Ed Sheeran and Pharrell Are Big Winners at Inaugural BBC Music Awards

Music

The 'Sing' hitmaker is named the British Artist of the Year while the super producer wins the Best International Artist title and the Song of the Year award for his 'Happy'.

Dec 12, 2014

AceShowbiz - The winners of the first-ever BBC Music Awards were announced during a ceremony at London's Earl's Court on Thursday night, December 11. Among those who took home trophies are Ed Sheeran and Pharrell Williams.

The former was honored with the British Artist of the Year title. "I just wanna say a massive thank you to everyone who's bought a record, bought a ticket, streamed on Youtube or listened to my music," said Sheeran during his acceptance speech.

The 23-year-old superstar has been enjoying the success of his latest album, "X" (pronounced "Multiply"), which topped the albums charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. "I always thought my career would stop at one album, so knowing my career is longer than one album is the highlight," he later told hosts BBC Radio 1's Fearne Cotton and Radio 2's Chris Evans.

Pharrell, meanwhile, won Best International Artist and Song of the Year for his massive hit single "Happy". The Grammy-winning producer, who couldn't make it to the event to collect his trophies, joined the party via satellite to thank BBC radio and TV outlets for their support as well as "the countless amazing English fans who have lifted my life to unimaginable heights."

Newcomer Catfish and the Bottlemen was another act to win an award. The Welsh rock band was honored with BBC Introducing Act of the Year which is given to an up-and-coming U.K. artist. "Two years ago, I could only buy a McDonalds and a pack of fags. Now, I can afford to go large," said the group's Van McCann.

Editors' Pick

The 2014 BBC Music Awards, which aired live on BBC One, Radio 1 and Radio 2, also featured performances by a number of big names in music. Coldplay was the first to take the stage, opening the show with a rendition of their "Ghost Stories" hit "A Sky Full of Stars". Other notable performers included One Direction who treated the crowd to their "Steal My Girl", Calvin Harris who was joined by John Newman and Ellie Goulding for "Blame" and "Outside" and Paloma Faith who closed the event singing The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" with Tom Jones while being backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and a huge choir.