Ed Sheeran’s record-breaking 2017 was recognised with two Grammy awards as he flew the flag for British artists.
Just 12 months after Adele beat Beyonce to album of the year, British musicians were sparse among the nominees at the 60th Grammys in New York with Sam Smith and former One Direction members Harry Styles and Niall Horan overlooked.
Sheeran – whose third album Divide broke dozens of records and was the second biggest selling of the year – failed to make the shortlists for the main categories but received two smaller awards.
It collected best pop vocal album prize while hit track Shape Of You was named best pop solo performance.
The British singer, 26, was not available to collect the honours while Harris missed out on producer of the year prize – his sole nomination.
Zayn Malik’s nomination alongside Taylor Swift for Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack I Don’t Wanna Live Forever missed out on the best song written for visual media award with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda picking up the prize.
Upon Divide’s release, nine of the top ten tracks in the UK singles charts were from the album while it has also achieved ongoing success internationally.
One representative from the UK present at the show, however, was presenter James Corden who was hosting the event for the second year in a row while Elton John is due to perform.
