The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) and Music Managers Forum (MMF) have unveiled the first wave of winners for the 2025 Artist & Manager Awards.
Pulp and Rough Trade Management’s Jeannette Lee will be honoured at the ceremony, alongside manager and music executive Craig Logan and Soul II Soul.
The ceremony returns to London’s Bloomsbury Big Top on Thursday November 20, and will once again be hosted by BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Remi Burgz.
Annabella Coldrick, chief executive, MMF & David Martin, CEO, FAC, said: “The Artist & Manager Awards uniquely celebrates both the creative talent of artists and the entrepreneurial acumen of their business partners. Our first selection of awardees perfectly encapsulates these qualities and we are delighted to honour the achievements of Pulp and Jeannette Lee, Craig Logan and Soul II Soul on November 20th. In their own unique ways, all have made a deep and lasting impact, not only within the artist and manager community, but across music culture overall.”
In a year that marked the band’s triumphant return to the top of the UK album chart with the Mercury-nominated More, the FAC and MMF said that 2025 was the perfect moment to recognise the long-term partnership between Pulp and Rough Trade Management’s Jeannette Lee.
Working together since 1992, it is a union that has lasted for more than three decades, encompassing No.1 albums, a run of Top 10 singles, iconic Glastonbury performances, an Ivor Novello and Mercury Prize, numerous solo projects and two high-profile comebacks. This year the band scheduled a run of sold-out arena and festival shows across the UK, Europe, Japan and North America.
Lee is co-owner of Rough Trade Management and Rough Trade Records. Emerging from London’s punk scene of the late 1970s as a member of Public Image Limited (PiL) before joining business partner Geoff Travis in the mid-1980s, she has championed and supported artists including Pulp, The Cranberries, Spiritualized, Beth Orton, Cate Le Bon and Baxter Dury.
On the label side, Rough Trade has released records by The Strokes, The Libertines, Lankum, Anohni, Amyl & The Sniffers, Sleaford Mods and Pulp’s chart-topping More, among many others.
Sponsored by PPL, the Artist & Manager Partnership Award will celebrate Pulp and Jeannette Lee’s shared achievements and their musical legacy.
Craig Logan will receive the 2025 Entrepreneur Award, sponsored by Sound Royalties. Logan’s career combines early pop stardom in Bros, followed by life as a global entrepreneur and manager to artists including Pink, Dido, Anastacia, Beverley Knight and Imelda May.
Following Bros, Logan went on to manage Kim Appleby, co-writing her Ivor Novello-nominated hit Don’t Worry. By the age of 25, he was VP of international at EMI Music, working with artists including Robbie Williams, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and Garth Brooks.
Joining forces with Roger Davies in artist management in 1999, he worked closely with Tina Turner, Joe Cocker and Sade before signing Pink, who he nurtured and co-managed, resulting in 30 million album sales, and multiple global tours.
Following a return to record executive life as MD of the RCA label group working campaigns for artists such as Beyonce, Shakira, Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake, he went on to establish Logan Media Entertainment (LME) in 2011, a new boutique management company with offices in London and LA.
LME now encompasses multiple divisions, including two record labels, a digital and social media agency, a sync imprint and standalone businesses to represent visual content creators, influencers and promote talent-led brand partnerships. The company’s recent successes include sold out tours for Pink, Anastacia, Beverley Knight, Imelda May and Roachford and a No.1 album for Ball & Boe.
In their own unique ways, all have made a deep and lasting impact, not only within the artist and manager community, but across music culture overall
Annabella Coldrick & David Martin
In recognition of their ongoing influence on British music culture, Soul II Soul will be recipients of the Pioneer Award, sponsored by PRS.
Formed by Jazzie B and the late Daddae Harvey in the early 1980s, Soul II Soul’s fusion of reggae and soul created a genre-breaking movement.
Tracks such as Keep On Movin’ and Back To Life (However Do You Want Me) put their sound on a global map, incorporating the collective talents of singers and producers including Caron Wheeler and Nellee Hooper, and achieving transatlantic success with the album Club Classics Vol. One.
The group – which had a constantly shifting line-up – made a further chart impact with subsequent albums including Vol. II 1990: A New Decade and Vol III: Just Right, as well as establishing a strong touring business.
Soul II Soul opened stores in both London and Japan, expanding their brand and influence to clothing, records and accessories.
“The MMF and the FAC, of whom Jazzie was a founding director, are honoured to pay tribute to one of the UK’s most influential musical pioneers,” said a statement.
Established in 2012, the Artist & Manager Awards is produced by the Featured Artists Coalition and the Music Managers Forum and celebrates the creative and commercial partnerships between artists and their managers.
Last year’s ceremony was attended by more than 600 guests from across the business, with Pet Shop Boys and manager Angela Becker recognised for their long-term partnership.
Other awards were received by Chase & Status and Sophie Kennard, Paloma Faith, Barry Can’t Swim, Riverman Management, Finesse Foreva, Ant Hippsley, Hope James, Victoria de Juniac, Yungblud and the team at Special Projects Music, Cymande and Sophie (posthumous award).
