Wonderful news: Bobby Womack's doctors have given the singer the all-clear from the colon cancer with which he was diagnosed in March. A posting on Womack's Facebook page reads:

"We're delighted to announce that Bobby Womack has successfully undergone surgery for suspected colon cancer. A tumour was removed last night which turned out to be cancer free. We wish him all the best in his recovery from the operation. Thank you for all your kind messages and support."

Womack is to release The Bravest Man in the Universe, an album co-produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell, on June 11 in the UK and June 12 in the U.S. via XL Recordings. It's his first record in 13 years; listen to a funk version of album track "Please Forgive My Heart" below: 

Last month, XL Recordings unveiled "Please Forgive My Heart", the first song from soul legend Bobby Womack's forthcoming solo LP, The Bravest Man in the Universe, due out on June 12 in the U.S. and June 11 in the UK. Below you can hear the title track from the album, which constitutes Womack's first LP of original material since 1994.

Photo by Jonny Donovan

Damon Albarn has been one of pop's great multi-taskers for years, but 2012 is shaping up to be an especially headline-heavy year. Just this month, he's finishing up three albums-- his project Rocket Juice & the Moon with Flea and Tony Allen, a new record from soul legend Bobby Womack he helped write and produce with XL Recordings' Richard Russell, and a "strange pastoral folk" record of songs he wrote for his Doctor Dee opera last year. He expects all three records to see release before the summer.

And oh yeah, he's rehearsing with his old buddies in Blur, too, though he was playfully cagey about that admission when we spoke with him on the phone from London last week.

For all the cynicism about money-grabbing majors, labels still offer artists the security they need to produce their best work

In the thread beneath one of my most recent articles about the 2012 report on digital music from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, StevieBee123 asked: "Sorry â€' what exactly do we need record companies for again?" LawlessGreed replied with a question of his own: "If there is no music industry, how are musicians supposed to earn a living from their work?" to which malcolm replied: "Try, ehhh, selling direct to the pubic ... no brainer!" That discussion, as well as one I had on Twitter has highlighted a certain confusion regarding what today's record labels actually do.

It's true the internet has been brilliant for artists in many ways, giving them an alternative route to make contact with and sell directly to fans, but record labels do much more than distribute to retailers. I recently spoke to Ed Sheeran's producer, Jake Gosling (more of which will appear in next week's Behind the Music), and asked why Sheeran had decided to sign with Asylum/Atlantic, part of Warner Music Group. After all, by working extremely hard for years the two of them had been able to record numerous EPs on their own, get to No 2 on the iTunes charts with one of them, get millions of hits on his SBTV video for You Need Me as well as...

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Photo by Erez Avissar

Lana Del Rey has recorded a track with Blur/Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn, XL Recordings owner Richard Russell, and esteemed soul artist Bobby Womack, as she has announced on Twitter. Womack has worked with Gorillaz in the past, and Russell and Albarn recently teamed up on the DRC Music project.