Androgynous New Yorker wins top U.K. music prize
By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) – An androgynous New York-based artist who
sings haunting ballads about gender confusion was the surprise
winner of one of Britain’s most prestigious music prizes
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.”
Acclaimed by 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.”
Bookmakers William Hill had made the Leeds-based
alternative rock quintet Kaiser Chiefs the favorite to win the
award, while Antony & the Johnsons were fourth on its list.
The event was hosted by musician and TV presenter Jools
Holland and featured performances from Kaiser Chiefs, as well
as fellow nominees KT Tunstall, the Go! Team, the Magic Numbers
and Bloc Party.
Hegarty said trying to pick among 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 rock bands
Franz Ferdinand and Pulp, rapper Dizzee Rascal and
singer-songwriter PJ Harvey.
Reuters/VNU