LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — The British indie rock quarter Wolf Alice won the 2018 2018 Hyundai Mercury prize for their 2017 album “Visions of Life” during a ceremony on Thursday night at the Eventim Apollo in London.
“This means so much to pick this up with my three best friends” vocalist and guitarist Ellie Roswell said, accepting the award.
Wolf Alice, which was originally formed in 2010 as a duo with Ellie Roswell (vocals, guitar) and Jeff Oddie (guitar, vocals) expanded to a four-piece with the addition of Theo Ellis (bass), and Joel Amey (drums, vocals) in 2012.
They are the first female-fronted group to win the Mercury Prize since PJ Harvey won her second Mercury in 2011.
The Hyundai Mercury Prize promotes the best of UK music and artists. Each year, twelve albums by British artists drawn from across a range of contemporary music genres and shortlisted for the prize. The nominees and the eventual winner are selected by an independent panel of judges based on artistic merit.
The panel for 2018 consisted of recording artists Ella Eyre, Jamie Cullum, Lianne La Havas, and Marcus Mumford, broadcasters Clara Amfo, Danielle Perry and MistaJam, critics Harriet Gibsone (the Guardian), Will Hodgkinson (the Times) and Phil Alexander (Kerrang!/Mojo), plus radio industry figures: and radio execs Jeff Smith (BBC 6 Music and Radio 2), and Mike Walsh (Radio X.)
All of the 12 shortlisted artists receive a specially commissioned ‘Album of the Year’ trophy, with the overall winner also receiving a winner trophy and a cash prize of £25,000.
The shortlist for 2018 included: Lily Allen, No Shame; Arctic Monkeys, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino; Everything Everything, A Fever Dream; Everything Is Recorded, Everything Is Recorded; Florence + the Machine, High as Hope; Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Who Built the Moon?; King Krule, The Ooz; Novelist, Novelist Guy; Nadine Shah, Holiday Destination; Jorja Smith, Lost and Found; Sons of Kemet, Your Queen is a Reptile; and Wolf Alice, Visions of a Life.
