Sony Music UK is celebrating the most successful BRIT Awards in the company\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
In a truly historic and unprecedented evening, Sony Music dominated the Awards securing seven of the 11 awards announced during the ceremony, which is the most prestigious night in the UK music industry calendar. In total, Sony Music secured nine awards – including the previously revealed Critics\u2019 Choice and Icon awards – at the 37th BRIT Awards.<\/p>\n
The coveted MasterCard British Album of the Year was given to the late David Bowie<\/a> for his critically lauded and commercially successful No.1 studio album \u2605. Bowie’s son, film director Duncan Jones, accepted the award on his late father\u2019s behalf. Bowie also claimed a second win with the British Male Solo Artist award. That award was collected by actor Michael C Hall, the star of Bowie\u2019s stage show Lazarus<\/em>.<\/p>\n Rag\u2019n\u2019Bone Man<\/a> \u2013 fresh from securing the fastest-selling male debut album of the decade with his No.1 Human<\/em> \u2013\u00a0<\/i>had already been announced as the Critics\u2019 Choice winner in December. Rag\u2019n\u2019Bone Man,\u00a0aka\u00a0Rory Graham, then added a second BRIT last night by being named the British Breakthrough Act. As a result, he became the first\u00a0artist to ever win Critics\u2019 Choice and British Breakthrough in the same\u00a0year.\u00a0<\/p>\n There was a first BRIT Award for Little Mix<\/a>. The band had opened the show with a phenomenal performance \u2013 before taking the British Single honour for their No.1 Shout Out to My Ex<\/em>. It is the culmination of the quartet\u2019s most successful year to date, in which they performed to more than 300,000 fans on a sell-out UK arena tour before their latest Platinum-selling album Glory Days<\/em> spent five weeks at No.1, the longest run for a girl group at the top of the charts since the Spice Girls.\u00a0<\/p>\n One Direction<\/a> also received their seventh BRIT Award, taking the accolade for British Artist Video of the Year for History<\/em>. The band\u2019s Liam Payne collected the award, appropriately, from Simon Cowell.\u00a0<\/p>\n There was also success for Sony Music international\u00a0artists. Beyonc\u00e9<\/a> received the award for International Female Solo Artist for her groundbreaking and\u00a0acclaimed No.1 album Lemonade<\/em>. It came little more than a week after she collected her 21st and 22nd Grammy Awards. Hip-hop pioneers A Tribe Called\u00a0Quest – who formed in 1985 – were named International Group, following the\u00a0release of their album We\u00a0got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your<\/i> Service<\/i>.\u00a0It is their first BRIT Award.<\/p>\n Robbie\u00a0Williams<\/a> \u2013\u00a0the BRIT Awards record holder\u00a0\u2013 was announced as this year\u2019s Icon\u00a0recipient in\u00a0October, giving him an astonishing 18th BRIT. He celebrated by closing the show with an effervescent and sparkling set.<\/p>\n Jason Iley<\/a>, Chairman and CEO, Sony Music UK and Ireland, said, \u201cthis is a truly momentous and historic night for Sony Music\u2019s artists \u2013 and is just reward for so many people\u2019s dedication and hard work. I would like to congratulate and pay tribute to all of our artists from around the world. Everyone at Sony Music is proud and humbled every day to work alongside people with such exceptional creativity, drive and musicianship. I would also like to thank all the brilliant people at Sony Music, whose passion and determination has helped deliver the artists\u2019 vision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The 37th BRIT Awards was held at London\u2019s O2 Arena \u2013 and featured phenomenal performances from Sony Music artists Little Mix, Robbie Williams, The Chainsmokers<\/a> \u2013 with a worldwide exclusive performance of their new collaboration single with Coldplay – and Red Essential distributed, Skepta.<\/p>\n The event was also a particularly poignant occasion \u2013 with tributes to a number of legendary Sony Music artists who passed away in 2016, including David Bowie, Leonard Cohen<\/a> and George Michael<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michael passed away on Christmas Day aged just 53. In a simple but startlingly beautiful tribute, Coldplay\u2019s Chris Martin delivered a moving performance of Michael\u2019s 1986 No.1 A Different Corner<\/em>. The song was introduced by the artist\u2019s former colleagues in Wham!<\/a>, Andrew Ridgeley, Helen \u2018Pepsi\u2019 DeMacque-Crockett and Shirlie Kemp.<\/p>\n Watch the BRIT Awards in full here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n