Music stars Rudimental receive honorary degrees from Leeds Met today

Chart-toppers, BRIT award winners and Leeds Metropolitan graduates, Rudimental, returned to the University to be awarded honorary degrees.Piers Aggett and Kesi Dryden, who make up half of the group, graduated from Leeds Met in 2008 from BSc (Hons) Creative Music and Sound Technology.Since storming to the top of the UK charts in 2012 with their single Feel the Love, the group have enjoyed continued success. Last year their album Home, which features a string of stars including John Newman and Emeli Sandé, debuted at number one in the charts.On receiving his award, Piers commented: “This award means a lot. It’s a big achievement and it feels amazing to be rewarded for our hard work. We’ve been successful for two years now and there have been so many highlights. The main one for me has been playing at Glastonbury this year.“My best memory of studying here was being in the studio – they’ve got amazing studio facilities here and they were just really fun. We got to use lots of really cool equipment. Networking with other students and just trying out new things in the studio was the funnest part.”
Kesi added: “We’ve had so many career highlights it’s hard to pick one – every couple of weeks there’s something new, which is amazing. For me I would go with getting to number with ‘Feel the Love’ which was our debut single so that was special. The advice I’d give to students graduating today would be to work hard and put the hours in, whatever career it is that you want. Leeds is a great place to be as a student, there’s so much going on. We had an exciting three years here.”In February this year, the band won their first BRIT award for Best British Single for their track Waiting All Night, which was released in April last year and features the vocals of singer, Ella Eyre.Piers and Kesi were both awarded an Honorary Masters of Music for their contribution to the arts.The pair remain close to their roots and, in November 2012, they returned to Leeds Met to talk to music students about their success and experience at the University, taking part in a lively question and answer session with the undergraduates prior to their concert at the O2 Academy in Leeds that evening.Alongside Piers and Kesi, Amir Amor and DJ Locksmith make up the London-based quartet. As well as having toured extensively in the UK, Rudimental have also toured in Europe, Australia and the USA.They kicked off 2014 with a performance on Jools Holland’s annual Hootenanny and have continued with a sell-out UK tour including three consecutive dates at Brixton Academy.
Others receiving honorary degrees from Leeds Metropolitan this week include: Coronation Street Producer, Stuart Blackburn; former professional road racing cyclist and national champion, Sid Barras and director of critically-acclaimed films, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Brassed Off, Mark Herman.
Leeds Metropolitan University Vice Chancellor, Professor Susan Price, said: “Since graduating Piers and Kesi’s success has known no bounds, and we could not be more proud of them and all that they have achieved. An inspiration to both our students and current graduates, they are living proof that hard work and determination does pay off and we are delighted to recognise their contribution to the arts and the continued support they show to our University with their Honorary Masters of Music awards.”