Elbow Win Mercury Prize

09/10/08 11:41am

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Elbow shoved aside favourites Burial and Radiohead to win the Nationwide Mercury Prize for best British or Irish album of the past year on Tuesday night.

The Manchester, England quintet won the award for The Seldom Seen Kid, their fourth album, at a gala held in London.

"This is quite literally the best thing that's ever happened to us," singer Guy Garvey said as the band accepted the award. "I know I'm supposed to be cool and say something coy, but it's literally the best thing that's ever happened to us."

Garvey dedicated the 20,000-pound (about $37,500 Canadian) prize to Manchester musician Bryan Glancy, a friend of the band who died in 2006. The Seldom Seen Kid takes its name from one of Glancy's nicknames.

Bookmaker William Hill had declared Burial most likely to win for his Untrue album. Radiohead — whose In Rainbows was up for the award — and Elbow were tied for second most likely to win with odds of 6-1.

"I had a tenner on Radiohead," Garvey later told NME.com. "It just feels great, very unexpected.

"You look at it in the same way as Bedouin tribes look at a pint of milk. It doesn't happen very often but it's all the sweeter. It's been a long time we've been doing it, so it's cause for celebration. To the rest of the lads, I'm so proud to do it with my best mates."

Albums by Adele, Estelle, British Sea Power, The Last Shadow Puppets, Neon Neon, Laura Marling, Portico Quartet, Rachel Unthank And The Winterset and Robert Plant And Alison Krauss were also nominated. Earlier in the day, The Last Shadow Puppets members Miles Kane and Alex Turner told journalists they wanted Elbow to win.

Elbow formed in 1990, but didn't release an album until they put out Asleep In The Back in 2001. That album was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize, but didn't win.

The Nationwide Mercury Prize was established in 1992 as an alternative to the BRIT Awards. The prize is awarded annually to the best album from Britain or Ireland and is decided by a jury of musicians, producers and music journalists from both countries. Previous winners include Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, Pulp, Franz Ferdinand, Dizzee Rascal, Gomez and PJ Harvey.

Watch Elbow win the Mercury Prize below: