Emerging musicians from northern England need more support, say top artists

Artists at Northern Music Awards in Manchester highlight lack of dedicated support for arts

More should be done to help talented emerging musicians from the north of England, top artists have said at the inaugural Northern Music Awards in Manchester.

The awards, run by the music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins, took place in a packed Albert Hall with winners including the former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson – who beat Sam Fender and Self Esteem to pick up artist of the year – the Courteeners, Aitch and Mel C.