There were industry gags aplenty from BRITs 2019 host Jack Whitehall, from the opening Fyre Festival spoof to Little Mix’s split with Syco and a (dated) gag about Spotify royalty rates.
But one of Music Week’s favourite annual pastimes is to list the number of shout-outs that execs receive in the winners’ speeches. So here, we revisit those namechecked on British music’s biggest stage...
British Group/British Album – The 1975
An hour or so after Matthew Healy had got The 1975’s fanbase scurrying to Google “Laura Snapes”, having quoted the Guardian writer’s article on music business misogyny, the frontman paid tribute to someone most of them were already familiar with – the band’s “fifth member”, manager and Dirty Hit founder Jamie Oborne.
British Video – Little Mix ft. Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me
The girl group namedropped director Mark Klasfeld for “bringing our vision to life and making a video that really meant something to us”, prior to thanking Sony UK & Ireland boss (and outgoing BRITs chair) Jason Iley and Modest Management. “Our whole team are incredible,” said Jade Thirlwall.
British Breakthrough – Tom Walker
A visibly elated Tom Walker bigged up his management team of Simon King and Jake Tasker ("absolute legends") and his Relentless Records boss Shabs Jobanputra ("an absolute hero") when picking up the Best Breakthrough gong. He also thanked his gran.
Outstanding Contribution – Pink
Prior to her show-closing performance, the US star took to the mic to salute those who had helped put her there. “The fans and radio here have always had my back and have always been so wonderful to me,” she said. “It’s been an awesome journey from busking on the street, to paying Dingwalls, to playing Wembley Stadium this summer coming up, it’s beautiful.” She went on to thank her record company (RCA) and manager Roger Davies along with “the BRITs for having me back”.
British Male – George Ezra
George Ezra was captured giving his manager Ryan Lofthouse a big hug upon being named Best British Male, but played it safe in his subsequent acceptance speech. “There’s a load of people I need to thank,” he said. “I’m not going to name anybody because I’ll forget somebody. But to everybody that I get to work alongside, thank you very much for all of your hard work.”
