Paloma Faith has been waiting 14 years to win British Female Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards with MasterCard.
Paloma Faith (c) Jon Furniss / Corbis
The 'Only Love Can Hurt Like This' hitmaker - who was handed the award at tonight's (25.02.15) ceremony - believes she has come a long way since she was "arrested twice" for putting her flyers around Hackney.
Accepting her gong, she said: "It's taken me 14 years to stand up here and accept this award and it means so much. I'm so sorry that I'm gonna talk a little bit.
"People have been doing short speeches but I think it's the people who have [got] lots of awards that don't like to gob off as much as me. I used to fly poster my posters in Hackney for my gigs and I've been arrested twice for doing that and now I've seen my pictures are all over Greenwich tube station legally. And that's an amazing feeling."
The 33-year-old singer - who hails from the east London borough - dedicated her award to the "underdogs" and "grafters".
She said: "It would take me an hour to thank everyone I have to thank but first and foremost, I want to thank my fans - who are the most incredible fans; they are so loyal and so wonderful and people greet me with such kindness. They don't intimidate me; they're just so lovely...
"Flaws are what make people human and I don't claim to be perfect; people make so many mistakes and I'm a bumbling wreck but I'm just so grateful - and I may never be up here again which is why I want to dedicate this to all the underdogs and all the grafters who work hard. So thank you, thank you so so much everyone."
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