Pharrell Williams a double winner at BBC Music Awards

Pharrell Williams picked up International Artist and Song of the Year honors at the inaugural BBC Music Awards on Thursday night (11Dec14).

The hitmaker beat out Prince, Taylor Swift and Dolly Parton to land the international award at the London ceremony, while he snatched the public vote for Song of the Year for his smash hit Happy.

Accepting his first award from pal Gwen Stefani via satellite, Williams said, "The U.K. has always been amazing to me and so many other artists who just want to do different things. It's been an amazing experience and a great journey."

And picking up his best song prize, he added, "How amazing it is to have a song that is considered among all of the other really, really great songs."

Ed Sheeran was another big winner - he claimed the award for British Artist of the Year, beating acts such as David Bowie, Jungle and Elbow.

Collecting his honor from Sir Tom Jones, the Sing hitmaker thanked "everyone who has bought a record, bought a ticket, streamed on YouTube, done anything, listened to my music."

Performance highlights included sets from Sheeran, One Direction, Coldplay, Ella Henderson and Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne, who were backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra.