TOP Valley reggae singer Ramone Williams missed out on scooping a MOBO award.
The 20-year-old University of Nottingham student was up for Best Gospel Act and brushed shoulders with the likes of Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West at the awards night.
But it was Rachel Kerr, from London, who went on to claim the title at the star-studded ceremony at Liverpool's Echo Arena on Saturday.
Ramone, who is better known to his fans as RAM1, was undeterred by the defeat.
"You know what, I wasn't disappointed," he said.
"Like I said to my team and fellow artists on Saturday night, I didn't expect anything because it was my first time. It was new, it was fresh and I went in with no expectation and no pressure.
"The most pressure I experienced was in those few seconds before they read out the winner and after that I just enjoyed the rest of the night.
"I'm really pleased for Rachel Kerr, too. She's a huge talent and did really well to win it."
Ramone, who is in the third year of a humanistic counselling degree, self-released his debut album, One Way One Truth One Life, last year.
Seated among some of the biggest names in music, Ramone saw performances to a packed arena from Trey Songz, Conor Maynard, Emeli Sandé, Misha B, JLS, Stooshe, Labrinth and Wiley.
He also chatted to Olympic gold medallist boxer Nicola Adams.
"For me, it wasn't how I imagined it, if I'd imagined it to be something – but I really enjoyed the experience of being able to network with a lot of people," said Ramone, who was born in Bestwood but moved with his family to Top Valley ten years ago.
"I had a few pictures with Nicola Adams and chatted to a PR guy, who probably isn't a big name but was really good to meet.
"I just really enjoyed it and me and my team are really hyped up now to continue what we are doing."
Ramone turned to music and Christianity at 16 as a means of getting off a road leading to crime.
He was nominated in the Best Gospel Act category of the Music Of Black Origin awards.
He will now concentrate on furthering his music career. "There will be more writing, more recording, more releasing, the list goes on. I just want to get about," he said.
"I'm looking to do another project early next year and I would love to do a UK tour and then maybe a Europe tour some day.
"One of the things this has shown me is it's limitless. Another opportunity could come at any time to take you to another platform and I just want to take advantage of each platform and use it responsibly to share my music and spread Christianity and love."
