Brits greatest hits: the inside story
The Brit awards are back on 25 February, hosted by Ant and Dec with performances by Madonna and Sam Smith. Former hosts and stars on the highs and lows of the past 35 years
You can spend the whole year preparing for the Brit awards: booking the hottest acts, securing enough rehearsal time, making sure all the right bigwigs are invited. Then you turn up and there’s not enough booze, the live acts are deafening the guests and the deputy prime minister is calling you into his office for a dressing-down.
The Brits might have a reputation for being terminally uncool, but even the best-planned ceremonies have a habit of going awry. We spoke to some of the ceremony’s major players to find out what it’s really like behind the scenes … and how
Stevie Nicks’s hairdryer once saved the day.
Prezza’s hairdryer treatment
Rob Dickins Former record executive and Brits chairman from 1993-1995
In 1988, I said we had to cut the last award to get the Who [who had recently re-formed] on stage. The producers and Noel Edmonds said no. Noel started reading out the categories for best male artist, and I flipped. I went on stage, as the clock was ticking towards the news, and said: “The winner is Rick Astley. I am accepting on his behalf. Please welcome the Who.” I don’t think Rick has ever forgiven me.
Mick Fleetwood and Samantha Fox [who hosted the following year] weren’t meant to be funny, but it became the funniest show of all. I was in a box with Tim Burton, who was making Batman at the time, and we were crying with laughter.
John Prescott was on the table I was hosting in 1998. To get on to the table [to pour water over Prescott], one of Chumbawamba stepped on my wife’s thigh, so she had a bruise the size of a football. Pauline Prescott had to borrow
Stevie Nicks’s hairdryer backstage to fix her hair. We got called in [to Prescott’s office] the next morning, and hauled over the coals.
http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...ry-brit-awards