THE Manic Street Preachers have been awarded the title of “classic songwriters” at the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour awards.

RAIN and jazz – the two usually go together like rhythm and blues at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival.

IT got off to a soggy start, but no amount of moisture could have killed the carnival in Cork last night where jazz junkies got down and dirty to swinging big band music and lashings of Latin groove.

Guitar legend Eric Clapton will perform one night in Dublin as part of his 2011 tour, concert promoters said today.

HE tied fishing flies with Eric Clapton, played the blues with the greats, touring with Jimmy Page, Motorhead and the Moody Blues — but the late Doug Lock left the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle to fish in Fermoy.

Eric Clapton has ruled out another Cream reunion, insisting the members of the rock supertrio have parted ways amicably.

Eric Clapton is set for another return to his supergroup past when he takes the stage with the man who replaced him in the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, in Japan next month.

JIM CAPALDI, the drummer with 1960s psychedelic rock group Traffic, died yesterday, aged 60, a spokeswoman for his family said.

Ray Charles, a talent who erased musical boundaries between the sacred and the secular with hits such as “What’d I Say”, “Georgia on My Mind” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” died at age 73.

Ex-Beatle George Harrison was honoured posthumously for his solo career last night when he entered the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.