M.I.A. Named MBE

M.I.A. is now an MBE. The BBC reports that the singer and rapper, whose full name is Mathangi Arulpragasam, was named a Member Of The Order Of The British Empire for her services to music on the Queen's Birthday Honours list yesterday.

Elvis Costello was also named an Officer Of The Order Of The British Empire. "It confirms my long held suspicion nobody really listens to the words in songs or the outcome might have been somewhat different," he said in a statement.

Other musicians on the list include former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey (OBE), singer-songwriter Andrew Roachford (MBE), composer Anna Meredith, (MBE), pianist Joanna MacGregor (CBE), singer Jacqueline Dankworth (MBE), and singer Alfie Boe (OBE).

On the non-music side, actor Simon Russell Beale has been knighted, Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman has been awarded a CBE under her real name, Sarah Sinclair, and noted pee-drinker Bear Grylls has been named an OBE.

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I'm honoured to have this honour, as it means alot to my Mother. I want to honour what my mum spent many hours of her life doing! She is one of the 2 women in England who hand stitched these medals for the last 30 years. After receiving asylum my mum and cousin took this job in 1986, because it was the only non English speaking manual labour she could find. She spent her life in England hand sewing 1000s of medals for the Queen. No matter how I feel or what I think , my Mother was extremely proud of the job she had. It's a very unique situation for me where I get to honour her most classiest minimum wage job ever. #TAMIL #UKTAMIL #REFUGEE survival story. #LIFECYCLES. #whomademymadels

A post shared by MIA (@miamatangi) on Jun 8, 2019 at 5:35am PDT