Season 28
The BRIT Awards, often simply called The BRITs, are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of British or Britannia, but has subsequently become a "backronym" for British Record Industry Trust.
The 2008 BRIT Awards aired on M-Net on Saturday 23 February 2008, at 21h00. They were hosted by Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne.
Overview
The awards began in 1977 under the auspices of the BPI, the British record industry's trade association. The last BPI Awards show took place at the Albert Hall and was the first prime-time TV event.
In 1989 they were renamed the Britannia Awards, or BRIT Awards.
BRIT is also an acronym for the British Record Industry Trust Show - the Trust supports youngsters in the arts and education mainly at The BRIT School in London.
Strong music industry sponsorship and involvement mean that awards are given without much democratic process and, many suspect, for strongly commercial reasons. These are awards given by the music industry to the music industry. Robbie Williams pointed this out accepting an award a few years back.
More recently, the awards have more reflected the tastes of the record-buying public, with an artist needing to prove popular and chart-topping before they are rewarded.
The BRIT Awards used to be broadcast live until 1989, when Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood hosted a shambolic show in which just about everything went wrong - lines were fluffed, bands mis-cued, and airtime filled with embarrassing silence.
After this the show was recorded, and broadcast the following night, part of a revamp by Jonathan King for 1990 whose actions also included naming them the BRITs, hosting the show in 1987 - the most successful previous show - and releasing a megamix of British dance acts including S'Express and A Guy Called Gerald called BRITs 1990.
He also managed to get Margaret Thatcher to croon How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?
King subsequently went on to revamp A Song for Europe and won the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK in 1997, in which year the BPI awarded him their Man of the Year accolade.
Pre-recording proved to be a good idea when, during a Michael Jackson performance in 1996, Jarvis Cocker from the band Pulp invaded the stage in an impromptu protest at Jackson's 'messianic' performance.
There have been many such notable instances, including several UK politicians presenting awards and being heckled (and, in the case of John Prescott, having water thrown over him, at the 1998 awards, by Chumbawamba vocalist Danbert Nobacon) and a remarkable performance by The KLF in 1992.
2008 Nominees
Here is the full list of nominees for this year's Brit Awards, held at Earls Court, London on February 20:
British Male Solo Artist
Jamie T
Mark Ronson
Mika
Newton Faulkner
Richard Hawley
British Female Solo Artist
Bat For Lashes
Kate Nash
KT Tunstall
Leona Lewis
PJ Harvey
British Group
Arctic Monkeys
Editors
Girls Aloud
Kaiser Chiefs
Take That
British Album
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Leona Lewis - Spirit
Mark Ronson - Version
Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion
Take That - Beautiful World
British Breakthrough Act
Bat For Lashes
Kate Nash
Klaxons
Leona Lewis
Mika
British Live Act
Arctic Monkeys
Kaiser Chiefs
Klaxons
Muse
Take That
British Single
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
Mika - Grace Kelly
Take That - Shine
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
Sugababes - About You Now
Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse - Valerie
Kate Nash - Foundations
The Hoosiers - Worried About Ray
James Blunt - 1973
Mutya Buena - Real Girl
International Male Solo Artist
Bruce Springsteen
Kanye West
Michael Bublé
Rufus Wainwright
Timbaland
International Female Solo Artist
Alicia Keys
Bjork
Feist
Kylie Minogue
Rihanna
International Group
Arcade Fire
Eagles
Foo Fighters
Kings of Leon
White Stripes
International Album
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Eagles - Long Road out of Eden
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
Kylie Minogue - X
Critics’ Choice Award
Adele
Outstanding Contribution Award
Sir Paul McCartney