On the night of her greatest acclaim, Raye – Rachel Keen when she was when a child at Coulsdon Primary and pupil at Woodcote High – gave a shout out to Croydon.
Family values: Raye on stage at the Brits last night, together with her grandmother, Agatha
“Miracles happen,” said the country’s latest, biggest music star as she was interviewed on the red carpet ahead of last night’s Brits, where she won six of the trophies – more than anyone has ever managed in one year before.
The past 12 months have been triumphant for Raye, hence the miracles, as she broke away from the bonds of her music label and carved out her own career in a move which many artists will view with hope and inspiration.
No one had ever managed to win more than four Brit Awards in one year before. Harry Styles, Blur and Adele – who like Raye had spent some time at Croydon’s Brit School – held the record at four.
Raye won the awards for album, artist, song and songwriter of the year, plus best new artist – she’s 26 and had been writing and recording for a decade, it was just that other acts got to use her best material – and R&B act.
Raye had been nominated in seven categories, another record. The only one she didn’t win was pop act, won by Dua Lipa in a public vote.
Miracle: Raye on the awards red carpet last night
Receiving the biggest award of the night, for album of the year, Raye brought her grandmother Agatha on stage in a moment that had many in the crowd in tears – as well as Raye herself. “I’m ugly crying on national television,” she said.
“I’m so proud of this album, I’m in love with music – all I ever wanted to be was an artist.”
Raye had signed to Polydor as a teenager and featured as a vocalist on top five hits by David Guetta and Jax Jones. She also wrote lyrics for Beyonce and Rihanna. But would Polydor put their multi-national billions behind her talents and let her release an album of her own…? Oh no.
But this is post-pandemic, 21st Century, the age of the interweb and Tik-Tok, where the megaliths of the music business no longer monopolise all the means of production and distribution. Raye partnered up with a a distribution company and turned her career around: “Escapism”, which won song of the year, was No1 in Britain and was her first hit in the United States, while the Brit-winning album My 21st Century Blues reached No2 and was nominated for the Mercury prize.
Having a giraffe: Rob Beckett
Along the way in the past few months, Raye has also picked up a Novello Award, a sign of real acclaim for quality songsmiths, as well as a MOBO and a performing a turn at Glastonbury.
Raye’s shout-out was not the only reference to Croydon on the night, either. Comedian Rob Beckett turned up on the red carpet dressed as a giraffe.
Mayor Jason Perry and his chums at Croydon BID must be soooo proud.
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For aspiring artists she is a Raye of hope.
Raye’s epic talent has once again allowed Brit school to bask in the glory of shaping another world class musician. It is wonderful that Brit school has enabled Croydon to continue its long held tradition of contributing massively to the global music scene.
This may be a little unfair but it does feel a little as though Brit school’s gain has been Croydon’s grass roots music scene’s loss. Pandemics and rising alcohol prices aside, Croydon’s live music venues have been decimated since the Brit school was established. I’m talking about The Cartoon, Black Sheep Bar, Scream Lounge, Blue Orchid and others. The Brit school could choose to make use of local venues, or even set up their own, but as far as I’m aware they don’t. It does seem a shame, though there may be understandable fears about safety.
In the mean time if feels like we’ll have to make do with covers bands or travel into central London to find live music and a decent atmosphere.
Not sure that music groups of 14-year-olds, however talented, are allowed to perform on licensed premises, Annabel… well, no one under 18, strictly
They occasionally did showcase nights in the Cartoon years ago. I feel a lot of the talent who might have previously been honing their sound in Croydon venues (and yes potentially performing while being underage) is now being schooled in contract law and prepped for stardom in Brit school classrooms, which of course is important. But I do think there has been a cost to Croydon town centre nightlife! Boo hoo for Croydon town, hooray for them I suppose. God I do sound so bitter 😭…
I miss the Cartoon – just down the road from our first Croydon home. Just the right size venue and some great music back in the day