It's been yet another fantastic year for PRS/ASCAP songwriters at the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize event 2009. At the event on the 9th September 2009, held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, Speech Debelle, a.k.a Corynne Elliott, walked away victorious. Speech Debelle was honored for her debut album Speech Therapy, following proudly in the footsteps of prior first female winners of the 20,000-pound ($33,000) prize, like Ms. Dynamite, who was awarded in 2002.
Until recently, Speech Debelle's album had sold fewer than 3,000 copies, too few to reach the Top 40. But her thoughtful hip-hop has been well received by critics and is likely to receive a significant sales boost from the prize.
Martin Talbot, of the Official Charts Company said of Speech Therapy, "It is one of the least established albums in the history of the Mercurys, and an album which still has great potential. The Mercury recognition will play a big part in helping achieve the broader public recognition which it deserves."
During her post-victory press conference, Speech Debelle said she thought her album deserved to win and outlined plans to launch her own label. She hoped her album, on which she raps and sings, and which relies heavily on jazz and soul as well as hip-hop, had thrown a "real wrench" into the music business.
"There's a lot of music that sounds the same, all day on the radio," she told journalists. "Hopefully people will hear this album and realize they don't have to make music that sounds the same - they can make music that sounds good."
Reviewers have picked up on the contrast between her "honeyed" delivery and the gritty subject matter of the songs on the album which includes living in hostels as a teenager and absent fathers and gangsters.
Other nominees for this year's Mercury Prize chosen by the panel of musicians, producers, presenters and music journalists this year included PRS/ASCAP writers Bat for Lashes, La Roux, and Lisa Hannigan who all performed at the ceremony along with Speech Debelle. The organisers of the prize said that the decision is based solely on the musical merit of the album rather that sales success. Previous Nationwide Mercury Music Prize winners include The Arctic Monkeys, Antony and the Johnsons, Elbow and Franz Ferdinand.
