Craig David and Robbie Williams have become the latest acts to be announced for the third annual BBC Music Awards which will be held at the ExCeL, London on 12th December. The pair join previously announced performers The 1975, Emile Sande, the Kaiser Chiefs, Zara Larsson, Lukas Graham on the bill for what promises to be an exciting night. Ferne Cotton returns to host the awards and will be joined this year by Claudia Winkleman, with BBC Radio 1’s Gemma Cairney acting as the backstage presenter.
David reacted to the news with delight, according to the London Evening Standard, saying, ‘It’s been an incredible 12 months and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than performing at the 2016 BBC Music Awards!’ Robbie Williams expressed his joy as well, telling the BBC he was, ‘really excited to be performing at the 2016 BBC Music Awards. It’s going to be a brilliant night so come along to the ExCeL London or watch on BBC One and join the party!’ Robbie clearly hopes this appearance will be only the beginning of his on stage comeback, having recently spoken of his wish to headline Glastonbury once more. He is quoted in Gigwise as politely requesting that, ‘I would like my moment on the Pyramid Stage in front of a record-breaking amount of people please.’
It’s fitting that the two were announced together as their recent career trajectories are remarkably similar. Both men have returned to the forefront of the music scene this year, with David’s latest album, Follow my Intuition, reaching number 1 earlier in the year and Williams’ new release, The Heavy Entertainment Show, widely expected to be number 1 this week. The pair have also recently received awards; Craig David was named ‘Best Male Act’ at the 2016 Mobo Awards while Robbie Williams won the Icon Award at the Brits and was presented with the gong by his former bandmates Take That. However, Williams ended any speculation about a possible 2017 reunion on the 25th anniversary of their debut album. He revealed to the BBC, ‘We unfortunately couldn’t get our diaries to match. We will be doing something but I don’t think it’ll be next year.’
This new comes days after Michael Buble, who was one of the Acts originally confirmed last week, withdrew from the Awards following his son’s cancer diagnosis. The news was announced by Steve Wright on his BBC Radio 2 Show earlier this week (per BBC), with BBC Music director, Bob Shennan offering sympathy in a statement which read, ‘We send Michael and his family our very best wishes.’
The awards on offer at the ceremony include British Artist of the Year, Introducing Artist of the Year, Radio 1 Live Lounge Performance of the Year, Radio 2 Album of the Year and a Song of the Year Award voted for by the public. After the initial line-up was announced last week, the BBC promised four more acts would be confirmed prior to the night, so there should be at least two performers still to be revealed. Watch this space for further news and updates.
Tickets for the event are priced between £42 and £62 and are available from the BBC website here.
