55th GRAMMYs Show That GREAT British Music is Here to Stay

Throughout the telecast of last night’s GRAMMY’s show, viewers saw an exciting showcase of British music – the show included big British names performing and taking home top prizes, making the night a reminder of what makes British music GREAT.

Beyond great music was a little taste of another one of my favourite topics to write about – fashion. Last week CBS sent out an email memo to talent regarding wardrobe restrictions. All Grammy-going men fortunately followed the rules, yet many women refused to comply (Ahem J.Lo and Kelly Rowland).

All fashion aside, the night started off strong – Adele (who clearly followed the wardrobe memo in a pretty yet slightly curtain-y Armani dress) took home the first televised award for Best Pop Solo Performance for her live performance of “Set Fire to the Rain.”

Her win was followed by a stellar performance by newcomer and Suffolk-born Ed Sheeran and the legendary Sir Elton John dueting on Sheeran’s “A Team,” the catchy guitar song that was up for two awards last night.

I first saw Ed Sheeran perform last spring when he opened up for Northern Irish band Snow Patrol, and was amazed at his vocal and guitar talent, especially at such a young age. I’ll be seeing him again on tour this summer and I can’t wait.

A little bit later on, Mumford and Sons took the stage to perform their latest hit, “I Will Wait.” The band had already won an award in the pre-award show telecast for Long Form Music Video for “Big Easy Express.” Not long after their performance, the folk rock band were back on stage to play tribute, along with Sir Elton John and a number of other musicians, to the late Levon Helm of The Band.

They weren’t the only ones to pay tribute this year –Sting was also on hand to sing in the tribute to legend Bob Marley. Seeing the collegiality among musicians of all genres and backgrounds is one of the best things about the Grammy’s. These performances were fantastic to watch.

I also can’t forget to congratulate Sir Paul McCartney for his win for Traditional Pop Vocal Album for “Kisses on the Bottom.”

But the show saved the best for last – with Mumford and Sons taking home the coveted award for Album of the Year for “Babel,” which was presented to them by last year’s winner Adele.

Bandmember Ben Lovett said in the acceptance speech: “I just want to say how beautiful Adele is looking tonight, and how great it is to be presented this award by another British musician… There’s a few of us out there, and the Grammys have opened their arms to us, and we’re very grateful for all of this country and the Grammy foundation for being so welcoming.”

Talk about public diplomacy.

For a full list of this year’s Grammy winners, click here.