PJ Harvey has just become the first artist in history to win two Mercury Music Prizes.
Jools Holland announced that the Dorset singer-songwriter scooped the 2011 award for her anti-war album Let England Shake at a ceremony held in the Grosvenor House Hotel ballroom, London.
Jools Holland announced that the Dorset singer-songwriter scooped the 2011 award for her anti-war album Let England Shake at a ceremony held in the Grosvenor House Hotel ballroom, London.
She first won the prize a decade ago for her critically-acclaimed album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, and was bookies' favourite this time round.
The album beat off stiff competition from chart toppers Adele and Tinie Tempah, for albums 21 and Disc-Overy respectively. Katy B’s On a Mission, James Blake's eponymous debut and Build a Rocket Boys! from previous Mercury winners Elbow were also hotly-tipped contenders.
Dubbed the critics choice award and famously hard to predict, the Mercury Prize winner is chosen by a panel of British and Irish musicians, industry luminaries and journalists.
For a list of past winners and to read M's Mercury guide, click here. To find out how last year's nominees fared, click here.
This year's nominees were:
Anna Calvi: Anna Calvi
Elbow: Build A Rocket Boys!
James Blake: James Blake
Katy B: On A Mission
Metronomy: The English Riviera
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
Gwilym Simcock: The Impossible Gentlemen
Tinie Tempah: Disc-Overy
Everything Everything: Man Alive
Ghostpoet: Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins: Diamond Mine
Adele: 21
The album beat off stiff competition from chart toppers Adele and Tinie Tempah, for albums 21 and Disc-Overy respectively. Katy B’s On a Mission, James Blake's eponymous debut and Build a Rocket Boys! from previous Mercury winners Elbow were also hotly-tipped contenders.
Dubbed the critics choice award and famously hard to predict, the Mercury Prize winner is chosen by a panel of British and Irish musicians, industry luminaries and journalists.
For a list of past winners and to read M's Mercury guide, click here. To find out how last year's nominees fared, click here.
This year's nominees were:
Anna Calvi: Anna Calvi
Elbow: Build A Rocket Boys!
James Blake: James Blake
Katy B: On A Mission
Metronomy: The English Riviera
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
Gwilym Simcock: The Impossible Gentlemen
Tinie Tempah: Disc-Overy
Everything Everything: Man Alive
Ghostpoet: Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins: Diamond Mine
Adele: 21
