The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Award winner Lipa pays tribute to female stars
Singer-songwriter is first in history to be nominated for five awards in one year
Liam Gallagher paid tribute to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing at the Brit Awards after Ariana Grande was forced to pull out due to illness.
The American pop star was due to take to the stage to remember the victims of the attack which took place at her concert in May, but was not well enough to travel to the UK.
Gary Barlow introduced Liam Gallagher, who performed Oasis track Live Forever, and said the victims “will always live on forever in our hearts, in our minds and in our memories”.
The Take That star said: “May 22 2017 will always be remembered for the saddest of reasons. That night 14,000 people were having a wonderful time watching Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena.
“These innocent, beautiful musicloving people were blissfully unaware that in just a few moments their lives would change forever.
“A few weeks later Ariana returned to the city to host the One Love Manchester concert, helping the families of the victims and survivors of the tragedy.
“It was an event that epitomised the human spirit, an event that showed hate will never win, and fear will never divide us.”
Meanwhile, Dua Lipa paid tribute to the power of women as she picked up awards for British female solo artist and British breakthrough act.
The singer-songwriter, who is the first female in the history of the Brits to be nominated for five awards in one year, picked up the first gong of the night.
The 22-year-old paid tribute to women who had been on the Brit Awards stage before her, saying they had “given girls like me – not just girls in the music industry – but girls in society, a place to be inspired by, to look up and have allowed us to dream this big.”
Dua Lipa led the pack with five nominations, while Ed Sheeran won the Global Success award.
The ceremony, held at London’s O2 Arena, saw music stars emulating their film colleagues as anti-sexual harassment movement Time’s Up took a prominent place on the red carpet.
Fear will never divide us. GARY BARLOW