“Shout out to my mum”. Shame I only get to play one but you know.
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Asked about Bowie’s death and-with Blackstar -what many perceive to be his farewell to fans, the Dexter actor added: “I can’t think of an exit from the stage more profound and chillingly handsome than David’s”.
He urged others to do the same and told the gathered reporters he would use the prize money to “build a studio in my old estate, whatever I need to do to make other people as free as me”. Now I’m in this industry, they’re telling me what to do.
Bookmakers William Hill said that Bowie was the “clear favorite” to win with odds of 4/7. Furthermore, his victory gives a shot in the arm for the whole grime scene, which has grown in popularity in the last few years having been maligned by the mainstream for much of the noughties. A grime album was just honoured as the best British album of the year. “Not just in music”.
The duo started their careers playing their music on London’s infamous underground pirate radio stations.
Also nominated are Radiohead, who have never won the prize. It feels like a real landmark year in our genre’s history.
“It’s insane that all these places we used to imagine, from music we listened to and films we watched growing up, are in big American cities”. The Guardian said of the work: “It’s not just that the lyrics throughout are dextrous and sharp and amusing, although they are”.
The music of David Bowie was a huge influence on the creation of Hedwig, so it’s only fitting that as his Hedwig follow-up, Hall chose Bowie’s Lazarus, which itself was a musical version of the artist’s ’70s sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth.
During the other most talked about moment of the night, actor Michael C. Hall, best known for starring in HBO’s Dexter, though also an established stage performer who recently starred in Lazarus, the David Bowie-penned musical based in NY, performed the show’s title song, which is also featured on Blackstar, in tribute to Bowie.
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Also in the running for the Mercury Prize are albums by soul singers Laura Mvula and Michael Kiwanuka and by two artists from Britain’s grime music scene, Kano and Skepta.
