MANAGERS BELLO, LAISTER HONORED

Central Cee and his manager, Bello, were celebrated at the annual Artist and Manager Awards in London on 11/23 along with Duran Duran and its longtime manager, Wendy Laister.

Accepting his award for Manager of the Year, Bello said: “We take pride in being disruptors, game changers and never taking 'no' for an answer. The minute I heard the first verse from Cench and clicked onto his page, I saw a star and I knew exactly what he was capable of achieving. The last two years we’ve done over 150 shows all around the world, we’ve got two projects and we’ve released EPs and countless singles. I’m the worst at delegating and not the best at finding people to hire, so we’ve always had a small team. But that’s also had its benefits as our vision has never been diluted.”

Laister and Duran Duran were honored with the Artist & Manager Partnership award for a relationship that has spanned 22 years. The band applauded Laister for her “grace, intelligence, tenacity and loyalty.” She used the opportunity to call for greater diversity in management: “Over the years, I've witnessed remarkable progress, and women have risen to prominent positions, both in front of and behind the scenes, but there is still work to be done. This should be a place where talent knows no gender and where diversity is celebrated. As managers our role is to empower artists, to guide them and to ensure that their voices are heard.”

Other winners included Nia Archives for Breakthrough Artist and Louise Latimer, who shepherds the careers of Self Esteem, The Big Moon and Gently Tender, for Breakthrough Manager.