The BRIT Awards 2020 with Mastercard

Rising Star award shortlist announced

Beabadoobee
Celeste
Joy Crookes

Winner of inaugural Rising Star award to be announced Friday 6th December

The BRIT Awards exclusively broadcast live on ITV - Tuesday 18th February
2020 from The O2 Arena, London

Wednesday 27th November – The BRIT Awards 2020 with Mastercard have today
announced the shortlist for the 2020 Rising Star award as Beabadoobee, Celeste and Joy
Crookes.

The all-female shortlist, spanning musical genres including indie-rock, soul and jazz, are now
in line for the prestigious award, which has evolved from its original name of BRITs Critics’
Choice, in line with the exciting changes set to take place for what will be the 40th BRIT Awards
show in 2020.

This category has, since its launch in 2008, helped launch some of the most loved British
artists of the last decade including Adele, Florence + The Machine, Sam Smith and Rag ‘N’
Bone Man, resulting in over 135 million album sales worldwide.

The winner of the 2020 BRITs Rising Star award will also, for the first time in the awards
history, receive a performance slot on the main show, demonstrating the BRITs’
continuing commitment to championing and supporting new British music.

Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Bea Kristi began recording music as
Beabadoobee in 2017. At just 19 years old, Beabadoobee has built her huge, Gen-Z fan base
with her flawless output of confessional bedroom pop songs and DIY aesthetic. Her first track
‘Coffee’ gathered hundreds of thousands of streams in a matter of days, through a fan-
uploaded video. Since then, her songs have amassed millions of streams between her own
self-released recordings and her first two EPs Patched Up and Loveworm, and has received
support from Vogue, Dazed, The Fader, i-D, Noisey and The Guardian, amongst others.
"It’s suuuper cool to be nominated for the BRITs Rising Star award and I’m so grateful.
It’s so weird to think that writing music in my bedroom could appeal to so many people.
Thank you so much to anyone who has voted for me!”

Born in Los Angeles but Brighton-raised, the British-Jamaican singer Celeste discovered her
love of music and singing through her grandad who introduced her to the old soul greats at an
early age. The two would listen endlessly to tapes of Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald while
Celeste sang along, already identifying something in the raw emotion of those singers that she
connected with. Entirely self-taught, she started performing music when she was 18, covering
classic soul, funk and jazz songs and eventually gaining the confidence to start writing her
own material. Over the following years, she continued to hone her sound ahead of signing a
major label deal with Polydor last year. Since then she has garnered critical acclaim for a string
of singles including Lately, Father’s Son and latterly Strange, which was added to the B list at
Radio 1. Known for her incandescent voice and breathtaking live performance, she has sold
out every London show this year – including 3 dates at Omeara - and supported the likes of
Michael Kiwanuka, Janelle Monae and Neneh Cherry as well as duetting with Paul Weller.
She recently announced a UK headline tour next April, selling out Shepherds Bush Empire in
a matter of days.
“My earliest memory of the BRITs was 2002, I was around 8 years old. MC Romeo had
me at “turn up the bass line” and MisTeeq were the women I wanted to be when I grew
up. It was a cold winter evening and I was glued to my television, I remember being in
a frenzy with every word they sang. It was in that exact moment that I thought I would
like to be a part of that one day. To be nominated for the Rising Star award is a huge
honour, especially to recognised this early on in my career.”

South London’s Joy Crookes began writing songs as an obsessive music fan at the age of
12. Two years go, YouTube channel Colors uploaded a video of her performing ‘Mother May I
Sleep With Danger’ which now stands at over 8 million views. 2019 saw her release two EP’s
- ‘Reminiscence’ and ‘Perception’, play a slew of impressive festival performances (including
Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Glastonbury), headline sold out shows across the UK and Europe
and as a result, won an overwhelming amount of critical acclaim and an ever-growing adoring
fanbase. Her unique, fresh and modern approach to storytelling through song has seen her
become a treasured and trusted new voice, using her blend of jazz, soul and pop to speak
openly about the world she finds herself living in. With all this in mind, and so much more to
come, 2020 looks set be Joy Crookes' biggest year yet.
"I remember watching the BRITs as a child - especially seeing my favourites like Lily
Allen, Corinne Bailey Rae and Amy Winehouse up on the screen. I’ve always looked up
to these inspiring and strong women so to be able to be recognised in the same way
they were is insane - thank you so much to anyone who has supported me to get here!”

To date this award has been chosen by a specially selected panel of music editors and critics
from the national press and online music editors, plus heads of music at major radio and music
TV stations. This year, for the inaugural Rising Star Award, the panel has been expanded to
include more tastemakers including songwriters, producers and live bookers - those working
with new rising talent on a regular basis. The award is open to British artists who, as of 31st
October 2019, have not yet achieved an Official Album Charts Top 20 placing or achieved
more than one Top 20 chart placing in the Official Singles Chart.

The 2020 Rising Star award winner will be announced on Friday 6th December.

Past BRITs Critics’ Choice winners:

2008 Adele
2009 Florence + The Machine
2010 Ellie Goulding
2011 Jessie J
2012 Emeli Sandé
2013 Tom Odell
2014 Sam Smith
2015 James Bay
2016 Jack Garratt
2017 Rag ’n’ Bone Man
2018 Jorja Smith
2019 Sam Fender

More exciting developments will be announced in the coming months in the run up to the UK’s
premiere music event – which will, as always, be a huge celebration of the incredible
achievements of British artists and the success stories of the last 12 months.

------

www.brits.co.uk
@BRITs (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)

For further information on The BRITs, please contact:

Press/Online – DawBell
Stuart Bell/Richard Dawes/Kate Etteridge/Lauren Webb – 020 3327 7111
Stuart.bell@dawbell.com / 07931501495
Richard.dawes@dawbell.com / 07931 501 924
kate.etteridge@dawbell.com / 07786548850
lauren.webb@dawbell.com / 07951156371

TV / Radio – LD Communications
Becky Williams/Sarah Wareing – 020 7439 7222
Becky.williams@ldcommunications.co.uk / 07940 756 133
Sarah.wareing@ldcommunications.co.uk/ 07754 052 004

NOTES TO EDITORS

About The BRIT Awards – British Record Industry Trust

The BRIT (British Record Industry Trust) Awards are organised by the BPI – the UK record labels’ association that promotes
British music. The BPI’s membership is made up of over 430 independent labels as well as the UK’s three major record companies
– collectively they account for around 85 per cent of the music consumed in the UK and around one in nine of all the artist albums
sold around the world.
The BRIT Awards 2020 with Mastercard will be the 40th BRIT Awards show, which, along with other music industry events, has
raised over £25m for The BRIT Trust charity, whose main beneficiaries include The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology
www.brit.croydon.sch.uk, music therapy charity Nordoff-Robbins www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk, Mind www.mind.org.uk and other
selected charities which promote education and wellbeing through music.

Over 8,000 young people have been given free education and the opportunity to enter the BRIT School since its opening in 1991
and more than 10,000 children and adults have been helped by the extraordinary music therapy work carried out by Nordoff-
Robbins.

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