U.K. chart-topper Alicia Keys is to perform with Jay-Z at the BRIT Awards in London on Feb. 16.
Keys, currently at the top of the U.K. albums chart with “The Element of Freedom” (J/Sony Music), last performed at the event in 2004.
Keys and Jay-Z will perform “Empire State of Mind.” They join a list of performers that includes Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Cheryl Cole, Lily Allen, Kasabian, JLS and Robbie Williams. There will also be a collaboration between Dizzee Rascal and Florence and the Machine.
The awards ceremony at London’s Earls Court Arena will be televised live on ITV1. It will be hosted by comedian Peter Kay and the awards will be presented to winners by “The Wire” actor Idris Elba, Courtney Love, Dame Shirley Bassey and Andy Serkis, star of the Ian Dury biopic “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.”
“Alicia is a fantastic addition to the show,” said Ged Doherty, chairman of the BRITs Committee and chairman/CEO of Sony Music U.K., in a statement. “I can’t wait to see her and Jay-Z perform one of the biggest songs of the year.”
U.K. trade body the BPI, which organizes the BRIT Awards, has also announced that awards sponsor MasterCard has signed on for another three years to 2013.
