This is a summary of 2001 in music in the United Kingdom. Events 13 February – Peter Frampton receives the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award. 17 February – Manic Street Preachers become the first western rock band to play in Cuba. (Fidel Castro is in attendance.) They did not tour, meaning that an unsigned British rock band, Sandstone Veterans, remain the only band from the western world to tour Cuba. 8 March – Melanie C announces she does not intend to do any more work with the Spice Girls. Although the group denies it is splitting, it would not be active again until 2007. 26 March – Damon Albarn's project Gorillaz releases their eponymous debut studio album, which would sell over seven million copies worldwide by 2007, earning them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. 28 March – Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 replaces Max Bruch's violin concerto at #1 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. 4 April – Original Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent reunite for a two-part performance at London's Jazz Cafe, the first time the two had performed together in over 30 years. 16 June – Romanian tenor Marius Brenciu becomes the first performer to win both the main prize and the song prize in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. 2 July – Liverpool Airport is rechristened Liverpool John Lennon Airport in an official ceremony. 21 September – Welsh band Catatonia split up amicably, and after Cerys Matthews' treatment in rehab for alcohol and smoking problems. 1 November – The governing body of the UK Singles Chart, Chart Information Network Ltd. (CIN), changes its name to The Official UK Charts Company. 4 December – Promoters for So Solid Crew cancel their then planned tour – after a shooting at a gig at the London Astoria on 4 November, which saw two men hospitalised. Classical music Summary Russell Watson came to the fore in 2001, with the release of his best-selling album The Voice. Another hit album was the score from Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Stephen Warbeck. Karl Jenkins "mass for peace", entitled The Armed Man, went quickly into the Classic FM top 300 annual chart, making him the highest-placed living composer. Works Robat Arwyn – Atgof o'r Sêr Peter Maxwell Davies – Symphony No. 8 (Antarctic Symphony) Howard