The Boisdale Music Awards 2018

On Wednes­day 12 Sep­tem­ber at Bois­dale of Canary Wharf the pianist, band­leader, singer, com­pos­er and tele­vi­sion pre­sen­ter Jools Hol­land took to the stage along­side actress, tele­vi­sion pre­sen­ter, style guru and mod­el Ferne McCann to host the third annu­al Bois­dale Music Awards, a cel­e­bra­tion of some of the great­est enter­tain­ers in the world of jazz, blues, soul, reg­gae, coun­try and pop. Each Bois­dale Music Award win­ner per­formed after receiv­ing their accolade.

The Life­time Achieve­ment Award was pre­sent­ed to soul vet­er­an Alexan­der O’Neal for his world­wide chart-top­ping suc­cess. Best Male Singer went to Bri­an McFad­den who sold more than 20 mil­lion records as a mem­ber of West­life and this autumn will be tour­ing his new show Soul Jam (includ­ing three nights at Bois­dale). Best Female Singer was ex – Atom­ic Kit­ten and mul­ti-mil­lion sell­ing artist Natasha Hamil­ton.Fleur East the X Fac­tor final­ist took Best Soul Singer and Best Reg­gae Singer was Luciano ​“The Mes­sen­ger” who has so far record­ed an aston­ish­ing 40 albums dur­ing his long illus­tri­ous career as one of the most impor­tant reg­gae artists of all time.

The Leg­endary Song­writer Award went to Bill Mar­tin, the only Scot­tish song­writer to write four UK Num­ber 1’s for four dif­fer­ent acts and one of the few British song­writ­ers to have had Num­ber 1’s in every coun­try in the world. Artists who have record­ed his songs include Cliff Richard, Elvis Pres­ley, George Har­ri­son and the Bay City Rollers. His cat­a­logue of great songs includes Con­grat­u­la­tions, Pup­pet on a String and My Boy.

In a nod to the venue’s strong Scot­tish her­itage, Bois­dale pre­sent­ed the Great Scot Music Award to Dono­van who through­out the 1960s and into the 70s com­posed a cat­a­logue of hit songs which are still much loved today, includ­ing his US No1 smash hit Sun­shine Super­man and Yel­low Mel­low.

Best Instru­men­tal­ist Yolan­da Brown racked up anoth­er award to add to her two MOBOs for ​“Best Jazz” and Best Coun­try Singer was tak­en by BMG artist Twin­nie who is about to release her first sin­gle in Octo­ber and her debut album ear­ly next year. Best Band was The Jive Aces, soon to be cel­e­brat­ing their 30^th year as the U.K.’s No 1 Jive and Swing band.

Bois­dale is unique amongst live music venues in that along­side its world class enter­tain­ment it also is renowned for the most mag­nif­i­cent food and drink.

On arrival guests were served Hen­nessy VSOP Cognac & Dou­ble Dutch Gin­ger Ale and Bois­dale 1^er Cru Cham­pagne fol­lowed by a three-course din­ner inspired by two of the world’s great­est music des­ti­na­tions – New Orleans and Havana: New Orleans style Crab Cheese­cake with Cre­ole Meu­nière Sauce and Cuban Sin­gle-Estate Dark Choco­late Torte served with Hen­nessy XO Cognac. The main cours­es were either Roast Free Range North York­shire Chick­en & For­aged Wild Mush­rooms, Château Chalon Sauce or Fresh Lin­guine with Scot­tish Chanterelles & Ken­tish Ceps, White Wine, Aged Parme­san & Tar­ragon.