Paloma Faith has been announced as the first main stage headliner for this year’s Brighton Pride.

The hugely popular three-day festival returns to the seaside from August 5-7 after the event was cancelled two years running due to concerns surrounding COVID-19; it will mark the event’s 30th anniversary.

The BRIT Award winner will take top billing on the Sunday night, where she will perform an array of hits from her extensive catalogue, as well as songs from her fifth studio album ‘Infinite Things’, organisers have revealed.

“I am delighted to be playing at Brighton Pride this year: with my people, with my tribe with all the out and proud outsiders of our country,” Faith said in a statement. “I can think of no where else I would rather be, than headlining Pride!”

Gorgon City will headline the festival’s Dance Big Top on the Saturday. More artists for this year’s line-up are expected to be announced later this week.

Tickets for the event, which has previously attracted crowds of about 250,000, are on sale here.

In 2020, Faith was awarded the Attitude Honorary Gay Award. “This award means so much to me, because I consider you to be my tribe,” Faith said in her acceptance speech. “Everyone in the LGBTQI+ community. You always have been and always will be. From my early days as a wayward kid to my adulthood where mine and my lip-syncing friends would have interchangable wardrobes.”

She added: “When I hear homophobia, I take it personally. It feels like I’m defending myself.”