This year’s BRIT Awards proved to be a glitzy affair, with stars including One Direction, Rihanna, Kylie Minogue, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Jessie J gathering together in London for the highly anticipated ceremony.
Hosted by comedian James Corden, the annual event saw Ed Sheeran and Adele emerge as the big winners of the night, with two gongs each, with others including Rihanna, One Direction and Bruno Mars.
Kicking off the ceremony in style, Brit rockers Coldplay gave a performance of their hit Charlie Brown, before a moving video montage paid tribute to the late R&B/soul singer Whitney Houston, who died just over a week ago on February 11.
Florence + the Machine followed this up with their hit No Light No Light, before a simply stunning-looking Kylie Minogue, dressed in an electric blue dress, introduced the nominees for best British Female Solo Artist – Adele, Jessie J, Florence and the Machine, Kate Bush and Laura Marling.
Rolling in the Deep singer Adele, who also looked beautiful in a sheer black gown, was announced as the winner, and was clearly delighted with the win.
She said: “Hello, oooh my god. ooh thank you so much.” After being told how good she looked off Kylie, Adele responded: “I look like a drag queen next to you!”
Adele continued: “It’s been am amazing year than you so much… thanks to my fans. No one’s ever made me feel like I’m to be any different, thank you very much!”
The next award of the night was International Male Solo Artist, and Jessie J and Jack Whitehall had the honour of presenting this gong to the lucky winner, Bruno Mars, who had gone up against Aloe Blacc, Bon Iver, David Guetta and Ryan Adams.
Bruno – who won Best International Breakthrough Act as last year’s BRITs - said “Yeah!” then joked that the award “is almost taller than me.”
The singer also delighted the screaming crowd by telling fans they can expect his second album very soon.
Next up, it was time for another performance, this time from Olly Murs and Rizzle Kicks, who performed their hit Heart Skips a Beat.
Then Scottish star Emeli Sande – currently at number one in the UK album charts with debut album Our Version of Events – was announced as the winner of the Critics’ Choice gong, with her win previously been confirmed in December last year.
Following that, rising star Ed Sheeran performed his acoustic hit Lego House, before Tinie Tempah jumped on stage to present the award to the winner of the coveted British Single award.
Massive boyband One Direction snatched the win with their single What Makes You Beautiful, beating off extremely tough competition from the likes of Adele, Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, Example and the Military Wives.
What Makes You Beautiful was without a doubt one of the catchiest tracks of 2011, so it was a well deserved win. We’re sure those cheeky scamps will be celebrating with a few glasses of champagne tonight! Well done boys.
The band were delighted with their win, with cheeky chap Louis saying: “We can not believe that we are stood here on this stage… This award is for the fans, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you,” and Niall told the group’s fans: “This is for you!”
The next award of the night was for International Female, and Rihanna managed to beat off competition from Beyonce, Bjork, Feist and Lady Gaga. It's the second year in a row the Barbados-born beauty has lifted the gong, and she was clearly ecstatic with her win, presented to her by Jenson Button.
Accepting the honour, she thanked her record label as well as her fans, saying: “Thanks to all my fans who continue to support me no matter what - I love you, this is for you. And at times when I feel misunderstood my fans always remind me that it’s OK to be myself and I will never forget you for that, so thank you.”
Next up, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds gave a rousing performance of their song What a Life, before it was time for a tribute to another late star – this time British soul and jazz singer Amy Winehouse, who sadly passed away last July.
Following that, Plan B, last year’s winner of the British Male Solo Artist gong, took to the stage to announced the 2012 winner of the award – Ed Sheeran.
The 21-year-old folk/hip-hop rising star beat off stiff competition from James Blake, James Morrison, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Professor Green to win the title.
Accepting the gong, Ed told the audience: “Thank you. I honestly didn’t think I’d get this one. I want to thank my record label, family, friends, fans, every single promoter who’s promoted me, every single radio DJ that’s ever played [my music]. I’m really bad at this, thank you!”
Following that, Jo Whiley and Huey Morgan introduced the nominees for British Group – Arctic Monkeys, Chase & Status, Coldplay, Elbow and Kasabian.
Brit rockers Coldplay – who opened tonight’s glittering ceremony at the O2 Arena - were announced as the winners of the much sought-after gong, and took to the stage in paint-splattered t-shirts, thanking Radio 2 listeners in particular for their support.
Chris Martin added: “We are so happy to get this award so thank you to everyone who voted for us, have a great night.”
Star-of-the moment Adele then performed the hit she is perhaps most famous for, Rolling in the Deep, before Queen legends Brian May and Roger Taylor introduced the International Group nominees.
The Foo Fighters – who weren’t at the ceremony in person to accept their award – won the gong, after going up against Fleet Foxes, Jay Z/Kanye West, Lady Antebellum and Maroon 5.
The next award of the night was for British Breakthrough Act – and it was time for rising star Ed Sheeran to return to the stage as he was announced as the winner for the second time at this year’s BRIT Awards.
Singer Nicole Scherzinger and footballer Seb Fabregas presented Ed with the award, who told the audience: “Em, yeah, thanks…” before thanking everyone for voting.
He then added: “I forgot to thank one person last time and that’s my manager Stuart Camp, he’s the person who took me form a spotty, chubby, ginger teenage to up here tonight. So Stuart, lots of love, and you need a new sofa.” Charming!
International Male Solo Artist winner Bruno Mars then returned to the BRITs stage for a performance of his hit Just The Way Your Are, before Will.I.Am and comedian Rob Brydon presented the award to the winner of International Breakthrough Act.
American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey was clearly feeling rather emotional about winning the award over fellow nominees Aloe Blacc, Bon Iver, Foster The People and Nicki Minaj.
Looking stunning, Lana fought back tears as she said: “This award means much more to me than you know and I just wanna say that without the support of everyone is this room and everyone in the UK I’d really be lost so thank you, I love you.”
Sexy Bajan star Rihanna then gave a rather scantily-clad eye-catching performance of her hit We Found Love, complete with sexy dancers and extremely flashy pyrotechnics, before it was time for the Outstanding Contribution gong to be awarded to Blur.
As the group of 21 years got ready to take to the stage, the biggest award of the night, the Mastercard British Album of the Year, was announced, with Adele confirmed as this year's worthy winner.
The singer scored the honour for her record-breaking album 21, and was presented with the gong by George Michael - who received a standing ovation from members of the crowd, following his near-death experience late last year after a battle with pneumonia.
An emotional Adele accepted her award and said: “Thank you very, very much. Nothing is better than coming home with six Grammies and winning Album of the Year. Nothing makes me prouder than to be British.”
Then it was time for Blur to give the performance of the night. It’s been a mammoth 17 years since the Britpop rockers attended the awards, but they made up for their absence tonight by performing a medley of their hits, including Girls and Boys, Song 2 and Parklife - complete with Phil Daniels - which had the crowd going wild.
Damon Albarn told the audience: “Thank you very much. The last time we were here was 17 years ago and what happened that night seemed to have a really profound effect on our lives so it’s very nice to come back and say thank you very much for this honour, but there are an awful lot of people I need to thank so I hope you can bear with me…”
From there, the singer went on to thank family, friends and the record label etc, before dedicating the award to a “special person” – manager Chris Morrison.
So that’s the BRITs over for another year, phew! Did you enjoy the ceremony? Did you think the right artists won awards? We’d love to hear from you, so please use the comments facility below to get in touch.
