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Androgynous New Yorker wins top U.K. music prize

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 September 2005, 01:59 CDT

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

Source: REUTERS

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