Bello named Manager of the Year for developing Central Cee’s global business (award sponsored by PPL)

Debbie ‘Cookie’ Pryce & Susan Banfield aka The Cookie Crew recognised as Pioneers (award sponsored by TikTok)

The Flight Club’s Samuel Ademosu & Ruth Gyaniao to pick up the award for Producer / Songwriter Manager 

Tickets available here 

The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and the Music Managers Forum (MMF) are delighted to reveal three more awardees for the upcoming Artist & Manager Awards in association with beatBread. 

The ceremony, which is the only celebration of achievements across the artist and manager community, returns to London’s Bloomsbury Big Top on the evening of Thursday November 23rd.  

In recognition of his phenomenal success with Central Cee - who this year became the first British rapper to achieve 1bn annual Spotify streams and to smash UK chart records with Sprinter, his #1 collaboration with Dave, alongside defining festival appearances at Glastonbury and Reading / Leeds - the award for Manager of the Year will go to Bello, sponsored by PPL. 

But if 2023 is defined as the “Year of Cench”, Cee’s journey to this point has been meticulously coordinated and his partnership with Bello goes way back to 2019. Cementing Cee’s reputation through a succession of track releases and mixtapes, notably 2022’s UK number 1 with “23”, Bello has shown true entrepreneurial skills in laying foundations for his client’s success - building a fiercely independent team, before signing a joint venture agreement this year with Columbia in partnership with Sony Music UK. 

And they’re not looking back. Following Cee’s recent On The Radar collaboration with Drake (who he’s currently opening for on a North American tour), a New Yorker profile, and inclusion on XXL magazine’s hugely influential “Freshman Class” their recipe for global success looks set to go stratospheric. 

Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, MMF: 
“We are delighted to recognise the phenomenal successes of Bello with Central Cee and to award him as our Manager of the Year. Building an uncompromising independent artist business on this scale and with such cut through is an incredible achievement, and Bello is already laying the foundations of even greater global accomplishments. With thanks too to PPL for their sponsorship of the award, it’s an incredible backstory that we look forward to celebrating on November 23rd.”

The FAC and MMF are honoured to recognise two hugely influential UK pioneers of Hip Hop: Debbie ‘Cookie’ Pryce & Susan Banfield aka MC Remedee & Susie Q aka The Cookie Crew. The Pioneer Award is sponsored by TikTok. 

Initially formed in Battersea, The Cookie Crew laid a path for UK Hip Hop that countless others would follow, recording radio sessions for John Peel in 1985 and 1988, before issuing a string of commercially successful singles (including the genre-blending Top 5 hit Rok Da House, the first record to combine Hip Hop and House) and releasing their acclaimed debut album, Born This Way in 1989. As the first UK Hip Hop act to break North America, their follow-up, Fade To Black, featured productions by the likes of DJ Premier & Guru, Black Sheep and Daddy-O, while Debbie and Susan toured with contemporaries Public Enemy and De La Soul, and supported Bobby Brown at Wembley. They also recorded with some of the industry greats, including Danny D, Roy Ayers and Edwin Starr.  

A trailblazer for black female music executives, Debbie has gone on to build a successful career in the industry, developing expertise in press, promotions, marketing and live, before taking on her current role as Director, Label Management at The Orchard. Susan went on to have an extremely successful career in the education field and served as a Vice Principal in Primary schools. Being in such a position involves a lot of responsibility in which she has had a significant impact on students' lives and the overall school community.

David Martin, CEO, Featured Artists Coalition: 
“The Cookie Crew changed the course of Hip Hop. Emerging from South London in the early 1980s, they rapped about their own experiences, broke down genre barriers and won the respect of their US counterparts. They opened a door through which countless others have travelled. Debbie and Susan are true gamechangers, and the FAC are honoured they will be picking up this Pioneer Award.”

Finally, FAC and MMF can reveal that Samuel Ademosu & Ruth Gyaniao, aka The Flight Club, will receive our award for Producer/Songwriter Manager. 

Starting from a bedroom set-up, Samuel has built an astonishingly successful management business in less than a decade, with recording and publishing interests, and a roster that includes J Hus's longtime collaborator TSB, Grammy award-winning P2J who frequently works with Beyoncé and Wizkid, artist, producer, and songwriter duo DAMEDAME*, who've just executive-produced Jorja Smith's new album, songwriter and producer Ari PenSmith, engineer/mixer Adam Lunn, and DJ Taylah Elaine.

Collectively, Samuel and Ruth’s clients have contributed to some of the most important music releases of recent times, including tracks for Burna Boy, Dave, Jorja Smith, Stormzy, Doja Cat, Gorillaz, Kali Uchis, Headie One, Chris Brown, Snoh Aalegra, and many more. In 2021, The Flight Club signed a joint venture with Warner Chappell Music with the stated ambition to break more world-class talent

Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, MMF:
“Our Producer / Songwriter category has recognised some of the UK’s most influential and innovative managers, and Ruth and Samuel’s achievements are clearly deserving of that elevated company. In less than ten years, The Flight Club has built a globally recognised roster that’s synonymous with a new wave of cutting edge creatives and music makers, and whose impact on contemporary music culture is undeniable.”   
 

Tickets for the 2023 Artist & Manager Awards in association with beatBread are available now - please find details here. 

As previously announced, in recognition of lifetime achievement, Duran Duran and their longtime manager Wendy Laister will be picking up the Artist-Manager Partnership award (sponsored by Hipgnosis Songs) at the ceremony.  

As well as full access to the ceremony, attendees will enjoy a red carpet cocktail reception, a two-course meal and entry to an exclusive Artist & Manager Awards afterparty. 

Other categories at the must-attend event will include Artist of the Year, Breakthrough Artist, Breakthrough Manager, Entrepreneur and Industry Champion. 

At last year’s sell-out ceremony, winners were Becky Hill, Bose Ogulu, Tim Burgess, Martin Hall, Carl Cox, beabadoobee, Callum Reece, Groundworks, Krept & Konan, ABBA Voyage, Red Light Management and Music Declares Emergency. 

The Artist & Manager Awards are headline sponsored for the second year running by beatBread, the pioneering music funding platform that enables artists to access growth capital while maintaining control of their careers and ownership of their music.

Launched in November 2020, and already a highly valued Associate Member of the MMF and partner of the FAC, beatBread has firmly established itself as one of the best ways for independent artists to source funding to further their careers. The company provides advances on streaming income for both catalogue and unreleased repertoire, empowering artists and giving them complete choice of their distribution, marketing and promotion partners. beatBread advances range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $3M per artist.

To date, the company has supplied funding to more than 800 artists and labels across multiple genres, six continents and a broad range of career stages. 

Artists and managers who want to explore what their capital options might be can do so quickly and easily without any obligation, simply by answering a few questions at www.beatbread.com. 

Earlier this year, beatBread launched its Investor Network, a platform that enables distributors, industry insiders and qualified investors to bid on fractions of an artist’s deal, allowing artists to leverage the best possible terms to finance their careers as a result.