Hey, Ladies: Mercury Prize Nominees Include Record Number of Females This Year

The UK's Barclaycard Mercury Prize announced its shortlist for the best albums of the year recently, and of the 12 nominees, five are female artists or bands fronted by women. This marks a new record for female nominations for the prize, awarded each year for the best albums by British and Irish musicians. In their announcement of the shortlist, the Prize's website said that this year's nominees "reflect the strong feminine presence in UK and Irish music with many young, empowered women making an appearance with their debut records."

The women in question are Lisa Hannigan (formerly famed for collaborating with Damien Rice) for her debut Sea Sew, Florence & the Machine (AKA: Florence Welch) for Lungs, Speech Debelle for her debut Speech Therapy, La Roux (fronted by Elly Jackson) for its self-titled debut and Bat For Lashes (AKA: Natasha Khan) for Two Suns.

The full list of nominees also includes this year's releases from Kasabian, Friendly Fires, The Horrors, Glasvegas, Led Bib, Sweet Billy Pilgrim and The Invisible. The winner of the prize will be announced at the Mercury Prize Awards Show, to take place this year on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Related links:
MercuryPrize.com
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News: 2008 Mercury Prize Nominees Announced

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