PJ Harvey wins UK’s Mercury Prize for best album

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 at 2:27 am

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LONDON |
Wed Sep 7, 2011 5:39am IST

LONDON (Reuters) – English musician PJ Harvey won the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize for best album on Tuesday with “Let England Shake,” British media reported, becoming the first artist in the award’s 20-year history to win it twice.

Harvey, who also won in 2001 with “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” beat out 11 other nominees including chart queen Adele and another previous winner Elbow.

The 41-year-old had long been the bookmakers’ favourite to scoop the annual award. The winning album was partly inspired by Harvey’s reaction to the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The prize, which has gone to a wide range of musical genres since it began in 1992, honours music by British or Irish artists and is based solely on the music on the album.

Electronic band the xx won the 2010 Mercury Prize for their debut album, “The xx.”

The shortlist was as follows:

Adele – 21

Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi

Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys!

Everything Everything – Man Alive

Ghostpoet – Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam

Gwilym Simcock – Good Days At Schloss Elmau

James Blake – James Blake

Katy B – On A Mission

King Creosote Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine

Metronomy – The English Riviera