The organiser of an Ottawa music festival where the stage collapsed during a sudden storm, sending thousands of fans watching the band Cheap Trick scrambling to safety, called the accident "a freak situation".

Sandy West, whose ferocious drumming fuelled the influential all-female 70s US rock band the Runaways, which she co-founded with Joan Jett, has died of lung cancer.

Rock bands Cheap Trick and The Allman Brothers Band are suing Sony Music, claiming they are being short-changed on royalties for songs downloaded legally over the internet.