Paul McCartney to be honoured by special guest at the BRITS

Kylie Minogue is to present Paul McCartney with his Outstanding Contribution To Music Award at the 2008 BRIT Awards.

The singer will hand over the special award to the former Beatle before he performs a medley of hits at the ceremony in Earls Court on February 20.

He told The Sun: "You can either go for something wow or just do a couple of hits - I’ve opted for the latter. I’m quite happy to be just doing stuff that I hope the audience will like. I don’t want to go too interesting because it’s going to be at the end of the night.

"Just stick to the hits, boy. The audience will want to drink beer really. This year will be outstanding - because Ozzy is presenting."

Mika, Take That and Leona Lewis lead the 2008 BRIT Award nominees with four nominations apiece, along with Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Kate Nash and Mark Ronson, who are each up for three.

Klaxons have two nods for British Breakthrough Act and British Live Act, as do Bat For Lashes.

The nominees are:

British Male Solo Artist
Jamie T
Mark Ronson
Mika
Newton Faulkner
Richard Hawley

British Female Solo Artist
Bat For Lashes
Kate Nash
KT Tunstall
Leona Lewis
PJ Harvey

British Group
Arctic Monkeys
Editors
Girls Aloud
Kaiser Chiefs
Take That

British Album
Arctic Monkeys - 'Favourite Worst Nightmare'
Leona Lewis - 'Spirit'
Mark Ronson - 'Version'
Mika - 'Life In Cartoon Motion'
Take That - 'Beautiful World'

British Breakthrough Act
Bat For Lashes
Kate Nash
Klaxons
Leona Lewis
Mika

British Live Act
Arctic Monkeys
Kaiser Chiefs
Klaxons
Muse
Take That

British Single
The Hoosiers - 'Worried About Ray'
James Blunt - '1973'
Kaiser Chiefs - 'Ruby'
Kate Nash - 'Foundations'
Leona Lewis - 'Bleeding Love'
Mark Ronson - 'Valerie' (featuring Amy Winehouse)
Mika - 'Grace Kelly'
Mutya Buena - 'Real Girl'
Sugababes - 'About You Now'
Take That - 'Shine'

International Male Solo Artist
Bruce Springsteen
Kanye West
Rufus Wainwright
Timbaland
Michael Buble

International Female Solo Artist
Alicia Keys
Bjork
Feist
Kylie Minogue
Rihanna

International Group
Arcade Fire
Eagles
Foo Fighters
Kings Of Leon
The White Stripes

International Album
Arcade Fire - 'Neon Bible'
Eagles - 'Long Road Out Of Eden'
Foo Fighters - 'Echoes, Silence, Patience, Grace'
Kings Of Leon 'Because Of The Times'
Kylie Minogue - 'X'

Outstanding Contribution Award
Paul McCartney

The Shockwaves NME Awards 2008 are coming soon – and it’s time to have your say. Vote now by heading to NME.COM/awardsvote and you could win VIP tickets to the ceremony, which takes place in London on February 28.