The recent O2 Silver Clef Awards 2017 saw over 1000 guests attend the beautiful Grosvenor House Hotel, on Friday 30 June – raising an incredible £660,000 for Nordoff Robbins music therapy.
The famous faces were out in force to support music therapy, and celebrate some of the biggest names in music, including Dame Shirley Bassey, Nile Rodgers and Phil Collins.
Pop stars Little Mix were the winners of this year’s Ticketmaster Best Live Act Award, becoming the first female artist or group to receive the honour from the voting public.
There was also the hotly-anticipated AEG Presents Auction with some incredible music memorabilia and packages on offer, including hand-written song lyrics from Ed Sheeran, and a VIP experience in L.A.
This year Peter Andre was on the Blue Carpet to chat with the guests as they arrived, before handing over to presenter Edith Bowman for the award ceremony.
The stars were joined by Evie who shared her incredibly powerful story of the life-changing benefits of music therapy. Evie used to be a singer. Then one day she was diagnosed with cancer. After the treatment affected the way her voice sounded, Evie lost confidence in her singing and stopped altogether. Music therapy helped Evie to find her voice again. You can watch Evie’s story online here.
This led to a wonderful moment as musician Naughty Boy came back onstage to offer Evie his thanks, and a special gift. He invited her to come along as a VIP to the British Summer Time gig he was performing at on the Sunday with her beloved Justin Bieber!
All told it was a wonderful day full of joy, as Nordoff Robbins celebrated some of the finest musicians in the world, and raised vital funds to help other people get access to the incredible power that music can have.
Of her award, Dame Shirley Bassey said:
“I’m honoured to be the recipient of this year’s Silver Clef Award. Music is my career. Music is my life. Music is my friend. Music has been there to celebrate the highs and soothe through the lows. I believe everybody has a song inside of them; some people can lose their way in life, some struggle to express themselves – but Nordoff Robbins works with these people to find their inner songbird and true happiness.”
The full list of winners and presenters for this year were:
• Dame Shirley Bassey – O2 Silver Clef Award, presented by Alfie Boe & Michael Ball
• Phil Collins – American Express Icon Award, presented by Eric Clapton
• Blondie – Amazon Outstanding Achievement Award, presented by fellow award-winner Nile Rodgers
• Nile Rodgers – Raymond Weil International Award, presented by Alice Cooper
• Mumford & Sons – Royal Albert Hall Best Group Award, presented by Robert Plant
• Emeli Sande – Best Female Award, accepted by Naughty Boy on behalf of Emeli
• Pete Tong – Bose Innovation Award, presented by Pete’s daughter, Becky Tong
• Anne-Marie – Jack Daniels Best Newcomer Award, presented by Melanie C
• Alexander Armstrong – PPL Classical Award, presented by Jamie Theakston
• Little Mix – Ticketmaster Best Live Act Award, presented by Peter Andre
