Groove Armada, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Tulisa, Will Young and Heather Small will be among many artists appearing at this weekend’s Manchester Pride.

The Big Weekend runs from Friday 26 to Monday 29 August with the famous Parade on Saturday 27 August through the centre of Manchester.

Groove Armada duo Andy Cato and Tom Findlay met in London in the mid 90s. The concept started as a series of nights across London. The pair have returned to their roots in recent years.2015 saw GA release their 7th studio album, revisiting the Moda Black label for the ‘Little Black Book’ package. The double disk album featured 21 new tracks, as well as remixes from a hand picked selection of producers from Kolsch, Joris Voorn, Huxley, Pillow Talk and more.

This year has seen the pair mix the prestigious Fabric CD, with new remixes, new original material and exciting collaborations in the pipeline.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor shifted away from her previous dance and disco sound in 2014 with the release of Wanderlust, an album full of baroque chamber pop and experimental flirtations with folk, while its follow up Familia, recorded in just ten days, also saw new success for the star.

Tulisa achieved massive success and recognition as part of the dynamite trio N-Dubz. Their albums ‘Uncle B,’ ‘Against All Odds’ and ‘Love.Live.Life’ have to-date sold over 1 million copies in the UK. A sold out Arena tour, over 100 million views on YouTube, a No.1 bestselling book and four MOBO Award wins. Since then Tulisa’s career has gone supernova, she is a superstar singer, multi-platinum selling artist and previous X Factor judge.

Heather Small was, and is the voice of M People whohad massive hits in the 90s including ‘Moving On Up’, ‘How Can I Love You More?’, ‘Search For The Hero’ and ‘One Night In Heaven’. The band won the Mercury Music Prize in 1994 and won the ‘Best British Dance Act’ at the Brit Awards in both 1994 and 1995. Heather has released two solo albums and has had major success with the anthem ‘Proud’.

While Will Young arrives in Manchester, following on from the huge success of his critically acclaimed album ‘85% Proof’ which went straight in at Number one on the UK Official Album Chart, as well as a live tour.

Other acts you can see over the weekend include, Nigerian born MNEK, born in London but raised in Manchester, Shura, who is presently recording her debut album, and San Francisco based collective of four Honey Soundsystem.

The culmination of The Big Weekend is The Candlelit Vigil in which Sackville Gardens is turned into a sea of flickering candles as the festival take a minute to remember those lost to the HIV virus and join together to fight the epidemic worldwide and the stigma that still exists

Tickets are on sale priced at £25, for four days to The Big Weekend 2016 are now on sale. 

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