Manchester band Elbow have been announced as this year's winners of the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize during a ceremony at London's Grosvenor House. They were awarded the prize for their fourth studio album, the critically acclaimed The Seldom Seen Kid. It's the second time that Elbow have been nominated for the prize - in 2001 they were also on the shortlist for their debut album, Asleep in the Back, although the prize that year went to PJ Harvey's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. Other nominees for this year's prize included Radiohead, The Last Shadow Puppets, Estelle, Neon Neon, Adele, Laura Marling and British Sea Power. Speaking at the star-studded ceremony, singer Guy Harvey said, 'This is quite literally the best thing that's ever happened to us,' while one of the judges, Jude Rogers, said of the album: 'It's beautiful, it's romantic, it's dark, it's gorgeous, it's just a really, really wonderful record.' Elbow, who dedicated the award to their friend Bryan Glancy, who recently died, will take home £20,000, plus the guaranteed extra album sales that the award always generates. To find out more about this year's nominees, see Ents24's guide here, or visit www.nationwidemercurys.com for more details about this year's award. And for those who missed last night's ceremony, BBC Two will be broadcasting an hour-long special this Friday 12th September at 11:35pm. |  Elbow winning the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Music Prize  Elbow. Photo: Tom Sheehan |
