Ed Sheeran producer Steve Mac unveiled as BRIT Awards 2018 Best British Producer winner
The 2018 BRIT Awards takes place on Wednesday, February 21 at The O2, London
Steve Mac has today (Friday, January 5) been announced as the winner of the 2018 BRIT Awards Best British Producer award.
In 2017, Mac amassed production credits on No.1 singles from Ed Sheeran and Clean Bandit, as well as Top 10 singles by P!nk, Rita Ora and Liam Payne. Over the course of his career he has produced records with global record sales of over 200 million, making him one of the UK’s most successful contemporary music producers.
He also previously wrote and produced the BRIT Award winning single Beat Again for JLS and has worked with former winners and nominees including Little Mix, Calvin Harris, One Direction and Charlie XCX.
Mac commented: “I feel truly humbled to receive this prestigious award, especially as it’s voted for by my peers who I greatly respect. This really is the icing on the cake at the end of such an amazing year, not only for me personally but for British music.”
BRITs chairman and chairman and CEO of Sony Music UK & Ireland, added: “I am absolutely delighted for Steve – what a phenomenal year. He has worked with the biggest artists and delivered the biggest songs around the world. Steve is an incredibly talented and versatile producer and the most worthy recipient of the Best British Producer Award after the most exceptional hit rate this past year.”
Mac will receive his award during proceedings around The BRITs show on Wednesday, February 21 at The O2, London, which will be broadcast exclusively on ITV. The show will be hosted by Jack Whitehall and feature live performances by Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Stormzy and Dua Lipa, with more performers to be announced soon.
The BRITs Best British Producer was the subject of controversy last year after it was dropped from the awards programme, with organisers ‘resting’ the presentation from the 2017 show.
An MPG press release issued ahead of the 2017 event stated that the Producer Award, which traditionally also went to the MPG Awards Best Producer winner and was chosen in collaboration with BRITs organisers the BPI, was being rested from the BRITs. The release highlighted rigorous voting standards around the award, without explaining precisely as why it was being dropped from the BRITs. The MPG did, however, confirm that the award would remain a part of its own awards ceremony.
The statement from Tony Platt, managing director of the MPG Awards Group, said: “For the last eight years we have been proud to present the BRITs Best Producer Award to our UK Producer of the Year and we sincerely hope to be able to do so again. The MPG Awards are peer-led and winners are voted for by established and experienced working professionals during a carefully monitored voting and judging system. We hope that we will be able to work alongside the BRITs in future years. In the meantime, the BPI is continuing to support the MPG Awards through sponsorship.”
As a result, suggestions that the BPI was trying to exert greater control over the judging process of that particular award began to surface, as reported by PSNEurope sister publication Music Week.
As of 2018, the BPI has confirmed to PSNEurope that the two are no longer collaborating on the award and that each organisation will run and judge its own Best Producer category. According to a BPI spokesperson, the decision was made to part ways in order to “broaden its voting academy”, with the panel now comprised of an array of A&R executives.
Commenting on the 2018 MPG Awards, Platt told PSNEurope: “The MPG UK Producer of the Year has been chosen by their usual robust judging process and will be announced at the Awards presentations on 1st March.”
BRITs chairman and CEO & chairman of Sony Music UK & Ireland, Jason Iley said of this year’s BRIT Awards Best British Producer award: “I’m delighted the BRITs Committee’s decided to bring this important Award back into the BRITs fold with the support of an expert voting panel made up of A&R representatives from across the recorded industry.”
Last month, PSNEurope heard from a number of previous winners of the MPG Awards’ Best Breakthrough Producer gong on why the organisation is so important to the industry and how such an accolade can boost one’s career development.
You can view the shortlist for the 2018 MPG Awards, which takes place in London on March 1, here.
Source: mi-pro.co.uk
