It’s getting to Awards season again, and not only in Hollywood or New York. It seems most major entertainment awards start being given out around this time each year, perhaps because it gives just enough time to look back over the previous year’s achievements in retrospect, or perhaps just because there’s little else exciting to watch or happening in the world of movies, TV or music. It’s the same across the ocean, hence February is the Brit Awards month. For example the 13th Brits took place this day in 1993.
The Brits, as the name suggests, honor British music, although apparently the name is an acronym for the British Radio Industry Trust. Fittingly, instead of a Grammy or Oscar, they give out a trophy called the Britannia. Unlike other major awards, while the overall shape of the trophy – a tall, statuesque female – stays the same, it’s been modified at times and given out in different colors, including the Union Jack stripes. Much like how Canada’s Junos award Canadian artists with a smattering of international categories, the Brits do the same for Great Britain, which in case you’re a bit rusty on geography, includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (but not “southern” Ireland, land of the Cranberries and U2.)
The first Brits were in 1977 as a one-off celebration of British music to coincide with the Queen’s silver anniversary and the accompanying wave of national pride. It gave the Beatles a lifetime achievement award and also the nod for Best Album, with Sgt. Pepper. Queen and Procol Harum tied for the Best Single award with “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Whiter Shade of Pale” each taking home trophies. They began as an annual event in 1982.
The ’93 edition was the first one held in the Alexandra Palace, “Ally Pally” to the locals, a mixed-use sports and entertainment facility in London, hosting upto about 10 000 people. As usual at the time, it was televised on ITV, the BBC’s upstart rival. Unlike some of the American awards, the Brits had a relatively little-known host, author Richard O’Brien, who wrote Rocky Horror Show. Perhaps he was too obscure as the next year they decided to up the pizzazz factor a little having Elton John and RuPaul host!
As with any music awards show worth its salt, it featured a number of live performances. One of this night’s more memorable was Rod Stewart doing a cover of “Ruby Tuesday.” Rod the Mod was there to pick up his lifetime Outstanding Contribution to Music award, joining the likes of Elton, both Freddie Mercury and Queen, George Martin and the Beatles, who’d been given it twice for good measure. Other show-stoppers included Peter Gabriel (who oddly took home the Best Producer award but none for his songs) doing “Steam” and Andy Bell of Erasure dueting with (Canadian) k.d. lang on “No More Tears.”
Of the big awards, it was a very good night for Mick Hucknall and Annie Lennox. Hucknall managed to win both Best Male Solo Artist and his group, Simply Red, won the Best Group. Lennox won the Best Female Solo Artist, for a record fifth time; she also got the award for Best Album for her Diva. She’d go on to win the Female accolade one more afterwards. Shakespears Sister were hot, and won the Best Video for “Stay” which was nominated for Best Song, but lost out there to boy band Take That’s version of the old Barry Manilow nugget “Could This Be Magic?”. That was little suprise perhaps as three of the five nominees for that category were by Take That. What was surprising therefore was that the group lost the Best Group category nonetheless. For those in North America not too familiar with Take That, it was the band that launched the career of Robbie Williams…who isn’t all that familiar here either! But you can bet Williams has this day circled on his calendar. The Brits took place on Feb. 16th twice since ’93. In 1995, when Williams won the Best Single award and again in 2010, when they gave him the lifetime award. With 13 Brits under his own name and five more as Take That, Williams has won more than anybody… a fact that would elicit a “well duh!” in London but win any trivia game in any American bar. Rounding out the big Brits that year for homegrown music was Tasmin Archer, winning the Breakthrough award, for most promising new artist. Tasmin might have been ruing that accolade, as the previous two were Beverly Craven and Betty Boo.
They did give a tip of the derby to foreign greats too. U2 were named the Most Successful Live Artist, while Prince was named Best International Solo Artist, becoming the first to win it twice, and R.E.M. took home the Best International Group for a second year running.
The 2022 Brits were given out last week, with Adele taking both the Best Album and the Best Single.