James Bay says it was "surreal" winning the BRIT Award for British Male Solo Artist.
The ‘Hold Back The River’ hitmaker took home the prize from the ceremony – presented in association with MasterCard – held at The O2 in London on Wednesday night (24.02.16) beating Calvin Harris, Aphex Twin, Mark Ronson and Jamie xx to the accolade.
Bay can’t believe he won considering his debut LP ‘Chaos and the Calm’ came out less than a year ago.
He told BANG Showbiz: "It’s fantastic. My debut album hasn’t been out for a year, it’s surreal and the most wonderful kind of surreal.
"I’m endlessly thankful for the people that have got on board with my music, for the people discovering it now and those listening for a second time. Those are the really important moments."
But it was the 25-year-old singer/songwriter’s surprise appearance playing guitar alongside Justin Bieber during his performance of ‘Love Yourself!’ that was the talk of the night.
Bay revealed the pairing came about when her met Bieber at an MTV Europe Music Awards after-party and the pop superstar simply said he needed a guitarist for his BRITs performance and Bay was more than happy to lend him his strumming skills.
The rocker said: "I met Mr. Bieber at four in the morning after an Italian MTV EMA party. He was very good at the pool table – that’s the first thing I noticed. I know he looks great and he’s very handsome … he’s a good singer as well.
"I met him and he was a lovely guy. I’ve seen him and his manager at different points along the way. To be honest, they just needed a guitarist. He was like, ‘Hey do you fancy doing it?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah man I’ll do it.’ "
James Bay: BRITs win is surreal
