Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Coldplay, The Arcade Fire, Madonna and K.T. Tunstall Also Receive Multiple Nods
They're big in England, but can they translate to the U.S.?
James Blunt and Kaiser Chiefs grabbed five nominations apiece as the frontrunners for the Brit Awards, being held at London's Earl's Court on Feb. 15.
British singer/songwriter Blunt, whose debut album is on Linda Perry's Custard label through Atlantic here in the States, is nominated in the male solo artist, breakthrough act and pop act categories. His debut album, Back to Bedlam, is up for the album award, while the international hit single "You're Beautiful" is nominated for the British single trophy. The album was up #22-16 on this week's HITS chart and sold 44k for a total of almost 350k.
The Kaiser Chiefs, on B Unique/Polydor in the U.K. and Universal Records here in the States, are nominated for top British group, breakthrough act, rock act and live act awards. Their debut, Employment, is up for best album. The band was on hand to perform several songs last night at the nominations announcement in London. Their debut has sold around 200k in the U.S.
Coldplay has four noms, including group and album for X&Y, an international hit. Madonna, the Arcade Fire and Scottish singer/songwriter K.T. Tunstall, on Virgin here in America, received multiple nominations.
Tunstall is up against pop singers Charlotte Church and Natasha Bedingfield and Kate Bush in the female category.
Fifteen-time winner Robbie Williams has a single nomination in the male category against 2005 Mercury Prize winner Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, ex-Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown, pop singer Will Young and Blunt.
Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, Blunt, Tunstall, Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson will perform at the ceremony, and will be joined by ex-Jam and Style Council member Paul Weller, already announced as the recipient of the outstanding contribution to music award.
Sony BMG U.K. will issue a Brits TV compilation album in the DualDisc format on Feb. 6.