13 February 2015
Newsdesk
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.
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.
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. It was a hug pleasure to welcome him to the MPG Awards last night when he came along in person to collect his gong.
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
