A MODEST! AFFAIR 

Richard Griffiths, Harry Magee and Will Bloomfield were honored with the Peter Grant Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Artist & Manager Awards in London Wednesday night, where Griffiths gave a pointed nod to their split with Syco.

“I recently read Peter Grant’s book,” he said when accepting the gong, “and what came through loud and clear is our job as managers is to support our artists, whatever the personal consequences.

“I think that the job that managers do is not understood by everybody, but we all in this room know that without us, and without our artists, there would be no business. So I thank every manager, and I thank every artist for doing what you do, because we couldn't do what we do without them.”

Magee added: “This award is as much for our staff as it is for us—the creativity, tenacity and stamina that you put into your job every single day makes the company what it is.”

Bloomfield praised Modest's “extraordinary artists” and team, and Griffiths and Magee, who “really deserve all the credit they get, not only as professionals I learn from every single day, but as friends.”

Manager of the Year went to, in the words of Ted Cockle, “quality and honourable operators” Paul McDonald and Ryan Lofthouse of Closer Artists, who look after George Ezra and James Bay, amongst others.

Entrepreneur of the Year was Dirty Hit founder Jamie Oborne, and Anne-Marie’s manager Jazmin Sherman was named Breakthrough Manager.

Other winners on the night included Artists’ Artist Guy Garvey, Artist of the Year Dua Lipa, Pioneer Kano and Breakthrough Artist Mabel. Kilimanjaro Live & DHP Family won the FanFair Alliance Outstanding Contribution to Live Music for their fight against secondary ticketing, and Carol Crabtree of Solar Management was Writer/Producer Manager. Natalie Wade of charity Small Green Shoots took home Unsung Hero.