MUMBAI: R&B singer Emeli Sandé will receive the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award on 9 May at Music Biz 2013 in Los Angeles.

UK-based singer released her first solo single ‘Heaven’ in August 2011. In UK, she has already become a Platinum-selling superstar with her debut album ‘Our Version of Events’, after it released in February 2012.  Sandé has sold more than 320,000 copies of her new single 'Next to Me' in the US, and a new version featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar was also released recently. Her popularity was seen in 2012 when she performed in both the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London Olympics. Sandé has three number-one singles across the United Kingdom and Ireland with 'Read All About It' with Professor Green, 'Next to Me' and 'Beneath Your Beautifu' a collaboration with Labrinth.

NARM/digitalmusic.org president Jim Donio said, “Emeli is certainly one of the industry’s brightest new lights, and we’re excited to shine a light on her and her accomplishments at Music Biz 2013. Her debut album, Our Version of Events, was the best-selling album of the U.K. in 2012, and with her new single causing a serious stir here in the U.S., we expect her to reach new levels of fame on our shores. We hope this award will serve as a launching pad for her, just as we have showcased the now-superstars such as Taylor Swift and Mariah Carey in the past.”

Others to be honoured at the Awards Dinner night include Buddy Guy, who will receive the Chairman’s Award for Sustained Creative Achievement, and founder and managing partner at TAG Strategic, Ted Cohen, receiving the NARM’s Presidential Award for Sustained Industry Achievement, and many more.

Music business association NARM and digitalmusic.org will host Music Biz 2013 on 6-7 May in Los Angeles.