Coldplay Up for Mercury

Coldplay's X&Y is the highest-profile finalist for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize, awarded to the British/Irish album of the year by an independent panel. The nomination is the third for the London-based rockers, who received nods for 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head and their 2000 debut, Parachutes. They have yet to win the prestigious award.

The Mercury Prize has often been awarded to burgeoning talent -- Roni Size and Badly Drawn Boy are among the past winners, and Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand took it home last year. This year, eight of the twelve albums are debuts, including Sri Lanka-born hip-hopper M.I.A.'s Arular, coed dance-pop crew the Go! Team's Thunder, Lightning, Strike and folk singer Seth Lakeman's Kitty Jay. Three British buzz bands are also jockeying to be this year's Franz Ferdinand, as the Kaiser Chiefs' Employment, Bloc Party's Silent Alarm and Maximo Park's A Certain Trigger are nominated.

This year's winner will be announced September 6th at the 2005 Nationwide Mercury Prize Show.

The list of 2005 Mercury Prize nominees:

Antony and the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now
Bloc Party, Silent Alarm
Coldplay, X&Y
The Go! Team, Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Hard-Fi, Stars of CCTV
KT Tunstall, Eye to the Telescope
Kaiser Chiefs, Employment
The Magic Numbers, The Magic Numbers
Maximo Park, A Certain Trigger
M.I.A., Arular
Polar Bear, Held on the Tips of Fingers
Seth Lakeman, Kitty Jay

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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