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CORRECTED: Rising New York stars beat Coldplay to UK music prize

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 19:02 CDT

(Corrects spelling)

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - An androgynous New York-based artist who sings haunting ballads about gender confusion beat Grammy Award-winners Coldplay to win one of Britain's most prestigious music prizes on Tuesday.

Antony Hegarty, whose quavering voice has been likened to Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, won the Mercury music prize with his band, Antony and the Johnsons, for their album "I Am a Bird Now."

Widely-acclaimed by the critics but little known in the mainstream music world, Hegarty has been described as the "gayest thing ever recorded."

The 20,000 pounds prize is awarded each year by an independent judging panel to the best album by a British or Irish band.

Antony and the Johnsons only qualified for nomination because Hegarty was born in Sussex, southern England, before moving to the United States.

"I am completely overwhelmed," Hegarty, 34, said after accepting the award at a central London ceremony. "I think they must have made a mistake. I think that is insane."

Losing nominees included Coldplay for their bestselling album "X&Y," guitar band Kaiser Chiefs for "Employment" and London newcomers The Magic Numbers.

Hegarty said trying to pick between such different nominees was like choosing between an "orange and a spaceship and a potted plant."

At well over 6 feet tall and with a ghost-white face and straggly hair covering his face, Hegarty's looks are as unusual as is his voice.

Rolling Stone magazine described his voice as "an instrument of delicacy and rapture in which Nina Simone, Morrissey and Joni Mitchell seem to inhabit the same breath."

The Mercury judges often award the prize to rising stars rather than established names.

Past winners include Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand, rapper Dizzee Rascal, indie band Pulp and singer-songwriter PJ Harvey.

Source: REUTERS

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