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James Blake surprised the music scene last night by winning the Mercury Music Prize for his album Outsider – and that’s exactly what James was.
Defying odds of 25/1, the Londoner beat veteran acts like Arctic Monkeys, Foals and David Bowie to take home the music prize responsible for launching acts like Dizzee Rascal into the spotlight.
Confusion was caused on the night by 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne when she accidentally introduced the artist as James Blunt.
The Retrograde singer joked “It’s the first award I’ve won since a tennis prize when I was a kid” adding “The best thing about winning is that I’m now ranked higher on Google than the tennis player James Blake.”
Blake was applauded for creating the award winning album in his bedroom, but the standout of the show remained absent recluce David Bowie.
The Space Oddity singer was nominated for a James Murphy remix of his track Love is Lost, creating a spooky video that premiered at the event last night.
The Hallowe’en video was shot and edited on his own equipment and features old props from his Ashes to Ashes video. Despite being a multi-millionaire, the only money spent on the video was for an £8 USB drive to download the video. But, Bowie’s every expense spared approach was not enough to win him the coveted music prize.
Shooting in a dark corridor outside his New York office, Bowie reportedly worked throughout the night with close friends Jimmy King and Coco Schwab to get the video finished in time for the awards.