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http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c134/simon14/79745897.jpg WHAT could be a better Valentine's Day present than three floors of fashion from one of our favourite high street stores? Last night, London's fashionable folk – Sophie Ellis-Bextor and VOGUE.COM blogger Virginia Bates among them - turned out in force to celebrate the opening of cult Swedish label H&M's new flagship branch on Regent Street. "They do great pieces and at good, affordable prices," Sophie told us, fresh from a stint of front-row show-watching at London Fashion Week. "I went to Richard Nicoll today - it was amazing, so confident and sexy. And also House of Holland, which is really fun," she said. Entering via a rose-adorned arch, guests made their way down to the lower ground floor where a haven of sweet treats à la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory awaited them – trees constructed from chocolate-dipped fruit, Ladurée macaroon pyramids, cupcakes, profiteroles and mini meringues! Sounds like Sophie was in heaven yesterday! source: Vogue.com

http://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk/shared/contentbinaries/publish/2156370.jpg Sophie Ellis Bextor and Robin Gibb were among the latest celebrities to catch a show at this week's London Fashion Week. The 28-year-old songstress attended the PPQ catwalk show and revealed that she had been a real fan of the label for "a little while". She said: "Throughout last year when I did my third album I ended up wearing quite a few of their bits. I like where they're coming from you know, it's a nice mixture of style and it's very youthful and it's got a bit of humour about it as I quite like designers that aren't too po-faced about everything." Sophie also revealed that she is working on new material for her greatest hits album, which she hopes to release in late spring. Meanwhile, Bee Gee Robin Gibb, who's currently working on the Bee Gees broadway musical, admitted he was a follower of fashion and tries to catch a show when he's in Milan and Paris too. "I'm here because I like the atmosphere. It's just a good buzz to see all the different styles and the innovations it's very healthy, very inspiring," he said.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is taking part of the National Doodle Day. The event will happen on March 7. It’s about having fun while raising funds to help people whose lives are affected by epilepsy and neurofibromatosis. People from UK can vote for Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s doodle using the mobile phone. Text DOODLE 240 to 80039 to vote! Sophie’s doodle will be auctioned on eBay in March 2008. http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/nationaldoodleday/2008/celebs/2008/Low-res/Sophie%20Ellis%20Bexter.jpg

Sophie is thinking about opening a gay 80s club in London!! She is in talks with the team behind the Rebel Rebel club brand. - Taken from Boyz Magazine

Sorry if already posted but listen to this! http://www.heatworld.com/Article/4554/Girl...80%93+IN+FRENCH What do you think?

This post has been posted loads of times before IF YOU GO or IF I CANT DANCE Should of been released

If you go

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WIERD She really likes Amy though - or at least her music - she was seen holding her cd when getting out of her car last month lol

She wants her own club night dont she...so maybe it will turn into a regular thing!

This Friday Sophie and her husband Richard are making another special appearance in the DJ booth, this time at trendy London club night, Easy Lover. The night is happening at one of the most talked about London Clubs, Punk, where Kate Moss recently had her 34th Birthday. The doors are open from 9pm to 3am and entry is just £5 before 11pm and £10 thereafter.

well done Amy!

I hope the price is right too - if its like under a tenner that will help its sales... I hope its not like 15.99 cos its a 2cd - that will put people off buying it! oh yeah I have Natalies new album!

Well guys not long till "late spring" when the GH is out - and the single is coming out before that...which could be the "Heartbreak make me a dancer" single - lets hope! (with the freemasons!) Im sure this is going to be a big hit and get Sophie back at the top again and save us fans from moaning about her not releasing the right single!

Sounds like a great idea! Stronger Than Me: 10 You Send Me Flying: 10 Know You Now: 10 Pumps: 11+ I Heard Love Is Blind: 10 Moody's Mood For Love: 10 There Is No Greater Love: 10 In My Bed: 10 Take The Box: 10 October Song: 10 What Is It About Men: 10 Help Yourself: 9- Amy, Amy, Amy: 10

Amy Winehouse's husband has begged the troubled singer not to leave him in an emotional love letter. Blake Fielder-Civil feared that Amy would be furious with him for disclosing details of their turbulent relationship to his mother Georgette, who then gave an exclusive interview to a Sunday newspaper. Georgette explained that her son had threatened to divorce Winehouse if she did not check into rehab, and revealed how the star had fallen asleep during visits to jailed Blake. In his letter to Amy, Blake has vowed that he will prove his loyalty to the singer and her family by disowning his parents. "Baby, oh darling. Please don't leave me Amy. I'm so worried that now you're thinking straight you'll realise I'm not worthy of you. Oh God, please don't leave me," he wrote. "I'll do anything to show you my heart and loyalty is with you." "Me and my family are finished for good. No visits, phone calls, nothing," he continued. "I love my new family and can't wait to show them I'm not just a f****** loser and that I can look after their daughter. That's if you can find it in your heart to trust me. "Your my family now, if you'll all have me. Pls don't leave me Amy, Pls. I love you so much, Blake xxx." Amy's father Mitch Winehouse confirmed to the News of the World: "Amy was furious with Georgette's attack - but Blake's letter left her in tears. She asks you to publish it to show how determined they are to beat drugs and save their marriage and their lives. I support that - as long as it is a drug-free relationship."

She generated almost deafening buzz last year, but industry insiders, pop culture bloggers and pop music fans weren't just going on about Amy Winehouse's music. Sure, her sound -- a self-consciously retro blend of vintage Motown beats and punchy Stax horns overlaid with wry, self-penned lyrics -- stood out. It was all showcased on Back to Black, the British star's American debut, which is up for the album of the year award on tonight's 50th Annual Grammy Awards show. Behind Kanye West, who leads with eight nominations, the blue-eyed soul sensation is up for six shiny gramophones, including record and song of the year for her ironic hit "Rehab." Critics endlessly praised her rich woozy vocal style, dripping with Billie Holiday influences, and the record has sold more than 2 million copies. But her well-publicized troubles with drugs and alcohol have seemingly overshadowed the record and her skills. In keeping it real by defending her drug and alcohol addiction, Winehouse perpetuates an old stereotype of the downtrodden blues woman whose greatest art comes from her greatest private pains. But rather than being genuine, something about Winehouse -- the music and persona -- feels contrived. Perhaps in an attempt to be authentic, to keep it real, she seemingly has gone out of her way to make her troubles very public. And in this reality-show age where the public's appetite for self-destructive stars is almost fiendish, Winehouse absolutely shines. "She has gotten so much hype and so many nominations because of her behavior," says Neysa Ricciardi, a singer-songwriter based in Philadelphia. "In every category, there were songs and artists that I found far more compelling than Amy Winehouse." And amid all this hype, Winehouse's representatives said late Friday that she won't attend tonight's Grammys in Los Angeles. Although she resolved her visa issues with the U.S. Embassy, she'll still appear via satellite from London. Winehouse apparently decided not to stray too far from the very place she sang about never entering: rehab. "Sometimes the nominations and winners of the Grammys remind me more of a People's Choice Awards than a contest among music professionals, with just as much sway coming from the tabloids as from the persuasion of music," says Ricciardi, a voting member of the Recording Academy. Late last month -- after talks with her record label, management, family and doctors -- Winehouse checked into a treatment facility. This was days after the 24-year-old singer-songwriter was pictured in The Sun, the British tabloid, inhaling fumes from a glass pipe. The shot came from a homemade video, time-stamped Jan. 18, that shows the artist with messy blond hair, sitting in her London flat smoking what the British Sun says is crack. But that was just one in a yearlong series of pitiful Winehouse incidents caught by private and paparazzi cameras. Images of the singer looking high or inebriated on stage or wandering half-dressed and crying through a London street have been all over tabloids and the Internet. After her husband Blake Fielder-Civil was sent to jail for perverting the cause of justice after a bar fight, Winehouse stopped touring. And her drug use reportedly increased. She has said in interviews that her longtime volatile relationship with Fielder-Civil, whom she married in May, inspired the songs on Back to Black. The artist claims to have written the pain-in-my-heart lyrics during a break-up. "This situation could be looked at as a case study of Schadenfreude," says Patty Williamson, a media professor at Central Michigan University. "Schadenfreude is a German term that more or less refers to the pleasure we take in others' misfortune or humiliation. ... It can also be applied to the fascination we all have with the stories surrounding Winehouse, Britney, Lindsay Lohan and the like. However, Winehouse is one of the few paparazzi targets that has actually garnered critical praise for her talent." But with just two albums (her debut, Frank, was issued in the United States in November), there is definitely room for more development. On Back to Black, Winehouse affects soulful nuances better than her acclaimed British soul-revitalizing peer Joss Stone. With a biting, Brill Building-inspired approach and a hip-hopped Ronettes look, Winehouse has managed to stand out in a crowded field of overdone pop diva wannabes. Her sound, of course, owes much to Motown, Phil Spector and Booker T. and the MGs. But Lauryn Hill did the retro, hip-hopped soul mix more convincingly years ago. And it was the Dap-Kings, a Brooklyn-based soul-funk band known for backing the dynamic and woefully underrated Sharon Jones, that re-created the dusty, '60s sound heard on Back to Black. Despite the artifice of Winehouse's image and sound, she is genuinely talented -- a distinctive singer and a sometimes brilliantly sarcastic songwriter. There's definitely much more for her to accomplish. It will be interesting to see how she blossoms once she shakes her demons and transcends the old, tired blues-woman persona. And when or if she cleans up her act, it will be interesting to see whether the public still cares about Amy Winehouse.

BERLIN (Hollywood Reporter) - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has offered troubled singer Amy Winehouse some free advice on kicking the drug habit. "She should get her act together," the former junkie said during a round-table interview at the Berlin International Film Festival on Friday to promote Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones documentary "Shine a Light." The often-addled rocker paused, then added: "Apart from that, I have got nothing to say to the b****." Winehouse, 24, entered a London rehab clinic last month in hopes of kicking a destructive habit that has overshadowed her promising career. Stones frontman Mick Jagger, himself no stranger to pharmaceutical experimentation and resulting legal troubles, compared the drug problems of the present generation of Brit rock stars, such as Winehouse and Pete Doherty, to his early days when drugs became an integral part of the pop music scene. "When we were experimenting with drugs, little was known about the effects," Jagger said. "In our time there were no rehab centres like today. Anyway, I did not know about them." Sounding a bit like the 64-year-old grandfather that he is, the fitness fanatic said he couldn't understand how the younger generation, knowing the dangers of drug use, could still be users. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Mark Ronson and Mighty Boosh haunt Hawley Arms caught up in London blaze Amy Winehouse’s local pub, The Hawley Arms, based in London’s Camden area, has suffered severe fire damage. At around 7:10pm GMT tonight (February 9) a fire began sweeping through Camden, causing extensive damage to the famous Camden Market and surrounding properties. So far no-one is thought to have been injured by the fire. Camden is a mecca for musicians, with venues such as Barfly, the Electric Ballroom and the Underworld being located near the site of the fire. The fire is thought to have originated from a street behind the famous pub, which is frequented by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Razorlight, Mark Ronson and ‘The Mighty Boosh’’s Noel Fielding. Doug Charles-Riddler, the landlord of the pub, told Sky News: “There are lots of questions which must be answered about how the fire has spread such a distance, up to 100 yards, in such a short time. “I do not know the full extent of the damage as yet as I can't get anywhere near my pub. Obviously as I wait I am fearing the worst.” A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade explained that they would now be there for several days dampening down, and investigating the cause of the fire. They spokesperson said that the fire spread quickly due to the density of the area. They maintained that after the involvement of at least 100 firefighters working during the blaze's peak, the fire is now under control. NME

shame about all them tatoos - they dont look amazing do they... she would look sooo fresh without them

Winehouse Gets Visa, Too Late for AwardsFeb 8, 11:02 PM (ET) By RAPHAEL G. SATTER LONDON (AP) - Amy Winehouse's work visa was approved after all, but the State Department's change of heart Friday wasn't in time for her to make the trip to Sunday's Grammy Awards. Instead, the rehabbing British singer will go ahead with the backup plan that was concocted while her visa was still in limbo: a live performance, via satellite, from a studio in London where she will also accept any awards that may come her way. Winehouse and her acclaimed "Back to Black" album are nominated for Grammys in six categories. "Unfortunately, due to the logistics involved and timing complications, Amy will not be traveling to the U.S. to perform at the Grammys in person," the Outside Organization said in a statement. Winehouse's original visa application was denied under U.S. immigration rules regarding the "use and abuse of narcotics," a senior State Department official said Friday, on condition of anonymity because the U.S. Embassy in London's application deliberations are confidential. As a British citizen, Winehouse would not normally need a visa to enter the United States - unless she wanted to work or perform. The Department of Homeland Security had been "rapidly" processing her appeal, the official said. But the reversal, barely 48 hours before the beginning of the telecast, came too late. "Amy would like to thank all of those people, in particular the staff involved at the U.S. Embassy in London, who have all worked so hard to expedite her application," Outside said. "She is looking forward to being a part of the 50th Annual Grammy Awards with her Sunday night performance and to going back to the U.S. soon." Even if Winehouse had been able to board a non-stop flight from London to Los Angeles immediately after her visa came through Friday, the earliest she would have arrived would have been the wee hours of Saturday morning. That grueling itinerary would have left little time for her to rest and recover from a more than 12-hour journey, rehearse, and face the inevitable storm of attention that's been building during the will-she-or-won't-she-be-there drama of the past days. Winehouse's potent blend of blues, jazz, pop and soul has won praise from critics and fans, but her chaotic personal life has increasingly upstaged her music. Concerned family members regularly beg Winehouse to seek help in letters splashed across the pages of British tabloid newspapers and magazines. Last month, The Sun newspaper ran still images from a video that it claimed showed Winehouse inhaling fumes from a small pipe. The images were said to have been filmed during a party at her London home. Shortly thereafter, Winehouse entered a London rehabilitation center, and has been questioned by police. Outside said earlier Friday that she was leaving the center to prepare for her performance. It added that the singer would remain under medical supervision. Other British music acts have had difficulty securing visas. Lily Allen was scheduled to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, but the pop star's visa was revoked. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services hasn't commented, but her manager has said he suspected it was because Allen was arrested in London in June after an altercation with photographers.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVE PIC PIC 1 - http://www.exclaim.ca/images/up-winehouse_lrg.jpg PIC 2 - http://www.handbagdesigner101.com/images/img_celebrity/125/HUGE_amy_winehouse.jpg