The great and the good of the British music industry were out in force last night at London’s Grosvenor Hotel, celebrating the music industry Music Week’s 50th anniversary with a glittering awards ceremony.

The most prestigious award of the evening, ‘Most influential figure in British music’, went to Island Record founder Christopher Blackwell beating competition from Sir George Martin, who discovered The Beatles and reality X-Factor mogul Simon Cowell. Christoper Blackwell can take credit for the careers of Nick Drake, Roxy Music and Jimmy Clef, as well as pioneering the career of future reggae legend, Bob Marley in 1972,after starting up the record label in 1959 with just £1500.

Coalition PR founder, Rob Partridge, who sadly passed away last year, won the equally revered ‘Stat’ award, with Bono of U2 paying tribute to the man who was one of the early champions of the band “I think it’s fair to say that you believe in us before we believed in ourselves”.

Other big winners include Duffy’s mentor and manager, former Public Image Ltd member Jeanette Lee for ‘Manager of the Year’, whilst Polydor, home of Girls Aloud and Take That won “Record Company of the Year”.

BBC Radio 2 won radio station of the year, while the Brixton Academy was named best live music venue.

Well done to all the winners!