The last couple of years have seen British female solo artists emerge like never before. At one point, we boasted of Annie Lennox and that was about it. Now, the UK has Amy Winehouse (for all her flaws), Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Leona Lewis, Duffy, Adele, and many others. And now there’s a new singer to add to the list: Pixie Lott.

Pixie Lott scored a huge debut number one last Sunday when she topped the British singles chart with Mama Do. In doing so, she became the first British female solo artist who hasn’t emerged from a reality TV show to do so. It’s an annual occurrence for someone from The X Factor to do so - Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke - but here is a gem of a singer not to have taken that route.

Lott has a very similar Pop/R’n'B sound to her as Duffy and Adele. She’s like a combination of the two, with a little Winehouse thrown in for good measure. Which is quite a heady mix. Mama Do shows off her style really well, allowing her to sing around a catchy bassline which accentuates rather than overbears her voice.

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There’s one huge story obviously dominating news of the Grammy Awards 2009 - Chris Brown being arrested for allegedly assaulting Rihanna. But that’s been covered to the nth degree in various different places, and the full details have yet to emerge.

So, as is my remit here at Brit Music Scene, I’d like instead to focus on the good that came out of this year’s ceremony. Several British artists went home with awards on the night, and they deserve the plaudits they are receiving.

Last year’s Grammy Awards were all about one British artist in particular, with Amy Winehouse winning five honors. She also performed live via satellite without screwing up, leading many of us to believe she was on the road to recovery. But that wasn’t to be.

The Grammy Awards 2009 saw the range of British artists winning much more diverse, and that’s a great indicator of the healthy state of British music at this point in time.

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2009 has arrived so I’m actually overdue in rounding up my best of Brit Music Scene from 2008. Here we find out what the biggest stories and talking points between the months of July and September.

July

Most bands now love having their songs featured in video games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero, but Led Zeppelin made a stand against the grain by refusing permission for their songs to be used. Meanwhile, Mani claimed that Ian Brown was the main thing stopping a Stone Roses reunion from happening.

There were claims that John Lydon AKA Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols had racially attacked Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke at the Summercase festival in Spain. While the moment that the Sex Pistols swore on live TV was voted as the most requested clip ever.

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Believe it or not, this is the first time I have covered Razorlight on Brit Music Scene (it was that Amy Winehouse’s fault, always being in the newspapers and stuff). But still, regardless of excuses it’s a bit of a mistake to have ignored what are essentially one of the most popular bands in the UK.

I’m torn in how I feel about Razorlight. Some of their music is brilliant, and they straddle that fine line between pop and indie superbly, a line I follow quite avidly. But then there’s Johnny Borrell, who on stage is a great front man but off stage is a complete and utter twonk.

This song cuts through Borrell’s superior attitude and cuts to the chase. What we end up with is a great pop song that shows the brilliant song writing talent Razorlight possess. Music video and review after the cut.

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Adele is an award winning British artist who has seemingly come from nowhere to be one of the new wave of female artists achieving worldwide success. I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with her, adoring some songs and disliking others. And now she’s covering Bob Dylan. Wow, those are some big boots to fill.

Having said that, the Dylan song Adele is covering is Make You Feel My Love, a song already covered an inordinate amount of time, including by the likes of Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, and Neil Diamond. So even if she had messed it up, it’s not like she’d have been the first to have done so.

Luckily, the opposite is true, and she has actually done a fantastic job. She’s kept the basic feeling and tone of the song true to the original, but at the same time made it her own. Which is a tough job to do when covering an artist as brilliant as Bob Dylan.

Both the song and video exude simplicity, as you can see after the cut.

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I love America, and the majority of the American people I have met both online and in real life. But, when I hear a story such as this, I can’t help but lose a bit of respect for the country and its inhabitants.

Chasing Pavements by Adele is an absolutely brilliant song, and deserves to be listened to by as many people as possible. It was her second single, but was the one which brought her to public recognition. And deservedly so, as both the song and video are fantastic.

But there was a slight problem over in the States with this song, namely that it was thought to be about turning gay, which it clearly isn’t. While most of us wouldn’t have a problem with a song about being gay, some US radio stations actually refused to play the song for that very reason.

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Elbow have won the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Music Prize, beating the likes of Radiohead, Adele, Estelle, and bookies favourite Burial. The Manchester band won the annual music industry award for their fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid.

The prize was contested by 12 of the best of British acts from this year, all of whom were considered to have released the best albums from the past 12 months. The nominees were announced back in July, when I expressed my desire for Radiohead to win for In Rainbows. But it wasn’t to be.

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I remember a time not so long ago when there was such a dearth of British female singers that Annie Lennox was almost guaranteed a Brit award every year. Now times have changed somewhat, and not only do we have Amy Winehouse doing her thing (drugs, booze, music, more drugs and booze), we have people such as Kate Nash, Lily Allen, Duffy, and Adele flying the flag around the world.

Adele and Duffy have come through at exactly the same time, and their singles seem to have coincided with each other quite a lot. I don’t know whether that’s an intentional ploy from the record companies, but it has set up a kind of battle of the divas.

Both artists have quite a bit in common: have been compared to Amy Winehouse, have unconventional looks but are still sexy in their own way, have voices to die for. But I do declare that you can only like one or the other, or at least have to pick your favourite.

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The Mercury Music Prize, sponsored by Nationwide, is the annual award given to the best album by a British or Irish artist released in the previous 12 months. The ceremony isn’t until later in the year, but a short-list is first released, with the name of the 12 artists, and their albums, on it which the judges think are the best of British.

Having said that, the Mercury Music Prize has a history of choosing albums by up and coming artists, rather than necessarily widely known artists, and certainly not the best-selling ones. Which means there are always some huge surprises in the short-list, and more often than not, in the eventual winner chosen as well.

Last year saw Klaxons named as winners, for their début album Myths Of The Near Future. They beat the Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, and Amy Winehouse along the way, although Winehouse’ performance at the awards ceremony probably invoked more press coverage than the Klaxons themselves.

This year’s short-list has now been published, and the usual surprises are present, as well as there being many names missing that were expected to appear.

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I love Lily Allen with a passion. Yes I know she’s got a potty mouth, as one of my friends keeps reminding me, and yes, I know she’s probably more big headed than is deserved with the limited success she has had outside of her native UK, but I don’t care, there is still something about the woman which makes me want to go out on a drinking binge with her.

Part of the reason is because I think she gave the British music scene a much-needed kick up the backside when she went from being Keith Allen’s daughter with a lot of friends on MySpace to being a best-selling pop star. And now I hear that she could be quitting music… Lily, say it ain’t so.

Rolling Stone recently interviewed Allen about her career, and her second album, with the working title of Stuck On The Naughty Step. She did her usual trick of saying exactly what she thinks and how she feels, and then dropped the bombshell that she could give up singing if the album flops.

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