News piece – The Guardian (355 words)
Sam Fender raises £50,000 for Youth Music via ticket sales
Matthew Woods
Tue, 24th Mar 2026, 17.14 BST
Northeast-born singer-songwriter and BRIT Award winner Sam Fender has donated £50,000 raised from his ‘People Watching Tour’ ticket sales to London based charity, Youth Music.
📷 Sam Fender performing at Fox Theatre in Oakland on April 11, 2025. Steve Carlson/STAFF
The Youth Music charity identifies the “crisis” of “young people across the UK” losing “access to grassroots youth music projects within a decade” due to low funding. In response they launched the ‘Rescue the Roots’ campaign. The campaign provided “crucial support for over 18,000 young people in 2025.” It will also match the amount donated by Fender, bringing the total amount raised to over £100,000.
Fender says, “I’m proud to support Youth Music and their ‘Rescue the Roots’ campaign”, stating that “projects like these are so important.” Interim Co-CEO Carol Reid of Youth Music says, “It’s really encouraging to see more and more successful artists giving back to grassroots music”.
Fender has criticised the modern music industry, calling it “rigged” against the working class in a 2025 interview with The Sunday Times, due to costs and the lack of opportunities and training. Fender’s relation to his Northeastern working-class upbringing moulds his songwriting, as seen in songs like “Seventeen Going Under”.
The artist has also expressed his frustration with politics, stating in a 2021 interview with The Guardian that he doesn’t feel he has an “identity with politicians on either side”. He said that the “left wing has abandoned the working classes”, and he “hate[s] the Tories with a passion”.
Fender has professed the need for support of small venues around the UK, saying in 2025 that “I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today if it wasn’t for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out”, also stating that “These venues are legendary, but they are struggling”.
This is not the only charitable donation that Fender has made towards the rescue of smaller venues. In 2025, the musician donated his entire Mercury cash prize of £25,000 to the Music Venue Trust (MVT), an organisation which works to preserve grassroots music venues in the UK.
Other artists have contributed to the same Youth Music campaign: BRIT Award-winning artist JADE sold ‘Rescue the Roots’ T-shirts with designer Anthony Burill and Jordan Stephens was involved in the launch other artists include Bicep, Elijah, Arctic Monkeys, TEEDEMBA and Livvy K.
Opinion piece – The Guardian (450 words)
Sam Fender: The saviour of grassroots?
Matthew Woods
Tue, 24th Mar 2026, 17.14 BST
Fender lived through and understands the injustice faced by the less fortunate in the UK, and is doing something about it.
📷 Sam Fender on stage at St James’ Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 9th June 2023. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)
BRIT-award winning musician Sam Fender has generously donated a large sum of £50,000 to the charity Youth Music, a sum that will be matched by the charity’s ‘Rescue the Roots’ campaign, resulting in a staggering £100,000 raised for grassroots venues across the UK.
In a 2026 BBC article, Mark Savage describes small venues as “incubators for the UK’s thriving music scene”, pointing out that successful artists such as Ed Sheeran and Olivia Dean benefited from performing in such spaces. Grassroot venues are the perfect environment for musicians starting out in the music industry. Fledgling artists are surrounded by others in similar situations and can share their contributions to the world of music.
However, the number of grassroot venues closing down is rising drastically. Savage’s article identified that in 2025, thirty live music venues including Zanzibar in Liverpool closed down resulting in a loss of 6,000 jobs. Artists such as Katy Perry, Pulp and Coldplay jumped into action to counter the grassroot venue crisis, supporting Music Venue Trust.
But no artist holds small venues as close to their hearts as Sam Fender. His powerful songs tell the gritty story of his rocky upbringing in North Shields. “Seventeen Going Under” (2021) touches on childhood and poverty, whilst “The Dying Light” (2021) acts as a tribute to his roots, friends and navigating challenges in his hometown. It’s clear to see that Fender is passionate about helping those in less fortunate situations. He has shown his unwavering generosity in the past, when he donated his entire Mercury cash prize of £25,000 to the Music Venue Trust.
This all relates to one of the prominent issues in the UK: the North-South divide. Economic issues lead to younger musicians having less access to musical resources. Examples include the lower incomes in the North, higher unemployment in the North, and education: Northern students are less likely to finish school with higher grades. Some may argue the correlation between this and issue at hand, but it is unarguable that the economically deprived areas have less access to resources they need to live. This is a matter that Sam Fender recognises and fights, having experienced it first-hand, pointing out his own evidence of this in a Guardian interview, saying that “Nobody sticks their neck out for the north-east”.
Any musician or human being in general, especially those who grew up in working-class areas can and should admire the utter commitment that Fender has to honouring his upbringing and bringing to light the struggles faced by those with less access to musical facilities. Fender understands and can relate to these groups of people, and is doing what he can to support them, a movement that more should be contributing to.
Interview – CLASSICAL MUSIC Brought to you by BBC music magazine (969 words)
Who is Will Todd?
Talking to the Northeast-born pianist and composer about his musical life, dogs, omelettes, and fighting for simplicity.
by Matthew Woods
Published: April 28, 2026 at 16:51pm
Will Todd has had the honour of having his music performed for Queen Elizabeth II at her Diamond Jubilee Service, as well as President Obama’s inauguration service – a feat that not many British composers have achieved – but what is the story behind the composer?
I sat down with him on a very sunny day in his “little end of the garden studio” to talk about his musical journey.
Who is Will Todd?
Will Todd is a composer and pianist, known for his genre-spanning works, ranging from choral pieces, to jazz, to opera to musical theatre. Works such as Mass in Blue have been played worldwide, and he has collaborated with award winning choirs including Voces 8 and The Sixteen, as well as companies such as The Welsh National Opera, Opera North, The BBC Concert Orchestra along with many others.
How old is Will Todd?
Will Todd was born on the 14th of January, 1970.
Where did Will Todd grow up?
Will Todd grew up in Durham. His father worked in the English department at Durham University and his mother was a primary school teacher. He has two big sisters who learned to play instruments with Durham Music Service. He studied music at Bristol University and ended up living in Guildford.
How did he get into music?
When Todd was born, there was no TV in the house, due to the simple reason that it was broken and his parents “had no money to fix it”. However, this meant that they were doing things like reading, family activities and of course, listening to lots of music. His sisters loved 70s rock and pop, and his parents liked classical, opera, jazz and country and western music. He grew up with “a very universal interest in music without judgement”.
Some of his earliest memories are seeing his sisters play in the Durham County Youth Orchestra concerts. It was his first time seeing a live orchestra, and he remembers being excited seeing the “combination of instruments” and says that seeing the orchestra live is like the “arrangement is visualised” in front of him.
He recalls “messing around” on the piano at home, saying that he loves the instrument because it helps to start learning about the “consonance vs dissonance” of notes. He was mostly self-taught, but his father, who Todd says is “a very bad pianist by his own admission”, taught him simple 12 bar blues.
He learned to read music in the St Oswald’s Church choir, stating that a choir score is unique in the fact that you can see everyone’s parts, which he found was interesting “as a potential composer”.
Finally, he had violin lessons with Durham Music Service and recalls a memory of an alumni concert that took place a couple of years ago, in which he had to play viola, but with it being the first time he’d played since he was 18, he could “barely play an open string”.
‘An Evening With Will Todd’ concert, January 24, 2026
Todd speaks of having the “honour” of playing in Durham Cathedral before in his career, but in January of this year, he had an entire concert there celebrating his music. He talked about having “pinch me moments”, which this concert had, and told me that if you showed 10-year-old Will the concert, he’d be “stunned” and have no idea how to get to that point.
When talking about this concert, he recognises the importance of being grateful for the audience, and feeling privileged to be able to perform anywhere, whether that be in a “church hall miles from anywhere or in the top concert hall in the land”. He recognises that the audience has come to see his work and that’s a “very special thing”.
Notable works
Todd’s music is performed worldwide. His choral piece “The Call of Wisdom” was written for and performed at Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee service in St Paul’s Cathedral.
His arrangement of “Amazing Grace” was performed at President Obama’s inauguration service, which he said was a “big deal” as they never have music that wasn’t written by an American composer. As he put it, this one “slipped through the net”. He says that this arrangement seems to get performed everywhere he goes.
For 10 years nobody would publish his breakthrough choral jazz work, Mass in Blue which is now a favourite amongst audiences.
Working with choirs
He has worked with professional choirs like Voces 8. Their recording of his choral piece “My Lord Has Come” is his most streamed song on Spotify (over 770,000 streams), and they, as well as other choirs such as Tenebrae keep the piece in their Christmas concert repertoire.
He is currently releasing a serialised opera on TikTok with The Sixteen, an idea which he thought was ridiculous, saying it would “sink without a trace”, but it has been gaining “interesting traction”.
Todd celebrates amateur music making and choirs, because people are there for the “sheer love” of music making, but recognises that professional choirs are also there to perform his work, and they want it to be as brilliant as possible for the composer.
Fighting for simplicity
He talks about what he calls the “artist mental trap” that he sees in other composers works: thinking that your music that will be performed by professional choirs should be complicated and involved, but he argues against that entirely.
He states that writing a simple piece may actually be the hardest piece you will ever write, comparing it to trying to making a good Spanish omelette with limited ingredients.
Simplicity is the underlying motivation for his works. He says that if a piece works well with an amateur choir, it will “incredibly well” with “elite choirs”.
Future projects
He is re-recording his jazz carol album, Christmas in Blue.
Opera’s are “ruling [his]” life at the moment. His opera, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is being performed on Opera Holland’s main stage. Opera North are doing 10 productions of his A Christmas Carol opera.
Oh and of course, walking the “love of [his] life”, his dog, Chesil.
Album review – Rolling Stone (402 words)
Bruno Mars carries 2016 into 2026 with his new album, ‘The Romantic’
After a decade without any solo album releases, Bruno Mars is back with another stylish, vibe-y album which tells the story of two star-crossed lovers.
By MATTHEW WOODS
February 28, 2026
Bruno Mars, credit: John V. Esparza
Since the end of 2025, social media has gone wild with the trend of 2026 being the new 2016. Users on all platforms shared memories from 10 years ago. Bruno Mars has decided to add to the trend, whether that be knowingly or not.
The Romantic lives up to its name. Each song feels like a heartfelt message to a loved one and covers all the emotions that are coaxed out by a romantic relationship. “Risk It All” brings back the same message as “Grenade” – the opening track on his very first album – that he would do anything for the one he loves, and the bolero-style makes a listener imagine him singing at someone’s second-floor window from the street.
The feel-good, R&B hit single “I Just Might” had listeners singing “Hey, Mr D.J.!” within hours of it’s release. “Dance With Me” has a similar doo-wop feel to his smash hit with Lady Gaga (“Die With A Smile”), the luscious harmonies and a swaying feel creates the image of a couple slow dancing. On the other hand, “Nothing Left” evokes the feeling of sorrow as a flame starts to die in a relationship.
It is clear from certain tracks that Mars is still exploring the same feel of his 2021 grammy-sweeping album with Anderson .Paak, An Evening With Silk Sonic, shown in the dance themed track, “Cha Cha Cha”. The sepia-toned horns in “God Was Showing Off” instantly sparks a nostalgic 70s feeling, like that of Chicago or Earth, Wind and Fire. Mars has endeavoured to create a smooth, easy-listing album about love, and despite there not being too much variety of ideas, it succeeds in that sense.
To put the album into perspective, it tells the story of a stereotypical story-book romance. It begins with Mars longing for someone, and promising he will do anything for them (“Risk It All”), then when they are together they go out and dance (“Cha Cha Cha”, “I Just Might”). Mars is clearly in love (“God Was Showing Off”) but things start going wrong (“Why You Wanna Fight”). Mars still feels the love despite this, as if trying to shove any problems away (“On My Soul”, “Something Serious”), but then he realises the problem won’t disappear, so he tries to fix it, and hopes that they will dance again (“Nothing Left”, “Dance With Me”).
Is it an overused concept? Maybe. Does Mars pull it off? Definitely!
(Overall – 2176 words)
Appendix
Interview video and transcript
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Transcript:
