22 February 2012
Newsdesk
The BRIT Awards 2012 were brought to an incredible finale tonight with a show stopping performance from the Outstanding Contribution to Music recipients Blur, which had the entire O2 Arena on their feet. Blur’s hit packed set (which included 'Song 2' and 'Parklife') brought the house down with some of the biggest songs of their career in a BRIT Awards that boasted more live music than ever before.
Tonight’s BRIT Awards kicked off with the most explosive performance ever as Coldplay lit-up the arena with a stunning pyrotechnic display. The night reflected the runaway success of British artists over the last 12 months which saw multi-award hauls for both the boys and the girls with Ed Sheeran and Adele both taking home two awards each; Ed Sheeran for British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act and Adele for British Female Solo Artist and the biggest award of the night – MasterCard British Album of The Year, which was presented to her by George Michael.
It was an emotional return for Adele with it being her first performance on British soil since her throat operation last year. Since its release in January 2011, Adele’s award winning ‘21’ has gone on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide.
Hosted by James Corden for the second year in a row, the Awards also saw performances by Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Florence + The Machine, Olly Murs (featuring Rizzle Kicks), Noel Gallagher and Ed Sheeran. During the show The BRITs also paid moving tributes to both Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse with video montages.
This year artists were battling it out for the special 2012 BRITs trophy, exclusively restyled by Sir Peter Blake.
The winners in full:
BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST
Ed Sheeran
Presented by Plan B
BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST
Adele
Presented by Kylie
BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT
(Top five selected by Academy. Category promoted by BBC Radio 1)
Ed Sheeran
Presented by Rupert Grint & Nicole Scherzinger
BRITISH GROUP
(Top five selected by Academy. Category promoted by BBC Radio 2)
Coldplay
Presented by Jo Whiley & Huey Morgan
BRITISH SINGLE
(Top ten British singles based on commercial radio airplay and sales in the calendar year are automatically nominated. Promoted by Capital FM and iTunes, listeners and users voted for their favourite single of the year.)
One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
Presented by Tinie Tempah
MASTERCARD BRITISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR (promoted by ITV’s Daybreak and The Sun Bizarre column)
Adele – 21
Presented by George Michael
INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST
Bruno Mars
Presented by Jessie J & Jack Whitehall
INTERNATIONAL FEMALE
Rihanna
Presented by Jenson Button
INTERNATIONAL GROUP
Foo Fighters
Presented by Brian May and Roger Taylor
INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ACT
Lana Del Rey
Presented by will.i.am & Cesc Fabregas
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC AWARD
Blur
Presented by Ray Winstone
CRITICS' CHOICE (In association with War Child)
Emeli Sandé
BRITISH PRODUCER
Ethan Johns
The BRIT Awards 2011 with MasterCard were held at The O2 in London on Tuesday 21st February and were broadcast live on ITV1.
