Brit Awards

The Brit Awards (sometimes stylised as the BRIT Awards; often simply called the Brits) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards, and the British equivalent of the American Grammy Awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored by Britannia Music Club), but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trusts Show. In addition, an equivalent awards ceremony for classical music, called the Classic Brit Awards, is held each May. Robbie Williams holds the record for the most Brit Awards, 12 as a solo artist and another five as part of Take That.

The awards began in 1977 as part of the commemoration of the Queen's Silver Jubilee and as an annual event in 1982 under the auspices of the British record industry's trade association, the BPI. In 1989 they were renamed the Brit Awards.MasterCard has been the long-time sponsor of the event.

The Brit Awards were broadcast live until 1989, when Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood hosted a widely criticised show in which little went as rehearsed. In subsequent years, the event was recorded and broadcast the following night. From 2007, the Brit Awards reverted to a live broadcast on British television, on 14 February on ITV. In that year, comedian Russell Brand was presenter and three awards were dropped from the ceremony: Best British Rock Act, Best British Urban Act and Best Pop Act. On 18 February 2009, the venue for the BRITs was once again the Earls Court, London. The Brit Awards were held at The O2 in London for the first time in 2011.

2012 Brit Awards

The 2012 Brit Awards were held on 21 February 2012. This was the 32nd edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The award ceremony was held at The O2 in London for the second time. The ceremony was presented by James Corden. Leading the nominations was Ed Sheeran with four, followed by Adele and Jessie J with three, whilst Bon Iver, Aloe Blacc, Coldplay and Florence and the Machine all had two.

Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston received remembrance tributes due to their deaths in July 2011 and February 2012, respectively. Adele picked up two awards for Best British Album and British Female, whilst Sheeran also won two awards for Best British Male and British Breakthrough.Blur received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. The statue was designed by Peter Blake.

Performances

Tributes

Nominees and winners

Nominations were announced on 12 January 2012. Categories for this year remain largely unchanged, though the award for "Best International Album" has been discontinued.

2007 Brit Awards

The 2007 Brit Awards was the 27th edition of the biggest annual pop music awards in the United Kingdom. They are run by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 14 February 2007 at the Earls Court in London. The show, when broadcast, attracted 5.43 million viewers. The ceremony was hosted by Russell Brand, with Fearne Cotton interviewing winners backstage, and the voiceover by Tom Baker. The show was supposedly being broadcast live for the first time since 1989, on ITV1; however, it was revealed to have been on a 30-second tape delay. The sound occasionally dropped out, apparently in an attempt to censor strong language ("fuck" was always censored), although swearing by Liam Gallagher, Simon Pegg, Mark Owen and host Brand was nonetheless audible on the broadcast. The pre-show was called The BRITs Red Carpet, and was hosted by Lauren Laverne, Matt Willis, Alesha Dixon and Russell Howard. The show that followed was called The BRITs Encore.

Live performers