BRITS REVEAL RISING STARS

The shortlist for the inaugural BRITs Rising Star award has been revealed, with Dirty Hit signing Beabadoobee, Polydor artist Celeste and Insanity's Joy Crookes tipped for success. The winner will be announced on 12/6.

Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Bea Kristi began recording music as Beabadoobee in 2017. The 19-year-old’s first track "Coffee" gathered hundreds of thousands of streams in a matter of days through a fan-uploaded video. Since then, her songs have amassed millions of streams between her own self-released recordings and her first two EPs Patched Up and Loveworm, and she's received support from Vogue, Dazed, The Fader, i-D, Noisey and The Guardian, amongst others. Signed to Dirty Hit, she's managed by Chris Melian at the company's management arm All On Red. Her U.K. agent is Matt Bates at Primary Talent.

Los Angeles-born, Brighton-raised Celeste is a British-Jamaican singer inspired by Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald. She signed with Universal imprint Polydor last year. Since then she has garnered critical acclaim for a string of singles including "Lately," "Father’s Son" and latterly "Strange," which was added to the B list at Radio 1. She has sold out every London show this year and supported the likes of Michael Kiwanuka, Janelle Monae and Neneh Cherry as well as duetting with Paul Weller. She recently announced a U.K. headline tour for next April, selling out the 2k capacity Shepherds Bush Empire in a matter of days. Management is Atlas Artists and CAA reps her for the world excluding North America.

Sony artist Crookes hails from South London. Two years ago, YouTube channel Colors uploaded a video of her performing "Mother May I Sleep With Danger" which now stands at over 8m views. She released two EP’s, Reminiscence and Perception this year, played multiple festivals (including Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Glastonbury) and headlined sold out shows across the U.K. and Europe. Management is Charlie Owen and Craig Dsouza at Primary Talent is the U.K. agent.

BRITs Rising Star replaces Critics' Choice and the nominees were chosen by music editors and critics from the national press and online music editors, plus heads of music at major radio and music TV stations. This year, the panel has been expanded to include more tastemakers including songwriters, producers and live bookers. For the first time, the winner will perform during the BRITs ceremony in February.