Good afternoon. What a week it’s been! What with Obama’s Presidential procession and the world-haltering Inauguration, oh, and the Brit Award Nominations.

Here’s a look at the week that has been.

MBC artists received 6 nominations for this year’s Brit Awards on Tuesday. Duffy picked up four nominations (British Female Solo, British Breakthrough Act, British Single and British Album), a feat only matched by Coldplay.

Will Young celebrated his 30th birthday on Tuesday in true style with a nomination for British Male Solo. Will has been in Iceland filming the video for his excellent new single “Let It Go”, released March 2nd.

After scoring his first-ever UK No. 1 last year, Neil Diamond will battle it out for the International Male Solo award at the Brits next month.

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MBC artists were also on hand to welcome Barack Obama into the White House on Tuesday. Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright and Il Divo all played in what was a musical feast of epic portions, spread over 10 Inaugural Balls.

Elvis Costello headlined at the Creative Coalition Inaugural Ball on Tuesday evening. While Rufus Wainwright performed with Cyndi Lauper at the Gay Inauguration Ball, and Il Divo played at the Purple Ball.

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Il Divo embark on their World Tour next month. Starting off at Manchester’s MEN Arena, Feb 21st, 2009, the world’s most successful operatic quartet will play 11 UK dates.

They will visit 30 European countries along the way, this will be followed by a 3 month North American tour, before heading to south America, Australia and Asia later in the year.

Il Divo’s new show will be staged and choreographed by William Baker (Kylie, Jamiroquai). The state of the art set also offers fans the chance to sit within the staging.

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Just Jack’s hot new single “Embers” has been picking up more airplay. Lily Allen played the track when stepping in for Zane Lowe on his Radio One show this week. “Embers” is set for release March 30th, with his stunning new LP ‘All Night Cinema’ to follow in April.

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‘Rachel Getting Married’ opens today. Robyn Hitchcock stars as a wedding guest in the film and also plays “Up To Our Nex”, a track written for the movie. The song also features on Robyn Hitchcock’s excellent LP ‘Goodnight Oslo’, out Feb 9th.

Robyn sets out on his UK tour in February, which includes an unmissable date at London’s Union Chapel (Feb 12th).

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Karima Francis wowed the crowd at London’s Barfly on Monday. Karima performed an intimate acoustic gig, which featured a must-be-heard stripped-down version of Kings Of Leon’s “Use Somebody” and “Again” from her debut album ‘The Author’.

Delta Spirit tore through an incredible set at Water Rats on Monday, finding enough time to swap instruments on the way. Their hook-laden single “Trashcan” was released on Monday too.

The Fray return on Monday with the release of their stunning new single “You Found Me”. The track has been playlisted on Radio One and is featured on hit show ‘Lost’.

They are playing a special sold out date at the Scala, Feb 10th. They will be announcing details of a UK tour very shortly, so stay tuned.