International Group nominations announced
The contest for International Group sees four BRITs newcomers go up against the most successful BRITs artist in the history of the category.
Irish rock band U2 have won the BRIT for International Group a whopping five times, as well as bagging the Outstanding Contribution award in 2001 and British Live Act in 1993. They’ve also performed a number of times at the ceremony, the last time being in 2009.
American rock five-piece Alabama Shakes released their second album, ‘Sound & Color’, in 2015 and saw the record make the UK Top 10. Australian rock group Tame Impala have had an equally impressive year. Their third album ‘Currents’ peaked at No. 3 in the UK album chart last July.
It’s been an immensely difficult year for American rockers, Eagles of Death Metal. Following the Paris attacks at gig in November, they joined fellow International Group nominees U2 on stage for an emotional return to the city. Their fourth album, ‘Zipper Down’ was released in October 2015.
Electronic music trio Major Lazer are the only non-rock act in the category this year. Their ‘Peace is the Mission’ album was released in June and spawned the UK No. 2 single, ‘Lean On’, which has been in the charts for 45 weeks to date.
The BRIT Awards 2016 take place at London’s O2 Arena on 24 February and will be broadcast live on ITV at 8pm GMT. See all the nominations here.