Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax" was honoured with the Classic Song Award at the prestigious Q Awards 2009 held in London on Monday. The award was presented to former frontman Holly Johnson by Sophie Ellis Bextor.
The announcement was made public last week, when Q Editor-In-Chief Paul Rees said: "Determining what constitutes a classic song is a tricky beast, but staying power and instant recognition aren't bad yardsticks. Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'Relax' more than ticks both boxes - more than a quarter of a century it is undimmed and unforgettable. That it also defined its era is equally inarguable. As such, Q is delighted to give it the recognition it deserves."
But apart from Holly Johnson, "none of the Liverpool-born band were invited to the show - and even after requesting tickets, they were not allowed to attend. While Johnson was invited to accept the award, the rest of the band only found out about its existence when Norris Green-born guitarist Brian 'Nasher' Nash overheard the news on the radio last Friday."
A source close to the band told the Liverpool Echo News: “This was the first any of them had heard about it. The band contacted the team behind the awards, who were quite staggered they had not been informed or invited.” But despite the other bandmates’ requests for tickets, they were not allowed to attend the ceremony.
A spokesperson for the Q Awards said: "This award was sorted out via the band’s label Universal, who said it was Holly fronting the campaign."
Universal Music Group, which is about to release a greatest hits collection by the band called Frankie Say Greatest, was unavailable for comment.
The Trevor Horn-produced "Relax" spent 5 weeks at #1 in the UK and remained on the charts for 42 weeks. "Relax" is credited jointly to Peter Gill, Holly Johnson, Brian Nash, and Mark O'Toole.
Photo: mirror.co.uk
Material: qthemusic.com & liverpoolecho.co.uk
