Singer Chris Martin dropped the bombshell at the Brits Award - as they won awards for best single and best album.

The star, hinting the break would be temporary, said as he picked up the second gong: "This means so much to us, especially now. It's going to be a few years before you see us again."
And Chris, 28, added: "People are fed up with us - and so are we."

Mates say he is breaking up the band, famed for worldwide hits Yellow and Speed of Sound, to spend more time with wife Gwyneth Paltrow - expecting their second baby in April. The singer later told Brits host Chris Evans, who had a self-imposed TV exile: "You had a break, so are we."

The four-piece group met at university in London in 1997 and landed a record deal two years later. They have recorded three award-winning albums: Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head and X&Y.

But recently there have been rumours that the three other members are unhappy at Chris attracting all the attention.