Ross honoured at industry charity event

08:00 | Tuesday November 3, 2009

The honour, whose previous recipients include Sir Elton John, Sir George Martin and Universal Music Group International chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, was given to Ross at a charity dinner at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in recognition of his services to music broadcasting.

Michael handed Ross the award, while those contributing filmed tributes included Sir Tom Jones, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Will Smith, Rufus Wainwright, U2, Cheryl Cole and The Killers’ singer Brandon Flowers who said the broadcaster was “one of the best people we’ve come across in our journey thus far”.

Bryan Ferry, Four Poofs and a Piano, who provide musical accompaniment on his Friday night BBC1 chat show, and Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones, who stepped in at the 11th hour after the Noisettes pulled out due to illlness, all performed at the event, which was attended by more than 1,000 people from the UK music and entertainment industry. Among those there were Noel Gallagher, the band Sparks and Russell Brand, a year after controversy broke out over the so-called Sachsgate affair with Ross.

Held in association with PPL and Nokia Comes With Music, the annual event was staged in support of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and the Brit School. Ahead of last night’s ceremony, £4m had been raised for the two charities in total by the MITs.

“We are especially delighted for our two charities that Jonathan Ross is our 2009 MITS recipient,” said award committee chairman David Munns. “For over two decades Jonathan Ross has been an important part of the UK music landscape and has provided valuable support to artists in challenging times. His passion for music, enthusiasm for discovering and encouraging musicians and the importance of his two shows for artist development, makes Jonathan Ross a worthy recipient of the 2009 MITs Award.”