great to see antony and the johnsons win the mercury music prize, their album is absolutely brilliant and a worthy winner of this highly sought after award....his voice is incredible and the songs are wonderful....maybe a bit too left field for massive sales but his profile will be lifted by winning this prize....well done

WHO????

Antony and Johnsons win Mercury




Antony and the Johnsons have won this year's Mercury Music Prize for the album I Am A Bird Now.
Led by New York-based singer Antony Hegarty, they beat acts including Coldplay, favourites Kaiser Chiefs and hip-hop artist MIA.

The £20,000 award is for the best album of the year by a British or Irish act.

"I think they must have made a mistake," Chichester-born Hegarty said. "I am completely overwhelmed. I think that's insane."

The pianist and singer's winning album, features contributions from Boy George and Lou Reed.

It's not like any album I've heard before or since

Simon Frith, chairman of judges




Standing 6ft 4in tall and with a shock of black hair, the 34-year-old has a voice as unconventional as his looks.

The Mercury Music Prize was voted for by a panel of industry experts, journalists and artists, and is said to reward originality and creativity rather than sales success.

As he collected his award from host Jools Holland to a standing ovation, Hegarty said the competition was "a bit nutty".

"It's kind of like a crazy contest between an orange and a spaceship and a potted plant and a spoon - which one do you like better?" he said.


Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs had been favourites to win
"What's really exciting about this night is just this wonderful biennial that shows the rich diversity of the spectrum of music that's going on at the moment.

"It's been so wonderful to be here and just to meet everyone. I just love so many of the artists performing tonight, I think it's a bit bonkers to just give it to one person."

He performed at the Mercury award ceremony in London's Grosvenor House Hotel, as did fellow nominees Kaiser Chiefs, KT Tunstall, Seth Lakeman, Bloc Party, Polar Bear, Maximo Park, The Magic Numbers and the Go! Team.

Multi-million selling band Coldplay, nominated for their third album X&Y, could not attend the ceremony as they were on tour in the US.

Previous winners of the Mercury prize include hip-hop artist Dizzee Rascal, Primal Scream, PJ Harvey and last year's victors Franz Ferdinand.


KT Tunstall was among the other performers at the ceremony
Simon Frith, chairman of the judges, said Antony and the Johnsons won because they produced "such an extraordinary album".

"It's not like any album I've heard before or since," he said.

"It doesn't seem to have any obvious place where it's coming from - and yet play it to anybody and they're arrested.

"Some of them hate it, some of them absolutely love it - but nobody can ignore it."

The Mercury Prize was not designed to pick the least offensive album, he said, but to pick "a record that's really interesting, and this one is".



Chris Salmon, music editor of Time Out magazine, said it was a surprise choice.

"There were a lot of strong albums on there and I don't think a lot of people thought Antony and the Johnsons would be the one," he said.

"Some people thought of it as an American album - its whole genesis was in New York," he said.

"But he's got a beautiful voice and he writes beautiful songs, so in that sense it shouldn't be a surprise - but I think it still is."


Lou Reed appears on Hegarty's award-winning album
Not to Hegarty's celebrity friends, however, who have been vocal in their support of the burly performer one critic described as having "a rugby player's build but the face of a medieval saint".

"When I first heard him I knew I was in the presence of an angel," said Lou Reed.

"His amazing band contributes to one extraordinary experience of musical wit, depth and, most of all, beauteous heart."

Laurie Anderson has echoed her partner's comments, calling Anthony and the Johnsons "my favourite band in the whole world right now".

"Listening to Anthony's voice is like hearing Elvis for the first time," she said.

"When he sings it is the most exquisite thing that you will hear in your life."

"I Am A Bird Now is my favourite album this year," Portishead singer Beth Gibbons has told the BBC News website.

"I felt its honesty immediately and had not been that touched by music in a long time.

"He has expressed how I feel about being a woman better than I have myself and created an unnerving, unworldly yet direct impression of our fear of death and life's solitude."

Mercury Music Prize 2005 nominees:


Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Coldplay - X&Y
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Hard-Fi - Stars of CCTV
Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
KT Tunstall - Eye to the Telescope
The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
MIA - Arular
Polar Bear - Held on the Tips of Fingers
Seth Lakeman - Kitty Jay Did
[Edited 9/7/05 5:30am]
[Edited 9/7/05 5:31am]

Anyone who beats them Coldplay fagz is alright in my book.....

this is great news!

check this out, I started a thread about them a few days ago:

http://www.prince.org/msg/8/158817


and yes, the album is truly great!