammy Awards. This year’s bash has been a particular success for British artists. Home-bred talent such as Coldplay (pictured top), Radiohead (pictured right), Duffy, Leona Lewis and Led Zepplin’s Robert Plant are all up for coveted gongs ranging from ‘Album of the Year’ to ‘Best New Artist’. Brits performing at the awards include Adele, Paul McCartney, Estelle and M.I.A – who has riskily decided to go on with the show despite the fact her baby is due that very night!

Further performances come from Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, Jonas Brothers, U2 and even a potential surprise appearance from Green Day. The band have hinted on their website, that they may be showing at this year’s awards despite a near 5 year hiatus since releasing hit-album, American Idiot.

The nominees and consequent winners of the gongs’ are decided by a board of around 10000 members made up of artists, songwriters, producers and music engineers. American rapper, Lil Wayne, is the artist to receive the greatest amount of nominations this year, claiming a cool eight nods. Jay-Z, Kanye West, John Mayer, The Eagles and Metallica are other name’s that will be featuring across a significant array of awards tonight. Meanwhile, Neil Diamond is set to be awarded the acclaimed MusiCares Person of the Year title, which aims to recognise those who have made both an outstanding contribution to music as well as charity-work. Previous winners of the award include Bono, Sting and Aretha Franklin.

Catch all the Grammy action tomorrow night (Monday 9th), at 9pm on ITV2.

Ahh…The Brits. Perhaps more famous for Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion, or Arctic Monkey’s drunken speeches rather than for it’s showcasing of the best of British music. Either way, every year it certainly proves an interesting watch and this 2009, the controversial show will be presented by disco diva, Kylie Minogue and Gavin and Stacey stars, Mathew Horne and James Corden. There will be performances from Kings of Leon, U2 and Take That to name but a few. You can catch all the action live on ITV1 on February 18th, but if you can’t wait till then, There Goes The Fear is here to tell you about the successful nominees that were announced earlier this week.

The artists leading the way with the highest amount of nominations this year are Welsh songstress, Duffy and Coldplay – both tallying up a total of four nods. Both artists had number 1 albums last year – Duffy with ‘Rockferry‘ and Coldplay with ‘Viva la Vida‘ (pictured right) – so are unsurprisingly up for Mastercard’s Best British Album alongside Elbow, Radiohead and The Ting Tings. Duffy’s ‘Mercy’ and Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ will also be going head to head in Best British Single category alongside the likes of Estelle’s ‘American Boy’, Adele with ‘Chasing Pavements’ and the X Factor Finalists’ ‘Hero’.

Duffy also features in the Best British Female Solo Artist category alongside Adele, Beth Rowley, Estelle and MIA, while the nominees in male counterpart include Ian Brown, James Morrison, Paul Weller, Streets and Will Young. Best British Group has seen the nomination of the ever-popular Coldplay, Elbow, Radiohead, Take That and Girls Aloud.

New music recieving nods in this year’s Best British Breakthrough Act include Last Shadow Puppets and Scouting For Girls, while 2009’s Best British Live Act showcases everyone from Iron Maiden and The Verve, to Elbow.

Singer-songwriter, Florence and the Machine (who we featured here), is tracing the footsteps of 2008 winner Adele through gaining the coveted Critics Choice Award which recognises upcoming music talent. Meanwhile, Pet Shop Boys have been intriguingly awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award, following on from Beatle Sir Paul McCartney’s win last year.

Band’s receiving nods in the international categories including Best International Group and Best International Album are Kings of Leon, The Killers, AC/DC, MGMT and Fleet Foxes. Solo artists featuring in the categories honouring oversea talent include Katy Perry, Gabriella Cilmi, Seasick Steve, Beck and Kanye West.

To see the nominations in full, check out the official Brits website.

Ok now I have heard everything. Guns N Roses seem to always be in the news for some odd reason or another but I would never expect the rock legends to be a popular substitution for a bedtime lullaby. A recent surveyor, who had a lot of time on their hands, found out that modern mums are more likely to sing material from bands like Oasis and Guns N Roses rather than traditional lullabies to get their young offspring to drop off.

A website dedicated to babies polled 2000 mothers and found some absolutely crazy results. Songs like Take That’s “Patience” and Robbie Williams’ “Angels” are among the most popular choices which is weird but I suppose they are suitable. However, the top 20 from the survey included tracks like “I kissed a girl” by Katy Perry and “Dance Wiv Me” by Dizzee Rascal which don’t seem the most appropriate for our little ones.  I don’t know what the world is coming to.

The top 20 are shown below:

1. Take That – Patience
2. Robbie Williams – Angels
3. Katy Perry – I Kissed A Girl
4. James Blunt – You’re Beautiful
5. Elvis Presley – Love Me Tender
6. Christina Aguilera – Beautiful
7. Duffy – Warwick Avenue
8. Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
9. Oasis – Wonderwall
10. The Sugababes – Girls
11. That That – Back For Good
12. Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You
13. Bryan Adams – (Everything I Do) I Do it for You
14. Adele – Chasing Pavements
15. Girls Aloud – I’ll Stand By You
16. Dizzee Rascal – Dance Wiv Me
17. Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
18. Westlife – Flying Without Wings
19. Corinne Bailey Rae – Put Your Records On
20. The Spice Girls – Mama

Duffy has announced a late November and December tour for the end of the year.

Tickets go on sale next Friday, 22nd August at 9am.

Friday 28th November – Leeds Academy
Saturday 29th November – Manchester Apollo
Sunday 30th November – Manchester Apollo
Wednesday 3rd December – Newcastle Academy
Thursday 4th December – Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Friday 5th December – Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Sunday 7th December – Newport Centre
Monday 8th December – London Carling Academy Brixton
Tuesday 9th December – London Carling Academy Brixton

Those nice folks over at Somerset house have announced details of their Summer Series 2008 events. This summer sees the likes of Fratellis, We Are Scientists and Justice all grace the old courtyard over the course of 10 days in July.

Tickets are available here on presale from Ticketmaster, and go on sale on Wednesday (14th May) at 10am.

Thursday 10th July – The Fratellis
Friday 11th July – Justice
Saturday 12th July – Unkle
Sunday 13th July – The Blue Nile
Monday 14th July – Lupe Fiasco
Tuesday 15th July – We Are Scientists
Wednesday 16th July – The Zutons
Thursday 17th July – The Feeling
Friday 18th July – Duffy
Saturday 19th July – Adele

Rising star Duffy has announced a string of UK dates in February. She’ll be doing pretty much the same circuit that bands destined for bigger things have done in the past – Mika, Franz, Coldplay et al.

Catch the rising starlet at the following dates. Tickets are going exceptionally fast, so get them whilst you can!

Thursday 21st February – Bristol Thekla
Friday 22nd February – Manchester Ruby Lounge
Sunday 24th February – Newcastle Upon Tyne The Cluny
Tuesday 26th February – Leeds Brudenell Social Club
Thursday 28th February – Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
Saturday 1st March – Aberystywth Arts Centre
Wednesday 5th March – Wrexham Central Station
Friday 7th March – Nottingham The Bodega Social Club
Sunday 9th March – Oxford Carling Academy
Tuesday 11th March – Birmingham Glee Club