A DISABLED campaigner is hoping to beat the likes of Ryan Giggs and Danny Boyle to become Mancunian of the Year.

Carl Tilson wants people to vote for him in the category in the Pride of Manchester awards.

He hopes a win will increase awareness of the difficulties he and other sufferers of muscle-wasting condition Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, are faced with.

Despite being wheelchair-bound, having to be fed through a tube and needing a ventilator and heart monitoring equipment while he sleeps, he has raised around £100,000 over the past four years for the charity, Action Duchenne.

He has also appealed to the government to fund trials into finding a cure by taking a petition to the Prime Minister and spoken directly ministers in the Houses of Parliament.

Carl lives with his parents Fred and Linda on Lonsdale Avenue, Levenshulme, and will turn 23 next month. Most sufferers do not live past their early twenties.

He said: "I would like to appeal to people to consider casting their vote for me as Mancunian of the year not only because I would love the honour of receiving such a privilege, but because the awareness it would raise would immensely help my cause.

"It would also give hope for the other young men and children of today that maybe a treatment will come available in this generation."

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is caused by a gene defect and affects one in 3,500 boys from birth, but hardly any girls.

Those affected are born without the production of a protein called Dystrophin, and their muscles gradually deteriorate, which not only affects mobility, but also the control of the heart and respiratory systems.

Carl was nominated for Mancunian of the Year by his dad Fred Tilson - the son of Fred Tilson Snr who scored the winning goal for Manchester City in the FA Cup final in 1934.

This is the third year the Pride of Manchester awards have been held, across a number of categories.

Last year's winner of Mancunian of the Year was Tom Buckley, a cancer sufferer who completed a coast-to-coast walk in wintry conditions to raise money for The Christie hospital. Tom died last May.

Carl is up against a number of high profile contenders such as Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Take That's Gary Barlow.

Neil Jones, one of the organisers of the Pride of Manchester Awards, said: "Carl is the ideal candidate and he would be the perfect winner.

"It's great that someone who is not that well known can compete against the celebrities.

"His position is similar to last year's winner, Tom Buckley, in that he does a lot to raise money and awareness while being ill himself."

Voting is open online until February 15. To vote, go to www.prideofmanchester.com/awards/2009i.htm and choose from the drop-down menu.

Winners will be announced on March 1.
http://www.southmanchesterreporter.co.uk/news....op_manc
Это всё про выбор лучшего манкунианца

Gary Barlow
Raising the Bar ... Gary wins Bizarre Lord

BIZARRE Lord and Lady were an easy choice - GARY BARLOW and SUSAN BOYLE.

Not content with topping the charts, entertaining the nation and knocking out another kid with his missus Dawn, Gary has given his time to raise millions for charity.

The TAKE THAT hero put together a team of celebs to climb Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief and raised Ј3.5million.

He then organised a Children In Need concert at the Albert Hall, raising another fortune. Gaz, I salute you.

Gary, MARK OWEN, HOWARD DONALD and JASON ORANGE also scoop Best Live Act for Take That's Circus Tour, the stand-out show from a year of special gigs.

SuBo, the highland lassie with the big hits and the hairy chassis, has made me proud to be Scottish.

She has stormed the world with a smile on her face and kept her feet firmly back on the ground in Blackburn, West Lothian.

She accepted her award like it was the Nobel Peace Prize. For that, Susan, you will always be a pal of Bizarre.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol....NFbq58B

The Take That frontman piled on the pounds following the boy band's first split in 1996 and admits it became so bad he was having trouble doing every day tasks.

The father-of-3 - who recently celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary with wife Dawn - said: "For a couple of years in the late 90s I suffered with depression and I ballooned to [233 lbs] by the year 2000. I was practically immobile and found it hard to move around. I remember waking up one morning and trying to sit up in bed and it was so hard. Getting out of bed was such an effort.

"Then when I walked around the bed, Dawn just watched me and noticed that I was becoming a little immobile. And she said, 'Do you want to go to the doctor? It might be worthwhile finding out why you are getting so heavy.' Of course, she knew why, I was b***dy eating!"

The "Greatest Day" singer says he felt he had "failed" himself because he had let his weight get out of control.

He added to Britain's OK! magazine: "I look back at pictures of me when I was heavier and it's like being in your own prison. And it's true, and the bigger you are the smaller you feel. You become embarrassed about it. You're meant to look after yourself and I failed because I looked like that."
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/enterta....ht-woes

GARY Barlow has put all his other song-writing commitments on hold to concentrate on finishing the next Take That album.

Sony/ATV have signed up Gaz, 38, to a massive deal to pen hits for other artists.

But the firm’s boss Rak Shanghiv said: “He’s got to focus on the Take That record with the rest of the guys and they’re doing it now, but he’s not a man who sits around.

“I’m sure the second the Take That record is in the bag he’ll be off on other projects.”

I revealed last week that Take That have already recorded five new tracks with Robbie Williams, 35, for the new album expected to be released later this year.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlis....t-album

The X Factor judge, who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief with Barlow last year would however, not want to sing with the rest of the band.

Chezza revealed in a a recent interview: "You have to hand it to Take That. They're amazing entertainers with fantastic songs and great characters,"

She added: "When they arrived on the scene, there was such hysteria. They are doing so brilliantly the second time around."

The Girls Aloud singer, who recently split with love rat hubby Ashley Cole said: "I would love to work with Gary Barlow. I think he's a fantastic lyricist but I'm not into singing with a boy band."

Like Cheryl, Take That were hit with their own cheating scandal last week when singer Mark Owen confessed to having numerous affairs during his relationship with wife Emma.
http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists....rk-owen

Kick-Ass director MATTHEW VAUGHN threw the bash at his Notting Hill pad after hitting the red carpet in Leicester Square for the premiere of his new film.

Gary Barlow, Noel Clarke and Dizzee Rascal attend the Kick Ass European Premiere after party at director Matthew Vaughn's house in London

Sadly wife CLAUDIA SCHIFFER couldn't knock back the champers - as she is expecting their third child.

And she wasn't the only mum-to-be propping up her belly.

AARON JOHNSON, who stars as the unlikely superhero in the flick, was accompanied by pregnant fiancee SAM TAYLOR-WOOD - 23 years his senior.

Child star CHLOE MORETZ and co-star CHRISTOPHER MINTZE-PLASSE also partied with the adults.

Little Chloe may only be 13, but she is already causing quite a stir in Hollywood.

She takes centre stage in the movie as a foul-mouthed killing machine called Hit Girl.

The surprise appearance of the night went to producer BRAD PITT, who also delighted fans by signing autographs in the chilly London weather.

Brit stars GARY BARLOW, DIZZEE RASACAL, GARY BARLOW and NOEL CLARKE also got in on the act.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol....1l5Fzts

An impressive list of artists is now using the Roland V-Piano, including Gary Barlow (pictured), Yusuf Islam, Russell Watson, Mike Skinner (The Streets), Sade, Moby, Kate Nash, Howard Jones and Jon Lord.

The V-Piano's strength in the pro market lies in the fact that it doesn't use samples to create its sound, but rather emulation parameters devloped by Roland.

The state-of-the-art technology on board means that the V-Piano can sound like a classic grand piano complete but it can also sound like a futuristic hybrid.

Jon Lord, the Deep Purple keyboard player and composer led the raft of praise. “The V-Piano is nigh on perfect. Astoundingly good – responsive and intuitive. A great pleasure to play," he said.

“My issue with electric pianos is the attack not being transient at the front and as soon as I played the Roland V-Piano it had that straightaway," said 80s electro sensation, Howard Jones.
http://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news....profile

Duffy closed the night by playing a short acoustic set. She says she was extremely excited to be at the event, adding, “It is an honour to be invited to the Music Week Awards; it is always guaranteed to be a fantastic night.

“It’s been quite hectic so far, trying to talk to as many people as possible, but I’ve been enjoying every minute of it. I’m really happy as well at the great reception I got from the crowd.”

Meanwhile, Dizzee Rascal was set to present the manager of the year award to his manager Nick Detnon, but ended up accepting the award himself after Detnon got stuck in Scotland.

“It’s a pity he couldn’t be here,” says Dizzee. “Nick is a brilliant manager and without him I would not be where I am today. I owe him a lot and am really proud and happy for him. I am having a great time tonight. It is great to be around so many brilliant and influential people.”

Lemar, who presented the A&R award to Epic’s Nick Raphael and Jo Charrington, said it was refreshing to turn the tables on the Epic executives, who have previously seen him pick up awards.

“I honestly think they are very good at their jobs,” he says. “A&R is not something that anyone can do very well. Nick and Jo have always sat down and spoken to me to find out about where I am coming from as an artist and where I am going to go.”

Gary Barlow started the night off by presenting the award for live promotion team of the year to SJM’s Simon Moran, who promoted the band’s tour last year. He did not give a speech but told Music Week later that he was very pleased to present the award to the SJM executive.

Dame Vera Lynn had been scheduled to turn up to present the award for PR campaign to Decca’s Caroline Crick but was unable to make it on the night. However, she did send a letter, which Music Week associate editor Robert Ashton read out on stage, praising the label’s work on the campaign.
http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1040815&c=1

Кисс и “BBC Radio 1” получили награды Music Week Awards
Две награды в категории на "Радио" награждении Music Week Awards были получены BBC Radio 1 и Kiss 100.

BBC Radio 1 увезла домой награду “Национальная радиостанция года”, а “Kiss 100” получила награду “Региональная радиостанция года”.

Обе награды были спонсированы “PPL” (компания, занимающаяся лицензированием аудио и видео записей для использования в прямом эфире, публичного исполнения], награждение прошло в отеле “Хилтон”, шоу вел комедийный актер Стивен Амос (Stephen K Amos). Для присутствующих выступила Даффи, а Гари Барлоу вручил одну из наград.

http://www.radioportal.ru/news....ritanii