Mar 26 2009 By John Dingwall

Exclusive West, Beyonce And Rihanna Are Lined Up As Scotland Lands Mobo Awards

SCOTLAND is set to host the prestigious Mobo music awards. Plans are being finalised for the glittering ceremony in Glasgow's SECC.

The Music of Black Origin awards, which have been held in London since they were established in 1995, will star the cream of R&B, hip hop, reggae and rap from all over the world.

Already the word is out that Rihanna, Beyonce, Kanye West, Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke and Craig David will be asked to take part in the show, which will be broadcast live on the BBC.

Previous guests have included David Bowie and wife Imam, as well as David and Victoria Beckham.

Lionel Richie, the first artist to receive a Mobo Life Achievement award, is expected to be asked to make the official announcement when he plays the SECC on April8.

Last night, Mobo awards director Henk Elzenga said Glasgow faced stiff competition from Manchester, Liverpool and London, and that a final decision would be announced in two weeks.

He refused to confirm the awards would come to Glasgow, claiming a PR firm would be appointed to handle the announcement, but admitted: "We are looking at Scotland.

"This year, we were approached by a few cities, which was a luxury. It has always been held in London and this would be the first time outside the capital.

"The deal has not been signed but we are working towards coming to Glasgow."

Established in 1995 by former TV researcher Kanya King and DanceStar Awards founder Andy Ruffell, the Mobo awards recognise artists of any race or nationality performing black music.

Asked about the suitability of the SECC, Henk said: "If we talk about Glasgow, there is only one place we can go. We had a very successful show at Wembley last year.

"We were very happy and it ticked all the right boxes. It was a great atmosphere.

Nothing has been confirmed but we are working on it."

Christina Aguilera hosted the MTV European Music Awards in Edinburgh in 2003. They generated more than £9million for the local economy and the Mobo awards are expected to beat that with £10million.

Kanya King began to develop the Mobo awards show in January 1996, and financed the first event by re-mortgaging her house. In 2008, it had grown enough to be staged at Wembley, from where it was broadcast live on BBC3 and repeated three days later on BBC1. It reached 250 million people in 57 countries.

Over the years, artists have included Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Tina Turner, Dizzee Rascal, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Amy Winehouse and Usher.

Since the beginning, the bash has often been mired in controversy despite remaining the main UK awards ceremony for urban stars.

Some artists initially argued that styles of music should not belinked to skin colour.

Reggae acts Vybz Kartel and Elephant Man were removed from the Best Reggae Act category at the 2004 awards, due to their homophobic and violence-inciting lyrics.

Last year, the audience booed Leona Lewis when she failed to turn up to collect two awards.

Amy Winehouse performed two songs and accepted the award for Best UK Female at the 2007 awards, which were held at the O2 Arena in London. Past presenters have included Shaggy and Jamelia.

http://www.dailyrecord.co...-21228290/

such a pointles awards show

can't get Iman right lol, kidding mistake .