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.

Social networking site, MySpace has completely transformed the way we discover and listen to our music. Aspiring musicians are uploading their music everyday to an audience of over 100 million people, worldwide. It’s famously known for assisting in the launch of artists such as Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys and this week, MySpace has chosen to reveal the eight most popular musicians on the site for this year.

So, who reached the number one spot? Well, unusually, it’s an act that’s not released any material since way back in 2005. The band in discussion are also non-human. Guessed yet? Well, Damon Albarn’s virtual band, Gorillaz (pictured top), is the act that’s surprisingly topped the poll, beating the likes of Amy Winehouse, Oasis and Coldplay. The animated group, who’s hits include ‘Feel Good Inc’ and ‘DARE’, have had a crazy 11,498,760 hits on their MySpace page and boast of 682,875 friends.

Coming in second place is Welsh metal band, Bullet for My Valentine, with an impressive 596,885 mates. Comments on the seemingly worshipped band’s profile include “i will never get over how aswome u guys r!” and “OMG I LOVE U GUYS U RULE U WILL ONE DAY RULE THE WORLD”. The ‘Hearts Burst Into Fire’ band are currently preparing to embark on a tour around Australia and New Zeland, take parting in the awesome ‘Big Day Out’ festival.

Check out the complete list compiling MySpace’s eight most popular acts of 2008, here:

1. Gorillaz (682,875 friends)
2. Bullet for My Valentine (596,885 friends)
3. Amy Winehouse (542,268 friends)
4. Coldplay (525,110 friends) (pictured top right)
5. Lily Allen (462,159 friends)
6. MIA (399,858 friends)
7. Oasis (353,484 friends)
8. Imogen Heap (351,484 friends)

London based rapper MIA has announced a string of dates just before Christmas. She’ll play two London dates as well as 7 around the rest of the country.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow (19th October) at 9am.

Saturday 8th December – London ICA
Monday 10th December – Birmingham Custard Factory
Tuesday 11th December – Newcastle Digital
Friday 14th December – Brighton Concorde
Saturday 15th December – Bristol Anson Rooms
Monday 17th December – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Tuesday 18th December – Manchester Academy 2
Wednesday 19th December – Norwich Waterfront
Thursday 20th December – London Coronet