For the third time in seven years, producer Paul Epworth carried off the top gong at the Music Producers Guild Awards, which took place last night at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London.
Epworth, who has recorded numerous artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Adele, Florence and the Machine, Coldplay and John Legend, was handed the MPG’s Producer of the Year Award for 2015 – an honour that he also won in 2010 and 2013. As its recipient, he automatically received the 2015 BRIT Award for Best Producer, which was presented at the same time.
Now well established as an annual music industry event, the Music Producers Guild Awards 2015, in association with G-Technology, also honoured multimedia entrepreneur and former Eurythmic Dave Stewart with the MPG’s Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award, sponsored by PPL.
Stewart later took to the stage to entertain guests with a live performance. Among the artists joining him were young American singer Thomas Lindsey, with whom Stewart has recently recorded an album; 17 year old British newcomer Holly Stephenson, who is soon to release her first album produced by Dave Stewart, and The Lake Poets – aka Martin Longstaff – a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter from Sunderland.
Introduced in 2009 to recognise the enormous contribution made by recording professionals to the success of the UK’s music industry, the MPG Awards regularly attracts a high turnout of music industry VIPs and celebrities.
Steve Levine, chairman of the MPG, says, “There has always been a close relationship between artists and recording professionals and we are delighted that the MPG Awards is always so enthusiastically received by those at the forefront of creating great music. Once again, our winners and nominees have been involved in hugely diverse projects that cover a wide range of musical styles and genres. This truly reflects the incredible amount of recording talent we have here in the UK and I am delighted that the Music Producers Guild is annually able to give these worthy professionals the credit they deserve.”
The 2015 MPG Awards saw a total of 15 Awards presented (see full list of winners below). These included the MPG Award for Inspiration, won by Damon Albarn, and the MPG Award for Innovation, won by Giorgio Moroder.
“We are delighted to honour both of these incredible talents with the two awards that are chosen by MPG,” says producer and MPG Awards Committee member, Tony Platt. “When we started to consider possible candidates for this year’s important MPG Inspiration Award one name came up repeatedly. Interestingly, for very diverse and often personal reasons, we all decided that Damon had inspired in the very best way possible – by example. Inspiration is not easy to define, especially in a creative industry, but perhaps the ability to fuel enthusiasm is at the heart of it and Damon Albarn, in his quiet unassuming way, has managed to do this, year after year, project after project – it was an easy choice in the end!”
An equally emphatic decision was made to present the 2015 Innovation Award to Giorigio Moroder. Widely regarded as the founder of Disco and an electronic music trailblazer, Moroder returned to the limelight last year when he collaborated with Daft Punk. He is about to release his first solo album in 30 years and is also working with artists such as Charli XCX, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga.
For a full list of MPG 2015 Award winners and sponsors, please see the list below:
•UK Producer of the Year, sponsored by The BRITS 2015:
Paul Epworth
•Outstanding Contribution to UK Music, sponsored by PPL
Dave Stewart
•Recording Engineer of the Year, sponsored by RØDE:
Mark Rankin
•Mix Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Solid State Logic:
Mark ‘Spike’ Stent
•Mastering Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Apollo & Transco Blanx:
Mandy Parnell
•UK Album of the Year, sponsored by Universal Audio:
Goldfrapp – Tales of Us
•UK Single Song Release of the Year, sponsored by Shure:
Sam Smith – Stay With Me
•Re-mixer of the Year, sponsored by G-Technology
James Rutledge
•Breakthrough Producer of the Year, sponsored by Musicguard Insurance:
Tom Dalgety
•Breakthrough Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Alchemea College:
Robbie Nelson
•International Producer of the Year, sponsored by Lewitt Audio & JHS:
Dan Auerbach
•Studio of the Year, sponsored by KMR Audio:
RAK Studios
•The A&R Award, sponsored by Prism Sound:
Korda Marshall
•The MPG Award for Innovation
Giorgio Moroder
•The MPG Award for Inspiration
Damon Albarn
The Music Producers Guild would like to thank to Avid for sponsoring Award tickets for all of the nominees.
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About Music Producers Guild:
The Music Producers Guild is an independent and democratic organisation that encourages the highest standards of music production, and actively engages with other music industry organisations to campaign and lobby on matters of important mutual interest.
The MPG represents and promotes the interests of all those involved in the production of recorded music, including producers, engineers, mixers, re-mixers, programmers and mastering engineers.
