Jamiroquai raised the banner at the Brits for Essex bands.

With Prodigy and Blur failing to release any material in 1998, it was left to former Colchester schoolboy Jay Kay to represent the county.

The artists shortlisted for the prestigious Brit Awards were announced at a showbiz bash at London's Cafe de Paris last night.

And there were quite a few surprises.

The Spice Girls and Boyzone were ignored by the judges and did not even rate a mention, while chart-toppers All Saints have only been nominated for Best British Dance Act and have had Under The Bridge put forward for Best Video.

But the undisputed King of Pop last year was Robbie Williams.

The headline-grabbing star has been nominated for a record-breaking six awards - including two each for Best British Single and Best British Video - and is hotly-tipped to walk away with the gong for Best Male Solo Artist.

The former record holders for the number of nominations, with five, were Oasis - who are also left out of this year's line-up.

Equalling that figure this year are Bristol-based Massive Attack, whose album Mezzanine won great critical acclaim.

A number of bands and artists have notched up three nominations, including Gomez, Catatonia, Manic Street Preachers and Fatboy Slim.

Jamiroquai have been put forward as nominees for Best British Dance Act, and their video for the Godzilla anthem Deeper Underground is also up for an award.

Johnny Vaughan will be hosting the show at London's Docklands Arena on February 16, and the bash will be shown on television the next day.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.